View Full Version : MTW-Redux Beta Released!
hi, i just dled the very 1st version u posted. I was getting bored w/ regular MTW so tried XL it was ok, and I have to say I am really impressed :2thumbsup:
as i said, i just downloaded the very first one, so is there a different version that lets me play more factions? it would be cool to try out all the new units u put on the game.
Also I think you should add another Muslim faction, if you haven't done so, like the Seljuk Turks or something like that
I await your answer(s) :beam::beam:
made a mistake and dont know how to edit lol ?
i meant to say XL was ok, but your version really impressed me (sorry)
Hi there Nzd07 and welcome to the Org and the redux area,
I am always happy to greet new redux-players here. Glad you like this version of MTW (care to share any specifics on what it was that impressed you? Or are we talking of an overall impression here? At any rate, thanks for the praise.)
Your questions then.... I assume that you mean MTW-redux 1.0b. I have gathered that you got VI, so you should also download and install the VI-upgrade 1.0 and then the Spanish Fix for VI/V.2.01 (grey banner). Then your game will be as optimal as can be with the available material in distribution. I am currently working on the 3rd edition and with it there will be some major improvements for redux. I am exited about that and I dare say that redux has never looked that good as it will do when that version are released. This will of course happen when I’m done with it. I’ll post some screens and stuff when we are closer to release.
At any rate, with the release of 3rd edition redux (or MTW-redux 1.1) my work with basic redux are probably done. After that we can all play around with the redux-platform and create expansions and sub-mods as much as we like, I plan to do some stupid stuff myself, just for fun. Until then, you and everybody else will have to make due with 2nd edition (+ Spanish Fix).
Playing more factions then... Well, the best I officially can do for you are the VI-upgrade 1.0 which allows you to play as the Russians as a special feature in that version. Other than that you could perhaps make such changes on your own personal game, I see no reason why that could not happen. There are guides for it here at the Org.
At any rate, default redux is designed to have 18 factions and out of these 8 is playable (currently, 3rd edition will change that). There are several reasons for that and you can read all about it in post: 203, the “factions and variety” section. I personally feel that quality in a faction is far more important and interesting than just sheer quantity of factions. I know that other people have very different views on that and it is ok. I just don’t share their views that’s all.
Now, if you don’t put in the Turks yourself, no other Muslim factions will be available in the default redux other than the Saracens and Moors (and only the Moors will be playable, for hardcorded reasons). There is simply no room for it with the circumstances that I have work with here! I removed the Turks to create Portugal instead because I thought it would be more interesting for the game. So, if you rely on me for the Turks in redux, my answer is in short: no Turks, no more Muslims, no more factions in default/official redux (again, post: 203 provides the many answers as for why). Sorry, but there you have it.
Any other questions? Fire away... :mickey:
- Cheers
-----------
As a jr member you are not allowed to edit your posts. Don’t ask me why. :wink2:
Hi all,
It appears that Filefront management have in their infinite wisdom ”lost” the MTW-redux 1.0b.rar upload. Thus that link is down. I will upload it again shortly (sigh). Until that is done, only the Atomicgamer upload is functional for the moment (zip-version). Don’t ask me why….
EDIT: Ok, I have fixed it, another copy is uploaded and the new MTW-redux 1.0b.rar link is in place.
- Cheers
William the Silent
12-23-2008, 21:21
All Redux fans Merry Chritmas!
Ax, I will be doing a new spanish campaign in the New Year.
I started it already, but I'm too busy now to put it up.
Nice decorations for the castle.
And a very Marry Christmas to you, WTS! To all, Happy Holidays and a Marry Festivous!
William and Rick, I want to join you guys in this….
Merry Xmas to all redux players and supporters! It makes me very happy that overall 2008 was a very good year for MTW-redux. I appreciate all the interest in redux this year. In my mind there is little doubt that if redux got a home somewhere it sure is right here at the ORG. My thanks to all of you that made it so.
Hopefully I will post some screens on 3rd edition soon!
William: you got a message/post that might interest you over at the TWC (redux thread). There is some tip that might be useful for you.
- Cheers
Hi all,
I have taken some screens on MTW-redux 3rd edition (from tactical mode) that is under development and not yet released.
I have posted these three six screens to give you people a peek on the future of redux. I’ll post some other screens later (I
have edited in some more). Hope you guys like ‘em.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RXBattle01.jpg
The English and Lithuanians in a good charge...
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RXBattle02.jpg
A bit closer on the action here...
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RXBattle03.jpg
Lombards firering crossbows... Those new crossbow-calibrations really made my head spin.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RXBattle04.jpg
Lombards on the march. Now spears and pikes looks like it - and its about time they did! He he! Well I am happy
about that at any rate.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RXBattle05.jpg
The Norse on the move... Note the axes, its about time the looked like they should. The original MTW axes never really
appealed to me anyway. Essentially I happy about that change.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RXBattle06.jpg
The Norse and HRE in action. I am very happy about the new redux unit stardard/banners and those command flagg aint
that freakishly thick like in the original. Oh and check out those green trees! I like it like that (currently available in the
Spanish fix actually).
Ok that's it for now, anybody else with comments on the screens?
- Cheers
Ok I got some other screens (montages) for you guys here….
This time it is various info-pics on units and agents. I got one for various Christian/pagan units and one for Muslim units. As for the agents, I never really liked the ones found in the original game so I finally decided to make some new ones that goes a little easier on the eyes. - Of course I had to do a princess as well even if the darn thing wont show up in the game (default settings) but what the hell. I can always dream can’t I?!? At any rate, enjoy!
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_3rdED_preview03.jpg
Ok, from the top left corner; we got a princess, spy and in the second row we have an emissary, assassin and a bishop.
So much for agents...
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_3rdED_preview01.jpg
Some units then... From the top left corrner; Polish hero, crossbowmen, Russian hero, Norse champion and finally some
feudal champions looking mighty and ready to be your average badass essentially.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_3rdED_previeiw02.jpg
Moving on to the domains of Muslims then... Top left corner. Ghazi-warriors, Ghazi-warlords, Moorish/saracen raiders,
Moorish mercenaries and finally some Ghazi-fanatics.
Ok, thats it for now.
- Cheers
Geezer57
01-10-2009, 19:36
Hmmm, I just got Redux 1.0b with the VI upgrade installed this morning - very nice. So now there's a 3.0 upgrade soon to come, what happened to version 2? Did I somehow just miss it?
Hehe… We are not quite there yet Geezer57. When we got Redux 3.0, I’ll be sure to let you and everybody else know when that happens. Hell, we have not even come to 2.0 yet. Maybe this 3rd edition will be that, I have not really decided that yet but as far as number goes it should at the very least be a redux 1.5, or there about. :laugh4: What is clear here is that it will be the third official release of MTW-redux (thus 3rd edition). Hope this sorted things out for you. :mickey:
Glad you like redux by the way….
- Cheers
Cold Steel
01-13-2009, 17:56
Axalon, since you're working on a new version I'd like to make two quick requests:
1. Include specific happiness information in the building descriptions. ("+10% happiness")
2. Open the Norse as a playable faction. I played the last campaign with the Norse (-ian) and I had no difficulties. The Muslim faction pictures hardly matter. Just explain it in the faction description at the start of the campaign.
Cold Steel
01-13-2009, 18:02
3. I'd also like a document listing each faction's units, their stats, and how to build them.
Hello again Cold Steel,
I bid you welcome to the “great tower” (regular thread) here at the redux area and the Org as well, while I’m at it so to speak. I see you prefer things short and to the point, a man of action then…. :laugh4:
Well, these are some worthwhile requests you bring me here I think. I can’t promise you anything, but essentially their all good and I will look into it if time allows me too, at least on request 1-2. It’s mainly connected to practical stuff in the game you see. I’ll have another look at the Norse and see what I can do....
As for request 3, you might actually get almost what you want when Joh’s unit guide is completed and released. That is however not within my control really since it is above all Joh that is the senior scribe on that, it is all dependent on him (but first he must get the files from me). All I can say is that the plan is that it will be released in close proximity with the 3rd edition – that is the plan. If that happen remains to be seen, but it would be nice no doubt and that’s the best I can do for you on that matter. If you for some reason can’t wait for that, grab a Gnome editor and start checking out the stats yourself (it is available here at the Org).
Anyway, I hope like redux and have loads of fun with it. By all means feel free to stick around here.
- Cheers
Wladyslaw IV
01-17-2009, 21:24
This looks great. Granted I have the pointer graphics problem with ANY MTW VI game, or mod, but this mod is a complete overwrite, yes?
This looks great. Granted I have the pointer graphics problem with ANY MTW VI game, or mod, but this mod is a complete overwrite, yes?
Hi there Wladyslaw IV,
Thanks. Yeah pretty much, it replaces many original files. If you install redux on a fresh copy of VI it becomes pretty useless if you decide to remove the redux files again. But this is standard for almost all mods. If you have another copy of MTW that you want to save - just install another copy for redux. Its no big deal. Or did you mean that it is very diffrent from the original? Its a yes there just the same.
As for your problem, unfriendly GFX-card ehh? Well you probably have most of the same problems and isseus with redux too. If you can live with that, do try redux out. I have a hard time believing you being sorry for it, since people seem to like it much so... :mickey:
- Cheers
Achilleslastand
01-18-2009, 23:26
Those screens look amazing......what are your pc specs and what resolution are you running at?
I just built a new rig and cant wait to reinstall MTW and the latest verion of redux......thanks
Hi there Achilleslaststand,
Thanks man. Long time no read by the way; things have changed much around here since I last saw a post from you. These days we got a whole sub-forum for redux (thanks to people like Martok, Caravel and Tosa), feel free to have a look around and drop a post somewhere. It’s still much work in progress but I am very happy about all this, but it really is for all you redux players – not me. Feel free to stick around and help out with that work if you want too, after all - you have played redux for a while by now. Geezer57 currently have some thoughts over at the “tips and new player area”, perhaps you could provide him with some answers or comments?
SCREENS are taken on a 1280X1024 res initially and then shrunk into web-friendly 800x600 (in Photoshop.
If anyone wonders, the screens we are talking about are found in post:258 and 259)
*On a general note: I would like to ask everyone to consider 800x600 as a maximum if and when “you”
post pics/screens anywhere around here. Otherwise use spoilers or something like that - because
a higher resolution disrupts the threads. So, please guys...
SPECS on the PC the screens were taken:
OS: Win2000 Pro
CPU: Northwood Pentium4, 2,60 GHz
MBoard: Intel D875PBZ
GFX-card: Radeon 9700 Pro
Drivers: ATI v.8.205.0.0 (released Apr ’06 I think it was).
Direct X: 9.0c (Aug ‘06 I believe)
Ram: 2 Gig DDR1-type
This is the PC I usually work on… I Have another PC with better specs for other stuff -
runs redux as well actually - but not the original game, how about that?!?
:medievalcheers:
Faenaris
01-28-2009, 12:01
I just wanted to pop-in and express my gratitude to you, Axalon. MTW always had a special place in my hard (I have spend more hours on that game than RTW and M2TW combined) and this mod gives the old lady a very very very nice make-over. While my gametime is extremely limited nowadays (which will decline to non-existant for the following months), I'm having a blast with your mod. Rest assured that I will spend my free-time playing your mod and trying to kick some Moor behind. ;)
Your mod is popular and I'm sure a lot of people are lurking here, waiting for more Redux goodness. So while the forum might appear to be a bit more quiet when compared to the ETW section for example, there are still watchers in the dark. So carry on and keep spreading the Redux goodness amongst the MTW lovers. ~:) And when my free-time starts to increase again, I'm sure you'll see me posting a bit more regular around here.
Hi Faenaris and all other redux players,
It has been a while since I was around this place (busy working with 3rd ED) and I thought that some updates on the progress might be in order here. Now, MTW-redux 1.0c (3rd Edition) is scheduled to be released to the public: 20th Feb. 2009 and then within a week after that the VI-upgrade version for it will also be released. Needless to say, all former redux-material will be withdrawn and declared obsolete from that point on (you can still learn the basics of MTW-redux while using 2nd edition until 3rd edition is released of course).
For those of you who might wonder what new stuff will be included in that edition I can only say that it will be plenty of stuff – rest assured. In my mind there is no doubt that it will be the best and most complete version of redux released to date – in every sense. I am confident that you guys will come to the same conclusion once you get the chance to play it.
Once the VI-upgrade for it is also released I have done everything I intended to do with basic redux and thus my work will probably be done with it (unless a major bug is found). Maybe I’ll post up another round of screens before the release – we’ll see.
Feanaris: I’m glad that you like the 2nd edition and I do appreciate your encouragement here, I really do. It certainly makes it a little easier for me to work with project you know. As I said before, 3rd edition will present monsterload of GFX-surgery and “facelifts” all over along with plenty of other and further design-orientated stuff as well. The “old lady” will essentially be in her good 20’s again hehe! :kiss2: In my mind the original MTW will simply not be able to compete with the sexed up/reduxed version of it. I really do mean that even if I am well aware that it is a bold statement. None the less, I believe that 3rd ED redux can and will back up those bold words.
The way I see it the original game will simply not be able to compete because it will be matched or outclassed in every turn (all hardcoded stuff aside of course). To me, it simply stands as inferior by comparison. If anything, all my work with redux it has certainly convinced me of that.
Now, as for the lurkers. They do what they want of course but in my mind they really don’t help out much in the development of public redux or its community in the long run. For instance, in order for this very forum to function properly and at a decent level it does require a collective and active participation of some kind to have a fair chance of getting interesting and worthwhile visiting. If it is just me that does all the posting around here it will get both uninteresting and boring in no time – and it will not be a forum, it will be a place were I do various statements at best. We don’t want any of that – I don’t want any of that. And, the public version of redux will eventually die in the long run on such a path. I have a hard time believing that this is what people really want considering the sheer number of downloads the game has in total (currently over 700).
So, the life of public redux are actually to be found in the people who do post up reduxy questions, comments, opinions, problems, thoughts and essentially share some information with each other of any kind. If that happens redux will be alive and well – and as a bonus, I (and perhaps others as well) will have further incentives to possibly do additional work and optional expansions for redux (in this regard it is friendlier for stuff like that than any other version I know about – especially so in the VI-version). It’s as simple as that really.
To put it plainly; lurking actually means slow death, posts and participation means life for the public version of redux (or any other project for that matter). So, dear average lurker it’s kind of up to you what happens next. If anything, my membership here at the Org has made it blatantly clear for me is this very fact. Had I known these things before, I would have signed up as a member here back in 2000 out sheer sense of duty and sympathy for the efforts of the total war community, because that was when I first started to lurk around the Org myself (it actually is a lot more fun when you can post up some silly and stupid comments on your own and see how people react upon it. Maybe you get lucky once in a while and post up something better than that as well).
Also, as I said so many times before around here; it – does – not – have – to – be - me - that – do the answering and commenting in this special redux-forum. Do you know the answer or have comments – post ‘em up and help out a fellow redux-player! If you have something special in store, not covered by the existing threads? Start a new and separate thread for it! It will serve yourself, the public version of redux and all its players in the long run you know.
