The Will of the Senate - out of character thread II

[econ21]

This thread is for out of character comments, questions and general interactions about the Will of the Senate PBM.

Please only post in the other more specialised threads if you are sure it belongs there. If in doubt, post here.

Thanks!

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Good on ya, econ21 :)

[Dutch_guy]

lol well at least my character has a pretty distinct personality


I guess this character picked up some traits in opposition to those of his father.

Judging by the fact I have a trait called Not Like His Father, I'd say you're right!


A restrained, tedious, political animal?

I find the combination of young, student, former legate and Military service - 8 years - even better !:inquisitive:

PS: I tried posting this at the exact same time that Simon closed the other thread, so if you're wondering what I'm talking about, check the last page of the first out of character thread !

:balloon2:

[shifty157]

X-danger's post in the last thread:
The reason we play with battle difficulty on Medium is because there is some kind of glitch or other in the AI causing the Hard and Very Hard settings to be easier than Medium.

Also realise that you were controlling a very veteran high quality roman legion in that battle that was guarding a very defensible position against lesser quality troops.

That said. Its still pretty easy.

I only took 8 casualties in that battle.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

The reason we play with battle difficulty on Medium is because there is some kind of glitch or other in the AI causing the Hard and Very Hard settings to be easier than Medium.

I've heard that a billion times, but it's a myth in my opinon.

[x-dANGEr]

Well. On my carthage campaign on VH/VH, I think it is harder than VH/M. Because at the first, the enemy greek general could beat my 6 Iberian Infantry units easily in a charge head on. While on VH/M, I doubt that would happen.

Anyway, I'd appreciate it if you assign me a character now, econ21.

[shifty157]

I've heard that a billion times, but it's a myth in my opinon.

Well dont ask me. This is just what ive heard from people and I dont have the time or desire to test it out myself.

[econ21]

I've heard that a billion times, but it's a myth in my opinon.

I think there was a well documented bug with the battle difficulty levels, but IIRC, it only affected custom battles, not ones in campaigns, and I think it was fixed with a patch.

The reason I like medium battles is that the game stats are balanced to be historical on that difficulty level. Raise the difficulty level and you get weird outcomes from unit match ups. Also a higher difficulty level, by affecting the AI's attack and not defence also can change the balance of arms to favour offensive arms like cavalry and missiles rather than solid infantry.
I guess its a realism vs gameplay thing.

In vanilla, it was often argued that a high battle difficulty level was good because the player tended to have more command stars. That is less obvious with this mod, as the AI generals get significant boosts to their command and Quintus with his 10 stars in attack has typically fought generals just as formiddable.

We also tend to go with M battles in PBMs to encourage less experienced players to take part.

[econ21]

Anyway, I'd appreciate it if you assign me a character now, econ21.

OK, it's done - check the FAQ for the name. You can download saves as they are posted to keep track of his progress.

BTW, TinCow, please keep an eye out for the upper/lower house distinction. For example, TrickyLady's avatar looks like a good general with all the command stars, but as she is in the Upper House, any battles under his command would have to be autoresolved. So a Lower House member with much less stars would probably do better in a battle.

Generally speaking, Upper House members should be students (in Academies), tribunes (ie second generals in a stack) or governors. Only Lower House members should given command of any troops likely to have to fight, probably including ferrying reinforcements to the front (troops with generals move faster in this mod than alone).

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

I agree with the settings and your motivations econ21. But perhaps H/M would have been even better. The 10K bonus for the AI can get tiresome as so have to defeat stack after stack and diplomacy works a little bit better (i.e. you are not treated like you were Hitler of something by everyone you encounter). I did a VH/VH RTR campaign once and Macedon became a superpower. I must have killed 60000 of them and slaughtered 30000 civilians before they finally lost. The only way to crush them was to use a scorched earth policy on them. I was rather embarressed about my general having the exterminator trait.
By the way, in RTR it is much harder to gain command stars than in vanilla.

[econ21]

But perhaps H/M would have been even better. The 10K bonus for the AI can get tiresome as so have to defeat stack after stack and diplomacy works a little bit better (i.e. you are not treated like you were Hitler of something by everyone you encounter).

Maybe, but to be honest I have given up on diplomacy in TW games and I do like battling big stacks. When I found out I was on Sardinia with half a stack, facing 3 stacks of Carthaginians, it sure got the adrenaline going! :scared:


By the way, in RTR it is much harder to gain command stars than in vanilla.

Thanks to Marcus Camillus we have the consolation of +3 command for being a legate though; that's a big help.

[Avicenna]

DG: haven't I got some of the same traits as you, but a 'like his father' trait? I am confused. :confused:

[YAKOBU]

Hi everyone ~:wave:

I (Valerius Paullus) have been sent to govern Tarentum. If I install the mod may I fight any battles I get into?

:charge:

[econ21]

I (Valerius Paullus) have been sent to govern Tarentum. If I install the mod may I fight any battles I get into?


Absolutely - just post here to say you have the mod working and I'll transfer you to the lower Senate. Rebels may crop up near Tarentum so it is always good to have Lower House members available to squash them. And when I was First Consul, one of my nightmares was of a potential Greek landing near Tarentum. :sweatdrop: But AFAIK, the settlement does have a wall, so it is not a bad place for a general to hang out.

As governor, you should try to persuade TinCow to work towards being able to build armoured Corvus Quinquiremes at Tarentum. AFAIK, it's the only place other than Syracuse suitable for that. Sanitation may be an issue there - I think I had a plague outbreak there in one experiment I did fast forwarding time to investigate the naval aspect of the mod. It would make a heck of a letter to the Senate, writing Camus-style from a quarantined plague-ridden city. But plagues can kill characters, so you might want to avoid it.

[x-dANGEr]

I'm wondering.. It says in the rules that members of the Lower level must be at least 30 years old to be able to deliberate with the other Senators.. So that means currently I can't?

[econ21]

No, don't worry about it. We've overlooked those age related rules. I'll take them out of the FAQ.

The mod we are playing has some nice age related Roman leadership traits, so it will be natural that the over-30s (the potential legates) are more likely to be given command but we've had tribunes become First Consuls, I think.

[x-dANGEr]

Okay, so it is ok for me to deliberate with the other senators. Thanks.

[GeneralHankerchief]

I'm thinking of installing all the mods and becoming a Lower House-er at some point in the game. First I want to make my machine run faster, the framerate for RTW is pretty slow.

Since I'm pretty much a n00b when it comes to hardware, what do I need to do? Should I get a better graphics card or update my drivers?

Thanks for any help, and please try to refrain from mocking my ignorance. It'll be worth it if I can win a huge battle against our greatest foe thirty years down the line.

[econ21]

I'm not up on the hardware side of things, but you might want to see how well your computer currently runs RTW by going to:

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/

Click the "can you run it?" link and then select RTW from the drop down menu to see how well your computer meets the minimum and recommended system requirements. This might point out particular bottlenecks.

Often the graphics card is the key constraint but it really depends on your rig. The site also has a facility to upgrade the drivers for your graphics and sound card.

You could try playing with some of the settings in preferences.txt to see if that helps your framerate. For example, setting grass to 20 has been recommended.

[TinCow]

Yikes! I don't envy Dutch_guy having to roleplay that one!

What is the trait bug? Is it specific to this mod or more general?

I guess this character picked up some traits in opposition to those of his father.

It's a problem with the 4TPY combo-mod. There's discussion about it in Marcus' thread on the RTR forums. He thinks he knows what is causing it and can fix it, but afaik a patched version isn't out yet. Of course a patch won't help Dutch_guy since his character is already generated, but I imagine it should be save game compatible and work with all future characters.


BTW, TinCow, please keep an eye out for the upper/lower house distinction. For example, TrickyLady's avatar looks like a good general with all the command stars, but as she is in the Upper House, any battles under his command would have to be autoresolved. So a Lower House member with much less stars would probably do better in a battle.

Generally speaking, Upper House members should be students (in Academies), tribunes (ie second generals in a stack) or governors. Only Lower House members should given command of any troops likely to have to fight, probably including ferrying reinforcements to the front (troops with generals move faster in this mod than alone).

I'm well aware of that. I left her there because there wasn't any room left on the ships. I will take her off along with the second half of the army once the fleet gets back down there in a turn or two. I highly doubt that Carthage will land there any time soon. They are ridiculously heavily occupied with Numidia at the moment and their navy is all off the coast of their one remaining Iberian province. I suspect that the only reason you had to fight landings there was because they still owned a city. Now that both are gone, I doubt they will try to get them back. At least, not when they have hostile cities they can reach via land. I don't think the place is worth transferring a Lower House senator to at the moment either. I've made promises to several of them that I need to keep and two are too young to fight and one is gone for the weekend. Simply put, not enough Lower House to spare for that backwater town. Of course, if you want Quintus to sit out there and bake in the sun, tell him he is free to request it. ~D

Enough typing though. Finally home from work and ready for a good play session.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

GeneralHankerchief,

I you list you rig's specs, I'm sure we can come up with some suggestions.
Here's some already :
1. Memory is quite cheap and an easy way to upgrade performance. There is no such thing as enough RAM.
2. Also check to see if your machine has enough virtual memory, i.e. free harddisk space.
3. Disable all irrelevant programs that lauch on startup. You can use any amount of free registry cleaners to check your startup profile and remove 'hidden' programs that also launch on startup but are irrelevant. While you're at it, clean your registry.
4. Defragment your harddisk after you've finished installing everything.
5. Updating your drivers to the latest setting is always good. I'm not familiar with econ21's site, I get my updates from the manhufacturer's sites, but it looks very userfriendly and handy.
6. You could overclock your CPU and perhaps your videocard (NOT recommended ! Don't try this at home !)
7. A very good video card is the best performace improver, but also one of the most expensive options. Even so, always check with the RTW tech forums if the video card does not have problems with RTW. I know there are some, but I can't recall which.

shifty157, concerning difficulty, I do not know for sure either, but I've played several campaigns on several difficulty levels and that is what gives me the impression this bug has probably been patched in RTW 1.2 or 1.3. Excellent battle by the way, with just 8 (!) casualties ! :2thumbsup:

[GeneralHankerchief]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll definitely try it out tomorrow.

In the meantime I already did some cleaning as well as updated my drivers, with instant results. Finally I don't need to get up and make myself a snack while waiting for the fire arrows to finish up. :2thumbsup:

[TinCow]

Well, Gergovia and Comata were so utterly devoid of population that the only way to milk any money out of them at all was to pillage everything. DDW was right though, there isn't much point in leaving anything behind for them to 'rebuild' with. Gaul is finished, whether we do it or not. Germany and Iberia are both expanding and Gaul will be taken over by them quickly anyway. I suspect most of the Gallic forces are being recruited via mercenaries. As such, enslaving them all and knocking down everything won't even change their armies due to the 10k bonus. Fortunately the northern cities seem to have a much larger population, so I expect I will be able to fully populate all of Cisalpine Gaul as we had hoped. Alesia in particular might yeild a nice amount of loot.

Oh, and the other two Legions now have banners, so they have been named.

Legio IV Gallica is stationed near Tarentum.
Levio V Alaudae is stationed in Sicily.

[Glaucus]

So you did knock down every building, not just religous ones? And we aren't occupying them are we?

PS: Ignoramus, you gotta delete some PMs I can't reach you.

[TinCow]

Knocked everything flat (which was only 2 buildings in the case of Comata) and I'm not occupying them. Well, I ended a turn in Comata due to lack of movement, but I'm gone now. It is my plan to permanently occupy Gergovia on my return trip though. It's a good walled city and close enough to Massilia to be of use to us.

There are other enemies and other provinces that should be considered at the moment, but that will have to wait for the mid-term session.

[YAKOBU]

Hi everyone ~:wave:

I have downloaded RTR Platinum but am struggling with the Naval mod. It downloads as M.Nmod[1].14 and my PC cannot handle the extension.

Any ideas?

:charge:

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Can't you just rename the file ?

EDIT : Just rename the file to: M_Nmod.exe and it will work

[YAKOBU]

Cheers DDW ~:cheers:

I have got the mod to work now but it doesn't work on the save game file. When I try and load the save game it CTD's immediately. Point 6 on installation says delete 3 map files but I only found 1.

:charge:

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Try to search for the file map.rwm in the Rome-Total war directory and all its subdirectories (advanced search) and delete any you find.
Can you start a new campaign without problems ?
Are you running BI ? If so, did you install the BI 1.6 update ?
Did you try to see if you could start a new campaign after each part of the installion process ?
I see that econ21 said :
Then rename the coped folder "RTR-Platinum" or something and mod this folder, leaving your vanilla RTW in tact.
That might be the problem as I suspect the M&N mod installs to the default RTW directory. I usually make a backup of my vanilla RTW to 'RTW-vanilla-backup' or something and then continue the patching process using the normal RTW directory. Do you understand what I am saying here ?

