Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: I'm not cross, CA. I'm just dissapointed. So very dissapointed.

  1. #1

    Default I'm not cross, CA. I'm just dissapointed. So very dissapointed.

    I finally went out and got ETW after months of procrastinating. I was quite pleased with it until I came across the following situation.

    So I was playing as great britain and Prussia declared war on me over the succession. No big deal, whatever I'll just raise an army and send it over with John Churchill (and jees isn't he doing well for an old man, 78 and still campaigning!).

    Now my plan was to blockade their ports, land troops in Hannover and march into west prussia. I notice that there's a river effectively locking off part of the western boundary with a single bridge. I quickly advance to the bridge (having played TW games before) and while I'm doing that, I break off a detachment of cavalry to capture and burn the university that was on my side of the bridge. To hell with books, chaps!

    So there's a group of infantry there, no big deal my cavalry should wipe them easily. 2 Cavalry vs 1 line infantry. Suddenly, my whole army wants to get involved as reinforcements. There doesn't seem to be a way to stop them, but oh well. It's not what I wanted, but it's not a big problem either.
    I don't want to deal with having my reinforcements blundering around the map on what should be a straight forward fight. With a small detachment and a large stack of renforcements (infantry artillery and cavalry)on my side and 1 single infantry regiemnt on theirs, I figure it should be a quick and easy spank, no need to manually control what should be a brief and thorough spanking.
    By the way, that regiment of prussians deserves medals for just sticking around to fight, I mean come on. So I hit the auto-resolve button without realising that I was apparently facing the Von Rambo regiment! Every unit takes 10-15% casualties. Even the artillery. With a 7 star general commanding! John Churchill, I am dissapoint. I know you're an old man, but jees.

    Well, it's irritating, but I figure no big deal, I'm still able to fight, and hey, I have a whole birdge to hide behind, right? So I leave the cavalry to occupy the school and take up position on the bridge in the approved Total War fashion. Now the expected prussian counterattack comes,they send a large army but then (this is the fun part) it crosses the bridge occupied by my main army and bypasses them in order to attack the cavalry at the school directly.

    ....

    WTF? No serious, wtf? What just happened? Did they teleport? Do they have magical flying horses to take them across? Do they have their own personal Moses to part the rivert?

    I mean, what happened on the bridge:
    "HALT! None shall pass, by order of John Churchill in the name of the King of England!"
    "Oh it iz alright! Ve are not here to attack you, simply to crush your massively outnumbered cavalry over zere!"
    "Well that seems very reasonable. I never liked those donkey wallopers anyway. Pass friend!"

    So the prussian army directly attack my cavalry detachment. But here's the worst bit, my main army is dragged in as reinforcements. Now with a birdge to hide behind and properly deployed from the beginning I'd have had a good chance of beating the much larger prussian army. Deploying piecemeal into a battle, I was predicatably slaughtered.

    It wasn't even funny, and it totally ruined my enjoyment of the game to be basically held down and kerb stomped and not be able to do anything because of a stupid bug. My army was wiped out and I quit the game in disgust. I'll have another go tomorrow, but seriously. This isn't good enough. Did they not test army routing or something?

  2. #2
    Provost Senior Member Nelson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 1999
    Location
    Maryland, USA
    Posts
    2,762

    Default Re: I'm not cross, CA. I'm just dissapointed. So very dissapointed.

    Were you given an oportunity to intercept the Prussian Army when it moved close enough?

    Or might it have approached by another path?
    Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like bananas.

  3. #3

    Default Re: I'm not cross, CA. I'm just dissapointed. So very dissapointed.

    Nope, I wasn't given an opportunity to intercept, and it didn't approach by another path. It couldn't, if you look at the geography, unless Denmark or Hannover gives it acces, the only way across the river is that bridge. I watched it cross over the bridge too.

  4. #4
    Senior Member Senior Member Fisherking's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    East of Augusta Vindelicorum
    Posts
    5,575

    Default Re: I'm not cross, CA. I'm just dissapointed. So very dissapointed.

