Rome 2 Patches, Hotfixes, Betas and Such (patch 17 live!)

[fallen851]

So out of curiosity, why are you still here?

With hope that someday the game will live up to expectations... and to where public opinion is. If the latter becomes an opinion heavily against what CA is doing, then the former is more likely.

[Myth]

I tried playing some patch 10 beta (new campaign) this weekend. I restarted twice, both times I got a freeze bug on the campaign map. Got frustrated and quit.

[Sp4]

I'm going to actually give it a whirl later. What faction should I play this time? ^^

[Myth]

I'd advise you to wait for the official roll out of Patch 10. I'd try the new Epirus if i were you, though I personally am hell bent on seeing a Spartan and Roman campaign until the end, since both of these I had completed to about 60-70% but subsequent patches made me delete the saves and restart.

[Slaists]

I tried playing some patch 10 beta (new campaign) this weekend. I restarted twice, both times I got a freeze bug on the campaign map. Got frustrated and quit.

Are you sure it was a total freeze? I did experience a freeze myself upon updating some agent status at the turn start, but the freeze went away after some 20-30 seconds (I know it's still frustrating). But the bottom line: the freeze was not a total system freeze for me.

On a related note, right after I downloaded the patch 10 beta, I experienced a series of BSOD's (blue screens of death). That really made me feel mad... LOL... Until I noticed, I experienced the same BSOD's when browsing internet. It turned out, even though my video driver was up to date, I was several updates behind for my BIOS and chipset drivers. Once I updated those, BSOD's went away (They were not related to Rome 2, but rather to my BIOS being out of date).

[Myth]

Are you sure it was a total freeze? I did experience a freeze myself upon updating some agent status at the turn start, but the freeze went away after some 20-30 seconds (I know it's still frustrating). But the bottom line: the freeze was not a total system freeze for me.

On a related note, right after I downloaded the patch 10 beta, I experienced a series of BSOD's (blue screens of death). That really made me feel mad... LOL... Until I noticed, I experienced the same BSOD's when browsing internet. It turned out, even though my video driver was up to date, I was several updates behind for my BIOS and chipset drivers. Once I updated those, BSOD's went away (They were not related to Rome 2, but rather to my BIOS being out of date).

Oh, well the first one was related to an agent yes. My spy who had stayed behind while escorting an army while that army mysteriously retreated from an engagement it did not participate in!

I had a Spartan halfstack sitting ready to go for Larissa next turn, and a single general next to them. The Epirotes, in their infinite wisdom, decide to attack my single general. Perhaps with agent sabotage or through other nefarious means, they isolated that lone general. I braced them into a box foramtion and waited, and waited, but the AI never came to my position (I was on a hill and hidden in forests). I decided I don't want to waste 40 minutes of my life, just staring at the rain falling (it was raining in this battle). I conceded defeat - 0 casualties on either side. Yet the uninvolved main Spartan army also retreated for some reason... As to how my agent was left behind, instead of retreating with the army - that too is a mystery.

The second freeze was after some battle AFAIK. Can't remember what I did, but it annoyed me enough to delete the save and quit the game.

Oh, and the main fight versus Epirus - I shredded their melee and 2 or 3 units of skirmishers. My elite spartan hoplites and royal spartans then got routed and killed by the remaining 5 slinger units while what I would have deemed a simple mop-up of the skirmishers after the enemy pikes and hoplites went down.

In any other TW game I've played, charing heavy infantry at skirmishers after killing the enemy general (Phyrros got surrounded by 4 hoplite units) would insta-rout and win you the fight. Nope. Here the slingers penetrate hoplons and bronze cuirasses and murder royal spartans as if they were levy spearmen.

[Slaists]

In any other TW game I've played, charing heavy infantry at skirmishers after killing the enemy general (Phyrros got surrounded by 4 hoplite units) would insta-rout and win you the fight. Nope. Here the slingers penetrate hoplons and bronze cuirasses and murder royal spartans as if they were levy spearmen.

the AI seems to get considerable morale bonus on legendary ;)

[Myth]

Even so, slingers should not be able to shred armoured hoplite units from 20 meters distance, not giving them time to close in before they melt.

Further proof that the whole ranged mechanic is broken: Eprius starts with merc. Africa elephants, right? I focused them with 6 units of slingers. They stood there, 2 elephants dying for the duration of several volleys. And suddenly, after some threshold of hitpoins or what have you was reached, the remaining 10 dropped as if they were headshotted by SEAL team 6 simultaneously.