On another note, I suspect a possible place where the 'counting of years' has gone wrong is the fighting of battles during the AI's turn. I suspect that if you save a battle where you are attacked by the AI and you load it, then the 4TPY mod is not active, untill after your turn starts and you get the popup. I think the years get added during the turn start, and if the 4TPY mod is not active then, then the years get counted wrong.

[shifty157]

I use the JSGME for switching mods in and out and i am really pleased with how simple and effective it is. You really dont even need a backup when youre working with it though I keep one anyway. It also makes updating to a new mod version much simpler.

[TinCow]

On another note, I suspect a possible place where the 'counting of years' has gone wrong is the fighting of battles during the AI's turn. I suspect that if you save a battle where you are attacked by the AI and you load it, then the 4TPY mod is not active, untill after your turn starts and you get the popup. I think the years get added during the turn start, and if the 4TPY mod is not active then, then the years get counted wrong.

That's not the problem. I have saved the game and passed it on to others three times so far when attacked on the AI's turn. I'm still properly on-track with the dates.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

That's not the problem. I have saved the game and passed it on to others three times so far when attacked on the AI's turn. I'm still properly on-track with the dates.

Well, back to the drawing board :)
The mod switcher is highly recommended by Macedonn, the M&N mod convertor himself. I have not used it myself yet. If it is so handy, perhaps we should add a link to the FAQ.

[TinCow]

Well, back to the drawing board :)
The mod switcher is highly recommended by Macedonn, the M&N mod convertor himself. I have not used it myself yet. If it is so handy, perhaps we should add a link to the FAQ.


I'm not sure if there is a problem at all. I looked at your First Consul report and it appears that you didn't miss any turns.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

I'm not sure if there is a problem at all. I looked at your First Consul report and it appears that you didn't miss any turns.

Well, then it must be that some people have forgotten to turn on 4TPY mod before saving.

[YAKOBU]

DDW - After doing a search as you suggested it showed 5 map.rvm files. I deleted 2 that looked appropriate but there are 3 others:

One is in RTR-Platinum/BI/Data/World/Maps/Base
Another in Sons of Mars
And the third in RTR-Platinum/Rome - Total War.

Should I delete these 3 as well?

Appreciate all the help!! ~:cheers:

:charge:

[Glaucus]

kill them all

[x-dANGEr]

DDW - After doing a search as you suggested it showed 5 map.rvm files. I deleted 2 that looked appropriate but there are 3 others:

One is in RTR-Platinum/BI/Data/World/Maps/Base
Another in Sons of Mars
And the third in RTR-Platinum/Rome - Total War.

Should I delete these 3 as well?

Appreciate all the help!! ~:cheers:

:charge:
Those are the 'musts'. (Unless you have BI, because then their will be a couple more)

[YAKOBU]

Not sure if I've done the right thing but have deleted them all and still the save game won't load. Maybe I should just accept defeat :embarassed: .

:charge:

[x-dANGEr]

A dam starts dying once it leaks the first drop. And so, you shouldn't 'leak' the first defeat.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

A dam starts dying once it leaks the first drop. And so, you shouldn't 'leak' the first defeat.

Very 'dutch' :laugh4:
YAKUBO, x-dANGEr is right. In the words of your John Cleese
Let us not be down on it (or something like that, the man´s a genius :laugh4:)
Please answer my aformentioned questions and list every step you took in the process in excruciating detail and we will try to figure out what went wrong. The more detail, the more likely we can help you.

[Glaucus]

and BTW guys, don't forget to zip the save game files before you put them on the uploader. I noticed some recent ones are plain old .savs You can zip them using winrar, google it and download.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

As the debate in the senate is heating up I just want it to make clear I am acting in character. Out of character, Í can´t wait to tangle with the Iberians and the Germans. They´re a lot more fun to fight than the Gauls :laugh4:
I do hope everyone else feels the same way and is not taking things personally.

[Glaucus]

Yeah man, I'm acting 'in character' also. So don't take anything I say too seriously either. This is my favorite debate to date, and I look forward to your replies on the Senate floor, DDW :laugh4:

[TinCow]

Yes, this is fun, but I am also serious about my statements about the duel. Since this is entirely in-line with Roman politics, I would like to propose the following:

In the event I am not satisfied that my honor has been restored to me, I will play a multiplayer battle with any remaining accuser. Each person will command an identical force consiting of one Legion plus auxilia. The loser of the match will have his in-game character 'disposed of' with a charge into the nearest hostile stack.

About time we had a proper Roman scandal though. The Senate has been entirely too civil lately. I thank DDW and FLYdude for moving onto the impeachment thing. This PBM is actually starting to feel like Rome now! ~D

[x-dANGEr]

Guys.. Someone reply to me, I feel like am a ghost !!

[Silver Rusher]

Could I please join this campaign in the Upper house?

[x-dANGEr]

You're more than welcome from my side. (Espiecially if you second my motions ~:) )

[Silver Rusher]

You're more than welcome from my side. (Espiecially if you second my motions ~:) )
I'll second yours if you second mine ~;)

[econ21]

Could I please join this campaign in the Upper house?

Sure, welcome! ~:wave:

It may be a while before I can find a general to be your avatar, but there are some spies available if you want one of them.

Feel free to participate in the Senate deliberations and to vote on Wednesday.

[Silver Rusher]

Sure, welcome! ~:wave:

It may be a while before I can find a general to be your avatar, but there are some spies available if you want one of them.

Feel free to participate in the Senate deliberations and to vote on Wednesday.
Spies, eh?

I would prefer to have a diplomat. Couldn't the First Consul train one so that I can have him as my avatar, or doesn't it work like that?

Also, can I propose motions without an avatar?

[TinCow]

Yes, you can vote and propose motions without an avatar.

I would like to urge people to avoid using diplomats, assassins and spies as avatars though. For diplomats, the total unwillingness of the AI to negotiate for anything means that pretty much every negotiation is a failure. Despite that, the Senate likes making motions that require attempts at negotiation... this means that diplomats are invariably going to pick up negative traits and lose influnece whether they like it or not. That said, they're still better than spies or assassins. These guys exist to be used and sent on missions. It would be silly to stop using them for their purpose simply because they might die. So far, in my turn at least, I have avoided using spies that represent players for dangerous missions, but this won't always be possible. In addition, the assassin has a very dangerous job and it's only through luck that the current one has survived as long as he has. (The kill he made under me was at about 58% odds... and that was about as good as can be expected for many jobs.)

So, essentially what I'm saying is that diplomats don't have a lot of potential in the long-run and spies and assassins will most likely have exceedingly short life spans. We have a LOT of under-age male family members. I highly encourage people to wait for one of those.

[Silver Rusher]

OK then, I will take a general in that case.

[econ21]

For diplomats, the total unwillingness of the AI to negotiate for anything means that pretty much every negotiation is a failure. Despite that, the Senate likes making motions that require attempts at negotiation... this means that diplomats are invariably going to pick up negative traits and lose influnece whether they like it or not.

That's a good point but I wonder if we can recruit a couple of diplomats that are not player controlled for BS missions that the Senate wants but which are very unlikely to be accepted? If we could reserve the player controlled diplomats for trade rights, maps, donations (us to them) etc, so they can build up influence, it will help them and it may help us if we ever really need a diplomatic mission to succeed.

I haven't checked the library, but I know this may be too late for one of diplomats. Ignoramus, however, was picking up a lot of influence when I sent him on a grand trek for trade rights.

I agree we should discourage more people picking agents as avatars, but we should try to look out for the ones we have.

[TinCow]

Unfortunately, Sextus Antio (Ignoramus) has lost all of his positive traits (actually all of his traits period). He doesn't have any negative ones yet, but his influence is now 100% from ancillaries.

[Glaucus]

In the event I am not satisfied that my honor has been restored to me, I will play a multiplayer battle with any remaining accuser. Each person will command an identical force consiting of one Legion plus auxilia. The loser of the match will have his in-game character 'disposed of' with a charge into the nearest hostile stack.

haha that sounds perfect. It will also force us to make a 'model' legion + alae, for reference when raising new ones. The only thing I can say is, if your not happy with your avatar being 'hooting', don't go off trying to get yourself killed. Otherwise there won't be any crazy politicians roaming around Rome.

[TinCow]

I just realized updated character info is needed for counting votes for the election, but it's too much of a pain to do a full Biography update every 10 turns. From now on at these interim sessions I will just update the influence/subterfuge info in the FAQ style.

Members of the Senate, 268 Autumn

3^Seniority|Player|House|Avatar|d.o.b.|Influence|Notes
7^1|econ21 (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=5907)|Lower|Quintus|327|10|Princeps senatus
7^2| TinCow (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=6193)|Lower|Augustus Verginius|312|7|Senate Librarian
7^3|Tiberius (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=15888)|Upper|Decius Laevinus|287|6|
7^4|Mount Suribachi (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=4682)|Lower|Amulius Coruncanius|283|0|
7^5|Dutch_guy (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=10000)|Upper| Marcus Laevinus|283|0|
7^6|shifty157 (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=10344)|Lower|Publius Laevinius|311|8|Future princeps senatus
7^7|FLYdude (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=3203)| Lower|Tiberius Coruncanius|309|4|
7^8|YAKOBU (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=6712)|Upper|Valerius Paullus|305|3|
7^9|Swordsmaster (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=5716)|Upper|Gaius Rutilus|298|1|
7^10|Glaucus (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=16190)|Lower|Publius Pansa|301|3|
7^11|DDW (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=16745)|Lower|Lucius Amelius|308|9|Senate Fixer
7^12|Marcus Camillus (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=15064)|Upper|Luca Mamilus|297|5|
7^13|GeneralHankerchief (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=16104)|Upper|Quintis Classicianus|303|3s|Spy
7^14|Braden (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=11909)|Upper|Decius Curtius|303|4s|Spy
7^15|Ignoramus (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=10336)|Upper|Sextus Antio|309|3|Diplomat
7^16|Tricky_Lady (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=6199)|Upper|Titus Vatinus|298|0|Controlled by Marcella
7^17|Zomby_Woof (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=14514)|Upper|||0|
7^18|Destroyer of Hope (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=13974)|Lower|Manius Aemilius|290|8|
7^19|Shadeswolf (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=5988)|Upper|||0|
7^20|Craterus (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=11493)|Upper|Placus Laelius|306|7s|Assassin
7^21|Mediobogdum (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=14912)|Upper|||0|
7^22|Wishazu (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=5838)|Upper|Oppius Vintruvius||2|Diplomat
7^23|Zalmoxis (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=10267)|Upper|||0|
7^24|x-DANGEr (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=14914)|Lower|Vibius Pleminius|295|0|
7^25|Silver Rusher (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/member.php?u=7214)|Upper|||0|


Also, just for info, here are the ages of the existing children:

Males: 0, 1, 5, 6, 8, 8, 11
Females: 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think women become marriable at 12. This means we could have 2-3 new avatars available for use before the end of my term. Beyond that it looks like the 4th term will produce only 1 new member but the 5th will produce up to 8.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

About time we had a proper Roman scandal though. The Senate has been entirely too civil lately. I thank DDW and FLYdude for moving onto the impeachment thing. This PBM is actually starting to feel like Rome now! ~D

I couldn't agree more. Still, I'm going to try to quell the 'riot' now as I've grown quite attached to Lucius and I rather suspect you would be a hard opponent in multiplayer :laugh4:
Anyway, I like your idea about settling duels in multiplayer.
Only back now from a sailing trip and I'm really tired, but I'll post in the senate later on. By the way, respect to the USA for the 1-1 against Italy !

p.s. Welcome Silver Rusher !
p.s.s. YAKUBO, having some succes with the install ?

[econ21]

Thanks for updating the influence, TinCow - I've cut and pasted it onto the Senate FAQ. 5 year updates of Senate bios is fine.

I confess I'm not wildly keen about the current in-fighting at the Senate; I always enjoyed the cooperative aspect of PBMs. I certainly won't be fighting any duels in multi-player - I've never done it and probably would be dead before I'd formed up a line of attack. :embarassed:

[YAKOBU]

DDW - Sorry but the install is still not working and Fathers Day took priority today :knuddel:

I wasted a few hours on Saturday trying to get it working and don't want to waste more time on it. I'll see how I feel next weekend and may have another go.

Thanks for your help and that of other members who gave advice ~:cheers:

:charge:

[Braden]

@ TinCow,

Hey! don't worry about my Avatar dying man!! Send me on missions, as many as you want/need/feel like/think of.

Just go for it.