    I have never seen this happen. I see all sorts of things I might be temped to call bugs but no passing a bridge.

    I have around 1600 hours of playing the game and I figure I have seen most of its little glitches but this one has escaped me.

    Their intercepts always work better than yours, but that is no big deal.

    What was your difficulty setting? VH produces some odd behaviors too. I think the game has been geared toward Normal and anything else will allow the AI some weird abilities.


    Education: that which reveals to the wise,
    and conceals from the stupid,
    the vast limits of their knowledge.
    Mark Twain

  5. #5
    Grand Patron's Banner Bearer Senior Member Peasant Phill's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Somewhere relatively safe, behind some one else, preferably at the back
    Posts
    2,953
    Blog Entries
    3

    Default Re: I'm not cross, CA. I'm just dissapointed. So very dissapointed.

    I've actually never had a bridge battle in ETW altough I defend bridges wherever I can. The AI just never wants to attack there against me. How many bridge battles have you guys fought?
    Quote Originally Posted by Drone
    Someone has to watch over the wheat.
    Quote Originally Posted by TinCow
    We've made our walls sufficiently thick that we don't even hear the wet thuds of them bashing their brains against the outer wall and falling as lifeless corpses into our bottomless moat.

  6. #6

    Default Re: I'm not cross, CA. I'm just dissapointed. So very dissapointed.

    Quote Originally Posted by Fisherking View Post
    I have never seen this happen. I see all sorts of things I might be temped to call bugs but no passing a bridge.

    I have around 1600 hours of playing the game and I figure I have seen most of its little glitches but this one has escaped me.

    Their intercepts always work better than yours, but that is no big deal.

    What was your difficulty setting? VH produces some odd behaviors too. I think the game has been geared toward Normal and anything else will allow the AI some weird abilities.

    I was playing on normal. I guess the glitch is caused because the school or town is right next to the bridge, so the AI is able to attack it directly because it's adjacent to it while standing on the opposite side. It's just sheer lazy programming on the part of CA to not anticipate this.

    Despite the fact that it's clearly on the other side of the river.

  7. #7
    Senior Member Senior Member Fisherking's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    East of Augusta Vindelicorum
    Posts
    5,575

    Default Re: I'm not cross, CA. I'm just dissapointed. So very dissapointed.

    It may be that I have just missed that spot. Usually as GB I seldom bother with Prussia and as Prussia no one ever gets that close.

    I have to say that the problems are so very much less with NTW than they were with ETW it makes ETW seem primitive.

    It is just a shame that ETW didn’t get the full upgrade so that you had that stupendous scope.


    Education: that which reveals to the wise,
    and conceals from the stupid,
    the vast limits of their knowledge.
    Mark Twain

  8. #8
    A Livonian Rebel Member Slaists's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Posts
    1,828

    Default Re: I'm not cross, CA. I'm just dissapointed. So very dissapointed.

    I guess, the reason is that the school was so close to the bridge. Usually though, if the AI army is targeting a piece of real estate or a unit that is farther away than another one of your armies (in this case, the one on the bridge), then the closer one of your armies gets to intercept. The exception to this rule is when the AI army is already within your interception radius before they start the move. In that case, all bets are off.

    As far as bridge battles are concerned, I had a different yet nasty experience. I was playing as UP and my defending army was sitting on a bridge next to the border with Flanders. Spanish had accumulated 3 stacks near the province capital and French were camping in the same spot with two more stacks. Finally, the Spanish AI decided to attack me across the bridge. French, being their allies, joined the battle. Fine, I thought, I can hold the river crossings and beat them all back. The battle started as epxected with the Spanish storming the crossings. Then came the big FUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!! moment. The French army merrily marched onto the field BEHIND my back, on MY side of the river, having magically teleported themselves across the water.

    The lesson learned is: never trust river crossings if the enemy has reinforcing stacks. Reinforcements appear in random locations on the battlefield and those location have no relation to the original placement of the forces on the strat. map.
    Last edited by Slaists; 07-19-2010 at 20:48.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Single Sign On provided by vBSSO