So, Feanaris there you have my take on the lurkers… I do welcome you and everybody else to post away around here – it would be much more fun. Hell, even if you might do some double posting now and then – so what, it still is much more fun! Otherwise it would just be plain ‘ol me that do any sort of regular posting around here - and that’s no fun. It’s pretty boring in my book actually. Besides, it is good for redux and it does make this place more interesting to visit, for me and all redux-players (including you). :wink2:
- Cheers
-----------
Gee! That turned out to be a pretty lengthy post. I didn’t know that I still had
that “long-post-syndrome” in me….
Hi Axalon
Good news about 3rd edition, and about the number of Redux downloads :2thumbsup:
I think one reason that we don't get more discussion on these boards is that you've kindly encouraged people to take Redux and customise to taste. It's hard to comment on the Spanish fix, for eg, if you're playing with a Spain with several additional provinces, or a different starting position. The area of common ground is reduced.
But I have to admit that customising never matches the visual quality of what you put out there, which means that I am definitely keen to see what you have done.
Have you considered map changes for 3rd edition, at least to make use of the extra 8 provinces available before you hit the ceiling? That's one bit of customisation I always find hard to resist, if only to make progress slower and harder in a few key areas of the map.
Hi Wes and all redux-players,
The release of 3rd edition will be delayed a few days because I want to run some decent tests first before I release it. As stated before, I did plan to release 3rd edition today but unfortunately I simply have not had the time to do any proper and overall testing so that’s why I delay the release. For this I am sorry, but it is better and safer this way. So, a few more days guys….
- Cheers
-----------
Wes, maybe I’ll comment on your remarks once I have more time on my hands.
It is well worth discussing further so I’ll definitely try to do that later. :bow:
Markuzzi
03-02-2009, 10:20
I just tried out the Redux today and wow its pretty amazing. The game has a whole new feel to it. I have not read through every post in this topic but have read a fair share. Just today from playing I have had a few bug issues...
First, I tried English on expert and launched a crusade into Lithuania. When the the icon box of Sanctioned Crusade thing popped up I clicked the 'check' and it crashed. I tried a couple more times and it kept crashing, then managed to fail the crusade. Whenever I clicked the window--crash. Also this was my second crusade. The first one worked out fine.
So I thought I would try out the Spanish on Expert. All was good until a certain point where in I think it was 765 ad I click end turn and it crashes. I reloaded 2 saves and the auto save and it would crash at that point.
So just now I thought I would try out the Poles and got to around 734 ad and I click end turn and it freezes at "thinking"..
Im not sure if these are common problems or if I am missing a patch? But the game suddenly seems unstable for instance random crashes by hitting esc in game to bring up the menu. My plain MTW worked fine and I haven't even had a save corrupted yet. So I am not sure if that is what I am experiencing right now.
Either way great game mod I really like it and I hope I am just missing a patch or something.
I have MTW v1.1 + Redux 1.0b + Spanish Fix (a).
I think thats right? I saw the superfix thing but I think thats included in the 1.0B?
Any suggestions?
Markuzzi
03-02-2009, 20:28
Disregard this post. I just found the bug section...
Hi there Markuzzi,
As customary here at the Org. I bid you welcome to the Org and especially so to the province of redux in MTW-land. Feel free to stick around here as much as you like. But above all a welcome to the little world of redux and all the sinful princesses found there (not to be trusted by the way). Enjoy your adventures there and I am glad to hear that you like this version and that you are already busy killing pixels – redux style. Feel free to post in anything reduxy you want to share with the rest of us. As for your problems, I have some possible answers on ‘em over at the debug area (the place to be for such stuff). That is, to the best of my abilities with the limited info you provided.
On a general note:
To all you redux-players out there; 3rd edition will be delayed a bit further since I eventually decided to include even more additional material in this edition. On top of that it appears that I mistakenly deleted a weeks worth of work as well (various unit and weapon calibrations) so that don’t speed things up much either. It really is annoying when it happens – even if it is very rare. “You” got roughly 10 gigs of bits and pieces all over so it’s really hard to keep track of everything - let alone have it all under control.
Thus the release will be delayed because of all that. Besides we’re all in the middle of the ETW-craze so I see little point in releasing anything during all that ETW-hysteria and will thus wait for it to settle down a bit. After that and more importantly when I’m done with all extra stuff I want to include in this edition a new release date will be announced (and I will keep that date this time). So, that how things are in case someone is wondering why 3rd edition is not released yet.
Oki, that’s it for now.
- Cheers
Hi Axalon
Thanks for the update - I feel your pain :oops:
I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been watching this thread for the release. I'll keep watching and hope it all goes smoothly from here.
Faenaris
03-19-2009, 02:08
Greetings Axalon, Westerner and all the other redux-players. It's good old Faenaris, the "n00b" again. ~;) Work is slowing down a bit for a couple of days and as such, I had some more time alone with Axalon's masterpiece. And as they say in the McDonald commercials: "I'm lovin' it."
Axalon, you're right about lurking meaning a slow death for a niche mod like yours. Many TW players haven't played MTW and many won't do it simply because it isn't "snazzy" and "bling-bling" enough according to today's standards. As us veterans know, MTW is way better than RTW and M2TW (although they are enjoyable, it just isn't in the same league in my opinion) and I will be playing this game for as long as I can. As luck would have it, this old scrawny school laptop can actually run MTW and thank the Lord for that.
I don't want to blow my own horn, but I hope you all would allow me to give my first impressions of the Redux mod. I hadn't really played the campaign much because of a lack of free time and while I loved it already, I couldn't quite comprehend the scale of Redux. Now I have a couple of hours of fun with it and I'm starting to "feel" the splendour of the mod a bit more. And since some lurkers might decide to get the mod after reading some first impressions, I thought: “Faenaris, write away!” And so:
England rules the waves ... if She has ships
A fine aspect about the Redux campaign is that you have a LOT of turns to play around with(around 500 if I'm not mistaken). I'm a slow and methodical player who uses the sledgehammer technique. I turtle, build up and once ready, I swoop down on my enemy and knock em out in a few turns using a rather small but advanced army. No skirmishing and all that, no sirree! So, when I booted the campaign, I went for little old England. Island, pretty safe from invasions (in the beginning at least), opportunity for rebel-smashing, ... What more could you want as a first time Redux player?
Being the chicken that I am, I opted for a Normal difficulty. I never quite liked giving the AI bonusses ("what do you mean, those peasants whooped my king?!") and while I could overlook the Hard difficulty, the Very Hard was just a bridge too far. Besides, it's my first game and I wanna try out the mod a bit. Thus said, thus done.
England starts off with Normandy, Wessex, Mercia and that's about it. Alrighty, let's build up. A quick glance at the unit roster made me drool. Light infantry, regular infantry, longbows, feudal longbows, four kinds of light cavalry, ... What to pick? I had read that Longbows dominated ranged warfare in Redux, so, 4 feudal longbows coming up! The units were rather small and their upkeep seemed rather low. Some units had an upkeep of 15 florins! My memory fails me a lot of times nowadays, but I do think I remember having to pay a lot more upkeep in the original MTW. Then again, in the original MTW, you made too much money too fast and as such, paying upkeep was a moot point. Besides, the lower the upkeep, the larger the armies of the AI will be and massive battles is what the audience wants! And me too. Héhé.
As for the buildings, I was glad to see that the turns required for the buildings were more sensible. One turn for a low-level fort or blacksmith, that's the spirit! While I'm a patient man, clicking turn after turn just to see a building finished isn't exactly fun either. Reasonable build times are the keyword. Sure, a citadel takes over 12 turns and costs 12000 florins (which is a lot in Redux), but that's normal. It's a huge castle. But in MTW, you had to wait around 10 turns to get a simple castle running. Not fun.
The economy in Redux is much more agrarian-based, so, I went nuts with the farm upgrades. 1 turn for 10% improvement, 2 turns for 20% improvement, ... It might seem pointless at first, but after upgrading my provinces to 100%, my monthly income went from 800 and no armies to 2.3k with 2 full stacks. I'm quoting from memory, so the actual digits might be way off. :)
So, after I got those 4 feudal longbowmen, I noticed a lot of mercenaries were available. Not the kind of units everyone can produce, but real mercenary units like Mercenary Spearmen and such. Even some Norse ones, but those were pricey. So, I went on a shopping spree, got me a nice stack of them with some light infantry of my own mixed in. And I invaded Wales.
The rebels ran away from my glorious army and I started building up Wales. Flushed with victory, I invaded Northumbria. They ran away again. I consolidated, disbanded the mercs and trained two regular stacks. Light infantry, regular infantry, some longbows, ... and Feudal Champions. Five soldiers in a unit. A bandit stack appeared in Mercia and I wanted to see those Champions in action. So, 5 champions versus 60 light spearmen. When I ordered the charge, they crashed into the spearformation and even when taking them head-on (not a smart thing to do when the other guy has a long pointy stick and you don't), they butchered them. Not a single casualty and 50 dead spearmen. I was whooping with joy. Those champions are a treat. There is even a 1-man unit of champions. Must be Chuck Norris.
Anyhow, things were running fine. I raised a third stack in Wessex because France was getting itchy. They grabbed Brittany and Flanders. “Flemish spearmen? WOOP WOOP!”. I'm from Flanders myself, so I beamed with patriotic pride to see my countrymen represented in Redux. Thanks, Axalon! Anyway, I wanted to get Scotland under my heel, but the turn before I launched the invasion, the Frogs attacked! Indeed, a full stack of Frenchies dropped onto the British Peninsula! Quite outrageous. No way they are taking Scotland, even if they were rebels. My land! So, I declared war without blinking and invaded Scotland.
They simply had some Flemish Spearmen, some Frankish spearmen and two Royal Knights. What could go wrong? My combination of Regular Infantry, two longbows, some regular archers and light infantry would make mincemeat out of them. And I had a unit of Feudal Champions too! Piece of cake, right? Wrong. The battle was long and bloody and I just made it out. A full stack was grinded into dust (even the Champions bit the dust too, which shocked me after their first victory) and I had to ship over the other stack in the North just to keep Scotland pacified. Provinces are really harder to keep in line, but that's a plus. No more easy invading with just a few units. :) I also noticed that Longbows really outrange normal archers (which is ... normal) and the rate-of-fire was excellent. Volley after volley after volley. Granted, the Flemish didn't go down that easily, but they were armoured to the teeth. But my Longbowmen really tore the Frenchies a new one. If only they made it out alive ... Running out of ammo and being forced in a desperate counter-attack isn't good for their health. And in the end, it was for naught. The province rebelled and I had to withdraw the second stack.
I could have continued the war, but it was a test run. I decided I would increase difficulty a notch (to Hard) and try my hand at the Germans. Always had a softspot for Swabia and the HRE. So, I'm going to start that one and finish it. I'll suffer more setbacks like the Scotland Incident, but that's alright. Getting smashed by an unknown unit teaches you respect for it ... and the AI who has constructed it. And besides, this time the HRE must build-up it's empire by fighting Rebels, the Poles and the Norse. More time to expand, control and enjoy. So, Germany it is!
Wonderful mod, Axalon. Really stunning. It might seem to onlookers that I'm trying to suck-up, but this mod REALLY is that good. I played Medmod and MTWXL, good mods in their own right, but Redux takes my fancy. No more era-progression, loooooads of turns, lots of big armies duking it out, ... I can't wait to crusade against the Moors or the Saracens. And I haven't even fought the Scourge of the North, the Norse! So many things to do. I'm wishing this week never ends, I need more time with Redux, dang it!
EDIT: Also, thanks for the update about Redux 3, Axalon. I'm really looking forward to more Redux! Any chance for a "sneak-peek"?
Faremisch
03-19-2009, 13:56
I totally agree. Just recently started a campaign in Redux as those germans. Playing on expert. It is great fun and some 70 years into the campaign my progress is really slow. I continuously suffer setbacks and have to regroup to retake lost land. Lots of joy indeed.
Hi there Faenaris and Faremisch, glad to hear you guys like and enjoy redux. A little encouragement and approval for the things you do always feels good. So thanks for that. :mickey: (The best way to show support and appreciation for redux are probably to be active and post plenty of interesting stuff here in this redux forum - in case anybody were wondering that is). Anyway….
As a general suggestion to the both of you (and others); there is a new redux player (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=109969)-thread around the corner and feel free to post away and share experiences and questions with others right there. Perhaps things like; what to look out for in redux and what the big differences there are in comparison with the original or anything else that you guys feel is interesting for new redux-players (Feanaris; you have already started on that path in your post – perhaps you would like to do some more right there?). I would love to get that place going but at the same time I am really not the one who should be active there (I am too accustomed with redux circumstances so its probably better if such discussions are done by others on a general principle). Now, if hard-core tactics and battle-reports (AAR as it apparently is called around here at the Org.) are more your kind of thing we also got a place for that as well – the Battle Reports (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=109072) thread. I'll be happy to babble away with you guys or any other redux-players right there.
Faenaris: Let me start by droping a few remarks on RTW and M2TW. I fully agree with you on the RTW and M2TW thing – both are entertaining games but they can’t compete with a good altered version of MTW or plain STW. Oh boy, I could get elaborate on this but it is probably better that I don’t. To keep it short and tempered then; personally I am always amused when people try to seriously maintain that RTW (and M2TW) can compete at all with MTW or STW. They can’t – as simple as that. And this just not a matter of preference - it is a matter of simple things like functionality, stability and unacceptable loading times for a commercial game to name a few reasons as for why. In fact TW-games have probably become more and more unstable for each new title! ETW is the most unstable TW-game I have ever tried to date - I wanted to play it but ETW apparently had other plans and instead showed me 101 ways to crash in style... :laugh4: None of the other TW-games come even close that track-record! No, I’ll manage just fine with the “old and rusty” GFX of MTW – besides I do improve it a bit in redux. At any rate, it is not a mere chance that I work with MTW and completely disregard M2TW as an option....
Now, as for your laptop and the future of MTW. When it dies (and it will) get yourself an ATI-card. The semi old X-1xxx series should work with redux and some omega drives (if you go for XP. For win2k default drives should just work fine). Such a card should be fairly cheap. As for you writing away around here – I welcome it (but you probably already knew that). After all it’s more fun! :2thumbsup: So write away as much as you like. The new player thread is, as I said earlier, the place to post for all stuff that might be interesting to new players of redux. Discoveries, questions, opinions and tips – all from a new players perspective - things like that.
Finally, a few remarks on what you wrote then. The RX-combat system is different than the original – it is more lethal, diverse and unforgiving to the player’s mistakes in the field. Many catholic troops are highly specialized and if used incorrectly or carelessly they can very well end up with heavy losses. Also the economics is harsher and on top of that troops cost a lot more than in any other version I know about. Redux support costs might be regarded as low for some, but I feel that they are just right. Commissioning new and fancy troops should cost a lot - but providing food and maintenance for existing troops should not! Short of the Byzantines which is the one exception in redux (see post: 58). Essentially redux is tougher all over. Better AI, tougher enemy armies and way more tactical diversity also contribute to creating a more interesting and difficult game as whole. You can’t expect to get the same impressive results in redux as you can in the original (as I have said many times before). The original MTW is a lot easier to play and with a lot less crucial parameters to consider while playing it. It is all connected to things like AI, army compositions, combat system, tactical standardizations of existing units, smaller and less diverse tech-trees, fatter and friendlier economics to name some of the big reasons as for why. Some people like it like that – I don’t. As simple as that.