I’ll tell you why its not a problem:

1) I’m a LRP’er and what we learn is to deal with Character Death REALLY well (I lost a 4 year character, a General no less, last year. You just shrug if off and start the next character) :oops:

2) There’s no problem about NOT having an Avatar and voting in the upper house. If my Avatar dies and there isn’t a suitable replacement, I can just revert to “Senator Braden” :skull:

3) I have no attachment to the Avatar, I’d much rather let him get developed as a character with Traits etc by being used by YOU…and I’m happy to take whatever risk is involved thereof….than let him rot not doing anything and wasting the Republics Denarii in upkeep. :no:

So, use Decius Curtius please……use him as you would any other Spy.:2thumbsup:

[econ21]

On the issue of spies dying - what causes it? I guess it is mainly entering enemy settlements (and enemy armies? can they do that?). I'm just wondering what is the point of entering an enemy settlement. I know there's a chance you can open the gates and so take the town in one turn, but I typically avoid that. One turn is not a big deal and with stone walls, the boiling oil etc means its often suicide to enter that way.

I tend to use spies as scouts and to detect assassins - am I missing other tricks?

(I'm just asking out of general curiosity, not specifically about this campaign.)

[TinCow]

On the issue of spies dying - what causes it? I guess it is mainly entering enemy settlements (and enemy armies? can they do that?). I'm just wondering what is the point of entering an enemy settlement. I know there's a chance you can open the gates and so take the town in one turn, but I typically avoid that. One turn is not a big deal and with stone walls, the boiling oil etc means its often suicide to enter that way.

I tend to use spies as scouts and to detect assassins - am I missing other tricks?

(I'm just asking out of general curiosity, not specifically about this campaign.)

Well, any time the spy has less than a 100% chance of success on his mission, he can fail. Unlike for an assassin, failure always means death for a spy. As you may have noticed, I used spies to open gates twice so far in my campaign and I considered them to be particularly important. I admit, it's not often that someone is trying to storm through enemy territories quite as fast as I am (I wanted to rush through and get my army back out safely) however in this case it proved very useful, since Gauls do not have stone walls.

In addition, I always like know the exact composition of enemy armies. Sometimes even having the spy close by won't give you all the info and it will never give you the general's traits/ancillaries. I like knowing before I fight if the guy has a +5 or a -3 morale, it will sometimes effect how I fight.

[Silver Rusher]

Decius Laevinius (Tiberius) has also seconded proposal 6.10. econ21, please edit this into the original post of Senate Deliberations II.

[econ21]

Decius Laevinius (Tiberius) has also seconded proposal 6.10. econ21, please edit this into the original post of Senate Deliberations II.

thanks - I'm grateful if people point out where I've missed stuff like that. It does not really matter as long as motions already have two seconders but this one was important. The deadline for motions is 6pm tomorrow (Tuesday).

[Silver Rusher]

No problem. I think you may have missed out 6.6 as well which was also proposed by Tiberius.

EDIT: Wait, it's alright. That is in, I must be seeing things.

[Mount Suribachi]

Just a quick note to say "I'm back". I'll catch up on everything when I've got a spare 6 hours ~;)

[Silver Rusher]

I have just made a discovery. This may have been discovered a long time ago, but I have just found out that it is possible to change preferences.txt so that you can edit settlement names in-game on RTW patch 1.5. The advantages of this are:

-If Motion 6.10 gets passed, Bononia can be renamed Verginia in-game
-It works on savegames that were saved before the preferences file was changed
-The savegame will still work if the recipient of it has not changed the preferences file AND the settlement will still be renamed.

TinCow, all you need to do is:
1. Go to Activision/Rome - Total War/Preferences/Preferences.txt
2. Use Ctrl+F to find this line: EDIT_SETTLEMENT_NAMES
3. Change it from FALSE to TRUE
4. Save
5. Open up the campaign, double click on Bononia and then double click on the settlement name. You will now be able to edit the name, click the tick when done

econ21, sorry to keep bothering you, but please remove the note from motion 6.10. Plus, I seconded motions 6.6 and 6.7 in my first in-character post, it seems to be important as both these motions have 1 seconder each.

[Craterus]

By the way, don't worry about giving my assassin cushy jobs. He's there to be used, but I'm not around much for the next two weeks. Sorry!

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Excellent work Silver Rusher !

[x-dANGEr]

Silver Rusher also seconded Motion 6.7.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Some tips, after I have been struggling with a CTD in my Egyptian campaign :

If you change you startup command to

RomeTW.exe -show_err -nm

It will 'try' to show an error message if RTR crashes. This usually fails, but it might be handy for people struggling with install problems. The -nm option skips the intro movie.

Also, for those who get a CTD in their campaign. Reboot, load the game and turn fog of war off.
1. ~ => console
2. toggle_fow off
3. ~ => remove console
You can turn it of fog of war on after passing the critical moment where the CTD occurs with 'toggle_fow on'
Save the game and try again.

If it still fails and it fails during the AI's turn, set the speed of movement of units on the campaign map to slow ('spacebar') and save the game the moment the faction under which the crash occurs gets its turn. After the crash, reload, and try the new save. Chances are good the CTD will not occur.

It might be handy to add this to the FAQ.

[TinCow]

I confess I'm not wildly keen about the current in-fighting at the Senate; I always enjoyed the cooperative aspect of PBMs. I certainly won't be fighting any duels in multi-player - I've never done it and probably would be dead before I'd formed up a line of attack. :embarassed:

For someone who isn't keen, you've taken to it with impressive gusto. I definitely think this is the best Senate session we've had to date. ~:thumb:

On another note, why is this interim session so long? Don't we usually have one day of proposals and one day of voting? Now we have 3.5 days of proposals and 1 day of voting. Unfortunately I will now be away from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. I was hoping to finish up my turn before then, but that won't be possible if I have to shuffle the save game file around more than once or twice. So, sorry in advance for any delay.

[econ21]

For someone who isn't keen, you've taken to it with impressive gusto.

Um, sorry about that - I may have gone a little over the top. I was stung by your PMs ("TinCow won't let me play!" :cry:).

Memo to self: never post after midnight. :embarassed:

In character, Quintus has tried to play it straight with other people, but Verginius seems a little bit of sharp operator and the old man got riled.

I was reading the EB forums the other day and they were saying how they wished they could make it so that Roman generals would try to assassinate each other. At first, I thought it was strange and then I started thinking about the TV Series Rome and the way this PBEM is going ... :scared:

[econ21]

On another note, why is this interim session so long? Don't we usually have one day of proposals and one day of voting?

We normally have two days of proposals and one day of voting. Last time Swordsmaster requested an extra day for proposals; DDW agreed and no one dissented. Given that you finished so quickly in the weekend, I thought it would be ok but I was figuring on people wanting to play in the weekends. If there is room on the ballot paper, I might sneak in an out of character vote on whether people want 3 or 4 day interim sessions of senate.

But if can keep to roughly two weeks/First Consul we'll be keeping to a good pace. If you are out of town this weekend and we wait a few more days, it won't be a problem. I know you are reliable and play fast; and anyway this PBM seems to have retained people's attention so far.

[TinCow]

Ideally I would like to see voting blocs start to form... certain Senators supporting each other over the long-term and gaining votes by providing 'benefits' to independants. We can all beat this game on VH/VH while at war with everybody, so the challenge isn't in expanding Rome. I think the reason this is going so well is that we're pretending to be the Senate itself. There's only limited potential in a discussion that is designed only to figure out who will play next and which territories to conquer. There's unlimited potential if people treat their characters as Roman patricians whose actions are highly centered in their own personal motives and best interests. Personally, I would love to get a 'hooting' avatar next time. I would write some very interesting stuff and trust me, you'd love the motions I would propose!

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

This is what a real Ceasar should have as a trait :
https://img209.imageshack.us/img209/7654/swear6hm3gh.jpg (https://imageshack.us)

For myself only one trait would do :
https://img222.imageshack.us/img222/2268/perfection5ps.jpg (https://imageshack.us)

I'm in the 'Peace/Balance of Power' Bloc myself, at least with this character. A better name would be 'The Conservative Bloc'.

By the way, in my M/VH campaign I have an alliance with almost everyone and diplomacy 'works' a lot better. Perhaps just a bit too easy. Perhaps H/VH (or H/M or whatever) would be a better choice for tWotS II : Revenge of the Republic. Then alliance proposals would have some meaning.
Then again, in my VH/VH campaign, at the end when I was the only remaining superpower other nations gave in out of sheer awe (and 20-50K dinari).

EDIT : If we really want to we could lower the campaign difficulty by editing the savegame using a tool like RomeSage.

[Mount Suribachi]

Hehe, we are the Boni DDW :rtwyes:

As for campaign difficulty, the settings I find majorly sucky. At Medium you can actually get alliances, trade maps etc and Naval Battles are reasonably balanced (still with a slight favour to the AI IMO). On H & VH diplomacy just becomes ridiculous, with the AI demanding outrageous compensation for the slightest favour - even if it benefits them. And don't even get me started on Naval battles.....

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Hehe, we are the Boni DDW :rtwyes:


Good thinking, shall we call ourselves the Optimates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimates) or the Boni ?

[TinCow]

This is what a real Ceasar should have as a trait :
https://img209.imageshack.us/img209/7654/swear6hm3gh.jpg (https://imageshack.us)

LOL, that would certainly make Senate speeches more... colorful.

[Glaucus]

haha, does anyone know any latin swears?

[TinCow]

haha, does anyone know any latin swears?

Would this do?

http://news.bostonherald.com/images/localRegional/scaliagesture03302006.jpg

On a semi-related topic, I'm at around 250BC in a SP game I'm playing with the same mods. My current new crop of family members has massive trait bug problems with people coming of age with stuff like Former General and Military Service - 16 Years in addition to tons of random traits. We are definitely going to start encountering this, particularly with the current slew of underage males. I would like to propose that we keep track of the most unrealistic traits and remove their impact on character influence for voting purposes. If we agree to this, I'll make a note on the Bio of all members with clearly buggy traits that indicates what their influence adjustment should be.

[Avicenna]

I know one insult:

stultissimus es!

Means 'you are the stupidest!'

Note: there aren't meant to be capitals, which is what lots and lots and lots of people get wrong with latin. Only proper nouns are capitalised.

[Mount Suribachi]

haha, does anyone know any latin swears?

Hehe, you need to read The Masters Of Rome Series ~;)

Some of them are so obvious & strong that I'll probably get in trouble. But an obvious one that might not would be fellator for a man, or fellatrix for a woman.

[Mount Suribachi]

On a semi-related topic, I'm at around 250BC in a SP game I'm playing with the same mods. My current new crop of family members has massive trait bug problems with people coming of age with stuff like Former General and Military Service - 16 Years in addition to tons of random traits. We are definitely going to start encountering this, particularly with the current slew of underage males. I would like to propose that we keep track of the most unrealistic traits and remove their impact on character influence for voting purposes. If we agree to this, I'll make a note on the Bio of all members with clearly buggy traits that indicates what their influence adjustment should be.

Can you not just edit stuff somewhere to remove unwanted traits?

(I have no idea about these things btw, but it seems like the kind of thing you could edit)


Good thinking, shall we call ourselves the Optimates or the Boni ?

Thing is, I think Cato the Younger was a complete &(^%$^^&$ who was almost single-handedly responsible for the civil war that led to the downfall of the Republic, yet here I am advocating much of his policy....

[econ21]

Can you not just edit stuff somewhere to remove unwanted traits?

TinCow, I wonder if you could post your latest solo game save? Then I could download it and look at the buggy traits. I'm not a modder, but if we can identify triggers, there might be something we can do - e.g. disabling "like his father" trait or something. Marcus Camillus seems preoccupied with the next version of Platinum and may not provide a solution in time.

[Braden]

Latin expletives (rather ones I use on a regular basis):

ecki mama! (means: “What a tit!”)

testiculos! (…erm….I’m sure you can work this one out)

N.B. Not sure I have spellings correct, no time to check them.

[Ignoramus]

That table on page 2 lists that I have 3 influence. How is that?

[TinCow]

TinCow, I wonder if you could post your latest solo game save? Then I could download it and look at the buggy traits. I'm not a modder, but if we can identify triggers, there might be something we can do - e.g. disabling "like his father" trait or something. Marcus Camillus seems preoccupied with the next version of Platinum and may not provide a solution in time.

Marcus has already concluded that the problem is both the "like his father" and "not like his father" traits. Is there a way to alter the traits of an existing character? If so, we could manually edit out the problems when the character comes of age.


That table on page 2 lists that I have 3 influence. How is that?

Your failed negotiations with Germany, Iberia, Illyria, Greece and Macedon removed your + influence traits. You currently get +3 from two ancilleries and have no traits at all.

