For the first time in Total War history, Creative Assembly will be incorporating fully-fledged naval battles that could turn Empire: Total War into the Golden Age of the series. An official statement from Sega has unearthed the time we could get our hands on their latest strategy game: February 2009.

According to the press release, Creative Assembly has streamlined the user interface, and soon budding imperialists will find that the world strategy map sports more enhancements over the previous Total War games.

Perhaps most interesting of the features laid down for Empire: Total War was the fact that players can participate in events outside of Europe - the new lands of North America and the growing empire in India can also be untapped.

Excited? You probably should be, but even then Sega decided to make sure you would - they've tendered the latest trailer to come out of the 18th century, and it screams awesomeness. You can check out the video below, but before you do, we've just got to say one more thing:

FIRE AS YOUR GUNS CAN BEAR!

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