At any rate, I am glad that you did "write away" here... :thumbsup:
Faremisch: I suspect a formal welcome to the Org is redundant in your case. You obviously have been lurking around the Org. before and know the drill. For what it’s worth; I offer my approval for the move to break your lurking ways. Feel free to stick around and post reduxy things here as much as you like now that your lurking days are over. :laugh4: As Faenaris quite correctly gathered, quantity of Verdanas is not an issue around here - after all my own posts tend get big now and then (as this one for instance). Elsewhere it might be preferred to keep posts short but that does not apply here in the "duchy of reduxmark". :wink2:
Western: As for the remarks you made concerning Spain in post:271. I do agree with you. If circumstances vary the common ground for a discussion about it becomes very limited. However, I want to make it clear to you and everybody else that I would welcome a “redux modders corner” if someone should want to set up such a place here. In essence a thread for those of you who like and play upon the redux-plattform but just the same make or would like to make your own special altered versions of redux on top of it. Throw in 5000 knight orders or whatever. A place to exchange and discuss ideas, and to show others what modifications has and could be done – things like that essentially. Of course, experience shows that whenever I do present these kinds of suggestions nothing happens – so I can’t say that I expect this to ever happen (but it would be fun). Why do I even bother to try.... :laugh4:
Anyway, as for Spain and 3rd edition of redux. I decided a few weeks back to re-draw the map for the Iberian Peninsula and it will look something like this….
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/universal/RXIberia.jpg
This is what the Iberian penisula will look like in 3rd ed.
Now, since I am stuck with the limitations of MTW 1.1 it means that my options and possibilities for further alterations on the map are highly limited due to massive hard-coded obstacles (108 provinces might work in VI but in plain MTW - I doubt it, they won’t work as supposed to anyhow). So, I can only play around with the map so much. If I was only working with the VI-version it would be a different and easier story – but the fact is that I don’t so that’s why. And, I want both standard and VI-redux versions to be as coherent as possible – as said many times before. Anyway, if I remember everything correctly the cutting of Cordoba is hardly unique and most other versions have that as well. However, the other few things I done here might be more unusual but more importantly I feel that this will probably help out to make things less dependent on Cordoba. Which is good thing for the entire region.
Anyway, the changes of the strat-map means that 3rd edition will not be compatible with any saved games from older versions of redux. This is indeed news and it perhaps something that you guys would like to know about in advance (now you do). So there you have it. There will also be some other changes for the map but all these are on a limited (yet effective ) scale to function within the borders of MTW 1.1.
Oki, that is enough of me for now.
- Cheers
Hi Axalon
I like the look of your Spain. The Moors shouldn't be able to get into all Castilian provinces at one bound, so tucking away Leon makes sense. If you're interested (and I know you don't share all my historical hang-ups :book:) would be a more accurate name for what you are calling Andalusia.
Regarding the map generally, even within the constraints of 100 provinces, MTW "wastes" a few provinces in my view. What is Arabia meant to be, for example? Historically, there is only one north-south route via the coast, so I would make Arabia void (desert) and voila a spare province.
What significance did Malta have before given to the Knights of St John in the 16th century. Kill Malta. Could crusades reach Egypt by land progress through N Africa? Kill Libya.:skull:
These are the ones that are most glaring to me.
Incidentally, have you ever noticed that the AI will not raise crusades against provinces that cannot be reached by land? It will use sea transport if it happens across it en route, but it will never rely on it. So if you remove Libya and land bridge to Morocco, crusades will never aim for Morocco/Algeria/Tunisia. That's better in my view - French and Germans didn't march through Spain enroute to Morocco.
Keep up the good work. I am certainly agog to see :yes:
**** Wes! That was a fast response!
It makes me happy to se some traffic around here once again. With people such as yourself, happy writer Faenaris, former lurker Faremisch and silly ‘ol reduxy me perhaps we *just* might get things a bit more active around here.
Your approval and enthusiasm for reduxed Iberia certainly is clear to me. :2thumbsup: What was the name you had in mind? Just curious here - was it Almeria? I could probably live with that name you know. I was going to go for “Cartagena castle” but I could live with “Alcazaba castle” and Almeria - if that makes the scholars happy…. :laugh4:
As for the other stuff on the map (considering the unfriendly parameters I have to work with); killing Libya is out of the question – sorry but there you have it. It is not that you don’t raise some interesting points (as usual) it’s just that it would so seriously disrupt the entire region and foul up things big time for the Moors as well. Arabia stays as a possible and functional safe ground and last retreat point for the Saracens – since that place hardly ever get hit by a crusade or a major invasion (not by the AI anyhow).
If anything I would prefer to somehow find a good way of cutting Cyrenaica/Libya in half - I probably would do it if I got the chance – but that unfortunately requires an additional sea-region as well to work properly. And, in order get things working in the game it must be a former island to take that place which also is not connected to any other land-region - or the ships and ports won’t work as supposed to – it is all hardcoded in plain MTW you know. Now the only candidates I can think of – that are still available and possible are Crete and Malta and I am reluctant to remove either of them. If anyone of them must go it probably would be Malta. But I feel that Malta has a bit of a strategic value for the game – especially so for the player. So it essentially is a no go….
I would also consider cutting the Sahara in half as in Mauritania (west. coast) and Sahara (east, inland) but that requires me to remove yet another province and I can’t think of any good candidates for it so far – by all means I am willing to listen to further suggestions here on that note. I have already moved around and redrawn stuff in the russian region you know in order to create Couronia/Courland. And cutting Volhynia in two is also a thing I would have prefered to do as well – but as stated before; I am working with MTW and not VI….
Well Wes, what do you think about all this? :mickey:
- Cheers
Hi Axalon
I see I left out what was meant to be the most helpful part of my post (because my son was "helping" add some smilies to taste :laugh4:). Murcia was the substitute for andalusia that I had in mind. Independent taifa under the Almohads, ruled by the wolf king, then a kingdom until 1304 when finally incorporated into Castile. The capital of Murcia was - Murcia.
I understand your points about the map in an MTW 1.1 context. That's to say, I've never tried modding the map except in VI, so all my thoughts may be off beam for that reason. Given the options you put up, I would still say that both Malta and Crete had no strategic significance at this period. No one fought over them till 16th century for Malta and 17th for Crete.
Ignoring history and thinking about gameplay, the discussion in the pocket mod sub forum has come to the view that islands in general subtract more than they add.
Here's a second line idea just because I like putting them up and having the debate: if you have desert provinces, how about limiting what can be built there, for example by making forest a prerequisite for certain buildings and denying it as a resource to these provinces? That way you can prevent Libya having a thriving agriculture or a notable ship-building industry for example. You can also make them hard for a western power to live in by giving them high rebelliousness which is countered by a culture specific building like a ribat or caravanserai. I just enjoy the game more when there is a real flavour to different provinces as well as to different factions.
:grin: Well Wes….
Murcia got too much “XL-vibe” attached to it for my taste (even if it does have a place in the history books, right you are) so I’ll stick with Andalusia and Cartagena – cause I like ‘em more anyhow. Besides most things are relative short of the names which are fixed. One can pretty easily fill in the historical context as much as one like if the names are fairly well placed on the map or in the context. As you well know, Dr. cool writes my history books for redux and geographically speaking Andalusia and Cartagena are good enough for me (and it should be fairly agreeable in a historical sense as well). If Murcia is important for you edit it in (I suspect that you already have done that in your deluxe-version of redux anyhow). :wink2:
Now, I will ponder the fate of Malta a bit more, but I probably will leave it in – we’ll see eventually. Islands might be something that one can debate but I think that I’ll go with the CA position on this – for once. Islands are included because they have and create special circumstances that regular provinces don’t have and I think those things are worth while keeping. A complete removal of Islands would among other things make the naval aspect of the game even less important to consider – I am not too keen on that prospect. So I probably have to disagree with such conclusions made over at “Castle Pocket Mod”. It is a question of priorities and mine are pretty clear - I want a diverse game. Removal of all islands will only simplify and limit the variables of the game – I don’t want that.
Ok, the desert thing then. I do understand what you are saying but I’m afraid that such a move will not generate enough “bang for the buck”. The effort involved is bigger than the few gains won by it so I’ll pass. You are quite right all the same; redux do have an idle resource to toy around with. This could change if one could find some real good use for it – I don’t have a clue what that might be for the time being and thus have thought little about it. Any further ideas – I’ll be happy to hear them out (if I use any of them I’ll credit you for it)...
There is nothing wrong with adding flavour to various provinces, it is rather a question of how it is done practically and the level of effort involved for it to happen (which is also a factor for me) and what effects on the game the end result generate. As you well know the possibilities are limited - but in general - I am positive to the concept.
As for the rebellion values it is primarily a question of keeping the rebellion bug/freeze in check – if it not were for that I would probably raise all values in a heartbeat – at least to 3 all over. But now the bug is there so I am forced to be very cautious in raising them because of all that (this is mostly an issue for MTW 1.1 - this is the kind of price you pay for having an all over compatible version like redux. And, I do want that).
So, I guess it was a lot of disappointments for you this time. Still, I think the actual effects for you personally here are pretty non-existant since you will probably fiddle away no matter what I do in the default version. Eh Wes? :laugh4:
- Cheers
Faenaris
03-23-2009, 22:49
I'm not gonna "butt-in" on the finer points of geography and MTW. All my campaigns in MTW (and Redux, although the Byzantine look interesting) tend to revolve over the northern part of Europe. My opinion on whether Malta or Cyprus should be removed (or not) would be ill-informed and I will trust in your expertise on that, gentlemen. :) I am curious about the "rebellion bug" though. MTW can't handle very high rebellion values?
Also, thanks for the tips about the Ati Cards, Axalon. I'll go hunt down one of those, just to keep a "low"-tech pc handy. You can maroon me with that pc, the bare essentials to keep my alive and a copy of MTW with some Redux goodness. I'll be a happy gamer for quite a long time.
The changes that Redux makes to the combat mechanics are for the Greater Good. It all feels more challenging and you do need to keep your head in the game. I rarely had to make great strategic plans simply because I would just smash my opposition without much effort. In Redux, all the tweaks will eat you up if you are being too casual about it. The Lithuanians will eat you up too, but that's a different story. Damn pagans, coming to my lands, stealing my cattle and women... *grumble*
Hi Axalon
I too am looking forward to the release of 3rd edition of Redux. I have been wandering the lands of XL for some time now, and have reached that point where a new challenge is required. All of the reviews that I have read thus far have been very positive indeed, so I thought that perhaps it is to the lands of Redux to which I must ride.
Yes, I know I could have a crack at the existing version, but with the new one so close.....
Okay, in the meantime I will keep following your development posts in an attempt to prepare myself for the VERY different world that I will eventually experience!
Why for the love of god and his uncle's mother do you use MTW 1.1!!!!oneoneone111!!!
Your work and vision should not be held back, IMHO :bow:
I will be eager to try out Redux 3 when it comes out.
Hi guys,
I am happy to greet both sir Bamff and jarl Durango welcome to these parts of the Org. Castle Redux (this sub-forum) is always open to all traveling knights, warriors and vikings alike. We got wine (mead for the vikings), meat and sinful princesses in abundance so that’s why Faenaris feel right at home around here I’d guess…. :laugh4:
Bamff: you do what you want of course and yes the differences between 2nd and 3rd edition are substantial so if you prefer to wait for it, by all means go ahead. If you change your mind and want to brush up on your understanding of reduxed battle ahead of the release – you know were to go… :wink2:
At any rate, feel free to post and hang around here as much as you like. The new player thread is probably the most interesting place for you at this point (possibly the battle & tactics thread as well). If you want, go ahead and post questions there about things you might be wondering about and if we are lucky some redux-player might answer you there (I am too tainted by redux and besides I always got the princess-union on my back anyhow).
Faenaris: Troubles with the Lithuanians eh? Nice to hear that they are doing their job! Great stuff over at the new player thread by the way, that’s just the thing I was talking about. :thumbsup:
Now as for rebellion bug, it should be covered in the redux “readme” – “known bugs”-section. The problem is that the original game (MTW 1.1 in particular) can’t handle very well too many rebellions at the same time for one faction. The game have a tendency freeze/crash and the most famous example found in redux got be the Moorish opening bug. You can technically have sky-high rebel values (at least 9) but the chances of a freeze/crash increases with them – thus you can’t have too many high rebel values if you want stable game – and I always want a stable game. Redux got a very good track-record so far in that sense, considering the actual circumstances (the original game itself is buggy and can get unstable on occasions – particularly MTW 1.1).
ATI is the way to go as far as MTW goes anyhow. The X-1xxx should be still available here and there on the market and should not be too expensive either. Redux should work with those and omega-drives (for XP).
Durango: Hehehe... Silly ‘ol me thought it was obvious but apparently it isn’t so I’ll explain it for you (and perhaps others as well) the reasons as for why. Ok, here goes….
One my overriding goals and intentions with public redux from day one was to create a version for MTW that is/was coherent and all over compatible for all major versions of MTW. You should be able to play redux no matter what kind of copy of MTW you got. I want to make it possible for people that play on MTW 1.1 to be able to play the same game as the people that play on top of VI. That way people are able to discuss and debate reduxy things regardless what version they are running on (in fact we already have had a few examples of that in this very forum). There are of course some small differences but it is almost the same game – almost (the VI-version is still a bit tougher, hard-coded reasons in MTW 1.1).
In this sense redux is probably the only one of its kind on the planet and thus stand as unique so far in that regard. MedMod is the only other version besides redux who have compatibility to MTW 1.1, but its two different versions/games that are not even trying to be coherent the way I understand it. The strictly VI-policy have been tried and tested before - and I am no believer in it.
In fact it appears that about 60% of all redux-player use the standard MTW 1.1 edition - with the current numbers of downloads that translates to several hundred players (even if I suspect that some 10% of the total sum is people just downloading and checking out the files and really not playing redux). Even if the (roughly 40%) VI-players seems in general better in downloading fixes and keeping an optimal game going, it would be plain stupid shut down and abandon about 60% of the players just so I could have things a bit easier while working with redux. The additional limits of MTW 1.1 are a price I am willing to pay, considering the alternatives. Going strictly VI is simply out of the question – redux can not afford to do so in order to survive publicly. A few years back maybe - these days, no way. The golden days of support for MTW from the various forums are all gone - even for mods of this magnitude.
Redux is for instance still not stickied over at the TWC and it was some 8-9 months ago I set up the thread there - it has even been in the top 20 threads on that forum/section ever since. Still, it dont get the support and recognition it would get about 3-4 years ago. One might think that the staff/moderators should have by now gathered that redux is easily as worthy of a stickie like any of the other major mods that got such recognition - but evidently this is something that is yet to happen. So, it's harsh times for MTW in general and that makes an impact on redux as well, man. It's all "kindergarten" with the youngsters RTW, M2TW and now ETW that counts these days (no matter that they are pretty much inferior and thus less interesting to play). So, that’s why... :wink2:
At any rate, with the release of 3rd edition the completion of the standard redux-platform *may* very well be finally realized – it would be real nice anyhow. After the completion of the platform we all could do various expansions (large or small, simple or advanced, no matter) for redux if we like. I might do a smaller expansion for redux that is strictly VI. We’ll see, but I have thought about it from time to time, smaller and tighter scope, new map, less factions and things like that. Perhaps even with a fictional or a low-epic-fantasy theme – it has crossed my mind anyhow. If not, perhaps Scandinavia or the British Isles but all this is just loose ideas at this point, nothing else. Finally, my earlier suggestions to Bamff go for you too…
Oki, that is enough of me for now.