[econ21]

Marcus has already concluded that the problem is both the "like his father" and "not like his father" traits. Is there a way to alter the traits of an existing character? If so, we could manually edit out the problems when the character comes of age.

And does Marcus's conclusion match your observations from your solo game? ie is it only characters with those two traits that are problematic?

I am not sure we can edit the traits of an existing character, although DDW did mention a programme for editing savegames.

However, I am pretty sure we could be able to edit the traits file to the benefit of future generals. I'll investigate commenting out or deleting those two traits you mention. If anyone has ever played around with the traits file and wants to do that for us, that would be appreciated. If it looks too tricky for me, I may e-mail Marcus to see if he can be persuaded to do the work for us.

[TinCow]

And does Marcus's conclusion match your observations from your solo game? ie is it only characters with those two traits that are problematic?

I am not sure we can edit the traits of an existing character, although DDW did mention a programme for editing savegames.

However, I am pretty sure we could be able to edit the traits file to the benefit of future generals. I'll investigate commenting out or deleting those two traits you mention. If anyone has ever played around with the traits file and wants to do that for us, that would be appreciated. If it looks too tricky for me, I may e-mail Marcus to see if he can be persuaded to do the work for us.

Yes, it completely matches my observations for one main reason: only "Coming of Age" characters are bugged. Since characters created by marriages and adoptions do not have 'fathers' from which to inherit anything, they are always 100% normal, yet every single Coming of Age character demonstrates some degree of buginess. All of my CoA guys now are born with at least a Former ________ and military service. Deleting those two (Like His Father & Not Like His Father) might work and we would lose far less than we would gain, since they are currently so buggy. We have plenty of time to work on this though, since no males will come of age during the remainder of my term. We can test out changes in the meantime.

Shots of some of my screwy guys. Manius has been around for a while, but compare his rank and his military service. The other two should be obvious.

https://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b203/TinCow/problemchild.jpg
https://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b203/TinCow/screwy1.jpg
https://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b203/TinCow/screwy2.jpg

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

I think removing the 'father' traits will be very disruptive to character evolution. Characters tend to evolve in a single direction. Without these traits, especially the 'not like his father' trait, in several generations all the members of a family line will have extreme values for the traits their fathers started with. We need the 'mutation' of this trait to keep the balance.
We should look for another way to solve this. Initally, removing the offending traits from 'wierd' characters seems to be a better option.

Here's a good thread on diplomacy :
http://forums.rometotalrealism.org/index.php?showtopic=21614
Seems like Marcus will try to improve the diplomacy settings in RTR 1.6

EDIT : The discussion considering the trait problem starts from this page :
http://forums.rometotalrealism.org/index.php?showtopic=8656&st=340

EDIT : RomeSage can be downloaded here :
http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/?mod=448

RomeSAGE currently supports the following options:
o Campaign difficulty
o Battle difficulty
o Battle time limit on or off (as per MarkP's great TiLiN tool).
o Short or long campaign
o Changing the unit scale (also known as unit size).
o Changing year and season. This does not undo any other changes that may have occurred in the game.

So unfortunately this does not allow us to edit traits on existing characters. We could downtune the campaign difficulty to make diplomacy more effective.

There is however a Traits and Ancillaries File Validator that helps to find errors in the traits file, and I know Marcus uses it, so there are no obvious errors in the 4TPY mod.
http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/?mod=670

There is also an Ancillary Editor :
http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/?mod=787

EDIT :
Couple of weeks ago I went to the trouble of finding a very good and funny thread on traits and got the moderator to pin it :
Miniguide to your Generals command trait increasing (http://forums.rometotalrealism.org/index.php?showtopic=16484)
Read it at your leisure.

[Ignoramus]

Your failed negotiations with Germany, Iberia, Illyria, Greece and Macedon removed your + influence traits. You currently get +3 from two ancilleries and have no traits at all.

No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am not happy!

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

I finally found out how to remove (and add) traits to characters during the game :

For all details, see my post on the RTRPE forum (http://forums.rometotalrealism.org/index.php?s=&showtopic=21621&view=findpost&p=274682)

I suggest all nonsense traits to be removed from the 'warped' characters and their military service reset to a 'normal' level.

EDIT :
This gives us very interesting possibilities for role-playing in the senate.
We could for example give a character the 'disgraced' trait if he is succesfully impeached by the senate.
Augustus Verginius qualifies for 'dispises Trouser Wearers' or 'hates smelly barbarians'
The possibilities are endless : Glory Hunter, Great Orator, Spin Doctor, etc...
Note : many of these traits are no longer present in RTRPE or have other names.

[TinCow]

That looks somewhat confusing, but I think we can figure it out. I particularly like the idea of adding traits to a character. Stuff like 'disgraced' could be added through motions like anything else. For example:

Motion 0.0: This Motion impeaches Senator Bob Smith and gives him the 'disgraced' trait.

[Braden]

TinCow,

I like THAT idea alot!! Obviously the unfortunate could win his honour back and be accepted by the Senate to have that trait removed again....

....capital idea.

[econ21]

TinCow: your mail box is full, please can you clean up some space so I can PM you? (although the short reply to your last PM is "fine").

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Could someone please post something like :

That's amazing research work, DDW. You rule ! Keep it up !

It would do wonders for my ego. :trytofly:

(Having a bad day at the office and have to do taxes tonight :wall:)

[x-dANGEr]

That's amazing research work, DDW. You rule ! Keep it up !

That's amazing research work, DDW. You rule ! Keep it up !

That's amazing research work, DDW. You rule ! Keep it up !

That's amazing research work, DDW. You rule ! Keep it up !

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Thanks a lot :2thumbsup:
I feel better already :balloon2:

[x-dANGEr]

I mean it-- ----(0-0)
------ - - -----( ^ )

[TinCow]

TinCow: your mail box is full, please can you clean up some space so I can PM you? (although the short reply to your last PM is "fine").

Sorry, even with a 75 limit it gets filled up fast in this PBM. Emptied out a ton.

I will give the trait editing a try tonight. If successful I will edit remove "Military Service - 8 Years" and "Former Legate" from our first problem child, Marcus Laevinus. He has a ton of other traits that I think should be removed or reduced, but I don't want to do that unilaterally. Opinions on what else should be altered, if anything, are welcome.

https://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b203/TinCow/Senate%20Consulship/marcus_laevinus_271.jpg

Also, it seems I won't be AWOL this weekend. My wife and I were going to go backpacking, but the weather report shows severe rain all three days, so we're going to postpone.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Bummer about the backpacking, TinCow. I think I will still go sailing sunday, but it will also be miserable weather here then. Still looking for volunteers to man the boat ~:)

I say leave him all those other traits, none of them are 'earned' traits. I might be a trial for Marcus Laevinus to deliver an agitated, restrained, yet tedious speech that does credit to his being a political animal tough ~:)
If you have trouble let me know, and tell me which save game and I'll have a look myself.

Thanks again, x-dANGEr, some days it is wiser just to stay in bed :coffeenews:
At least I've finally got the bloody taxes done. Do you believe the Dutch tax service has 'We can't make it any more fun' as their credo ??? The gall of these people !

[TinCow]

It works. For future reference, here are the commands to use for the two I have done so far:

Removes any "Former _____" trait:
give_trait "CHARACTER NAME" "Former_Military_Service" 0

Removes all Military Service if the starting amount is 9 years or less:
give_trait "CHARACTER NAME" "Military_Service_Years_1to9" 0

[econ21]

I'm glad DDW and TinCow have made such good progress with the traits. You could ask Dutch_guy what he thinks about his traits, but I agree with DDW what's left seem ok - quite an interesting personality, in fact!

TinCow, I've edited the Senate Library to reflect the transfer of Vibius Pleminius from Zomby_woof to x-DANGEr.

I'm wondering about a "statute of limitations" on Senate motions. Say after 20 years, they are void unless put to a new vote? That - together with the rule that earlier motions trump later ones unless expressly invalidated - might avoid some of the complications with contradictory legislation.

[TinCow]

So far I've been deleting them from the Library (essentially removing them from law) once I've seen that they've been fulfilled or made redundant. Let's say that from now on, all motions apply only to the current Consulship, unless the motion states otherwise.

I think Motion 3.13 should remain permanent, but the rest of the remaining motions from sessions 1-4 should be pretty much obsolete after my term (1.5 expires anyway, 1.9 is obsolete, I frankly don't care about 1.10 and neither have occurred yet anywya, 4.7 has been tried I think)

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Well done, Tincow.
I agree with motions lasting only the consul's term, except if they are really permanent.

Permanent motions in my view :
3.13
4.7 (just keep trying I say. They'll give in eventually, in 100 years or so.)
6.11

I must say I found 1.10 a nice touch, but I don't particulary care also. With only six ancilliaries there are so many other ones I want ~:)

[Glaucus]

About motion 1.10, is there a way to give an ancillary to a character like traits? If not could we perhaps decide upon a trait that is close to the same thing, and give that using what DDW found out.

P.S. That's amazing research work, DDW. You rule ! Keep it up !

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Good thinking Glaucus,

I'll look into that soon. There are several traits that would qualify and I'd have to make a list. There is also the Ancillary Editor, but I have not tested that yet.

Off to bed,
Cheerio,
Lodewijk (DDW)

EDIT : p.s. and thanks ~:)

[TinCow]

I would prefer a trait to an ancillary, since I need all the military ones I can get at the moment.

[Mount Suribachi]

Simon, nice touch at the end of your write up with the seasons/men left. Reminded me of the episode of Battlestar Gallictica I was watching last night, were after every Cylon attack they would re-calculate the number of human souls left...

[econ21]

Simon, nice touch at the end of your write up with the seasons/men left. Reminded me of the episode of Battlestar Gallictica I was watching last night, were after every Cylon attack they would re-calculate the number of human souls left...

Subconsciously, that could be where I got the idea from[1]. I love that show. I've seen up to the end of the latest series and it just keeps getting better. Some of the characters are quite mesmerising.

[1]Although the most memorable countdown I ever saw was on the blackboard of a Kenyan primary school classroom "278 days to the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education" (ie an exam). Poor kids. :no:

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Here is a list of traits that could replace the Librarian or Scribe. This is most likely not a complete list and some of these traits may not exists in RTRPE.

Sane is a very powerful (hidden) trait as it makes you immune to all kinds of nasty traits.

Lively is one of the best traits you can have.

I am inclined to suggest giving the Office of Aedile to Lucius and the Office of Censor to Augustus, but I am open to all views.

Bureaucrat
Engineer
Epic Poet
Even-Handed
Excellent Builder
Expert
Firm Personal Morality
Fond of Ribald Rhymes
Genius
Good Honest Roman
Great Architect
Great Builder
Honest
Intelligent
Jobs-worth
Just
Lively
Logistician
Logistics Expert
Master Trader
Mathematician
Natural Philosopher
No Enemies
Office of Aedile
Office of Censor
Philosopher
Philosophically Inclined
Philosophy Expert
Poet
Sane
Sharp
Skilled Bureaucrat
Strategic Expert
Strategist
Superb Bureaucrat
Superior Builder
Superior Engineer
Superior Trader
Tactical Expert
Tactician
Tax Assessor
Trader
True Roman
Understanding of Logistic
Understanding of Mathematics
Understanding of Philosophy
Understanding of Strategy
Understanding of Tactics
Upright
Very Lively
Virtus

For the menaing of the traits I refer you to Spartan's Trait guide (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/?mod=44)

On Battlestar Galactica, except for the gorgeous Cylon girl, I can't say I found it as good as the old series. 'Face' just made that series :laugh4:

[econ21]

I am inclined to suggest giving the Office of Aedile to Lucius and the Office of Censor to Augustus

I agree - the Censor is responsible for the census, which is close to what TinCow is doing in the Senate Library. AFAIK, it gives +3 influence +2 management, so it is quite a nice reward but then the job is quite onerous too.

The Aedile is responsible for maintenance and public order, which is close to what DDW is doing keeping up with the software issues. It gives +1 law +1 management, so it is no big deal but if DDW is happy with it, so I am.


On Battlestar Galactica, except for the gorgeous Cylon girl, I can't say I found it as good as the old series. 'Face' just made that series :laugh4:

You mean the old Starbuck? True, he was fun although I am quite captivated by his female replacement. But there really was no one else interesting in the older show. The good thing about the current series is the acting ensemble - just compare Baltar this time round (a sort of Dr Bashir from DS9 gone bad on crack) with the insipid chap last time or, even more tellingly, compare the Boomers. The lead Cylon girl does not do much for me (aside from when she played the vulnerable Pegasus prisoner), but Boomer is pretty interesting.