[Slaists]

Even so, slingers should not be able to shred armoured hoplite units from 20 meters distance, not giving them time to close in before they melt.

Further proof that the whole ranged mechanic is broken: Eprius starts with merc. Africa elephants, right? I focused them with 6 units of slingers. They stood there, 2 elephants dying for the duration of several volleys. And suddenly, after some threshold of hitpoins or what have you was reached, the remaining 10 dropped as if they were headshotted by SEAL team 6 simultaneously.

Somebody suggested this elephant 'sudden death' is a result of their handlers pressing the "kill elephants" button because they are about to run amock. I don't buy it though. I have seen AI elephants run amock without their handlers killing them. I also have witnessed the sudden death phenomenon and think, this is due to the hitpoints being depleted. A similar thing happens when barraging an armored infantry or cavalry unit with missiles.

BTW, javelins are much more efficient at dropping elephants than slingers. A few salvos result in the "sudden death". Even the cheapest Greek javelins will do.

[Sp4]

I've always found elephants in this a little underwheling and I dunno why they are even there if they get countered by 2 or 3 of the cheapest, most basic units you can recruit.

[Slaists]

I've always found elephants in this a little underwheling and I dunno why they are even there if they get countered by 2 or 3 of the cheapest, most basic units you can recruit.

Javelins are a definite counter to elephants in the game; yet, in human hands, elephants can be devastating (against the AI). Armored elephant generals win wars for my Seleucid desert spearmen armies... Sure, I kill most of the AI's missiles (using my slingers and light cav) before I charge elephants in.

BTW, elephants were easily killed with javelins also in Rome 1.

[Myth]

Javelins have always been the counter. I simply didn't have enough in that particular battle, and I had no pressing need to go into their skirmisher range. Apart from the idiot Phyrros (seriously CA, he was one of the top 10 classical military commanders) charging at my hoplites and letting himself be surrounded 100 meters from his defensive lines, the other part of the army didn't move much. it was a siege assault on a minor settlement.

[Sp4]

What I am trying to say is that I never used elephants much, nor saw the need to. They die too fast and cost too much, not that cost matters after turn 10. Maybe I just don't like them.

[Slaists]

One of the reasons for random DOWs: http://forums.totalwar.com/showthrea...ered-by-the-AI

In a nutshell: the AI fails to consider the consequences of converting agents.

Vanilla game, no mods, campaign started with patch 10 beta

[Sp4]

It is kind of stupid, isn't it? I thought agents were meant to be more subtle and less raaaaaawr, army! than.. well.. sending an army. In this though, as soon as an enemy warrior makes funny faces at your rank 9 ladyspy, it's a reason for all out Total War™

[Nelson]

It isn't like the game never weighs relative power by at least one means or another so that much work is already done. Since the game already computes that red and yellow bar in the diplomacy window, one would think that it would be easy enough for the AI to consider this value before undertaking any actions at all. The fix sounds easy enough to me.

[Myth]

Imo they should craft a few archetypal AI leader personalities and just randomize them when the FL changes. Currently, everyone is basically a rabid psychopath who will sacrifice his cities and armies just to piss the player off. While it's better than the completely passive, sheep-brained AI of 1.0, it doesn't help with immersion and roleplaying, or with the usefulness of diplomacy.

The Venetii should think long and hard about raiding northern Italy when Rome can march up and completely CRUSH them with 1/2 of their armies. One-settlement minors should a lot more meek when faced with a huge, lumbering behemoth next door, and only grow a spine if said behemoth is actively preoccupied on multiple fronts. Note that this is different from being engaged in multiple artificial wars with factions incapable or projecting power to said behemoth's territories.

"Rome is at war with 5 factions in Asia Minor and 2 satrapies of Carthage who have 1 settlement each. Come on Helvetii, it's our tie to shine! Oh crap, where did these legions come from!?"

Also this:

[Slaists]

Imo they should craft a few archetypal AI leader personalities and just randomize them when the FL changes. Currently, everyone is basically a rabid psychopath who will sacrifice his cities and armies just to piss the player off. While it's better than the completely passive, sheep-brained AI of 1.0, it doesn't help with immersion and roleplaying, or with the usefulness of diplomacy.