- Cheers
Salutations,gentlemen:
Firstly, allow me to congratulate you on this very ambitious mod, Axalon, which, incidentally, has acquired a permanent space on my harddrive, along with Hellenic:Total War and Middle Earth TW. Secondly, I highly appreciate your continued effort to upgrade and improve the mod, with version 3 being so close to completion. Thirdly, it brings joy to my heart knowing that version 3 won't be your last effort in modding TW. Thus, "A thank you very much" is well-deserved.
Would you be considering adding a couple of new factions to the mod? Personally I wish Scotland were there since neither the original MTW nor the subsequent mods have done justice to Scotland. Since you're planning to add new provinces, perhaps adding Scotland is plausible ? For the record, Scotland is well-represented in Medieval: Total War 2 but I don't enjoy playing MTW2. I could do that myself actually but I am not sure it will be a balanced mod eventually. One thing for sure, I lack your talent in creating superbly done unit icons :) Your mod has managed to get a few lurkers to post, and that should say something :)
All the best!
P.S Life sucks almost on every single level in this country but your mod has brought some joy into my life. Thank you!
Which country is that Leith? Welcome to the org and the MTW section btw.
:bow:
EDIT
Right Syria, i see, why does it suck so bad Leith? Unemployment or civil disorder or?
Achilleslastand
03-30-2009, 07:44
Been spending the last 3 weeks playing ETW........watching and waiting for Redux 3......Sadly i dont ever think CA will eclipse MTW.........Cant wait for version 3
Hi guys, the cleaning of this thread and forum is no vacation! Iv'e been running up and down thru some 250+ posts (and all the other threads) and it probably took well over 2 hours! All because of Filefront - due to the supposed shutdown yesterday (We'll see how long the links I left holds)! If I would have done nothing, I fear it might have become slightly chaotic and disorderly around here! Now, we cant have any of that! So now every measily little pic is safe, sound and linked elsewhere - far, far away from the filefront disaster. Anyway...
Achilles: No worries man, I’ll release it when I’m done with it (it has become bigger and more complex than I originally had in mind a few months back. Plus I don’t get work with it in the way I would like). In the mean time either play some more ETW (If you can bare that, it crashes too much to make a believer out of me. Besides it’s essentially just a lot of M2TW with muskets anyhow) or do some good for the redux community instead and share some of your experiences with other newer redux-players over at the new player & tips thread…. :wink2:
Gollum: Discussing the social and political circumstances in Syria is too off topic for my tastes (you and others are free to discuss it elsewhere if you like but this is hardly the place for it). I thus forward a friendly reminder that you are welcome to post and discuss here as long as you keep it more reduxy or something that could somehow more easily lend it self to that context. :wink2:
Leith: Salutations right back at you! Above all, welcome to the redux area. :beam: I did appreciate your praise here, what you wrote sure hit home, I only whish that more people were active posters here – it would be much more fun and interesting. Now, as for factions, Scotland and strat-maps….
First of all, my alterations of the strat-map is limited due to the massive hardcoded obstacles that MTW 1.1 presents in this area. Thus I can’t operate with the same “ease” that I could in VI and thus I have only done limited amount of changes. I also want the game to be as stable as possible (I am unsure about the effects of additional provinces in that sense).
Secondly, and this is also because of MTW 1.1, there will not be any additional factions in the default version of redux (as in the basic platform). The faction-colours will just be awful in MTW 1.1 and it is impossible to add additional faction descriptions as well. It might be ok for others but this is nowhere near acceptable for me. So, I won’t even consider it. And, even if I could do it in VI - I won’t since I want a coherent game regardless if it is MTW v1.1 or VI. That has always been way more important for me. Also, I pretty much covered this ground in my earlier response to Durango in previous post (additional comments regarding extra factions in general can also bee found in post:203, factions & variety section…).
Thirdly, and I said this before and I’ll say it here again. There is nothing stopping you from doing this alteration on your own; as in the Leith Scotland redux sub-mod or home-mod. The redux graphics and designs are already done. The original game also provides you with GFX you need for it. You don’t need to do additional units, the units already included in redux are more than enough to also cover Scotland as well. Thus I have virtually done all the balancing for you already. Scotland already got 3 unique units – so you don’t even have to bother with that unless you want more units there. By design you have 12 vacant unit-slots available – earmarked for just cases like this one. Use them! The castle flags, shields, unit-banners and such are also already done in VI, the demo and in historical battles files so you wont even have to do that either. All you need to do is to put everything together and perhaps give some few additional florins to the Scottish province and you are almost done. There are guides for this so use those – hell, those guides even use Scotland as an example so you really have things all laid out for you. You could probably do it all in a week or so.
So, I suggest that you do it yourself. After all, redux is probably unique in this way (as far as MTW goes anyhow), since it is internally designed to allow additional and further alterations by the redux-players. No other version for MTW, to my knowledge, is designed that way. Then, when everything works and is solid in the game – perhaps you might want to share it with others? Upload it and drop a link in this very forum! If you don’t include or use any of my material in your uploaded mod there is no problem! If you do, you must first acquire my explicit permission to use and distribute that material publicly and the best way to try and get it, is to drop me a PM and ask (however, don’t get your hopes up, chances are pretty slim that I would give it - since I had many bad experiences with such things. Sad, but very true). Still, I can’t see how that would be necessary for you to include my stuff in such a package (short of some modded/altered txt-files - I’ll probably have little objections about that) - so this should not create any problems for you ether. I am sure that there are plenty of others that would like to try such a sub-mod if you put it together. Considering the circumstances there is a fairly large group of redux-players out there, you know. :wink2:
Finally, it makes me happy that at least somebody wants me to continue with further mods and additional expansions for redux - after the basic platform is done and released (hopefully that will with 3rd edition, I really would like that). I probably will to some extent….
However, once the platform stand completed it seems unlikely that I will dedicate as much time and effort to support others that play redux and there should be little need for it. When it’s done, it’s done. I could be wrong, but the kind of effort and dedication I did put in during 2008 will probably not happen again once I am done with the basic platform (because it is a lot of work). When I am done with that, all my initial goals have been fulfilled; a solid alternative version for the MTW-concept and game has been realized and it also available for the public – no matter what version they got.
At the very least, redux will stand as a possible and solid option to all other major “medieval” mods that have been released so far. In most cases these operate and are designed within the CA-templates (the battle-system or era-progressions are two obvious and typical examples of that) and thus they also inherit many of the problems found within that template (that is, strictly speaking of the problems that you can do something about). Redux provides a much needed alternative to that template and my goal is/was to make that alternative available to the public. It probably won’t happen, but it would be great if other people used this platform to do sub-mods, further expansions or stand alone mods, even if they were unrelated to the setting of redux. After all, it is impossible for me or anybody else to do something that corresponds to all tastes and ideas. The best game designer for you, are you! Redux acknowledges that and thus it is designed to be “bendable” and fairly mod-friendly and at the same time offer a solid alternative to the MTW-concept. This is anyway, my view on the redux-platform….
Oki, that is enough of me for now. Feel free to stick around and post some more around here if you like. :mickey:
- Cheers
Originally posted by Axalon
Discussing the social and political circumstances in Syria is too off topic for my tastes (you and others are free to discuss it elsewhere if you like but this is hardly the place for it). I thus forward a friendly reminder that you are welcome to post and discuss here as long as you keep it more reduxy or something that could somehow more easily lend it self to that context.
Feel free to edit out as necessary Master Axalon.
:bow:
Feel free to edit out as necessary Master Axalon.
I see no need for that, I just gave you little reminder to keep it more on track and topical, that’s all. And that’s the end of it. Hopefully I will never need to resort to any such thing. Regardless if it happens to be you or anybody else…. :mickey:
- Cheers
:coffeenews: Well, that's enough of the green girl for now (even if I do have a soft-spot for her, I mean being green and saving the world all the time – what's there not to like?)….
Thread is back to normal again, although I did change the cover-girl for it, maybe you guys prefer a blackhair or a blond instead? Let me know. After all, that is the really important question, now isn’t it? :grin:
It appears that Filefront isn’t going to drop dead in spite of everything. That means that I won’t have to find some other place to host my files and that I still can get some accurate download-numbers after all. At any rate, all the filefront links are up and functional again. So that means that this area is open for business as usual…
- Cheers
1000 downloads!
It gives me much joy and pleasure to be able to announce the happy and mighty news! It fuels me with additional faith and confidence in the project! :2thumbsup:
At some point this weekend MTW-redux passed the 1000 download marker and thus has taken proportions that are far greater and beyond what I ever dared hope for when I released the first edition of redux back in Aug 2008. Keep enjoying the redux-experience and do play 3rd edition once it will be released and available to the public.
Cheers!
Achilleslastand
04-07-2009, 06:31
Bought a new PC just for ETW and cant wait for redux#3......this is one of the few mods i would actually pay money for...
Trapped in Samsara
04-14-2009, 15:21
Hi Axalon
Just about recovered from my evisceration at your hands.
Looking forward to playing your Redux 3rd edition. Any update on when it'll be released?
Regards
Victor
Hello guys and all you lazy redux players out there,
I’m afraid I got not much news on 3rd edition at this point. It’s just become a lot bigger and more complex than I originally had in mind - and progress is slow so.... I’ll get back here when I do have some serious news or new screens for it. The differences between 2nd and 3rd edition are substantial that much is clear anyhow. It will not be compatible with any older versions. In the mean time, here are some of the unique features of 3rd edition:
The Norse will finally be playable - at last….
New and redrawn strat-map, with new provinces
New strategic AI (built from scratch)
Cost adjustments
Troop adjustments
Various AI-corrections and schemes
Reworked and improved animations in battle
New “mercenary-system”
New “happiness-management system”
GFX improvements and plenty of it all over
And lots of other stuff that I forgot about here.
Until I managed to get everything together you guys will have to make do with less sexier 2nd edition and the Spanish fix. By all means do keep this place active while we all wait for the release - yours truly included. 2nd edition is way better than nothing and the experiences from reduxed battle in 2nd edition will also be valid in 3rd edition as well. Anyway, there are too much people out there that have still not upgraded their games. Believe me; the Spanish Fix will really improve the entire game when applied – not just Spain! So all you lazy people out there for your own sake, upgrade right now and you won’t be sorry for it – that’s a promise.
Achilles: That kind of praise feels like the warm and firm bosom of she-hulk - real good…. Excuse me… She-Hulk?!? Where are you? I need a hug right now! One of your specials…
Victor: I am happy to find you posting here. Too many people would not have the strength to do that after the treatment you went thru. I am glad to see that you are tougher and stronger than that – after all, one can hardly expect such a thing from most people – sadly enough. So, I do welcome you here and hope that you will have loads of fun with redux once you try it out (what ever version it may be).
I also see that you have been restrictive with your posts so far here at the Org… Hehehe… Hardly unique around these parts, redux appears to attract that kind of people it seems. Don’t ask me why – because I have no clue as for why that is. Anyway, feel free to post away here if you like and let’s see if we can’t make that post-count of yours go up a bit. I do hope to see you around here some more….
- Cheers
Hi Axalon
Interesting to hear that there will be new provinces. Is that additional or moved around or both? I remember what you said about the limitations of 1.1, but it has always seemed a shame not to use the game's full potential in this area.
Hi Wes,
Sorry, don't get your hopes up to high... Yes there are new provinces but we are still stuck with the total sum of 99-100 or whatever it is that makes the game happy - I dont dare break that pattern for the sake of stability. I am pretty sure you agree with me on that (remember MTW 1.1 dictates the terms here). And yes, I am totally with you - it would be nice with additional provinces but I don't dare risk it....
Oh yes, the answer is they are the "moved around"-kind....
- Cheers man
Hey Axalon,
I am glad I decided to read through some of these earlier posts regarding Redux #3; MTW 1.1, very interesting. Take your time with its development, with good fortune we'll all be here when it's finished and ready for downloading.
Too bad we couldn't convince CA to re-release a non-hardcoded version. This would breath new life into the game and creat an infusion of cash into CA's coffers as well.
Rick
Trapped in Samsara
04-25-2009, 18:28
Hi Axalon
Just wanted to echo Rick's post. Take your time, craft your mod, and let us have of your best.
Looking forward...
Regards
Victor
edyzmedieval
04-26-2009, 21:33
Axalon, keep up the amazing work. Also left you a post on TWC, I'm Basileos Leandros.
:thumbsup:
Hi guys,
Thanks for the support and encouragement here it certainly makes things more fun for me to work with redux you know. Anyway, I’ll try to get back here shortly and hopefully I’ll be posting some screens or something reduxy to keep moral up here. Sort showing what I’m up to redux-wise these days. I sure wanted to have something wise and important to say here but I can’t think of anything…. Errr… Nope, I’m pretty hopeless for the moment. :laugh4:
Victor: 22 posts… Can’t you manufacture some excuse to make it 23? On a slightly more serious note, thanks for the support man.
Edyz: I’ve checked the stuff over the TWC as well. Short version: Your’e hired – but for the moment the reduxlabs-testprogram is on stasis. So I’ll let you know if and when that changes. Finally, I do appreciate the offer man. :2thumbsup:
Rick: Reading thru some of the older stuff usually is a good recap of things and I do that myself now and then. I think that more people should do the same. On a less serious note; I did put up a pic of She-Hulk over at the TWC for all “She-Hulk as princess lovers”. Maybe you are one as well? Check it out! O boy, the things you can do to an innocent green girl…. :laugh4:
- Cheers
Hi Axalon
I've been playing a bit of MTWII lately :embarassed: There are finally some Mods coming through that make it look decent on-screen, and it has some cool campaign features which are unavailable in our old war-horse. I've played most of the Kingdoms Mods and some are really good. But before you flame me for inappropriate posting, the point is that it underlines for me some of the strengths of MTW(VI) which I hope new Redux will play to. The ones that strike me most are
- the battles (which is pretty important). Doesn't matter how the AI is modded in MTWII, your opponent always seems to present his missile troops on a plate for slaughter, flanks only with the odd unit etc, etc
- the look. Modders have to work hard to make MTWII less ugly in campaign, and the battles only look good really zoomed in, which is unplayable. I love the way the MTW campaign map looks with all the quality faction symbols, and I especially love those desert battles
- the speed of turns. 20+ factions in MTWII take an age to cycle through
- the unpredictability and therefore replayability. I might be nibbled to death in MTWII (more likely not - just reach stalemate), but I know who's coming for me and they always come wandering in small scale, rather than sweeping over like a tide
- greater and more apparent variety of troops in MTW (that's look and behaviour)
- some epic scale armies
- less micro management
- more sense of key personalities making a difference and needing to be used wisely
- more decisive field battles
That will do for now. I'm sure going to be playing a bit of MTWII, but the point is that it's a very different game to MTW and not in my book a replacement for it.
Roll on new Redux :charge: I think the possibilities of MTW are far from exhausted, and I can't wait to see what you do with it (and by the way, if you need another playtester, I'm happy to volunteer behind Edzy - as long as my pc will still tech back for this game, which is hitting a lot of dedicated MTWers at the moment)
May the bugs be few and poor at concealment :yes:
Hey Wes, what can I say...? M2TW can’t compete, pure and simple! :laugh4:
If it ever seriously could, I would have probably worked with that instead. I don’t. That pretty much sums up the whole thing for me. I would have been delighted to work with many of the possibilities that M2TW does offer but it is just so ridiculously inferior in regards to battles (and it can't be modded away) that it pretty much kills the game as a serious option for me. For me it has always been the distribution of tactical resources and raw battles that made me play any TW-game, I want the solid battlefield simulator and if they cant deliver that good enough I quit playing them.