For example, there is a scene towards the end of the first series where she is a crying emotional wreck with the Chief one second, then leaves the room and strides confidently across the deck like a jackbooted Nazi the next. That split second transformation was just awesome, given the accompanying plot revelation.

Sorry for getting off-topic.

[TinCow]

Good to see a few BSG fans. It's the absolute favorite show in my house.

I agree with the Censor and Aedile traits as well. The +3 influence isn't that big a deal for Verginius because he's at 9 influence at the moment anyway, and I believe 10 is the max.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

I'm prefectly happy with the office of Aedile. Considering countdowns, the most ghastly one I've seen is the Death clock (google), which is probably the most depressing thing ever coded.

[shifty157]

Sorry ive been sidetracked for a bit. Whats the latest with the campaign?

[TinCow]

Read the First Consul Reports. It's up to date. Though perhaps the last couple pages of the Deliberations are worth reviewing as well. (Everything since the interim session finished.)

[shifty157]

the FCRs mostly deal with our landing in Greece. Has anything happened on our northern border? Where is Legio III at the moment?

[Glaucus]

why don't you update your save folder with the latest save, and check it out?

[econ21]

Just to say, I've posted the latest of Quintus's Apollonia diary.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

I the Greeks keep this up you can hold out for 582/6 = 97 battles.
I think your reinforcements will have arrived by then :laugh4:

[Avicenna]

Killing a Greek army with six men might be a tiny bit challenging. ~;)

But then of course, that's just me.

[x-dANGEr]

Just for role-play reasons, has Vibius Pleminius (My avatar) yet reached the city?

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Tiberius, he lost just six men in his first battle. If the Greeks keep sending tiny armies, he should be able to keep it up for 97 battles ~:)

[Mount Suribachi]

Just to say, I've posted the latest of Quintus's Apollonia diary.


Simon, in future could you add a post each time you do a report, rather than editing your current one? I nearly missed your update as it wasn't down as an unread thread.



Regarding the editing of traits - I was wondering if we could take this a bit further and actually asign the Consul trait to the current holder, and when their 5 years is up, give them the Former Consul trait?

Also related to Consuls, in the RP-ing sense, now that we're getting something of an Empire together, shouldn't we give former Consuls a nice cushy (and profitable for them ~;) ) Governorship after they leave the Ivory Chair? We will soon have 3 former Consuls (assuming Quintus lives that long), so how about the 3 largest cities all get a former Consul as governor?

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Regarding the editing of traits - I was wondering if we could take this a bit further and actually asign the Consul trait to the current holder, and when their 5 years is up, give them the Former Consul trait?

Also related to Consuls, in the RP-ing sense, now that we're getting something of an Empire together, shouldn't we give former Consuls a nice cushy (and profitable for them ~;) ) Governorship after they leave the Ivory Chair? We will soon have 3 former Consuls (assuming Quintus lives that long), so how about the 3 largest cities all get a former Consul as governor?

I recommend against adding the consul trait to the 'acting consul'. This might cause a nasty bug as it will mean the character has 'inconsistent' traits as he will not have enough military service to atually qualify for having that trait. It seems the engine is pretty forgiving about characters having impossible traits, like a trait and its antitrait for example, but why push it ?

My recommendation is that consuls can serve as active consuls for five years and then take up a governship as former consuls. I will do that with my character if he lives that long. I would make this entirely voluntary on the part of the players.

On this issue I will also recommend giving econ21 the office of Pontifex Maximus.

[TinCow]

Just for role-play reasons, has Vibius Pleminius (My avatar) yet reached the city?

Yes, I mentioned that briefly in the First Consul report (it doesn't show new post because I edit the old one). He was involved in the most recent battle w/ the stack with the Spartans.

[econ21]

Quintus is now an ex-Consul because he is governor of Apollonia. Spend two seasons in a settlement and you lose the Roman command traits, becoming ex-whatever.

I agree as a general guideline that a more passive posting is suitable for the first 5 years after being a First Consul, to simulate them stepping down. I would not want to make it permanent though.

Don't worry about giving Quintus an office - he is not long for this world. But TinCow can feel free to assign the other to offices to himself and DDW in lieu of the ancillaries we voted for them.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Don't worry about giving Quintus an office - he is not long for this world. But TinCow can feel free to assign the other to offices to himself and DDW in lieu of the ancillaries we voted for them.

I disagree. You have done more for this PBeM than TinCow or me and it would feel wrong for me if you were not awarded with something also. If not Quintus, then your next character. Besides, I think it would be pretty neat to have an official Pontifex Maximus ~:)

[econ21]

If not Quintus, then your next character.

Ok, you've persuaded me. :2thumbsup: I think these offices are for the player, not the character, so they should be passed on to our next characters as well, so long as we keep working for the PBM.

The Office of Pontifex Maximus is a Senate position responsible for religion and morals; AFAIK the trait gives +4 influence. Quintus is already his influence cap of 10, but it would be a big deal for a youngster.

[TinCow]

Quintus is already his influence cap of 10, but it would be a big deal for a youngster.

Which you may have soon. I played the battle through once and lost. I managed to kill a bit over 50% of them, including the general, but they simply overwhelmed me. I probably could have done a bit better, but you're really going to have to pull off something spectacular to win this battle. No matter what you do, heavy use of both bodyguards is required, and since 90% of the Greek army is hoplites, that poses high risks. I think the Senate Memorial will be opening soon.

[x-dANGEr]

Why is it so hard is because of the bug about the 'spear butt'.. As when you charge a phalanx in the rear, you lose a 'lot' of your men to it, just because of that bug that gives 'braced' bonus not only against charges from front, but from behind too.. Oh, and it was introduced in 1.3 and continued in 1.5, and it is really annoying, more and specially in MP battles.

[TinCow]

No, it's the RTR changes. In RTR cavalry is designed for one thing and one thing only: charging. Once they charge, they have to be withdrawn quickly or they will be slaughtered... they don't have the stats for melee with infantry. Top it off with the fact that it's difficult for a cavalry unit to get up enough speed for a charge in a city and the anti-cavalry bonus that spear units get, and you're asking for a dead general. Not that it makes a difference in this battle as far as I can see. I've played it three times now and never gotten close to a victory. econ21 is a very good player and if anyone can pull it off, he can... but this one has me beat.

[x-dANGEr]

I do understand the RTR changes.. But upon charging in the normal in MP, my men get slaughtered, whatever they were and whatever they're charging (As long as it is phalanx), so nowadays cav is like a 1 blow unit.. Just my last battle, I waited till I found the right spot to charge Seleucids with my Sacred Bands, I charged and routed their whole army, but yet lost my 3 Sacred band units..

[Avicenna]

Tiberius, he lost just six men in his first battle. If the Greeks keep sending tiny armies, he should be able to keep it up for 97 battles ~:)

DDW, by the time he's at the 97th battle, he'll have nought but 6 men remaining. I seriously doubt his ability to win at that stage ~;)

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

DDW, by the time he's at the 97th battle, he'll have nought but 6 men remaining. I seriously doubt his ability to win at that stage ~;)

True enough :~)

[Mount Suribachi]

Ahhh, now thats what I'm talking about! Good ole epic battles, just like we used to have in MTW ~;) I'm guessing the timer ran out, right?

Outstanding write-up Simon, one of your best :bow:

[x-dANGEr]

Man.. You made me wish I was Pleminius for real.. ~:)

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Excellent write up, Simon. Keep up the good work :~)

[flyd]

I wonder if DDW will take an anti-Iberian stance in this campaign after today, specifically with the objective of making the region of Lusitania uninhabitable. ~;)

[GeneralHankerchief]

Ah, this is why I joined the campaign- epic battles, beautiful write-ups. I'm definitely going to move to the Lower House once my character dies.

...of course, this would first require me to get better at battles so I don't completely panic when faced with a situation like Appollonia... :juggle2:

[econ21]

I'm definitely going to move to the Lower House once my character dies.

That could be quite a wait - you don't have to wait that long. Just post here the moment you want to join the Lower House and I'll put you in the fast tracked Lower House queue for new generals (x-DANGEr is the only one in that queue at the moment). I think TinCow said we have some kids who will be maturing quite soon and more settlements should lead to more generals too.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Glad to know that there will be a character waiting for me when I join, but I'll wait a bit anyway. I want to make sure there is a lot of time available when I download everything required, and after that I'm going to need some time to practice battling in RTR.

[Glaucus]

Well, I have really enjoyed this PBeM. But I have to leave this great Senate this wednesday to go work at a sleep away camp. Should be good fun, though it does mean no total war for two whole months! I might suffer from withdrawl. Anyway, come wednesday, Publius Pansa I guess is up for grabs. I hope this is still going in August when I return, so I can pick up a new guy and continue. Until then though, Strength and Honor to you all!

[Mount Suribachi]

...of course, this would first require me to get better at battles so I don't completely panic when faced with a situation like Appollonia... :juggle2:


I wouldn't worry about that, the Romans had plenty of generals who did panic in battle ~;) Seriously though, I'm sure you're not that bad, Roman armies in the game do tend to pwn everything and the less said about the AI the better. And I don't mind losing battles in PBEMs, they make it MUCH more interesting than just blitzing the map. You get stuck into that Lower House!

Glaucus have fun mate :wave:

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

I wonder if DDW will take an anti-Iberian stance in this campaign after today, specifically with the objective of making the region of Lusitania uninhabitable. ~;)

Good idea, I'll see what can be done :~)

Glaucus, lots of fun ! We will surely miss your input on the senate floor.

For your amusement and historical value :
Centurion (http://www.abandonia.com/games/en/23/Centurion.htm)
Walls of Rome (http://www.abandonia.com/games/844/WallsofRome.htm)

Finally, I went to the trouble to find out if there really is a bug in VH combat in RTW that makes it very easy. It turns out there actually is such a bug, but only in the custom battles. So VH battles in the the campaign are really VH. It have not been able to determine if this bug in custom battles was patched out.

[econ21]

It have not been able to determine if this bug in custom battles was patched out.

I'm pretty sure it was.

[x-dANGEr]

Yes, because a Sughidian Warriors unit can beat a Plumbtarii unit easily on medium, but also lose easily against it on VH.

EDIT: Oh adn give me an avatar come on, so I can discuss you in the 'in-character' thread..

[econ21]

EDIT: Oh adn give me an avatar come on, so I can discuss you in the 'in-character' thread..

You can post as an anon Senator in the in-character thread - some of the Upper House still have to do that.

I will give you an avatar just as soon as TinCow updates the bios in the Senate library. I think a young new general has been spawned, although apparently he has virtually no vices or virtues yet.

There's also the possibility of taking over Publius Pansa from Glaucus, although you'd have to wait until after Wednesday for him.

BTW, if anyone else wants to make a bid for an avatar (e.g. someone with an agent who wants a general or an Upper House member without one), now is the time. I normally assign them by "seniority" but where players have not voted or participated much, I don't feel obliged to follow that too strictly. I suspect, everyone should have avatars over the next 5-10 years anyway.

EDIT: Ok, I've looked at the 265 savegame and you can take Gnaeus Hordeonius, aged 21, a tribune and "in the pink".

[Glaucus]

EDIT: Oh adn give me an avatar come on, so I can discuss you in the 'in-character' thread..

You can have Publius Pansa on wednesday. I want to debate one more time though ;)

I'll PM with some stuff about him.

[Tricky Lady]

Hiya, anyone who wants to run for consul but currently without an avatar can always take mine. I believe Titus Vatinius has quite good leadership and command traits, and it looks like I won't be running for the lower house in this campaign so... :juggle2: Should anyone be interested, I'm always willing to swap my character for a less military-like one.

Oh, and sorry for not being more active in the senate deliberations; I'm currently in the middle of a move and I'm trying to sell my appartment so I'm quite busy the last weeks. Still related to the move: seems like I forgot to make sure I have internet in the new house (how could I forget this :furious3: !!!) so there's a big chance I will be offline for a couple of weeks starting from the beginning of July.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

NEWS UPDATE :
Some [expletive deleted][expletive deleted] hacker has wrecked the RTR site. That's soooooooo immature.

[GeneralHankerchief]

I just saw the updated library.

Excellent work, TinCow, it is much appreciated.

However, I do believe we are missing the memorial section, seeing as how young Pleminius is no longer with us.

[TinCow]

Yes, I'm not quite done but the Mrs. requires help with dinner. I'll finish the rest off in a couple hours once I've got some food and a nice bottle of wine in me.

[x-dANGEr]

For those who didn't like the last expedition (Not only in RP), I must tell you that we should do more like it. Playing against the odds makes for really great exciting battles like that one.

