Feedback and Suggestions

[caius britannicus]

Just what the topic says, heres the place to post feedback and suggestions.

[Revenant]

Hm, so I will start this:)

First I have to say it is very nice and especially skins for units are just AMAZING!

My suggestions are mainly a cosmetics ones:
There is a lot of units for both factions, but some of them have the same cost, upkeep, build time and availability, and their stats are different. For example Germanic heavy infantry (probably?) and French Men at arms. Cost, availability and build time are the same, but GHI is overall better in stats, so there is no point in recruiting the french. And that is just one example, there are other units with similar problems ( for example Italian knights are just as good as English but they can be build in 6 turns only, english takes 8 turn - no point in recruiting them ), but the difference is usually only in 1 or 2 points in stats. I think that for balance purposes, the better unit should be more expensive, more rare, or should take more turn to build, or the same units should have the same stats.

Maybe the reason is that foreign units were supposed to arrive only via script and should not be recruitable originally...

The next suggestions are only minor ones:

- Friedrich Barbarossa has Teutonic inner circle knights as bodyguards... Are not German knights more appropriate? (Philip and Richard have their "native" knights as bodyguards)

- What about to give inner circle knights unit ability to come out with general when created?

[Ciaran]

To add to Revenant: the opposite is also true in some cases, identical stats, but different prices.
Oh, and a spell-check of the descriptions won´t hurt (where - wear - were ~;) )

[caius britannicus]

Maybe the reason is that foreign units were supposed to arrive only via script and should not be recruitable originally...


Bingo. They were never meant to be recruited with those stats. The recruit stats were all temperary but around correct. It was a last minute change to recruit europeans that way.

[nameless]

I think the unit sizes are a tad small but that maybe me. I just like big big battles. (I have this on huge settings)

[Dooz]

Having a hell of a lot of fun playing the Crusaders. To be honest, when I first fired up the mod, I felt a bit overwhelmed. The map is so huge, so much going on, so many units... I felt I could never get started. Well, turns out it's a hell of an interesting campaign. It's been a truly unique experience playing this mod as compared to any other RTW mod. Really doesn't feel like RTW. And I haven't gotten a single crash, so that's dandy.

I gotta' say though, I wish it was released a lot earlier, now that I'm getting M2TW tomorrow, I don't think I can devote as much time to The Crusades as I would have liked. But been having a lot of fun since it was released 'till now. Very interesting with the high build times and train times, as you really have to hang on to what you have and rely a lot on retraining. No over-the-top house rules necessary! The mod does it for you. And of course, the most obvious compliment about this mod is the aesthetic beauty of it all. Just incredible.

As far as problems go, the sprite problem and flag problem mentioned in other threads was solved by turning off gloss mapping as mentioned. Were there actually gloss files for all the units in the first place or does that not even affect anything? And of course, some unit balancing/cost stuff has been mentioned to be worked out, along with a few population problems. Now the economy is a dickens to figure out. I just kind of gave up on that and use the money cheat to get my cash flowing... figure all these Crusaders roaming around far off lands, must be pillaging the hell out of the place. And of course the Pope funding the holy war from Rome and it seems fair..... enough.

And as I expressed in another thread, I really wish the scripts and traits and other little mini-games and goodies were in the mod already as those seem to be some excellent ideas and would really add a lot of flavour to this already flavorful mod.

So overall, great fun, but undeniably bad timing for the release. Of course that's not the fault of the modders or anyone else, just the way the universe sees fit. Good job Caius and everyone else who brought us this excellent piece of work!


(p. s. As far as unit sizes go, they are strategically reduced, especially for the Crusaders, which is supposed to represent them usually being heavily outnumbered. Great stuff! I really like the balancing there. Also, it makes it a lot easier to play on Huge settings. Had some truly epic battles, the likes of which I've seldom had in other mods. The most incredible and, darey I say, unforgetable battle I ever had was my Guy of Lusignan vs. Salah al-Din encounter. Absolutely perfect, everything about it. The timing, the armies, the battlefield, the outcome, the field of corpses aftermath, everything. Outnumbered 2:1, outclassed 5:4, heroic victory. )

[VirtualSmitty]

Great mod Caius! Really my only complaint is the timing on the Crusaders campaign. I can't see how to take 40 settlements in so little time. it'd be doable if every saracen city didn't revolt when I took them. Having more time would help immensly, i hate getting that lost message.

[caius britannicus]

Great mod Caius! Really my only complaint is the timing on the Crusaders campaign. I can't see how to take 40 settlements in so little time. it'd be doable if every saracen city didn't revolt when I took them. Having more time would help immensly, i hate getting that lost message.


With the script turns script you have 676 turns. Make sure you activate each time you load a campaign.

[jankren198811]

Firstly, I wonder why is the Black Guard is not black? Because as far as I know the real black guards were made up of black Africans.