So far I have pretty much quit everything from RTW and onwards. - If I ever wanted to do micromanagement stuff I go for the real thing as Civilization or Europa Universalis (I prefer the latter). If I want sexier GFX I also go for the real thing as in GFX-primary games like Half-life and Unreal Tournament or something like that (again I prefer the latter). I don’t go for RTW/M2TW/ETW. Now, to keep it more redux-related here… (more in spoiler)
- the battles (which is pretty important). Doesn't matter how the AI is modded in MTWII, your opponent always seems to present his missile troops on a plate for slaughter, flanks only with the odd unit etc, etc
Redux is already superior and more challenging to play than vanilla MTW – which means that it is also superior to M2TW – so that wont change… :grin:
- the look. Modders have to work hard to make MTWII less ugly in campaign, and the battles only look good really zoomed in, which is unplayable. I love the way the MTW campaign map looks with all the quality faction symbols, and I especially love those desert battles
I am thinking of doing a new stratmap since I got new provinces in 3rd ED, it will at least look just as good as the old one, possibly better. Tactical maps will also be improved upon to some degree. Better trees and better textures here and there - stuff like that….
- the speed of turns. 20+ factions in MTWII take an age to cycle through
MTW has always been vastly superior in this regard as we all know....
- the unpredictability and therefore replayability. I might be nibbled to death in MTWII (more likely not - just reach stalemate), but I know who's coming for me and they always come wandering in small scale, rather than sweeping over like a tide
Redux is already far more unpredictable than standard MTW ever was - this won’t change since the basic design remains. It is probably that core-design that creates the special and wonderful unpredictability of redux. The vast rebel-held territories in the redux startup leaves too many variables for us to be able to predict what will happen and I think that this is one of the decisive factors for the unique experience and traits of redux. “You” pretty much never know how things turn out until it happens. The AI is keen on attacng rich and developed region which forces you to defend them since this they are most important for you as well. With the naval improvements of the Spanish fix and even further improvements in 3rd ED redux forces to take that into account as well since redux does attack over seas. Even the rebels do that now if you are not strong enough!
So, one reduxed campaign is never the same as the other and that to a degree that I have never seen in the original MTW. Redux is very different and the AI seems to be keen on putting up plenty of troops (the serious kind) which in turn forces you to commission troops of your own in order to survive. Redux will certainly pressure you and it will also destroy you if you are unable to keep up. As pointed out before by several redux-players (including you, Wes). I would hardly say that this is the case in vanilla MTW due to crappy army compositions of the AI. The system seems to be corrupt in this regard and as long as we leave it alone this will continue – I eventually realized that and so I replaced it with an entirely new one built from scratch and that appears to function a lot better since it obviously builds better troops - in spite of the fact that there are less florins flying around.
- greater and more apparent variety of troops in MTW (that's look and behaviour)
Suffice to say; Redux already have more troops and above all a tactical diversity that “vanilla”-MTW can’t really compete with (including any mod that are based upon the CA battle-system and regardless of the sheer quantity of troops included….hehe). As probably most players soon discovers once they have been exposed long enough to the circumstances of reduxed battle. To explain in detail how and why will take some serious amount of Verdanas and perhaps I will do that some other time but let’s just leave it at that for now. :wink2:
- some epic scale armies
Redux already have far more capabilities to create such armies then regular MTW ever had. A quick look at the existing unit-roster in 2nd edition proves that, various royal formations and such (these are regulated by cost and tech-developments). Case closed… :grin:
- less micro management
I totally agree…
- more sense of key personalities making a difference and needing to be used wisely
Well, you have that up to some point in MTW – thus you also have that to the same degree in redux essentially. Key-generals and agents so forth…
- more decisive field battles
Well, the stratmap are different and the designs are different in M2TW which means that circumstances are different as well. There are some aspects that I am sympathetic to in M2TW but on general terms I agree with you and raw MTW already provides that – along the principle; one province, one battle. If there is a castle around we of course get a second battle before the region is secured. M2TW have a different approach and will thus rarely produce such circumstances - there is little else I can say about that.
Closing remarks
------------------
Most of these things I have pointed out are probably old news. Regardless, MTW also have flaws and those will make an impact on redux as well…. The ones I personally hate the most are the ridiculous policy of 1 turn per year and the blasted random virtues and vices. If I had my way I would have ported redux to STW just to get some decent years back and permanently terminate all random v&v’s crap. I should not be bothering about any of that! I should be focusing on battles, strategic planning and distribution tactical resources as in STW! The years of MTW and onwards is a joke and for each new TW-title it has become less and less of the stuff I do appreciate in STW/MTW – excellent battlefield-simulators.
Instead it has more and more transformed into tedious micromanagement excesses and witless babysitting of cities, governors, senates etc. (underlined by poor interface and crappy controls and plenty of time-consuming animations that are redundant since the hardwere and game-program can't handle it fast enough. The entire basic layout of the game and interface is less effective than in MTW - plenty of 3-d nonsens essentially that only made the CA-marketing dep. happy. :laugh4:). Regardless, redux is in my mind a far more challenging and interesting game no matter how one approach it compared to raw MTW and even more so to M2TW – and that makes me coming back for more while I never bother with the two others. Better replayability in short. Once something gets too predictable or too easy it ceases to be interesting. If it happens to be a game - we quit play it eventually - because it has too few real and valid variables in it. And, it is the variables and the importance attached to them that makes up the game – not the setting, not the cosmetics – that’s just packaging.
I have quit playing both raw MTW (about 2004) and M2TW (about 2006) while I still play redux (and like STW) since it still is interesting enough for me. I think that pretty much says it all. Ok, that is enough of me for now...
- Cheers
------------
Wes, you are hired just like Edyz and same circumstances applies as well. I Appreciate
the offer btw. I will also try too post up some new reduxy screens this weekend… :wink2:
Hi all redux-players out there....
I finally managed to get some decent screens on the stuff I have been working on. First out is the siege-engine theme with five screen-shoots. Later on I will post up some on the theme of “extreme close-ups” and more regular battle-screens. Ok, without further ado the new screens for 3rd edition then....
PIC1:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/SiegeEngines_01b.jpg
First out are the new ballista-textures and this time the weapon is under English management. Visible in the distance
are the new castle-textures as well (standard castle)...
PIC2:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/SiegeEngines_02.jpg
Here we have some Portuguese trebuchets (with the new textures) in action. Note the new trees made for 3rd edition
– I am really happy about those....
PIC3:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/SiegeEngines_03.jpg
Catapults in action! These are probably my favourite among the new siege engine-textures. Note also the new shrubberies
– happy about those as well.
PIC4:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/SiegeEngines_04.jpg
More catapults in action - now under HRE management and from a different angle. Catapults really did need a make over
and now they finally got it! :D
PIC5:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/SiegeEngines_05.jpg
Here we have the HRE as siegers as seen from a distance (from the wall). This also reveals bit of the new castle-GFX and
how trees will look at a distance in lush-terrain.
Ok, that’s it for the moment.... :wink2:
- Cheers
Trapped in Samsara
05-13-2009, 20:05
Hi Axalon
These images look HOT!
A (slightly off topic) question if I may: are you able to do anything in the way of restricting how much siege artillery AI armies use in their initial deployment for field battles?
I all too often run into the situation where I have girded my loins for a ferocious onslaught by an AI horde only to find the eedjit has fielded six mangonels instead of six Varangian Guard/Chiv Knights/Ghazi's, etc. I imagine you get my point. Bringing a couple of catapults to a bridge battle is smart. Denying yourself up to several hundred infantry or cavalry in a 'conventional' field battle, by contrast, ain't.
Cheers and keep up the good work.
Victor
Achilleslastand
05-13-2009, 22:51
Im speechless........those new screens are amazing.......Cant wait to try this on my new 28-inch monitor
Hi and thanks a bunch guys! :mickey:
Are there any other comments or remarks on these screens? Anybody?
Or are we done with these and ready to move on to some others?
Victor: In short, no such thing is possible due to hard-coding (as far as I know).
Sorry, I would have liked that stuff as well BTW.
- Cheers
Achilleslastand
05-17-2009, 07:32
These are great screens,im ready for more.....
Hello Achilles and all redux players out there....
More screens then... Ok, this time the turn goes too the extreme close up-screens and let me point out that in an ordinary game “you” probably will never get this close by traditional means and it’s hardly practical in actual gaming circumstances either. I made the these screens so all you guys can see what shields and weapons might look like in redux 3rd edition. In addition to that, these pics also reveal how the various new and reduxed GFX-positions for shields and weapons looks like (in battle at least).
I think that it is also the first time the reduxed greatsword goes public. I always wanted those in the game since raw MTW never had any of those to a satisfactory degree in a graphical sense (or any mod for that matter – as far as I know). It is far easier said than done to get those big swords to work properly in the game. Oh yes, on pic2 we also can have good look at how spears and halberds will look like up close. Let’s have a look at the screens then....
PIC:1
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_Extreme01b.jpg
First up we have some English feudal champions vs. Italian royal infantry. Note the differences in size between the swords.
I have wanted to do that for years – now I have finally managed to make it happen. As stated before, easier said than
done. I am really happy that this old dream is finally realized!
PIC:2
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_Extreme02.jpg
A solitary feudal champion busy fighting heavy odds.... This pic really reveals proportions for the greatsword and spears
very well. That Italian formation is really taking a beating by this champion!
PIC:3
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_Extreme03.jpg
Lastly we have a pic from another battle. Spain vs. Burgundy, Royal Infantry (left) vs. Frankish Infantry (right). There is
no doubt in my mind that the new GFX for shields and swords are far better than the old ones. Note also that I have
done some slight reduxing on the spanish banners....
Well, that’s that. Ok, folks you know the drill. :wink2:
Any other comments and remarks on these screens?
- Cheers
Achilleslastand
05-18-2009, 19:56
This is very impressive...so much in fact i would actually pay $$ for this mod. Creative Assembly needs to hire you Axalon,cant wait for third version
Trapped in Samsara
05-19-2009, 18:49
If this goes on much longer, Axalon, people are going to think you're a big tease! Looking forward to when you 'put out'.
Regards
Victor
Baron von Manteuffel
05-19-2009, 22:53
Hi Axalon, I've been away a long time. My motherboard fried in my Pentium 4, and though I finally got a new CPU, I now only have a battle map resolution of 640x480. The video card is a ATI Radeon HD 4850. Does anyone know of a fix for the low resolution? Love the previews and I hope to be able to play the mod again. ~:)
Hello guys,
I'll start with you Baron for old times sake. Indeed it has been a long time and it is nice to see you posting here again just like the good 'ol days. :wink2: To business then; your ATI-card should be able to work just fine with redux and with stock drives - with the reservation that you still get about 60 sec loading times for pretty much everything (I know this since I've tested that myself). That is the downside here - no solutions for that so far (that I know of at least). All this under the assumption that you have XP - for Vista I have no clue (maybe you could try to adjust the resolution to match you desktop, they claim that this should work. There are some stuff on it over at the TWC - perhaps you should get over there check out the threads in the MTW-section).
Achilles: I would not mind working for the CA as long as they payed me decently enough. Do you know them? Can you arrange it? :laugh4: ....If I were paid for the work I do in redux things would have been done a lot faster around here since I could then disregard pretty much all other stuff that now demands my attention as it is. Anyway, you sure know how praise me.... I appreciate the remark, I really do. :mickey:
Victor: It's all just an insidious PR-stunt! :grin: ....Seriously, the fact is that I do this all alone and since I always get bothered by other stuff I can't work with redux the way I would have liked - this in effect slows the progress down. Add to that the fact I more or less constantly find new and various aspects of the game that I want to improve upon or fix because they dont work as supposed too and so the workload increases instead of the other way around as it should be - decreases. I really do hope that I can finish this darn project this summer when I have less things on my mind and that distract my attention. It all boils down to money and Achilles is quite right in that regard. If I had the money to work with this unhindered by other stuff - as in getting money for instance - things would have been very diffrent - as you can surely imagine.
Then there is the question of the level of activity of this place (and this is valid for TWC-redux area as well). Experience shows that very little happens here while I am inactive around here. It kind of depends on me to an extent that I really don't appreciate personally. I have tried and tried to get people here active on their own and without me but so far with little succes. Thus the strategy of portioning out stuff to get at least some decent traffic here while we all (me included) wait for better times - such as the release of 3rd edition for starters....
Experience shows that pics usually generates posts, posts generates intrest, intrest generates the overall and longterm survival of redux and its small "active" community. So, what you might concieve as teasing here are pretty much created by the behavior of you posters. For some reason people find it hard to debate and discuss redux (or any other MTW-mod for that matter) the way they do with the original - don't ask me why because I have no clue as for why. The circumstances are pretty much the same. The data and experience are available in and thru the game, there are or could be dedicated threads for it and still is does not really happen for some reason.
The whole thing is pretty redicolous since there are plenty of reduxplayers out there or should be at least considering that we got more that 1100 downloads of redux in total as I write this. What especially dont get is the fact that people dont seem to get that it is beneficial for themselves to have an active community - still most people seems reluctant to get involved in such a movement in spite of the fact that they will only then reap the benefits of it if they do get involved. As long as nobady is involved there will not be any benefits. You tell me man....
On a general note guys:
----------------------------
I will probably have to slow things down here, personally at least, for while (at least to the weekend at a minimum). The next and last of the new screens I did are the battlescreens. I will post 'em up when I have had the time to prepare them properly for public release. Again thanks for all the kind remarks, but please also bare in mind that I do not post 'em up just to get some praise from you guys. They have other and more important purposes as well, such as sparking a debate or a discussion about some or several aspects of the game or perhaps what will be (or even could be) in the game....
Yeah, yeah, enough of me....
- Cheers
Achilleslastand
05-20-2009, 07:25
Achilles: I would not mind working for the CA as long as they payed me decently enough. Do you know them? Can you arrange it? ....If I were paid for the work I do in redux things would have been done a lot faster around here since I could then disregard pretty much all other stuff that now demands my attention as it is. Anyway, you sure know how praise me.... I appreciate the remark, I really do.
I have no clue how to get ahold of CA,but i believe another modder gained employment through his modding skills.Ive been trying to get into ETW and having a blast in multiplayer....but the campaign i havnt touched...ETW could have used someone with your skills and attention to detail,because it was certainly shipped unfinished.......Anyhoo cant wait for 3rd version
@Baron.......you can only get a low resolution with a 4850?.I have the same card and was gonna reinstall MTW just for version 3.......Have you messed around trying differnent drivers? Or have you tried the Catalyst Control Center?
Baron von Manteuffel
05-20-2009, 19:27
@Axalon - Please excuse me for going off topic but I'm desperate.
@Achilleslastand - Very interesting. I'm using Windows Vista 64-bit Home Premium.
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz, 2667 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 3.00 GB
ATI Radeon HD 4850 Series
Driver Version 7.01.01.821
I haven't tried different drivers but I have lowered the desktop display resolution (didn't help), and played around with the anti-aliasing which didn't help. Only resolution in battle is 640x480. The strategic map is a little higher 800x600 or something like that (not bad), but in battle as you can imagine it's very blurry.