[econ21]

In view of the absence of any declared candidates for First Consul, I am going to allow x-DANGEr to use Publius Pansa now if he wishes to run for First Consul. Publius Pansa has stood in the past and is one of the most suitable in-character generals for the post in terms of age etc. I don't want us to recycle past First Consuls just yet. I've sent PMs to shifty157 and FLYdude to see if they want to stand again. But competition is always good.

[econ21]

For those who didn't like the last expedition (Not only in RP), I must tell you that we should do more like it. Playing against the odds makes for really great exciting battles like that one.

Yes, I've go to agree. The way to make RTR (or any RTW game) fun is to handicap yourself with houserules etc. Fighting with mainly Praetorian armies (half stacks) is one way to do it. I suggest we follow a guideline that the only full stack army should be the Consular Army (we may get a second at some point). This is only a guideline - if the barbarians got to Roma, for example, then the gloves would be off. Of course, if we do this, we will have to be careful - as the last battle of Apollonia[1] showed, in RTR morale is so high, numbers can ultimately be decisive.

Of course, it is quite reasonable for people to role-play disapproving of such high-risk ventures as the Apollonia expedition.

[1]Not sure why people refer to it as the 3rd battle of Apollonia, BTW - in some ways, it was the fifth.

[SwordsMaster]

On a different note, I would suggest a bit of moving around of governors, as some (my avatar in particular) has started to develop drinking vices, and that is never good. I also imagine there must be more like him...

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Alternatively, we could change the campaign settings.

If we set campaign difficulty to HARD, we will not be faced with endless stacks by the AI (as it lacks the 10K denarii bonus each turn), but the diplomacy will be a bit better. We can compensate for this by setting the combat difficulty to VERY HARD, which will make the battles more challenging.

I'm currently running a H/VH campaign and managed to make some alliances and other deals and the campaign seems to be slightly slower paced, but more realistic.

On the matter of governors, bad traits will start to appear if :
A) more as 10K in treasury and nothing is build in settlement
B) more as 50K in treasury
C) Spends time in settlement with taxes set to anything else but 'high'. So 'very high' will also lead to bad traits (wildly extravagant and so on). Lower as 'high' will give useless assessor and so on.

[econ21]

Swordsmaster - that's a good point. Senators should keep an eye on their avatars and lobby to make sure their interests are protected. Offering your vote as an inducement, as you have done, seems a very effective way of lobbying! First Consuls shoult try to nurture their generals, but it is easy to overlook things sometimes.

DDW, I want to keep with this difficulty level. The two 1:2 odds battles I've fought - in Sardinia and Appollonia - were definitely challenging. Maybe the Gauls crumble more easily, although even then I've been crushed by them in some battles in other games. I think the quality of the AI general matters a lot. With 10 stars, as they can often have in this mod, the troops are very reluctant to rout.

[TinCow]

In view of the absence of any declared candidates for First Consul, I am going to allow x-DANGEr to use Publius Pansa now if he wishes to run for First Consul. Publius Pansa has stood in the past and is one of the most suitable in-character generals for the post in terms of age etc. I don't want us to recycle past First Consuls just yet. I've sent PMs to shifty157 and FLYdude to see if they want to stand again. But competition is always good.

I would suggest that Luca Mamilius also be made available for any Upper House member who would like to move to the Lower House. Marcus hasn't posted at all and it would be a shame to see a great avatar like Luca go to waste. Also, remember that Gnaeus Hordeonius is available and is, essentially, a blank slate who can be developed in a multitude of way.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Has Destroyer of Hope ever posted ? He controls one of the most interesting avatars and I feel he's going to waste.

[econ21]

Destroyer of Hope voted in 280BC, but not since.

I let Marcus Camillus keep his avatar as he is busy on the next version of RTR Platinum (which maybe savegame compatible) and has already contributed a lot to the PBM via his 4TPY and Roman leadership scripting.

Anyway the current hiccup, if there is one, seems to be over a shortage of players to be First Consul rather than a shortage of avatars.

On another matter, I am starting to incline towards the "peace party" of the Senate. I think we've reached a critical mass as Rome and can pretty much steamroller anyone we please (TinCow's ravaging of Gaul seemed to prove that). I suspect the next player could trash the Greeks, Macedonians and Spanish, which might rather take the fun out of things from then on. But I'm not quite sure how to slow things down. The Apollonia expedition was an example of some fun that did not greatly harm the AI. Any other such ideas?

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

If we do not act now, Macedon wil wipe out Illyria and Thrace, and perhaps Greece as well. Trust me on this. I've seen it countless times already. In five years we will have to wipe out stack after stack after stack of Macedonians each turn. That would be interesting, but it is too easy on medium difficulty. It's just a slaughter. I've been in the same situation on VH/VH, and it took me 50 turns and a scorched earth-extermination policy to finally crush them. I killed at least 35.000 Macedonians and slaughtered in excess of 50.000 civilians. Felt like a regular Hitler. The only way to break them was massacre their civilian population so they could only recruit mercenaries (huge unit size). After that campaign I stepped away from VH campaign difficulty. I'm having a lot more fun on H campaign difficulty.

This is not a demand or something, just a warning that this might turn out different from your expectations, Simon. Perhaps you might rethink the campaign settings.

[x-dANGEr]

I can't run for First Consul yet.. The PC here is crap, and the one back home needs to be upgraded.

[econ21]

I can't run for First Consul yet.. The PC here is crap, and the one back home needs to be upgraded.

That's fine - don't worry, I wasn't saying you should, I just did not want you to be excluded because of a one day difference in the avatar handover. :2thumbsup:

[flyd]

I was a bit busy yesterday, but I do plan to run, so you should see a manifesto... today. But we certainly need more candidates, so it may be time for econ and/or DDW to re-run.

[TinCow]

DDW technically can't run because it hasn't been 10 years. econ21 certainly can, but I'd be worried that Quintus would die well before his turn was done. I've personally urged him to 'abandon' Quintus as an avatar, to be left unmoved in Rome for the rest of his life, and take up a younger one.

I don't see any problems if you're the only candidate though. The Senate still has the power to regulate whatever they want. Frankly it's probably a bit more historical since many Consuls, especially late in the Republic, were essentially chosen beforehand by influential Senators or groups and the election was merely a formality.

[econ21]

I agree - there's no problem with an unopposed election. shifty157 may also declare. My concern was more that the First Consul should be leading the Senate debate and getting the motions they need to fulfill their manifestoes. But given the ongoing wars, the First Consul should have enough freedom to have a very fun reign regardless.

[Mount Suribachi]

I was a bit busy yesterday, but I do plan to run, so you should see a manifesto... today. But we certainly need more candidates, so it may be time for econ and/or DDW to re-run.

Ah, OK. I was going to say if no-one else comes forward that I would stand for Consul, even though I wasn't planning to do so just yet. My character is only 30 and isn't even a legate yet, so from a RP perspective isn't a good choice. From a RL perspective I start my 3 weeks of lates next week (I do my shifts in blocks of 3 weeks) which doesn't give me much time to play - I will have the time to fight battles, but not to run an Empire.

But since Pater intends to stand, that problem is resolved :rtwyes:

[econ21]

I just noticed that we have 4 slinger units at the ford at Massila. That's above the two above the norm for a Consular army and if we are just going to defend the ford with a Praetorian army, we should have only one.

I am partly responsible here as I suggested recruiting Gallic slinger mercs, but that was after Shifty157 lost his lone funditores unit and was facing stiff odds.

I think we should stick to a tight limit on missile units in our armies in order for it to feel Roman and to give the AI more of a chance. I find missiles incredibly effective against the AI in TW games and value my funditores second only to the 2HP regenerating generals' escorts. But when you take 4 missiles to a river battle, it is just slaughter.

Also on the subject of army composition, I really think we should recruit more cavalry. I know - like warships - they are expensive, but keeping the economy tight is a good thing for the campaign, IMO. Also, without real cavalry, we have to overuse the 2HP regenerating generals' escorts, which is heroic and all, but still rather ahistorical and a little cheap. In line with the rules on historical armies, each Praetorian army should have one cavalry unit and each Consular army should have two.

[x-dANGEr]

I just have a gameplay question. Yesterday I started a RTR campaign with Carthage. To the point, I had four cavalry units: One Sacred Band Cavalry, one Punic Cavalry and another unit I forgot it's name along with the General. I charged the enemy greek general, and it took me 17 men of my cav + 2 mins to kill him.. This RTR is really getting annoying.. I mean, cavalry should drop like flies, not stand like pillars. 0-i

Any thoughts?

[econ21]

RTR has reduced kill speeds across the board, so units take longer to die. Personally, I have not found cavalry that tough. In fact, quite the contrary - the regular ones drop like flies, in my experience. But the general's ones still have 2 hit points and that makes them tougher whether in vanilla or RTR. (In Alexander TW, a barbarian general can smash up a phalanx).

Also do bear in mind, if you are attacking with cavalry, your attack stat has been nerfed so you don't kill that much after the charge has run its course. Try fighting the generals with spearmen - you might get better results.

I don't mind the toughness of generals too much - the AI puts their general in too much danger and in real life I expect it would be hard to decapitate an army. But the player can exploit general's toughness, especially when combined with their free regenerative powers. That's why I was saying we should start playing with regular cav in this PBEM.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

I charged the enemy greek general, and it took me 17 men of my cav + 2 mins to kill him.

Probably the enemy general had 'hale and hearthy' and/ or 'in the pink' and / or 'heroic saviour' and / or 'scarred' traits. That makes him (and in case of heroic saviour the biodyguard also) have even more hit points. So the general would have the health of an elephant or better even.

Anyway, one of the most ineffective ways to kill heavy cavalry is to use heavy cavalry against them. If your charge is not very succesfull (which is likely against mobile cavalry) you get the equivalent of two knights in medieval armour banging away at each other with pillows.

Tactics 101 :

Cavalry against Swords.
Swords against Spears.
Spears against Cavalry.

Cheerio,
DDW

[Braden]

I vote that Quintus be "retired" and Econ21 take another Avatar :2thumbsup: .

I’ll be getting my Broadband on Tuesday, placing an order for required PC upgrades in the next day or so (when I remember to see what parity my current RAM is). :dizzy2:

THEN, I’ll look to downloading all the mods etc for this game and will consider running myself……will retire Decius of course…..but I’ll have to play at least one single player campaign as so much is changed between Rome and RTR. :furious3:

Oh and Econ21 (see, remembering not to use his real name)……*cough*….Carthage PBM ring any bells?? :embarassed:

[x-dANGEr]

Probably the enemy general had 'hale and hearthy' and/ or 'in the pink' and / or 'heroic saviour' and / or 'scarred' traits. That makes him (and in case of heroic saviour the biodyguard also) have even more hit points. So the general would have the health of an elephant or better even.

Anyway, one of the most ineffective ways to kill heavy cavalry is to use heavy cavalry against them. If your charge is not very succesfull (which is likely against mobile cavalry) you get the equivalent of two knights in medieval armour banging away at each other with pillows.

Tactics 101 :

Cavalry against Swords.
Swords against Spears.
Spears against Cavalry.

Cheerio,
DDW
Well, 8x cav should beat 1x cav fast no matter what.

[Silver Rusher]

I would like to stand for First Consul. Could I switch to the Lower House and borrow Tricky_Lady's avatar?

EDIT: Oh, and somebody may need to send me the Metropolis/Naval mod and the Landblock mod, seeing as the RTR forums are down and I can't find any way of accessing them.

EDIT2: Right, well the other guy is already the First Consul by default so I guess you can scrap this. I will just try again next time... :(

[econ21]

FLYdude will probably be in office for the next couple of weeks, Silver Rusher, so you should have plenty of time to install the mod. Let me know when you have it installed the mod and got a savegame to load, then I will assign a general as your avatar.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

I propose motion...what ?
Oh, the polls are already open :~)

Would you be so kind to give a one-day warning before the polls open, econ21 ? That will give me some warning to rally support for motions with not enough seonders.

x-dANGEr, they will, eventually. The power of cavalry is in their charge and the fear they cause to infantry. After rereading my post it must have seemed a little pedantic (is that the right English word ?). That was not my intention.

[econ21]

Would you be so kind to give a one-day warning before the polls open, econ21 ? That will give me some warning to rally support for motions with not enough seonders.

I think I mentioned it in the heads-up PM I sent to everyone and it was on page 1 of the in-character thread. Yesterday, I was a little more focussed on drumming up a First Consul before the deadline (although I did have a cute idea for a triumvirate of past First Consuls as a stand-by though).

[Silver Rusher]

Well, at least this will give me time to prepare a decent manifesto.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

I think I mentioned it in the heads-up PM I sent to everyone and it was on page 1 of the in-character thread. Yesterday, I was a little more focussed on drumming up a First Consul before the deadline (although I did have a cute idea for a triumvirate of past First Consuls as a stand-by though).

