Creative Assembly only had sea battle action on display for the media at E3, but it was more than enough to whet the appetite of Total War fans. Empire will be the first game in the series to have interactive naval combat, taking advantage of the setting to bring the Age of Sail to life.

The demo battle between British and American forces showed off the new physics engine, where the trajectory of every musket shot and cannon ball is mapped out. Some shots overshoot their targets and splash in the distance. One shot struck a British ship below the waterline and she slowly drifted downward into the ocean.

You can board vessels to capture them, giving you a novel way to gain advanced ships beyond your own technological capability or increase your prestige through prize vessels. The boarding demonstration went a little awry when a fire on one ship spread to the other, but both crews were too busy fighting it out to notice. Neither ship survived the encounter.

Creative Assembly is doing everything they can to make the naval warfare analogous to the land battle interface that gamers are used to, without sacrificing those things that make sail warfare unique – wind direction, weather conditions and which side of a ship has the most guns in operation; you may find one side of your ship more battered than another.

They were mostly silent on the campaign game. The map will stretch from India to the Americas and include about fifty factions, a dozen of which are playable. In land battles, your troops will be able to garrison buildings for extra defensive power. A “realistic” weather system will sometimes force you to fight with gunpowder in the rain and deal with artillery in the mud; since physics matters, line of sight will prove to be of crucial importance. Hills are more than a “plus” modifier on damage; the more you see, the more you can shoot people climbing to get to you are at a decided disadvantage.