Honestly, Empire: Total War was kind of a mess when it launched back in 2009. It had the scale, sure. You could conquer India, Europe, and the Americas all at once, but the vanilla AI was basically brain-dead, and the unit variety felt like every faction was just wearing different colored pajamas while shooting the exact same muskets. That is exactly why the Fox in the 20th Century mod became such a legend in the Total War community. It didn't just tweak a few stats; it dragged a 1700s engine kicking and screaming into the era of trench warfare, bolt-action rifles, and the collapse of empires.
If you’ve ever tried to play a modern military strategy game and felt like it was too zoomed out or too "clicky," you get why people still go back to this. It’s about that specific transition from the Victorian era into the madness of the early 1900s. It’s gritty. It’s broken in some places because, let’s be real, the Warscape engine wasn't meant for tanks. But man, when a line of infantry actually suppresses an enemy with rapid-fire Lee-Enfields instead of slow-loading Brown Bessies, the game feels completely new.
What Actually Is Fox in the 20th Century?
Basically, it's a total conversion mod for Empire: Total War. Most mods for this game stay in the 18th century, maybe pushing into the Napoleonic era if they’re feeling spicy. But Fox in the 20th Century (often associated with the broader "Imperial Splendour" or "Great War" modding scenes depending on which version or sub-mod you're looking at) focuses on the 1900s. We’re talking about the period leading up to and including World War I.
It changes everything. The tech tree is overhauled to include things like wireless telegraphy and advanced ballistics. The uniforms aren't bright red or blue anymore; they're khaki and field grey. You aren't just managing line infantry; you're dealing with the birth of modern mechanized warfare. It changes the pace of the game from a slow, rhythmic exchange of volleys to a frantic, high-casualty scramble for cover.
The Technical Wizardry (and the Jank)
You have to appreciate the sheer audacity of the modders here. Empire: Total War was built for cannons that bounce round shot across a field. Making that engine handle 20th-century artillery and early armored cars is like trying to turn a toaster into a flight simulator.
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- Infantry Combat: In vanilla Empire, units stand in neat rows. In this mod, they have to. If they don't find cover, they're dead in seconds. The fire rates are jacked up. The sound design—which is often overlooked—is terrifyingly crisp compared to the base game.
- The AI Problem: Look, I’ll be honest with you. The AI still thinks it's 1750 sometimes. You’ll see a unit of 1914-era Germans trying to form a square because they think cavalry is coming. It’s hilarious, but it’s a reminder of the limitations.
- Unit Models: The detail on the Fox in the 20th Century units is genuinely impressive. They didn't just reskin the models; they changed the gear, the helmets, and the way the soldiers carry themselves.
The modders basically had to trick the game into thinking that a "cannon" was actually a long-range howitzer. It works better than it has any right to. You’ll be sitting there, watching your screen, and suddenly a shell hits a unit of Russian infantry, and the physics engine—which was state-of-the-art for 2009—actually holds up. It’s visceral.
Why People Still Play This Instead of Newer Games
You’d think with Victoria 3 or various WWI shooters out there, people would move on. They don't. There is something about the Total War formula—the combination of a grand strategy map and real-time tactical battles—that nothing else quite hits.
Fox in the 20th Century fills a gap that Creative Assembly (the developers) never touched. Fans have been begging for a Victorian or WWI Total War for decades. Since the official devs won't do it, the modding community did. They took the global map of Empire—which is still the largest map in the series’ history—and gave it the 20th-century weight it deserved.
Managing an empire in 1905 feels different than 1705. The stakes are higher. The diplomatic penalties for expansion are harsher. You feel the "Great Game" playing out between Britain and Russia. It's not just about painting the map; it’s about surviving a world that is rapidly industrializing and becoming more violent by the day.
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Dealing With the "Empire" Bugs
If you’re going to dive into this, you need a reality check. Empire: Total War is notorious for the "Ottoman Turn Bug" and random crashes to desktop (CTDs). Adding a massive mod like Fox in the 20th Century doesn't exactly make it more stable.
You have to be patient. You have to save often.
The modding team did what they could, but they were working with a closed-source engine that even the original developers struggled to stabilize. If you can get past the occasional crash, the experience of seeing a dreadnought-style naval battle in the Empire engine is worth the headache. The naval combat in Empire was always its strongest suit, and seeing it updated with 20th-century steel-clads is a sight to behold.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Campaign
If you're starting a new run, don't just pick Great Britain and steamroll everyone. It's boring. Try playing as a rising power or a crumbling one. Playing as the Ottoman Empire in this mod is a genuine challenge. You're trying to modernize while being surrounded by predators who want your land.
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- Prioritize Research: In the 20th century, if your guns are ten years older than the enemy's, you've already lost. Do not neglect the industrial side of the tech tree.
- Use Artillery Properly: This isn't vanilla where you just set-and-forget your cannons. You need to use your guns to break the enemy's spirit before your infantry even gets in range.
- Watch Your Borders: The campaign map AI in the Fox mod is a bit more aggressive. They will smell weakness. If you leave a frontier undefended to go fight a colonial war, expect to lose your home provinces.
The Legacy of the Fox
It’s easy to dismiss old mods as "outdated," but Fox in the 20th Century represents a time when modders were genuinely fearless. They weren't just changing textures; they were rewriting the rules of what a strategy game could be. It paved the way for other massive projects like the Great War mod for Napoleon: Total War, but for many, the scale of the Empire map keeps them coming back to Fox.
There’s a specific kind of magic in seeing the 20th century play out on a map that covers three continents. It’s messy, it’s loud, and it’s occasionally frustrating. But it’s also the closest we’ve ever gotten to a true WWI-era Total War experience.
Getting Started With the Mod Today
If you want to actually play this in 2026, you're going to need a clean installation of Empire: Total War. Don't try to mix this with other "overhaul" mods like DarthMod or Imperial Splendour unless you really know what you're doing with pack files, because they will conflict and your game will just melt.
- Step 1: Download the latest version of the Fox in the 20th Century files from a reputable source like ModDB.
- Step 2: Use a Mod Manager. The vanilla launcher is terrible at handling custom assets.
- Step 3: Lower your graphics settings slightly. Even on a modern rig, the way the mod handles smoke and particle effects can cause "lag" because the engine is only utilizing a single CPU core. It’s a 32-bit application; throw all the RAM you want at it, it won't care.
Once you’re in, take it slow. Read the unit descriptions. Look at the new building chains. The amount of historical research poured into the descriptions alone is staggering. It’s a labor of love that reminds us why the PC gaming community is so obsessed with keeping these older titles alive.
The next step for any serious strategy fan is to look at the sub-mods specifically designed for Fox in the 20th Century. Some players have created "unit packs" that add even more specific regional regiments, which adds a lot of flavor to a long-term campaign. Just make sure you back up your save files before tweaking anything. Once you get a stable campaign running, it’s one of the most rewarding strategy experiences you can have, period.