You are right of course, but I got used to waiting for your regular post in the in character thread before acting. My 'real' life is very hectic and I tend to forget the time.
Cute idea about the triumvate, but I wonder if we could have agreed on the number of sides of a square :laugh4: This would probably have sparked the first PBeM civil war :laugh4:

[econ21]

Cute idea about the triumvate, but I wonder if we could have agreed on the number of sides of a square :laugh4: This would probably have sparked the first PBeM civil war :laugh4:

I had it all worked out. You would have been assigned Gaul and TinCow Greece, I would have been the spider in the web in Roma. You could have taken on the Iberians with the Consular I Army and TinCow could have fought the Macedonians and the Greeks with, say, 2 units of Italian spearmen :eyebrows: .

[x-dANGEr]

It seems that am the only one who voted NO to all the motions except the last.. Feels lonely here ~:(

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Very funny econ21 :laugh4:

In the frantic debates in the senate my OOC motions seem to have been overlooked :

Motion OOC 1 : Acting consuls that have been awarded a triumph will be awarded with the Roman Hero trait. If they already posses this trait, the Hero trait will be increased to National Hero. If they already posses that trait, the trait will be increased to Legendary Hero.

Motion OOC 2 : As a reward for his great role playing Augustus Verginius is awarded with the trait 'Despises Trouser-wearers', to accentuate his hatred for the barbarians.

Your thoughts, gentlemen and ladies ?

EDIT : x-dANGEr, I voted no to at least one motion, I believe. So you're not completely alone ~;)

[TinCow]

I definitely like the idea of making 'triumphs' mean something concrete. Traits are the perfect way of doing this. The hero line is certainly a possibility on this one that could be used, but I would prefer a trait that is less likely to already be earned by the player. As it is, all first consuls end up campaigning a great deal and all campaigning generals end up with at least the first level of the hero trait. I'll take a look through the trait list and see if I see anything else that could work.

[econ21]

Skimming through the traits, the only two possibilities seem to be the hero and the vanquisher lines of traits. I would think the latter slightly more appropriate (EB have a trait that gives give +3 influence for a triumph) but I guess many people who get a triumph will hit the influence cap. Maybe give the recipient the choice of either of these? (Either the basic trait or to the next level if the general already has started along this line).

I've no objection to TinCow getting that anti-trouser trait if he wants it, although the paranoid Quintus is not sure Verginius actually hates smelly barbarians, as opposed to pretending to hate them, so he can get Senate approval to plunder all their cities. ~;)

We should remember to propose TinCow a triumph in the interim session.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Skimming through the traits, the only two possibilities seem to be the hero and the vanquisher lines of traits. I would think the latter slightly more appropriate (EB have a trait that gives give +3 influence for a triumph) but I guess many people who get a triumph will hit the influence cap. Maybe give the recipient the choice of either of these? (Either the basic trait or to the next level if the general already has started along this line).

I've no objection to TinCow getting that anti-trouser trait if he wants it, although the paranoid Quintus is not sure Verginius actually hates smelly barbarians, as opposed to pretending to hate them, so he can get Senate approval to plunder all their cities. ~;)

We should remember to propose TinCow a triumph in the interim session.

Traits : The vanquisher line of traits is much easier to get than the hero line of traits. It is easy to become a Local or Popular Hero, but reaching Roman Hero is very hard to get, and those beyond require countless heroic victories to get (I only had one Legendary Hero once in dozens of campaigns, and Roman Hero's were very rare. In contrast to this I've seen hundreds of Great Vanquishers and Conquerors). See the Miniguide to your Generals command trait increasing (http://forums.rometotalrealism.org/index.php?showtopic=16484) for an analysis of how hard to get some traits are.

Trouser trait : You know you want it, TinCow :laugh4:

Triumph : Definitely, my mistake for proposing it too late, but then again, I'm not the only senator here, aren't I ? I felt it would be a bit 'inappropriate' for Lucius to be the one to propose the triumph considering his fierce opposition.

[Braden]

Hate to be a pain and go off topic, but can I direct you to: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?p=1182605#post1182605

Where I have some technical questions. If I get them resolved I can start looking at taking part in this game actively, and I just know that TinCow and/or Econ21 will know the answers!

:2thumbsup:

[econ21]

Sorry, Braden - I don't know anything about Nvidia graphics cards and RTW. I use an Radeon 9800 PRO and according to Beirut, who has the same card, it runs all the latest games adequately, which fits my observation.

Just a warning to PBMers: it is best not to visit the RTR forums right now. They were hacked and although back up running, my anti-virus went crazy yesterday detecting trojans etc and the same today. Other people here are reporting the same experience.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Hiya Braden,

Been a long time since I checked out the recent cards, but I vaguely recall that the Nvidia 256Mb 6600LE performed badly, especially with RTW. Then again, I might be completely wrong. I got a GeForce 9600 myself, which performs quite well, but is on the lower end of performance I'd want. I recommend checking the offical RTW forum's rech support section. There is the info you need. I didn't have time to look today, but perhaps tomorrow.

Hackers of RTR forums should be throw of the Tarpeian Rock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpeian_Rock) in my opinon. It was working again yesterday, but it crashed again today.

On a positive note, the current dutch goverment, which I greatly disliked, has fallen today and I am getting lots of inspiration for the senate debates :laugh4:

[TinCow]

The 6600LE will slow down on max settings on Huge unit size. That said, it will play the game perfectly decently with nice graphics.

[econ21]

Nice to see you've made a quick start on the First Consul reports, FLYdude. :2thumbsup:

I've got a feeling the Macedonians will pounce on Antigonea if given half the chance. We have to autoresolve if it is not held by a Lower House member, although I would be very cautious about leaving a Lower House member in an unwalled border settlement with a small army.

Maybe Verginius's army being nearby will deter the Macedonians since we are not at war with them. Strong border forces tended to deterr war in earlier Total War games. But in RTW, at least when war comes, in my experience the AI is positively foolhardy in the kind of battles it is willing to risk. It could be much improved if it were programmed not to attack unless it has a clear edge.

[Braden]

Thanks for the Info regarding technical stuff. I’ve been forced to post here as this is the ONLY total war related website I can access from work.

I have yet to get a net connection at home so can’t visit the .com or the .org’s home page etc.

The 6600LE is currently sold out just about everywhere, and I can understand why – its cheap. I can’t quite get my head around why it should perform so badly on Rome as the 6600 chipset is Nvidia’s “flagship” of late. I can only assume its the rest of the card that lets it down somewhat.

For those who’ve not visited the Tech section here – I have two games I play (will play), Rome and eventually RTR and World of Warcraft.

This is what I use my PC almost exclusively for so need upgrades for these really, with a main focus on Rome and RTR as any “slowdown” etc on WoW is more likely due to bandwidth than PC issues these days.

Back on Topic (again, apologies for a fast hijack), I don’t know how you managed it FlyDude! So fast and well presented. Macedon is sure to launch an attack with both those armies in a season or two and its certain we’ll not get any alliances with anyone due to the poor diplomatic AI – though for IC reasons we have to keep trying.

I can see the Republic owning the Balkans and perhaps even touching Asia-Minor and Thrace within three Consulships!

[TinCow]

Well, the 6800 256 definitely performs very well on pretty much everything out there and it's only a little over $100 USD. It won't hold up to next-gen games, but no card in that price range will. I personally don't plan on upgrading from my 6800 until Crysis comes out. MTW2 should run perfectly find on it.

[Braden]

Ooopppss...forgot to mention, I'm limited to only AGPx8 cabable cards as my motherboard has not PCI-E slots....which is a real shame as I've just found a 6600GT for only £58.99!!

[Avicenna]

Come on everyone, cut the video card talk.

It is time for some debate!

[Braden]

Still want to encourage Econ21 to drop Quintus as an Avatar during this Consulship.

What's everyones opinion on that? Its not my idea but I seem to have been the only one to support it so far.

I'm going to try and push the Republic in to some serious conflict with Greece and Macedon in the next two consulships myself - we could do with some more "desperate" battles like Apolloina (sp) to help excite the game up at bit.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Still want to encourage Econ21 to drop Quintus as an Avatar during this Consulship.

I feel that econ21 should be the judge of that himself. (By the way, in my own campaign he passed away at just 61 ! So much for his hale and hearthy trait).

Shall we say that if an avatar is over 60 years old you are allowed to ask for a new one and make the 'old geezer' a governor somewhere ?

[Avicenna]

I believe the modal age for senior citizenship is 65 ~;)

[Braden]

Good idea TinCow, how about an in-game ruling:

Any player of the Lower House who’s Avatar has reached the age of 65 can request a replacement Avatar to use. Such Avatars will be allocated as the Youngest active Avatar available.

…..how does that sound?

[econ21]

I'll hold on to Quintus. I've had a very good crack at the whip and the life cycle we have got going with avatars (under 30, people putting in the time to get to legate before assuming an independent command; 60+ people retiring to be governors) seems a good way of sharing the gameplay out among Lower House members.

As the Republic grows, I think we can find more opportunities for Apollonia type missions and hence more chances for Lower House members to get some of the action. Looking at the history of Rome, they often did seem to have their fingers in many different pies. In one RTR Rome campaign, I sent a spoiling expedition to Asia Minor as the Seleucids were getting to strong. Campaigning that far from home, with huge disloyal settlements, was challenging. We could also think of idiosyncratic missions - an expedition to the Crimea to recruit Samartian auxiliaries, for example. Or a march down the silk road to control the trade there etc. I like DDWs idea of getting into entangling alliances to justify such interventions, although we may have to bite the bullet in terms of what we have to pay to get alliances.

[econ21]

I am going to assign Gnaeus Hordeonius to Silver Rusher in the Upper House for the time being. I know there are other Upper House members more senior, but they have not posted much and Silver Rusher seems to be our most active participant without an avatar. If he wants to run for First Consul soon, maybe he can trade Gnaeus for Tricky_Lady's avatar as discussed. However, I would like him to install the mod and successfully load up a savegame first before I make that trade (I want to avoid the kind of delays etc that have frustrated other PBMs).

[Silver Rusher]

Woo, thanks econ21

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Gnaeus Hordeonius has just fought his first battle alongside Lucius Aemilius at the river crossing at Massilia.

[Silver Rusher]

River crossing at Massilia? More Gauls no doubt. If they weren't Gauls then this is serious.

[Avicenna]

By the way, about the seniority issue. Can we have a rule where if they don't post for say, a week after getting their avatar (or voting for first consul or motions) newer, more active members take priority for the avatar? I think it's quite unfair if a new guy can't get one and someone else got an avatar years ago but doesn't post.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

River crossing at Massilia? More Gauls no doubt. If they weren't Gauls then this is serious.

More Gauls, don't worry, we didn't lose a signle trooper and killed over 400 of them.

I will leave the distribution of avatars to econ21's digression.

[x-dANGEr]

OOops!

Apperantly, I don't have the needed space on my PC (Am back home :D ) to make 2 copies of RTW. So, where is that mod switcher tool that I can use?

Thanks.

[econ21]

I believe the mod swapper is here, but I've never used it:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=34559

[TinCow]

As the Republic grows, I think we can find more opportunities for Apollonia type missions and hence more chances for Lower House members to get some of the action. Looking at the history of Rome, they often did seem to have their fingers in many different pies. In one RTR Rome campaign, I sent a spoiling expedition to Asia Minor as the Seleucids were getting to strong. Campaigning that far from home, with huge disloyal settlements, was challenging. We could also think of idiosyncratic missions - an expedition to the Crimea to recruit Samartian auxiliaries, for example. Or a march down the silk road to control the trade there etc. I like DDWs idea of getting into entangling alliances to justify such interventions, although we may have to bite the bullet in terms of what we have to pay to get alliances.

Man, I would love to randomly send an army to conquer some ridiculously out of the way place. Maybe both of the Crimean settlements or even all of Britain before Gaul has been controlled. It would be very fun, challenging, and risking failure and death. I can't imagine how anyone could possibly get the authority to get that passed in the Senate though.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Man, I would love to randomly send an army to conquer some ridiculously out of the way place. Maybe both of the Crimean settlements or even all of Britain before Gaul has been controlled. It would be very fun, challenging, and risking failure and death. I can't imagine how anyone could possibly get the authority to get that passed in the Senate though.

Rome will stand by its allies surely ? So let's go get some allies !
For Britian you will need some serious firepower, a mere legion won't do. They have 20K guys waiting on the beaches.

[TinCow]

Rome will stand by its allies surely ? So let's go get some allies !
For Britian you will need some serious firepower, a mere legion won't do. They have 20K guys waiting on the beaches.