Secondly, why is there no diplomats? Because it's always been my habit to take care of the rebels by bribing them.

Anyway, overall the game is great. Whoever made it deserve to work for CA:2thumbsup:

[Mithradates]

Man this game is great although i have a few queries. Is it possible to make the crusaders more financialy able i always seem to go bankrupt within a few turns this is probably due to lack of caravan minigames. Damn should have read the read me stupid question removed money question withstanding :)

[matko]

hi caius.
first i just want to say that mod is great. in my opinion best mod
ever for rtw.:bow:
but as always there is place for improvements.

so some of my comments and suggestions.
maybe you should raise units morale a bit to make battles longer, and put more men into the unit (example 60 instead of 40 for latin knights, of course then you need to lower stats a bit for this unit to stay balanced).

im currently playing saracen campaign (i first played as crusader but i got ctds)
and im bit disappointed with ai. i mean he is offering little resistance. im playing on hard settings. this is because ai armies are consisted of weak units, more than 70% of all crusaders units are maronites (archers). so crusaders have no chance of defeating me on the battle field. i just build a lot of cavalry and charge. :charge:
you should change that and make ai to build armies assembled from stronger units and to use different unit types.

[King_Numero]

In my opinion the Saracens retreat way to quick. I've had several battles where I am outnumbered 3 to 1 and still win because their units rout as soon as I charge a little heavy calvary. Also, I have 4 Guys, 5 Richards, 2 Phillips and 6 Fredricks; name list isn't too long is it? Other than those minor problems the game is superb. Forget M2TW I'm busy kicking Saracen butt.

[jamiegr]

Are there sprites on in game ? because im having trouble viewing battles that i didnt have when playin rome total war.

[caius britannicus]

There are sprites and if there is one thing this game does well its rendering the battles. You may have your unit details above medium (which turns off sprites). Use Medium or low, they look the same in Crusades except sprites pop up sooner on Low.

[Myrddraal]

There are sprites and if there is one thing this game does well its rendering the battles. You may have your unit details above medium (which turns off sprites). Use Medium or low, they look the same in Crusades except sprites pop up sooner on Low.

To clarify that a bit, there is no difference in how a unit looks up close in The Crusades whatever unit detail you have selected, the only thing that is affected is the distance at which sprites are used. So turn down unit detail if you're getting lag.

[Aragorn1963]

With the script turns script you have 676 turns. Make sure you activate each time you load a campaign.

Caius, what do you mean with this exactly? How can one activate each time one loads a campaign?

[caius britannicus]

what I meant was with the multiple turns script you have 676 turns in each campaign. Thats not short by any means.

[Myrddraal]

Caius, what do you mean with this exactly? How can one activate each time one loads a campaign?

Follow the instructions, I believe it's the escape key, then the question mark, then the show me how button. Do it each time you load.

[Ciaran]

Just a question that popped up yesterday, playing a siege battle (as Crusaders, of course): I´ve noticed that spear units tend to get pushed back when fighting cavalry (in guard mode - that´s what spears are for) quite a bit, and I wonder why´s that. I don´t mean it as a balancing or gameplay question, it´s entirely technical, since I didn´t notice the same phenomenon in Chivalry - of course, both mods have quite different stats, so it might be hard to determine the cause.

[Mooks]

I definetely think the crusaders should get a more stable economy.

The only other problem than that is the pirates. On both campaigns they block almost all my ports (Which are defenseless since I dont have the time or the money to churn out dozens of boats like they do). Right now one of my ports is being blockaded by 10 ships in my saracen campaign, along with 4 other ports, tried to relieve them but my ships get swamped when they come out. And on my crusaders campaign Richard's and Barbarossa (Switched his army to Rhodes once he died - 4 turns into the campaign) army is completely stranded on rhodes, the island being sourounded by fleets of pirates.

[Mooks]

Actually 3 more things.

1) The stronghold walls should be large-epic ; they were known to be impregnable, saladin had to withdraw the seige of Al kerak when he found this out.

2)Make settlements less hostile to religios conversions, trying to convert your new settlements is a risky business.

2) Make rebellions realistic. A village of 400 people cannot rebel with a dozen decent units - more soldiers then they have villagers -

[menander]

Just cleaned up my computer enough to play this. I love it. Seriously. A lot. Wow.

I cannot wait until the icing is added to what is an awesome and entertaining and, frankly, bloody cake.

