New patch?

**Jacobin** · 03-23-2012, 20:26

Any thoughts on this ?

I am seeing a different wallpaper on the menu screen for FotS, different unit cards, walls and gates appearing on castle battle loading screen maps, enemy unit status (confident/shaken etc) adding to the mouse over info at legendary (which I really dislike as the whole point of legendary is that you know no more than your general would about enemy unit morale), my own unit cards disappearing completely immediately after they hit rout status.

Oh and the fog of war effect on campaign map seems darker somehow - the islands off Kyushu I don't have ships near have virtually disappeared.

Overall deeply underwhelmed.

EDIT see there is a patch description and much heated discussion over at http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=529388

**Fagar** · 03-23-2012, 22:22

I am actually a fan..
I like the subtle little sound bytes that have been added, I like the sharpening of the graphics and the changes to the fog of war..
However most of all I really enjoy the changes to the diplomacy scales and the addition of the predicted outcomes and the "verbal" interaction now with the rival Daimyos..

Even the changes to the in game battle is great..the addition of the status of the archery towers in sieges but what really blew me away was that during a siege I was the smaller attacking force but was given the option to play as the larger force!!!!!! How much does that rock!!!!

**sassbarman** · 03-24-2012, 02:34

I love the new features they've added; thank you CA, but man have the graphics taken a beating. I used to love zooming in and watching the action up close, the units where beautiful, but now all the amour is flat black. Helmets no longer have chips and dents, no more wet armour effects, glint off weapons, and the draw distance is lowered drastically. Very disappointing!

**Maltz** · 03-24-2012, 04:12

Here are fixes that could affect our play habits:

- Only primary generals now get full XP in battles; generals commanding reinforcements get reduced XP
- Removed timer from certain battles to prevent exploit

It is good to see fixes to get rid of exploits/inconveniences. The reinforcement practice is particularly bad, as we are pretty much forced to split up generals to receive the maximum benefit. Hopefully there are still other ways to properly level up generals.

Not sure under which circumstances the timers are removed. Like the sally attack in the last season of a besieged castle?

**Jacobin** · 03-26-2012, 18:49

I have seen the timer remove but didn't make any note as to the circumstances - may well have been a siege sally though as almost all of the mid and late game battles I fight are sieges.

Having played through a new Shimazu legendary domination campaign through to the 1570s post-patch there are so many changes that it feels almost like a different game:

a) Units lose exp when they regenerate - thanks to various bonuses I had some +6 bow ashigaru some of which after many battles are back down to +1 or +2 (I almost never merge under-strength units but there now seems little point in not doing so).

b) The AI builds many more ships and seems to use them much more aggressively - pre RD my main naval problem was with pirates popping up and blockading key ports, now I rarely see the pirates as AI fleets are chasing them down - and am currently being persecuted by lots of single bow kobaya fleets that are raiding my trade routes and blockading ports and that my fleets can't catch on the campaign map as I haven't researched any naval technologies.

c) Possibly because they are building more ships the AI seems to be sending out fewer stacks on land - so far I've never had to fight more than two full-ish stacks at a time when pre-patch I'd have seen 4 or 5 or 6 stacks gang together and set about besieging my castles one by one by this time.

d) The AI is much less aggressive diplomatically - previously I'd almost always have clans from the other side of the map like the Satake and Imagawa declare war in the early game and send out invasion fleets - this campaign most of the eastern factions stayed at peace with me right up until RD even though most went to hostile quite early.

e) Perhaps because of this I haven't seen any great power rise on the AI side as I normally do - in particular minor clans seem to last longer.

f) The graphics are indeed worse and I can't see any improvement in performance - quite the opposite as I have had to go back to the 20 minute timer due to the game stuttering when fast forwarded.

Overall these changes seem to make the game considerably easier - I avoid exploits and usually turtle before RD to make sure I have a robust enough economy to survive without trade and so tend to end up battling against the clock to get that last province and finish a legendary domination campaign by 1600 - at current rate this one should be over before 1585.

However it may make the the hard central and eastern clans more playable.