The Venetii should think long and hard about raiding northern Italy when Rome can march up and completely CRUSH them with 1/2 of their armies. One-settlement minors should a lot more meek when faced with a huge, lumbering behemoth next door, and only grow a spine if said behemoth is actively preoccupied on multiple fronts. Note that this is different from being engaged in multiple artificial wars with factions incapable or projecting power to said behemoth's territories.

"Rome is at war with 5 factions in Asia Minor and 2 satrapies of Carthage who have 1 settlement each. Come on Helvetii, it's our tie to shine! Oh crap, where did these legions come from!?"

Also this:

LOL, that Behemoth becomes capable only in human hands... I guess, the AI should account for that too ;)

[ReluctantSamurai]

LMAO!! Hot Pepper Games....reminds me of some bets I've taken in my time concerning the consumption of hot peppers..........

Diplomacy has been a broken feature since STW I, why would any of you expect it to get fixed more than a decade later?

[The Outsider]

patch 10 live:

http://wiki.totalwar.com/w/Total_War_ROME_II:_Patch_10


Build number is 10270.523837.
Beasts of War Update

Three additional Elite Units have now been added to the Beasts of War DLC, existing owners will be upgraded:
Wolf Warriors
In the Germanic world, the cult of Wodenaz was so large that people of the age often had wolf-related names, such as Vulfolaic ("Wolf-dancer"), Wolfhetan ("Wolf-hide"), and Wolfdregil ("Wolf-runner"). Wolfgang, or "Wolf-gait", has remained a popular German name to this day. The Wolf Warriors are available to the Suebi and as Mercinaries for holders of any province in Germania, drape themselves in wolf-hides and fight with the spirit of Wodenaz.
Sobek Cultists
Defender of the Nile and protector of Pharaoh's power, Sobek was the crocodile-headed god of ancient Egypt from the Old Kingdom period through to the Ptolemaic dynasty and beyond. As such, crocodiles were venerated for their violent, primal qualities, and were even bred on temple sites as a living personifications of the god, and mummified when they died. With titles such as "One who buries the bodies of the crocodile-gods of the Land of the Lake" and "prophet of the crocodile-gods", the priests of the cult of Sobek served him completely in the main temple at Shedet in defence of the Pharaoh and his subjects. Clad in the hides of the sacred crocodile, the Sobek Cultists are available to recruit for Egypt.
Nubian Leopard Warriors
Being Egypt’s neighbour, Nubia also became, at times, its greatest enemy, and the population were often enslaved and used as soldiers. In 750BC Nubians even managed to conquer Egypt, and ruled for one hundred years, such was the deep rivalry that existed between the two. Consisting mainly of mercenaries from its various regions, the armies of Nubia were famed for their aggression and fearlessness on the battlefield. The Leopard Warriors are no exception: clad in the skins of swift and deadly leopards, they are a force to be reckoned with. Available to as mercenaries when holding Egypt in the Grand Campaign.
Molossian Dogs and Celtic Warhounds campaign mercenaries have been added.
Berserker units will now wear bear skins instead of wolf pellets (for all users not just BoW owners).
Balancing changes including strength and durability to:

Molossian Dogs,
Celtic Warhounds,
Mercenary Syrian Armoured Elephants,
African Elephants,
Camel Cataphracts,
Snake Pot Ballista,
Scorpion Pot Ballista,
Beehive Onager.


Performance improvements

General performance improvements:

Additional Support for AMD Crossfire multi-GPU configs.
Further improvements to GPU performance and reduction in CPU-bottlenecks for all configs.
Improved core Battle performance scenarios.
Resolved CPU core-affinity threading issue.
Implemented borderless window when running at desktop resolution in Windowed mode.
There is no longer an upper limit on the graphics settings that a user can select in the frontend. Previously if the game determined that a user’s machine was low-end then it would not allow them to select high graphics settings. This limitation is now gone. Note that selecting high graphics settings on low-end machines will negatively affect performance.
Improved consistency of reflections on shiny textures.