If you can figure it out please let me know how to fix it, or were to get the info. Thanks :beam:.
Achilleslastand
05-20-2009, 21:39
I will do some research on this Baron,maybe it has to do something with 64 bit Vista.......in the meantime i would try diff divers.
Achilleslastand
05-20-2009, 22:55
Update......just reinstalled MTW and patch 1.1........i was able to get the resoultion up to 1600x1200 on battle maps and campaign with no problems. I am using the catalyst driver version 8.54.......i would go to the ATI site and download a few diff drivers to see if any of this helps you.....Of course i am running XP 32 bit version.....Maybe its Vista thats causing you problems?
Faremisch
05-23-2009, 20:17
Really nice screens. I haven´t had the time to keep my campaigns going the last month or two, but my MTW-needs are urging. I´m looking forward to the next Redux-release, as well as more screens. Keep the spirit up Axalon!
Achilleslastand
05-26-2009, 07:37
Cant wait for more new screens.....any idea when 3rd edition will be available?
Hi guys and thanks for keeping this thread warm for the rest of us….
I’ll try to get back here with the last screens (various battles) soon. I don’t know exactly when this does happen but in the mean time this place is open for business as usual....
Achilles: In answer of your question; I suspect that 3rd edition might very well be ready for release sometime this summer (just as indicated on the screens) when I got decent enough time to work with it. I am considering releasing one last patch before that (since everything has been so painfully delayed around here), but as I said, I am just considering that nothing else. If enough people nag me about it - it might very well convince me that it should happen. Sort of a limited upgrade for the 1.0b version.
Baron: You certainly have with your previous deeds done here have earned yourself some leniency around here and thus this time is on the house and I will say no more of it. However, as you well know, I am no big fan of things going off-topic around this place so do try to refrain from moves like this as far as possible, ok? Anyway I am happy that you have returned here (you do have returned to the redux-corner, right?). :mickey:
Faremisch: “Keep the spirit up Axalon!” Well, it kind of depends on you posters more than everything else. If you guys want me happy and interested in this thread, post. If not, don’t post. It’s that simple essentially…. :wink2:
A general appeal:
-------------------
Since redux is still steadily gaining new players, I would like to appeal to all more experienced redux-players that you guys did an entry or two over at the “New-player/tips" thread - thus sharing some of your insights and hard-earned wisdoms regarding redux with others less familiar with it. I am sure it would be highly appreciated among all the new players (or any people curious about redux, which are of course entitled to ask questions there as well). It’s nothing obligatory of course but it would be fun and probably very helpful to new players of redux if some of you guys could share some of that.
- Cheers
Hi all redux-players....
It is finally time for the last part of the series of screens I made – thus the turn has comes to the battle-screens . In these we will see a bit more of castles, weapons, shields and horses. I have included another horse for 3rd edition – I just wanted a tad more variety essentially and it also works well with various unit-markers in redux. We also get a slightly closer look upon royal and feudal knights and their new lances. Ok, here we go....
PIC:1
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_Battle07.jpg
First off we have some French light cavalry clashing with english feudal knight (and some royal knights in the background).
My guess is that the frog-eaters are going to get slaughtered – but all that matters little here....
PIC:2
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_Battle08.jpg
Ok, switched battle here. The Byzantines are defending their castle from English intruders that managed to smash the
walls. Note the new striped shields for the byzantines and the more acurately coloroed English shields. Far away in the
background we can see the banner of an English siege machine....
PIC:3
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_Battle09.jpg
More of the same... This time we can for the first time se how the new castles really look like. I personally think that the
new textures turned out very well. It just feel more real time than the original textures did. Also check out the fine
halberds in the right corner...
PIC:4
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_Battle10.jpg
England vs. France again.... I think this screen really reveals the proportions of the trees well. Anyhow, notice the
differences in the French shields, in 3rd edition I have tried to do more diverse markings on various factions because I
think it looks better in general – most factions have their themes rather than the same 'ol markings as before....
Ok, that’s it. Hope you guys enjoyed 'em.... :wink2:
- Cheers
Achilleslastand
05-30-2009, 21:42
A+ screens as usual............Cant wait for release
I have to admit I'm impressed by the graphic/artistic upgrades you've done, Axalon. I especially like the new castle textures, although the trees and shields look amazing as well. :bow:
Aside from the visuals, any hint as to what kind of changes we can expect to see in Redux 3.0? I realize you're probably not radically overhauling the gameplay aspects (or at least, not more than you already have), but I was curious as to what kind of tweaks/balances/etc. you're implementing.
Trapped in Samsara
06-01-2009, 14:47
Hi Axalon
Gobsmackingly good.
Regards
Victor
--------------------------------------------------
Filefront deleted all redux files!
--------------------------------------------------
Hi people, I’m sorry but I will have to put all my regular activities here on hold until all this crap is sorted out and the files are uploaded again. Filefront-management has in their infinite wisdom managed to fup yet again - deleting all the files in spite of the fact that most these were “active” and no warning for deletion was sent to me either….
I will for the time being put up some auxiliary links to Atomicgamer. I am at this point rather tempted to move my business away from filefront but they will have to do until I find a better and more functional alternative. In the mean time, do enjoy the battle-screens I posted up a few days ago….
--------------------------------------------------
EDIT: I have fixed it now, new Filefront-links in place....
- Cheers
Hello again guys, I’m sorry for the delay here…. :bow:
First of all, thanks to Achilles and Victor for your simple yet effective support here, I appreciate it. It keeps things moving here as well, which is good. Besides everything does not have to be monster-sized around here anyway….
Martok: while your questions are good and valid, they are also gigantic; it would be simpler and helpful if you could limit things a bit here. Some have also already been discussed. What are you curious about and what did you have mind? If you could specify that I can also probably provide you with straighter and better answers….
...
A few guidelines for future reduxy suggestions:
-------------------------------------------------
Since I will soon start working with good ‘ol 3rd again, I thought that some basic practice and guidelines considering potential and future suggestions and ideas for redux could be outlined here to make things smoother. Now is probably the best time to forward stuff like this and if “you” think that that you have some stuff and suggestions that will make redux better - then by all means state your case here and I’ll be happy to hear you out – if the unlikely happens and I like and want to include it in redux, a credit is secured in 3rd edition for you (I’m sorry but I can hardly offer anything else here). Also be quite aware that the rule is that it will be turned down – so don’t feel bad if that happens to your idea or suggestion – it is to be expected, on the other hand you have little to loose by trying, right?
As a good example here is redux-veteran Western (If he can forgive me for this). He has been more persistent and relentless in these regards than any other around here (I mean that in the best possible way). His ideas are usually pretty good and well thought out, but even so I have probably turned it down more than I have ever applied his various ideas (I think, it feels that way anyhow). So it is to be expected, even for quality stuff like his….
(My guess is that he applies this stuff anyway on his personal and tweaked copy of redux at home. The western deluxe redux, just to cope with my silly decisions and notions. But that is off the record…)
Anyway, before anybody starts to do this (if it happens at all, that is). Here are some pointers to keep in mind….
Know the circumstances found in (default) redux…. Do your homework.
Think your stuff thru properly, it will increase the chances for endorsement.
If it disrupts already present design too much it is extremely unlikely that I will include it.
Bear in mind that it will have to work for both v.1.1 and VI. That is an overriding priority for me and that won’t change. No matter what….
If possible, consider the workload-factor of your suggestion/idea - you can be certain that I will.
If possible, try to consider stability issues and aspects for the game - you can be certain that I will.
If I have turned it down, I have turned it down and that is pretty final. If you don’t like it, do it on your own copy of redux! You don’t need my sanction for that!
Do try to determine if the idea or suggestion has been forwarded before. If it has there is little point in trying all over again. After all, it is tedious for me and others to read the same thing over and over again. Besides it makes you look more serious…
???
The Dead Concepts List (don't bother with these)
------------------------
More Factions
More Troops/units (the technical roof is reached essentially)
More provinces
More ships
More agents
More florins
Swiss faction included
Novgorod faction included
Historical events
Change of timeframe
Spawned heroes
Muslim princesses (Hardcoded-reasons)
More playable factions (officially supported)
Making new battle maps
Garrison capacity
New portraits for Muslims/Orthodox/Pagans….
Scalability in Royal Knights, various champion/hero-units…
English longbows and range
Era-progression
???
Ok, that's about it...
- Cheers
Hi Axalon
Yes - it's me again. I want to live up to my reputation for propositions.
I don't seem to be barred from mentioning sea connectivity, so I will. Teleportation by sea over vast distances is not a good game feature. Obviously I haven't seen the new tweaked map, but I would urge thinking about either creating separate sea region groupings (so you can't sail from w. med to e. med for example without breaking your journey in a land province, as third crusade did in Sicily. You shouldn't be able to invade Egypt from Wessex, or worse vice-versa. This is one of the reasons why S. Italy was so strategically important to Hauteville then Hohenstaufen then Angevin - as a launch pad for the east) or at least making more deep sea regions by limiting the number of land provinces with sea borders.
As you say, I don't mind ideas being rejected because I can always implement myself. All suggestions are altruistically offered as possible contributions to the best standard Redux - but it's your artistic creation, and bears the stamp of a single clear vision. (I did persuade you a bit on mercs though.)
This is also a quickie to implement, as opposed to some other game ideas.
Trapped in Samsara
06-04-2009, 13:29
Hi
I offer this comment with humility because, as I've said before, I have both respect and gratitude for those who enhance my enjoyment of MTW through creating and making available their mods.
However, I did play a (I suspect early) version of Medmod and one of the things I just could not 'get on with' was the way I couldn't get ships through the Straits of Gibraltar. It really intruded into my enjoyment of the game, I'm afraid. It also massively affected the local balance of power; I think I was playing one of the Iberian factions.
I also wonder if the AI could cope with such a stratagem.
I guess we're talking about a subjective lesser of two evils trade off here.
Just my ha'pence worth.
Regards
Victor
Achilleslastand
06-09-2009, 06:56
Its usually very hot here in the summer.....so im looking forward to spending some time indoors with version 3 of redux. I still have the original boxed copy of mtw with manual and tech tree and i also have the brady original 192 page mtw strategy guide. Ive had these for quite some time and they are in excellent shape....Its 1 game that i always seem to go back to playing.....Redux makes it feel like a new experience altogether.....Thx Axalon
Hello guys and all reduxy lurkers out there…
Thanks for suggestions and input here (I do appreciate it guys, I do), anything more to add regarding the connectivity-case Wes? Or can the court of redux get in session to make a ruling here? Since the opposition, represented by Victor here have had their say. Hehehe.... Sorry, I could not help myself...
Achilles: Thanks for the kind remarks (as always). Let’s hope santa starts an early run this year (I’ll hopefully start to work with redux again this weekend, we'll see how it goes from there). THE “Strat-guide” hah? Man if I only had that stuff on PDF at least! That would be some interesting reading for sure! I am totally envious here….
Martok: I would love to provide you with some answers but you must narrow it down a bit for me. So far you have not done that, thus I can not help you. End of story essentially. Sorry…
Ok, since we are a new “page” and all, a reminder for all you who might have missed it….
A few guidelines for future reduxy suggestions:
-------------------------------------------------
Since I will soon start working with good ‘ol 3rd again, I thought that some basic practice and guidelines considering potential and future suggestions and ideas for redux could be outlined here to make things smoother. Now is probably the best time to forward stuff like this and if “you” think that that you have some stuff and suggestions that will make redux better - then by all means state your case here and I’ll be happy to hear you out – if the unlikely happens and I like and want to include it in redux, a credit is secured in 3rd edition for you (I’m sorry but I can hardly offer anything else here). Also be quite aware that the rule is that it will be turned down – so don’t feel bad if that happens to your idea or suggestion – it is to be expected, on the other hand you have little to loose by trying, right?
As a good example here is redux-veteran Western (If he can forgive me for this). He has been more persistent and relentless in these regards than any other around here (I mean that in the best possible way). His ideas are usually pretty good and well thought out, but even so I have probably turned it down more than I have ever applied his various ideas (I think, it feels that way anyhow). So it is to be expected, even for quality stuff like his….
(My guess is that he applies this stuff anyway on his personal and tweaked copy of redux at home. The western deluxe redux, just to cope with my silly decisions and notions. But that is off the record…)
Anyway, before anybody starts to do this (if it happens at all, that is). Here are some pointers to keep in mind….
Know the circumstances found in (default) redux…. Do your homework.
Think your stuff thru properly, it will increase the chances for endorsement.
If it disrupts already present design too much it is extremely unlikely that I will include it.
Bear in mind that it will have to work for both v.1.1 and VI. That is an overriding priority for me and that won’t change. No matter what….
If possible, consider the workload-factor of your suggestion/idea - you can be certain that I will.
If possible, try to consider stability issues and aspects for the game - you can be certain that I will.
If I have turned it down, I have turned it down and that is pretty final. If you don’t like it, do it on your own copy of redux! You don’t need my sanction for that!
Do try to determine if the idea or suggestion has been forwarded before. If it has there is little point in trying all over again. After all, it is tedious for me and others to read the same thing over and over again. Besides it makes you look more serious…
???
The Dead Concepts List (don't bother with these)
------------------------
More Factions
More Troops/units (the technical roof is reached essentially)
More provinces
More ships
More agents
More florins
Swiss faction included
Novgorod faction included
Historical events
Change of timeframe
Spawned heroes
Muslim princesses (Hardcoded-reasons)
More playable factions (officially supported)
Making new battle maps
Garrison capacity
New portraits for Muslims/Orthodox/Pagans….
Scalability in Royal Knights, various champion/hero-units…
English longbows and range
Era-progression
???
Ok, that's about it...
- Cheers
----------
Wes, you do live up to your reputation, no doubt about that and I welcome
your initiative in these regards, never doubt that - even if I don’t agree with
you all the time…. :)
Hi Axalon
You invited my reply - here it is.
We have land regions in the game - you can only travel so far in a single year. We should have sea regions too - sea travel shouldn't be infinite for gameplay or realism. Ships "put into port" and if there isn't a friendly port, that long distance sea route isn't useable.
So I can understand that having a block at Straits of Gibraltar might seem a bit arbitrary, but it shouldn't when you think about what it is representing. Did Aragon expand into the Atlantic? Did Portugal expand into the Med?
Leaving aside the Med/Atlantic split, the Mediterranean is famously two seas, and the masters of each have fought for a base at the Sicily/Malta/Tunis throat, so that they can launch expeditions into the other. And the Turks of course could close off Marmara and the Black Sea by building on land their "throat cutter" fortress.
So is it really good for gameplay to make sea travel like going through a wormhole between distant galaxies - infinite travel in the blink of an eye? For me, that get's in the way much more than splitting the sea into sensible zones would. It makes seapower more important than it should be and gives the player a massive advantage over the AI which doesn't know how best to use its fleets
The court of redux (ie Justice Axalon) will decide. (By the way - isn't this one of the benefits of MTW1 map over Rome and later: it is much easier to do this kind of map tweaking)
Trapped in Samsara
06-15-2009, 16:19
Hi Axalon
I note you say Muslim princesses cannot be made available. I'm playing another mod at the moment - pending the release of the new version of Redux, of course - and the Almoravid faction does indeed get princesses.