Enormous kudos and props, Mr. Caius and your team :2thumbsup:

[Darkarbiter]

Just a question that popped up yesterday, playing a siege battle (as Crusaders, of course): I´ve noticed that spear units tend to get pushed back when fighting cavalry (in guard mode - that´s what spears are for) quite a bit, and I wonder why´s that. I don´t mean it as a balancing or gameplay question, it´s entirely technical, since I didn´t notice the same phenomenon in Chivalry - of course, both mods have quite different stats, so it might be hard to determine the cause.
This has to do with the mass stat that was introduced in 1.3(BI)
soldier Name of the soldier model to use (from descr_models_battle.txt)
; followed by the number of ordinary soldiers in the unit
; followed by the number of extras (pigs dogs, elephants, chariots artillery pieces etc attached to the unit)
; followed by the collision mass of the men. 1.0 is normal. [Only applies to infantry]


type crusader teutonic grandmaster
dictionary crusader_teutonic_grandmaster
category cavalry
class heavy
voice_type heavy_1
soldier crusader_teutonic_innercircle, 6, 0, 1.3
officer crusader_teutonic_mounted_standard
officer crusader_teutonic_grandmaster
mount teutonic covered horse
attributes sea_faring,hide_forest,frighten_foot,general_unit,command
formation 1.2, 3, 3, 6, 4,square,wedge
stat_health 3, 0
stat_pri 14,20, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, spear, 25, 1
stat_pri_attr no
stat_sec 15,20, no, 0, 0, melee, blade, slashing, sword, 25, 1
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 11, 9, 2, metal
stat_sec_armour 0, 0, flesh
stat_heat 1
stat_ground 0, 0, 0, 0
stat_mental 26,disciplined,highly_trained
stat_charge_dist 100
stat_fire_delay -200000
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 8, 1425, 450, 100, 150, 1425
ownership franks, saxons

(ignore the saxons part) btw the above says its mass is 1.3 if you didnt notice

type crusader teutonic spearmen
dictionary crusader_teutonic_spearmen
category infantry
class spearmen
voice_type medium_1
soldier crusader_teutonic_spearmen, 35, 0, 1.2
officer crusader_teutonic_standard
attributes sea_faring,hide_forest,can_sap
formation 1, 2, 2, 3, 4,square
stat_health 1, 0
stat_pri 6,3, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, spear, 25, 1
stat_pri_attr no
stat_sec 0,0, no, 0, 0, no, no, no, none, 25, 1
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 7, 4, 2, leather
stat_sec_armour 0, 0, flesh
stat_heat 1
stat_ground 0, 0, 0, 0
stat_mental 16,normal,trained
stat_charge_dist 40
stat_fire_delay 5000
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 2, 525, 140, 80, 120, 525
ownership franks, saxons

Obviously the mass for this is 1.2

Highest mass stat appears to be about 1.3 which is shared by both heavy cavlry and some heavy infantry. Thats not that much as the lowest in 1.0

Mass isnt that big a decider... in camparison in RTRPE Cataphracts have 7.4 while skirmishers have 0.8 and most infantry have 1.0 or around there and it appears only german infantry have a 1.2 mass.

But then again different stats different game! But theres how to edit mass.
Btw mass is very important in 1vs1 because the unit with higher mass will gradually encircle the other unit (which meens that they will often rely on armour stat along for defence). So even armour and mass is important in attacks from the front and combat wise.
Obviously a unit that is holding your flank you will want to have high mass.

[Ciaran]

Thanks for the reply, Darkarbiter, I was thinking along a similar line. The slightly funny thing is, the mass in The Crusades is actually higher than in Chivalry, nevertheless, the Chivalry men at arms hold their ground, while the Crusades guys get pushed back. But I suppose there´s too many variables to sort it out nice and clean.

[Fate]

Hey there, just out of curiousity, when will the updates and/or patches be available for this, as reading this post there are clearly some large problems such as pirates, lack of the caravan minigame etc?

I ask because i really wanna play it, but i know if i end up downloading a version that aint working properly then i'll lose intrest, and with the effort you guys have put in i dont wanna do that.
So any rough ideas about a patch?

[lt1956]

Great Mod! I am really enjoying this one. Much better than MTW2 IMO, Look forward to the fixes, but its nice to have a mod based off the Movie and the Crusades of this quality.

Realy Good Work, and a great Mod to Play! Congrats!

Lt1956

[Vegas_Bear]

Any chance of getting this mod in its own folder using the " -mod:crusades". It looks really nice to play, but my hard drive cant take to many more full installments to play mods.

If you need some help w/ coding, I can offer my assistance.

[Nom]

Fantastic mod after 6months of no play him now playing with new
energy and a great respect for the makers...and waiting for the next one:sharky:

[Theif55]

you should include the low counries those low countries produce a quarter of the crusade

[Flavius Etius]

I think they were only on the second crusade!

[Theif55]

1 thing suspend me why did you build stronghold by the seas ??? you should put them by land it will look more good than by sea

[Flavius Etius]

Do you mean the castles?

[Theif55]

Yes

[Flavius Etius]

But not all of them are by the seas!