‘Unlimited Video Memory’ option improvements:

Unlimited Video Memory is now selectable for all integrated GPUs running on 64-bit operating systems from Windows Vista onward. Integrated GPUs use system memory as video memory at all times, as they have no dedicated video memory of their own. This code change now allows our integrated GPU customers to use all of their system memory as video memory. When Unlimited Video Memory is enabled, discrete GPUs use system memory as an extension of their dedicated GPU video memory, when their dedicated video memory is not enough to run at their chosen graphics quality settings. Please be advised that in both cases, using system memory as GPU video memory can impact performance as it is generally not as fast as dedicated GPU video memory. Also, if system memory runs low (or out), the user’s hard drive will be paged, resulting in reduced framerates.
For users running on an integrated GPU in 64-bit Windows (Vista onwards), with Unlimited Video Memory available but not selected, we have increased the amount of video memory that the game sees from 800MB to 1024MB.
Fixed an issue causing Unlimited Video Memory to be unavailable for users with certain discrete video cards.
Fixed an issue that was causing Unlimited Video Memory to become disabled on some multi-GPU configurations.


Battle performance improvements:

Eliminated battle pathfinding performance spike which caused battles to stutter.
Addressed a crash in siege battles which occurred on some maps after breaching walls with artillery.
Addressed a crash in Egyptian Large City battle caused by the map data.
Addressed a crash caused by squads within the same unit attempting to use different formations.
Fixed a UI lock-up when opening the steam overlay during the introduction sequence at the start of an ambush battle (while defending).




Gameplay Improvements

Battle AI improvements:

Fixed an issue which could cause the attacking siege AI to stall when attempting to breach the walls with artillery.
Improved coordination of AI defenders in city, port and town battles when they are outside the settlement. This improves the behaviour of disembarked naval units and reinforcement armies.
Addressed an issue which caused disembarked naval AI defenders in siege battles to become inactive.
Improved the battle AI's ability to predict the outcome of combat actions, allowing it to better commit its troops in combat.
Battle AI in field battles is now encouraged to outflank earlier when necessary.



General battle improvements:

Improved ladder docking in Rome city map.
Addressed collision gaps in fort walls caused by auxiliary buildings, which sometimes allowed units to pass through walls.
Prevented siege ladders/towers being pushed into the wall of a settlement on the battlefield.
Settlement gates no longer close on friendly units during battles.
Smoothed uneven terrain under a dockable wall in Egyptian port battle map.
Fixed wall in large Barbarian city map.
Fixed floating buildings in some Roman City and Barbarian battle maps.


General Campaign improvements:

Improvements made to the campaign auto-resolver's modelling of melee-based infantry, which corrects a wide range of auto-resolver imbalances.
In campaign mode, garrisoned Hastati will now upgrade correctly after researching the 'Cohort Organization' technology, which converts Hastati to Legionaries.
Slave army leaders will no longer always look Hellenic in Campaign mode.
Unit cards no longer appear outside of the merge window UI while merging units in campaign modes.
Settlement labels in Campaign modes now consistently display the diplomatic relationship status that is currently held with the owning faction. Red = War, Blue = Allied With, Grey = neutral.
Improvements made to the accuracy of the unit tooltip threat indicator in the battle UI.
Needs more Hamilcar.
Cinematic Mode shortcut key now works consistently in different languages.


Usability Improvements

Addressed a number of minor audio issues.
Battlefield death animations no longer with the victim in a kneeling pose.
Category icon no longer incorrectly appears on elephant units once the unit is out of control.

[The Outsider]

[Kamakazi]

so where did force march go? im rather missing it

[Sp4]

They couldn't fix it, so they got rid of it =)

[Slaists]

so where did force march go? im rather missing it

Huh? I was playing with forced march last night.

[Myth]

They couldn't fix it, so they got rid of it =)

There wasn't anything broken with it IIRC

[Sp4]

There wasn't anything broken with it IIRC

Why is it gone?

[Slaists]

Why is it gone?

@Sp4, what are you guys talking about? Forced march was in vanilla game still yesterday.

[The Outsider]

I am not sure what you guys are talking about, I started to doubt my sanity after seeing your posts, So I re-tried the game with patch ten and forced march is still there:

[CaptainCrunch]

Yes, forced march is still there. Yes, the AI still doesn't know how to use it.

[Slaists]

Yes, forced march is still there. Yes, the AI still doesn't know how to use it.

As long as your troops are visible, the AI does a pretty good job of stopping right outside the range of your armies. If your troops are hidden (ambush stance deployed anywhere, even in plain sight on a road), that's a whole different matter. Then, the AI can stop right next to you.