Just thought you might find that intriguing. Let me know if you want more detail.
In response to Wes' posting, and purely in the spirit of a debate about historical events, the Normans did conquer Sicily and Malta around the 11th/12th century. But I accept they did not teleport there from Northern France.
One last point, again as a matter of historical fact, if you can make more tradeable goods, shouldn't there be slaves as a commodity within the game? Both Christians and Muslims bought and sold slaves - without prejudice as to skin colour, it seems to me. They mainly enslaved those who were of the opposing religion, as far as I can tell.
One last point of information: Jinettes were an Iberian Muslim cavalry, not Christian. That sort or inaccuracy irks me. I'd be grateful you could straighten that one out.
Cheers
Victor
Hello guys,
Ok, I made ruling on the sea-connectivity issue…
I rule in favor to Victors’ stance on this. Sorry Wes...
Ruling: proposal, the “sea-connectivity”-case 1A , rejected.
Motivation:
While the over all intention is good in spirit, the proposed actions to deal with the problems strike me as even stranger than the wormhole/teleportation circumstance that it is supposed to remedy. The fact that seas would not be connected strikes me as too radical and too strange for the overall all experience of the game (the only reasonable exception to this appears to be the Marmara sea, and I don’t like it much even then). I will however, if time allows investigate further if additional sea-areas deep-sea or otherwise can be included in the redux-platform (MTW-VI and v1.1). By all means, everybody else is welcome to investigate this in v.1.1 as well (thus saving me and redux-production plenty of time). Essentially, I am sympathetic to the fundamental reasons to the idea that it should be harder to travel to Kairo from London or vice versa. In fact, I have already pondered some on these issues on my own before it was brought up here. I think that the best way to deal with this problem is to either redraw the sea-squares and/or include additional ones in the map (if possible, it depends on available colors). In creating more operative and relevant squares, the enterprise to do such a travel/teleportation will cost more florins and require more ships, that also needs to be in position which undoubtedly will make it harder to realize any such travels. If the player are willing, and have the means to realize it, I say go right ahead... What we are talking about, and striving for here, is to create a circumstance that it will be so hard to do that this barely happens - ideally. Court adjourned...
Case closed....
--------------------------------------------------------
Regarding Muslim princesses....
I am only interested, if these are spawned “naturally” like they do in Catholic factions. “Bought” princesses are hardly interesting since they will start at age 1 – which is just not acceptable. If you can prove to me with pics or something that Muslim princesses are really spawned after some 50 turns into the game, I will have little choice but to revise my position on this issue. Still, in order to get truly interesting for redux, it must work for both V.1.1 and VI.... Thus you just earned some “homework” the check it out more thoroughly and come back here with your findings Victor and then we will see what happens from that point. I know from earlier experience that some people has been interested in this stuff before so any additional info will be appreciated I think. Thus, please do investigate the circumstances of this further, and do check out how many portraits are involved for them as well, and also what kind of names these little dark beauties have.... I believe that there will be problems in that regard you see...
Regarding potential new commodities and redux....
This is primarily a matter thwarted by the inflexibility of MTW v.1.1. Apart from that I don’t feel that any additional wares for trade will significantly increase the quality of the game considering the rather limited effects it will bring. Besides introducing more commodities will also generate more florins thru trade and I think that there are more then enough of that already – especially so in the V.1.1 version of redux…
Regarding Jinetts and redux....
These troops have been consciously omitted in the redux-roster since they were too weak in their combat-profile in the hands of the AI – main reason. Secondly, the fact that there are none suitable GFX-plates for them makes it pretty impossible to include them as anything but western catholic kind of troops just by their sheer appearance – minor reason.
Finally, the “redux-office” will close down for a few days to “repaint the walls” of the office. Thus my activity here will probably slow down for a while here. However, the “mailbox” will function as usual, so feel free to post here while I’m away....
- Cheers
Obliqueattack
06-29-2009, 09:50
Hi Axalon,
I've noticed that you have javelin range at 1500 in your projectile stats:book:
Many other mods have upped this to 2500 or there about. Wouldn't increased javelin range allow the AI jinettes to get off a volley or two before skirmish mode forces them to run away?
Trapped in Samsara
06-30-2009, 18:10
Hi Axalon
"I am only interested, if these are spawned “naturally” like they do in Catholic factions. “Bought” princesses are hardly interesting since they will start at age 1 – which is just not acceptable."
Sorry, don't understand this distinction.
"If you can prove to me with pics or something that Muslim princesses are really spawned after some 50 turns into the game, I will have little choice but to revise my position on this issue."
I believe this test is passed. I have seen at least five Muslim princess in my current campaign; there are three pics of princesses below. The Almoravid and Fatimid factions who produced these little beauties are from the start/originals; i.e., the factions are NOT re-appearances which had been killed off earlier in the game. Hence, the earliest of the three pics is from about 150 years into the campaign. Also, one of my Polish heirs married one of the Fatimid girls, and a second Fatimid princess married a Fatimid general. By which I mean these lassies are fully functional, it seems to me.
Take a look below and let us know your thoughts. Pictures in spoiler...
Best regards
Victor
ArabPrincess.1.1229Almoravid.JPG
https://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww300/VictorGalea-Borg/ArabPrincess11229Almoravid.jpg
ArabPrincess.2.1272Fatimid.JPG
https://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww300/VictorGalea-Borg/ArabPrincess21272Fatimid.jpg
ArabPrincess.3.1272Accepted.JPG
https://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww300/VictorGalea-Borg/ArabPrincess31272Accepted.jpg
ArabPrincess.4.1302Fatimid.JPG
https://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww300/VictorGalea-Borg/ArabPrincess41302Fatimid.jpg
-----------------------------------------
EDIT: I have temporarily thrown in a spoiler for the pics to make things work smoother for the time being. As I stated before, maximum size on standard pics are 800x600 for this thread. I urge you to either resize the pics to the stipulated max or apply some thumbnails or some other smoother solution of your choosing here. As they are now, the pics are a tad too big to function smoothly without disrupting the thread. Whenever you have the time, please make the final adjustments at your convenience (kindly erase my entry here when you have done so). - Axalon
Hi guys,
I’ll start with you Obliqueattack… Hmm… Yes others may have increased that value but I won’t since that strike me as rather unrealistic and the same time it won’t make jinetts much better in the hands of the AI anyhow. The fact is that the AI can’t handle skirmishing at all – one quick cavalry charge and it’s all over. A value of “2500” translate to a distance of roughly 50 m (If I remember that stuff right) which I find unlikely that it can be realized on a regular basis on horseback. It’s hard enough just standing on the ground. Nah, the jinetts stay out of redux since they would only weaken AI-army compositions and thus the game – that is unacceptable and my first priority. However, feel free to include them on your own if you like. There are some 10-12 vacant slots in the unitprod-file so why don’t you use some of them? If you want jinetts in your personal game, that is…
Ok Victor, this was very interesting and unexpected. It seems that the pics are from an upgraded version of XL. The only interesting part about that is that we thus know that this is VI-based and that it is obviously possible somehow to make it happen on the VI-platform at least. However, I kind of doubt that it will work on v.1.1. I’ll check it out some more whenever I get curious enough about it (the less flexible princess name-system on that version makes all this seemingly pretty doomed to fail). I’ll probably save this discovery of yours for the future when and especially if I do some strictly VI-based work - a sub-mod or expansion for redux or whatever. We’ll see. Anyhow thanks a bunch for sharing these findings. :2thumbsup:
Well, I’ll guess this means that I’m back for business here then….
- Cheers
Trapped in Samsara
07-07-2009, 17:05
Hi Axalon
At the risk of trying your patience...
Regarding my old bugbear of the AI fielding way too much siege artillery in its initial deployment in field battles, might it be an idea to raise the build-time for these units? Hopefully this will discourage the AI from buying them in the first place.
I'd also suggest the same strategem as a sort of compromise with Wes' argument about sea transportation being much to much like teleportation; i.e., raise the build time for ships.
I guess where I'm headed with this is the notion that, certainly later in the game, it's not so much the opportunity cost of the quantity of florins that influences build choices ('cos any decent empire is going to have a reasonable income) but the opportunity cost of tying down a production centre for x number of years.
All the above is contingent on the AI taking build time into account when making unit production decisions, of course.
Best regards
Victor
Hello Victor and all fellow "reduxians"....
As far as I can tell the AI does not care much about building times. To me it seems that that cost, unit-numbers and combat-capacity to an extent are the only things the AI really cares about. Also some of this is hardcoded to a degree in VI as in the AI builds and prefers to build mixed armies containing all arms if possible - some of this and some that basically. In fact V.1.1 is better in this limited sense since it actually follows applied instructions better.
Another note here regarding units is that Redux and XL uses different AI-systems. XL uses the old CA-system, modified a bit, while redux uses a new and built from scratch RX-system which is pretty different as far as units go. Thus I am afraid that your siege-engine problem is mostly a thing for XL and other mods using a CA based AI-system (after all, they have plenty of that stuff apart from redux). So, I wonder if this is really true at all for redux (even in its current 2nd-edition format) to the same degree it might be true in XL? Are you sure about this? In redux that is? If you got some stuff to back it up, by all means post up some pic to support it and please do that in the debug-area (everybody else is welcome to do the same of course). Anyhow, as you surely must understand, XL is a bit out of my jurisdiction and not on my table so to speak…
Apart from that, as far as I can tell, it is not possible to truly influence how the AI set up its armies - and potential siege engines when it is time to deploy for battle. I remember that Western and I (if I remember this right) discussed ballista’s in the early days of redux (1st edition) and this was remedied as far as possible later on (2nd edition), courtesy of his findings in large part (so things can happen in favor to Wes, just so everybody are clear on that).
I guess where I'm headed with this is the notion that, certainly later in the game, it's not so much the opportunity cost of the quantity of florins that influences build choices ('cos any decent empire is going to have a reasonable income) but the opportunity cost of tying down a production centre for x number of years.
Well, this might be true to some extent in general. For those of you who are historically inclined, there are plenty of examples of the opposite. In fact there is a dude that made a famous thesis on the idea that empires would expand themselves to their own destruction and death - due to shortage of funds (P. Kennedy – “The rise and fall of the great powers”). Still, all that is beside the point and fairly unreduxy (not as such but… Oh well, I could go on and on about this – let’s just leave it at that)….
Now, with the already released Spanish fix (A or B) applied the seas are much more contested and thus you can not as easily get sea-superiority as you could prior to that fix in redux (and probably as in most other MTW-mods as well, which uses the CA AI-system). Many factions in redux tends to be pretty eager naval-powers after that fix. If I do apply more sea-squares or “redraw” the sea in the game – things won’t get any easier for the player in effect - rest assured about that. But as you said yourself, the raw system of the game is not perfect and there are limits to what I can and will do about it. In general, having ships in service is not for free and can actually end up being a real factor on you coffers if you have few flying florins around…. Remember, I’ll have to consider the impact on the AI as well…
Now, unless you have some fantastic discoveries on the sea related-stuff, I believe this matter is sorted and done with. Most big and “serious” ships already have 2 turns to completion and that works just fine for me. All the small ships in redux will probably be ignored by the AI in the future release. As will probably most of the siege engines as well - short of the Trebuchet. This is the only siege-weapon that the AI might have a chance to use decently I think. In general, troops should not take “years” to complete – the only reasonable exception to me is high-end archers. I’ll deal with all that when I am done with the GFX…. :wink2:
Ok, that’s it for for now.
- Cheers
Achilleslastand
08-12-2009, 05:57
Im getting bored with the mess that is ETW....just checking back here for any updates for redux............thanks
Hello Achilles,
Updates you say? Well, let’s have some updates then.... Remember all the fuss about sea-connectivity? Here is what
eventually happened about that....
Reduxed:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/universal/Reduxed1000.jpg
Original:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/universal/Reduxed2000.jpg
- Cheers
Hi Axalon
I like what I see. Should make some of the improbable long range invasions much rarer for the AI and harder for the player :yes:
Hello and excellent Wes….
Then there are at least two of us…. Soonish (2 weeks or so probably) it is probably time to start some testruns with what so far is dubbed as 3rd edition. Hopefully you and Edyz are up for it then (otherwise I will have to find some other testers I guess or even cancel all testing completely). Then plan is then to load up some sort of “secret non-public beta” and I’ll send you guys the links over PM. Ideally, and with a bit of luck, we will have enough progress and work done within 2-3 weeks that I can then later on put together and release a full official version after that. All that is the current plan, we will have to see if that holds true eventually - that is what I had in mind here anyways....
Additional testers for new redux?
I would prefer to have some 1-2 additional testers if possible. Thus let it be known that there are as of now 1-2 open spots for people that might be interested in doing some serious beta and bug testing for “the reduxlabs testprogram”, now is your chance join the bandwagon, people. So…. Are there anybody else interested in signing up for such a thing? This offer is only good for a limited time however and as usual; all I can offer in return is a spot in the credits-list and goodwill...
Redux-tester requirements then….
Errr yes (just to avoid misunderstandings here)…. Preferable requirements are that “you” should be familiar with the redux basics and that kind of play. - Harsher economics and tougher combat etc. etc. You also should have little problems with reporting in clearly, accurately and thorough. And, you simply must be able to run MTW V1.1 (lets worry about a VI-version later basically). Expect that all testing will be conducted on “hard”-difficulty level or higher in the game - so you should have no problems or reservations about such circumstances. - If that is a yes, yes and yes, maybe you might be just the right person for the task?
If "you" got all 3 yes and are truly interested in redux-testing (mainly bug-hunting) and possibly influence parts of the
final design somehow, let me know about it. As in post up a note of interest - here in this thread for instance… :laugh4:
- Cheers
Cannot wait for this great mod to be released! I am particularly impressed with the two-handed sword implementation--these two-handed swordsmen come close in looks to those in MTW2!:beam:
Dodge_272
09-30-2009, 04:25
Do dead bodies show on the battlefield in this mod?
What the hell?!
Byzantine infantry costs 100 to maintain? What do they eat, pancakes from gold? Any reason I should not replace them with normal spearmen infantry ASAP?
I was really looking forward to try this mod, but this "detail" fed me up so much, that I gotta return to the XL mod :(
Dodge_272
10-02-2009, 01:40
Why are all the Catholic nations portraits the same picture of the closed helmet??
Cannot wait for this great mod to be released! I am particularly impressed with the two-handed sword implementation--these two-handed swordsmen come close in looks to those in MTW2!:beam:
I like 'em too... :grin:
Do dead bodies show on the battlefield in this mod?
Yes… Allways have.
Why are all the Catholic nations portraits the same picture of the closed helmet??
Why don’t you read the redux “read me”? ….Customization section?
What the hell?!
Byzantine infantry costs 100 to maintain? What do they eat, pancakes from gold? Any reason I should not replace them with normal spearmen infantry ASAP?
I was really looking forward to try this mod, but this "detail" fed me up so much, that I gotta return to the XL mod :(
Different game, different circumstances…. Whatever comments I had about the Byzantines can be found in post: 58 basically. I have designed the game I want and like. If that don’t work for you – too bad I guess.
Anything else, fire away…
- Cheers
Do I need to install Superfix before the VI upgrade?
Nope*. I would however recommend that you install the Spanish fix “B” after you installed the VI-upgrade – you will get a better and more challenging game that way.