Nothing wrong with role-playing Varus. :surrender:

[flyd]

Nothing wrong with role-playing Varus.

Do I understand you correctly, are you volunteering for a suicide mission? Well, when I'm in charge, every mission is a suicide mission! :laugh4:

[TinCow]

Hell, that last one almost was. 46% casualties before the Chirugeon did his work.

[flyd]

Just a note that the report has been updated with the day's activities. It's merely an edit, so you could miss it.

[Mount Suribachi]

Man, I would love to randomly send an army to conquer some ridiculously out of the way place. Maybe both of the Crimean settlements or even all of Britain before Gaul has been controlled. It would be very fun, challenging, and risking failure and death. I can't imagine how anyone could possibly get the authority to get that passed in the Senate though.

I've got a spice merchant in my retinue, and I've been pondering how I can get the Senate to back my ambitions to control the silk road - Roman provinces all the way from Asia Minor to the Indian Ocean! :2thumbsup:

Certainly as time goes on, a Pompey Magnus here, a Julius Caeser there would make things more interesting. Maybe even a Crassus ~;)

[Avicenna]

Mission number one: Troy! Romulus is supposed to be descended from Trojans, after all. That would be great, unless of course the Selucids or Egyptians have it.

But what's wrong with starting a war here or there, eh?

:smartass2:

By the way, Tincow, you could change it from one Roman for five Greeks to SIX greeks.

And econ, in the senate deliberations topic, you just put 'will of the senate', without the 'the will of the senate' :tongue:

[x-dANGEr]

I believe the mod swapper is here, but I've never used it:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=34559
I enabled RTR mod, and when I try to lunch it, it crashes after reaching the loading screen.. Any thoughts?

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Did you delete the map.rwm files ?

[x-dANGEr]

From where ?? From the new folder created in MODS folder, or in the original system files.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Not sure how that mod-swapper works. Delete all the map.rwm on your computer then (use the windows search thingie), no exceptions.
When you start a new campaing a new map.rwm file will be created (a 'correct' one), so don't look suprised if it reappears.
Als turn on the show_err option when starting. As in RomeTW.exe -show_err.

EDIT : Also, move your old saves to another storage folder. RTW always loads the last save when it loads.

[econ21]

Just a note to congratulate FLYdude on his First Consul reports. It is really good as a participant to be given regular updates like this - hearing about the large Macedonian army menacing us when it happens is so much better than hearing about it long after the event.

Also, good job on the battle report, TinCow. I really like how in RTR the AI can provide a good scrap. I recently went back to vanilla, playing Alexander and then Carthage, and I was shocked at how quickly the AI folds - it seems to rout within seconds of meeting your line. In RTR, it is so much more satisfying.

BTW, have we reduced the number of slingers on the Massila ford - 4 is just unsporting and against the historical armies houserule?

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Yesterday was playing my H/VH campaign and was getting ready to roll up the last full strength Gaul army. The battle was in full swing and I was wondering where the Gaul King was hiding out, when suddenly out of the woods BEHIND my lines rides the Gaul King leading about 200 heavy cavalry in full charge :viking:
I won, but I lost quite a few men :laugh4:
Sometimes, just sometimes, the AI pulls a beauty. Teach me for underestimating the AI.

By the way, anyone figure out yet how to turn your Legate with 20 years of military service into a Praetor ?

EDIT : now 2.5 slingers left at Massilia

[TinCow]

Also, good job on the battle report, TinCow. I really like how in RTR the AI can provide a good scrap. I recently went back to vanilla, playing Alexander and then Carthage, and I was shocked at how quickly the AI folds - it seems to rout within seconds of meeting your line. In RTR, it is so much more satisfying.

Fighting 'civilized' factions is not remotely like fighting barbarian factions. Even regular hoplites have decent armor and their tight formation and high morale make them fight nearly to the death unless you shock them into a rout. Since all enemy general seem to get a command bonus that the player doesn't, that usually means that after a long combat, you can break them by removing the general's bonus (by removing the general) and by cavalry charges. Chain routs continue to work well too.

That said, none of these will work unless the enemy has already been under prolonged pressure or are horribly outnumbered. The shock of a charge and/or general's death usually isn't enough to drop them down into a rout unless they're already a few notches down.

RTR did a great job with the battles. Even if we still win all the time, the battles are much longer.


By the way, anyone figure out yet how to turn your Legate with 20 years of military service into a Praetor ?

Yep. Move him into a city so that he loses the Legate trait (becomes Former Legate). Then move him out onto an infantry unit. As long as he has an army banner of some kind (if he has none, a Field Army should appear after one turn) then he will become a Praetor. Keep in mind though that there are a limited number of Praetor positions. You get one Praetor for every 10 provinces (rounded up I think). If one of your guys won't acquire the trait for some reason, check to see how many territories you have and how many Praetors already exist.

[Avicenna]

Could someone upload a picture of the world map with FoW off or tell me if Troas (should have the capital of Pergamum) is Greek/Macedonian please? If it's not called Pergamum, just look for the settlement on the other side of the Bosphorus, part of modern day Turkey. It controls the entrance to the Bosphorus from the Mediterranean.

Cheers

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

It's bound to be the Ptolemaic empire (Egypt).

[TinCow]

In Spring 264, it was controlled by Seleucia. There are no Greek or Macedonian provinces outside of the Balkans. Nearly all of Asia Minor is controlled by Seleucia with a few Ptolomaic possessions on the coasts. I can't see any differences between now and the 265 map in the Library.

[Avicenna]

TYVM.

I guess I shouldn't propose a motion to annex it just yet, should I?

:disappointed:

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

TYVM.

I guess I shouldn't propose a motion to annex it just yet, should I?

:disappointed:

Our fleet would never get there alive :~)

Just had my entire fleet annihalated during my abortive invasion of Palma in my own campaign. Those Cartheginians are a tough nut to crack on H/VH. Luckily I managed to get my men of safely in Spain.

Thanks TinCow, finally got Tiberius Coruncanius into a Praetor, and Lucius Aemilius, while still a Legate has made it to Infantry Commander of Genius. He got himself surrounded in Spain and had to fight his way out, which really knocked up a lot of heroic victories.

https://img301.imageshack.us/img301/8666/infantryman3cc.jpg (https://imageshack.us)

I seem to be building lots and lots of temples, it seems to be the fastest and quickest way to supress unrest. Only after I've build all the shrines do I start to build occupations and so on.

[Avicenna]

Our fleet would never get there alive :~)


Which is great for role play purposes ~;)


I seem to be building lots and lots of temples, it seems to be the fastest and quickest way to supress unrest. Only after I've build all the shrines do I start to build occupations and so on.

Seems like I'm not alone then. ~:)

[TinCow]

I looked through the historical events that occur in-game and there's not much that would give us an excuse to make some crazy expedition. It would also have to be somewhat reasonable for the people proposing it. For example, I'm sure I could come up with an in-character reason for attempting an expedition to Scandanavia or Britain, but I don't think I'd be able to stump for a Bactrian objective given my current character.

Too bad our resident insane family member doesn't post much. He could come up with all kinds of interesting things!

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

The best way to create a 'reason' is for us to make as many alliances as possible. When one nation declares war we are bound to get involved and be forced to send an expeditonary force to satisy Roman honour :2thumbsup:

The Romans were always interfering in local wars. They really understood 'balance of power' and 'realpolitik'.

[flyd]

That was an absolutely brilliant battle report, Tincow. I gotta think of more unusual situations to send you into.

[Silver Rusher]

It seems your avatar has grown old, TinCow. ~;) You're gonna need to change your posting avatar as well I think.

[Avicenna]

TinCow, I think you'll have to upload it yourself if you want to update the avatar, since the old ones aren't choices.

By the way, can't I give a reason? I am a gladiatoral fan after all, and some exotic re-enactments of our Trojan forebears with lousy enslaved Greeks would definitely be interesting to my character ~;)

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Very entertaining TinCow, it seems your nickname the Orater is well deserved.

By the way, is it possible to upload an avatar ? I thought I had to wait untill I posted 600 times so I could select it from the avatar library. If so, could someone please describe how it is done ?

EDIT : Also, how do you make the character sheet appear without recruitement windows covering half the traits and ancilliaries ?

[TinCow]

Rhyming words with Preatoria is hard.


EDIT : Also, how do you make the character sheet appear without recruitement windows covering half the traits and ancilliaries ?

Put the guy on a ship or in a fort and then view him. When I update all of the characters in the library, I just piled them all out of their cities and build forts everywhere to save on photoshop time.

[Ignoramus]

Can I be a general now? My charcater, Sextus Antio, is getting boring. I'm willing to take whatever's available.

[econ21]

Can I be a general now? My charcater, Sextus Antio, is getting boring. I'm willing to take whatever's available.

OK, I'll have a look at the latest savegame and see if we've gotten any new generals. Do you want to stay in the Upper House or have you managed to install the mod?

[Ignoramus]

No, unfortunately, I'll have to remain in the Upper House.

[x-dANGEr]

Ok. Up till now I have:

Uninstalled Rome Total War, Barbarian Invasion, Chivalry Total War, Rome Total Realism, 4turns/year meni-mod, the map fix, and all their registry keys.

Re-installed Rome Total War 1.0, patched it to 1.3, then installed Barbarian Invasion 1.4, then installed patch 1.6, then installed Rome Total Realism Platinum version, then patched it to 1.5, then the mod switcher, and now I tested it and it works.

Though, the tricky part is the 4turns/year meni-mod, it keeps making the folder Rome Total War wherever it installs, and since it is another mod, it keeps replacing some RTR files, and leaving some, making it 'not' work.

So, any thoughts about that?

[econ21]

Though, the tricky part is the 4turns/year meni-mod, it keeps making the folder Rome Total War wherever it installs, and since it is another mod, it keeps replacing some RTR files, and leaving some, making it 'not' work.

I've never used the mod-switcher, but can't you just install the Metropolis Naval mod on top of RTR Platinum, so the mod-switcher thinks they are a single mod (which they are for its purposes, I suspect).

BTW, I'm a little confused - how come you are having these problems now when you were able to refight the Apollonia battle earlier? (Is it because you have moved to your home PC?).

[x-dANGEr]

Back then, I used another crappier PC, but with more space, better said, more free space. ~;)

When I do that, Simon, it creates ../RTR/ROme Total War/Metropolis mod data classified in the same folder structure: Data folder, UI folder, etc..

You see what I mean?

[econ21]

When I do that, Simon, it creates ../RTR/ROme Total War/Metropolis mod data classified in the same folder structure: Data folder, UI folder, etc..

Maybe I am missing something here - not knowing about what the mod swapper does - but why not just overwrite the RTR data folder with that which you've extracted from Metropolis/Naval and so on for any other folders? If you can't stop it creating its own folders on extraction, just use windows explorer to cut and paste them on top of those for RTR stuff.

[flyd]

10 turns have elapsed, and the mid-term report is completed!

[Ignoramus]

I do not see any such report.

[flyd]

I've been continuously adding to my post in the First Consul Reports thread through edits as the campaign went on. I've made the final edits now, and the complete report is in that thread.

[x-dANGEr]

Maybe I am missing something here - not knowing about what the mod swapper does - but why not just overwrite the RTR data folder with that which you've extracted from Metropolis/Naval and so on for any other folders? If you can't stop it creating its own folders on extraction, just use windows explorer to cut and paste them on top of those for RTR stuff.
I will give you an example:

Metro mod installs its UI folder, which is let's say 30 MBs.
RTR mod installs its UI folder, which is let's say 70 MBs.

If I paste the Metro mod one over the RTR one, it won't work. If I do the other, it also won't work.

So, what is the way to join in the different files from the two, and replace the smaller ones, with the bigger ones (Edited ones)?

[Braden]

The LRP way of “getting into trouble and causing wars”:

1) Your diplomat is very undiplomatic in his negotiations and really ticks your intended “victim” off! Gets himself killed (assassinated). Vola! One excuse “they murdered Lexus, the barbarians! They must die.”

2) Assassination failure. Take one inept or otherwise disposable “assassin/scout” and give him a mission he’s sure to fail on. Vola! One excuse, “They murdered Decius, the barbarians! They must die.” – obviously there is no hint of any wrong doing from your side.

3) The “we’re the biggest dogs in the yard and we have to prove it” method. Pick your “target”, make a diplomatic demand (in RTR’s case land) with an “Or we’ll attack”. In LRP it would be IC money. If they cave then you’re certainly the biggest dog, if they fail to comply……Vola! One excuse “we made a reasonable demand for the return of our historic/sovereign lands, who’s people are of our blood and they spat in our face! The barbarians! They must die”.

How do those sound?