* The only function of the “superfix V.1.1” is to upgrade the first redux of “ 1.0” up to “1.0b” – which is the current version available by default download, thus you and other new players don’t need it. I doubt there are much people around these days that still have the older non-upgraded version of redux. It was created as a service and alternative to such people when 2nd edition were released in 2008. 1.0b patched with a Spanish Fix (“A” or “B” depending on what version of MTW people are using) is the current standard.
- Cheers
Hahahahaha, I *INSTANTLY* assumed that "Spanish Fix" means making the game Spanish, and didn't read a single word of the actual description XD
So let me get this straight...
I need
1) Redux 1.0b
2) VI upgrade
3) Spanish fix B
and do NOT need the Superfix nor Spanish fix A?
Correct… And correct… Anything else, fire away.
- Cheers
OK, that's all for now! Thanks for taking the time to set things straight for me, but most importantly thanks for making such an amazing mod!! :)
Achilleslastand
10-29-2009, 17:49
How is the newest version coming along?
Fantastic work... :2thumbsup:
Hi Axalon - long time no post!
I just pulled out my old laptop yesterday - was thinking of giving it away. I fired it up, and for old time's sake clicked on MTW for a quick game.
Luckily for me, I still had redux installed, so I'm now rampaging away with the Italians.
Great mod, and I look forward to the new version.
Achilleslastand
12-05-2009, 18:20
Any news on version 3?
Hi everyone and thanks for the recognition guys,
Now, about what is so far labeled as 3rd edition of redux. I think it is safe to say that we won’t see that released until 2010. I have no idea when exactly other than I need to finish up everything before it happens anyhow. Currently, most of the GFX-stuff I wanted to do is done and my primary concerns next will probably be about the AI since it does not work in the way I want it, so I’ll be probably be struggling with finding a way to make it happen. In general, I had little time for TW-stuff ever since October, so my absence here at the forums and lack of progress in my work with redux is basically the result of just that if any of you might are wondering about it. I’ll try to stick around here for the next couple of days and hopefully we can have a little action around here. - To make up for my absence I’ve prepared some more stuff for you about the future release. Hope you people like it. Enjoy…
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/universal/RX_Portrait_1.jpg
Ok, redux is designed so that each player can customize portraits that will appear within the game. I already made several replacements that each player can use in their reduxed game (with 2nd edition). Now my plan is to release some templates for various factions so enterprising people can fashion multiple knights for a specific faction (the one they are playing), let’s say France, as much as they like by using these templates. That’s one feature I had in mind with the new release, I know it will be very useful thing for me at least. I producing portraits of your on is not your thing, you can at least use these included templates as additional portraits with the others.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/universal/RX_Portrait_2B.jpg
There will also be some 10-20 additional and new portraits included intended for the use as potential replacements of the default “generals” in the game. In total there is 57 slots for portraits but I don’t think I will make enough to cover all 57 slot since that is not really part of my plans, after all redux is not intended to work like that. You are supposed to customize your game! Anyhow, I also made a few replacements for the princesses as well since I wanted to replace a few of those.
Other than that I also made some potential default generals Muslim, Pagan and Orthodox factions. Long time a go, a dude named William wanted to have some of those in the game and tried to make ‘em on his own (it never flied, but obviously the interest was there regardless), I thought I might as well do standard-pic each for all non-catholic cultures as well (currently I plan for that to be strictly optional).
- Cheers
----------
Hello there Orph, I remember you, it was indeed long time ago you traveled these parts…
Heh. Sir Killalot. I laughed. :grin:
I'm glad to hear that you're continuing the project. I'd love to see those muslim, pagan and orthodox portraits too, sounds grand.
Good to hear from you Axalon.
I assume all is going well on the modding front? :2thumbsup:
Hello there Raz,
Yeah, I will finish what I started; make no mistake about it – no matter how long it takes. Anyhow, it’s good to know that at least somebody around here has a similar sense of humor as I have (for those of you missed it, check out da pics/portraits in my previous post before this one. Yummy princesses & angry knights etc. etc. :beam:). I once did some portraits on She-Hulk as princess; I thought that was pretty fun, but since few others seemed to appreciate it, maybe it’s just me?
Redux & 2009…
I thought I should share some general remarks on redux and what passed during 2009 on that note. Overall I think it has been yet another very good year for redux as a public entity. Among other things redux found some new places to reside and thus further possibilities was created for new people to get familiar with it – thus new people get the chance to try it out. Funny enough all this happened without any involvement on my part, I found that out after it happened. As far as I can tell, this happened in Israel, Poland, Spain (?) and the USA. The project has definitely exceeded all my expectations since 2nd edition managed to get well over some 1200 downloads in 2009 alone, imagine that. That’s roughly a 100 downloads each moth, so there should be plenty of players out there, even if downloads hardly equals people. In total, the current 2nd edition alone has over 1500 downloads. In my wildest dreams when I released it for the first time, I thought redux might reach 500 downloads someday - as in 2060 or something like it. I did not dare to hope for what actually happened in 2009. And, remarkably enough; I did not even release any new material at all this year. So fortune has indeed smiled on redux during 2009.
Here at the ORG, redux finally passed that magic 20.000 view-marker that seems to be reserved for only the big stuff around here. And, I am very happy that redux managed to get that far and still generate interest and posts about it. - Despite the fact that I have been considerably less active around here thru out 2009 than I was 2008, this very thread all the same managed to generate some 100+ posts during this year. That’s very impressive to me at least, after all we are talking about a project that needs a 7,5 year old and troublesome game in order to run at all... So, I am impressed by that alright.
None of this would have happened of course if it not were other people than me who also was interested in the little world of redux and bothered to post here. During 2009 mostly new faces (to me at least) traveled these parts while most of the old players and posters from 2008 were absent (with some few exceptions). Personally, I find that to be a shame since many of those guys really made a difference for this place back in 2008. Keeping it interesting and active, without relying on me being part of everything or function as the driving force behind it all - all the time.
If I wish for anything in 2010 (short of releasing 3rd edition, and a massive presence of sexy princesses in every game), it would be that such times will find its way back to this place - that would be really cool. Apart from the fact that there still remains tons of stuff about MTW-redux to discuss and post about; pointers, various strategy’s , experiences, in game-challenges/problems or whatever you may find while playing redux – my constant advice would be to post about it or If you think you have an answer for something to help a fellow player out – post it! Don’t wait for me! Why should you? It will probably benefit all redux-players in the long run, including the poster as well, while also making this place a fun and ever attractive place to visit for everybody – including me. Besides, why should we not want to discuss and share our experiences with redux? After all, there sure seems to be plenty of people around that play (or have played) it – I find it hard to believe that I am the only one who would find such activities interesting and wortwhile. I think that this would serve all players (including those who bother post it) and be a good thing if we saw some more of that in 2010. Anyhow…
A happy New Year to all redux-players out there! Happy fighting and may Lassie (the dog) be kind to us all... :mickey:
- Cheers
Tytoniday
01-02-2010, 17:10
Long Live MTW!!!
I suppose… I like da ‘ol game anyhow (especially after I modified it)… :grin:
Achilleslastand
01-13-2010, 05:43
Everytime i see a new post from you Axalon im hoping its version 3 or some new screenies......arrgh
Hello Achilles,
Did you see these samples from post:360? That’s the best I can do for you at the moment, sorry…
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/universal/RX_Portrait_1.jpg
- Text removed -
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/universal/RX_Portrait_2B.jpg
- Text removed -
- Cheers
Achilleslastand
01-16-2010, 00:26
Nice screens.
Is it just me or is the princess in red a bit more "detailed" then the others?
Not that im complaining........
The only extra detail as far as i can tell is that she seems to be wearing a transparent vest, unlike the other two.
Hi all,
Ok, now I know that this thread is going on fumes – we are now discussing princess-fashion! Let me tell you guys, those girls have little to be ashamed for! :laugh4: Anyhow, it is not the first time this stuff has come up. I think it was William the Silent who first raised this issue; wherever he is these days, bless his heart.
Apart from the nonsense I provided as my defense about the poor redux-girls that time around, from post 230, I quote ( in spoiler)…
"I know that you are interested in the girls at the “princess-department” but really? Asking about “redux-princess-fashion”? Is that not taking your personal interest a bit too far Will?!? Ok, you’re the boss…
Now, all the girls at the princess-department are honest, hard working and above all honorable little maidens (most of them anyhow) and all of them got some fine “royal-assets” as well, no doubts there (that sure makes them more persuasive in the delicate negotiations of marriages and matters of state). But the way they dress is all hardcoded in redux. It’s all connected to the AI’s “princess-wardrobe”-files. I have tried many times to improve all the girls behavior and dress-code but it is just hardcoded all of it, and sometimes, well ok, many times they just simply *forget* to slip in to “something less comfortable” if you know what I mean…
Anyway, it is hard to find proper princesses these days and most of reduxes girls had a previous career as sinful nuns at castle Anthrax so it’s essentially hopeless to get them to understand the fact that this is an innocent and “proper” game with a supposed “TEEN”-rating and they are expected to dress “less comfortable” here. I have already received some reprimands about this from the rating-board but the girls just won’t listen to reason and continue to dress light! Now what am I supposed to do?!? I got the rating-board on one side and the horde of beautiful little maidens with a hardcoded urge to dress “light” on the other. I’m really on a tough spot here…”
Other than what already said in spoiler, I totally blame Marvel comics. It’s their fault, you know…
Anyhow, is this really all we can discuss on the available edtion of redux at this point? Come on, there got to be more than that?! Maybe I’ll edit in some further fashion-remarks later on (oh yes, Iv’e cleaned up da images – no more sexy & yummy stuff here. It’s all proper now. For further “dirty and unbothered sexist stuff”, all you sleazy scoundrels will have to make due with the already included stuff in the redux-files :laugh4:)…
- Cheers
------------
Oh god how I hate this "default" bulletin skin... It's just awful.
Sorry Axalon, that's the only thing that i can discuss about, because i dont play redux. I'm sure others are players and hence can discuss more than that.
Yet, i'll give you a piece of advice and take it for what its worth: overdirecting discussion in the end leads to no discussion, because branches of the discussion that are seemingly irrelevant but can liven interest in it are cut off. Over-expecting and over-encouraging discussion also leads to no discussion, because sooner or later the artificiality of the "over" element is felt.
Letting things be sometimes turns out far better than making things be.
Achilleslastand
02-19-2010, 19:19
My fresh install of MTW VI is surely getting lonely.................
Hello. Well I finally finished reading all the posts. This is a fantastic project, I thank you so much for your time and effort Axalon. This is the exact type of mod I was looking for. The posts here just made it seem all the more and desirable.
Here's hoping this thread is still alive.
Well another day goes by and not one person shows up.
Any way, I installed Redux and the VI fix. I am going to give it a try today.
Well, Redux didn't show up when I tried the first install method. So I tried the Happy 7 method and success. Redux is installed and loads up.
Congrats, and welcome to the .Org.
~:wave:
Achilleslastand
05-27-2010, 05:51
Just checking in to see how version 3 is coming along?
Hello Achilles,
I will probably post up some update for you within a few days. Overall, I think it is likely that we will see a release somehow in 2010. Whether it will be beta or the real thing only time can tell. Recently, I have had probems to log in here at the ORG so things are a bit uncertain because of that as well - hopefully that was only temporary. Anyhow and in the meantime, this place is open for business people...
- Cheers
------------
On another note, thanks Ludens for keeping an eye on this place, I appreciate it...
2000 downloads….
Yesterday, MTW-Redux 2nd edition hit the 2000 downloads-marker. It is rather amazing considering the overall circumstances – an 8 year old game to play it and the first release as late as 2008 (some 6 years after MTW was released. Now if that is not bad timing – I don’t know what is). Anyhow, there it is.
Do enjoy redux folks….
- Cheers
Congrats, Axalon. It does have a certain charm about it you know (the game mod, that is).
ELadimari
08-04-2010, 23:40
A month ago I moded MTW with XL and have been enjoying all the new factions and units. I definitely will have to give Redux a try, love the colorful unique factions and screenshots. The game mod sounds like it makes campaigns very challenging and the main focus is the battlefield, diverse units, and tactics which are all big draws for me. Wonderful job on the mod!
I installed Redux successfully and have been playing around. Just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to Axalon who managed to make such a working mod. reading around topics I persuaded to take the Spanish challenge, I finished playing Spanish (expert mode) and managed to won the game. The big difference with original version is that you always must take care of battles, winning them needs good unit choice in original you always can win a large area just by rapidly attacking or building far sea trade. Here in Redux you must fight for every inch of land and there is near zero income from trade (maybe all those trade buildings not needed any more). Great Job Axalon I hope and willingly wait for the future versions!
Hi and thanks a bunch guys...
Mark…
Yeah, I sure hope so… :grin:
Sorena…
By the way it sounds you had the kind of campaign I was hoping for as I designed Spain. Excellent! She-hulk be praised! However, does the adventure have to end there?
After all, the world of redux goes far beyond the “dreaded” Spanish campaign, there is a ton of things to explore and master in all 8 standard factions which all do provide different and rather unique game-experiences. Besides, no redux-campaign is the same - even if we do use the same faction and difficulty. Redux have an extreme replayability capacity which is a rare trait these days – use it.
If tough is your thing, try Poland* and see what happens (some survive it, others perish. Hopefully they had fun regardless). The HRE is another worthy candidate, smack in the centre and will offer good clean pixel-slaughter on multiple fronts. Just thinking out load….
*Knight of the Rose, (a “redux daredevil”) did an excellent article/report on that back in 2009 which I
plan to post up somehow – I just have not got around to it. I totally should post it up here someday.
ELadimari…
By all means knock yourself out with Redux… It is voluntary, after all…
Anyhow, travelling into redux-territory out of XL might mean more changes then some (not all) people are prepared for. XL and Redux are very different projects - apples and oranges basically - designed with different and sometimes outright conflicting ideas and notions. Thus, don’t ever expect to have similar circumstances and results in redux (whatever it may be). The circumstances are different and thus so are the results. Whatever works and may be successful in XL is not necessarily valid in Redux – and thus never expect it to be.
As long as you keep that in mind, you might enjoy redux just as much as others do. It’s tougher and more complex in general (it's simply a matter of design) and it helps if such traits appeal to you.
- Cheers
Ok, some previews on new redux for you folks (and in proper order)…
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_3rdED_preview06.jpg
To start things off we travel north to pagan and Norse territory, from top left we have Norse warriors, Norse spearmen, the druid (agent), Norse pathfinders and heathen berserkers…
The Norse pathfinders will replace the Norse scouts – it is essentially a change of name but I think the new one suit them better and is a bit clearer. The druid got some juicy Stonehenge-stuff going since I thought that would be cooler the just some plain forest as in the old pic (which may be more accurate in a historical context but who cares, right?). And of course I have created a new face for him as well. The berserkers finally got a picture that I am satisfied with – the same goes for the two Norse units as well. These Norse units will now look more fearsome – as they should (and they reflect somewhat better the other related new unit-GFX as well).
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_3rdED_preview07.jpg
On this screen we travel east and essentially the regions of orthodox-culture, from top left we got halberdiers (orthodox version), light cavalry (orthodox version), Russian knights, peasant horde (orthodox version) and light militia (orthodox version).
Previous redux (and the original game) all too often used the same pics for various units regardless of culture – one might say that this is an attempt to remedy that somewhat - since I think different cultures should have different pics (at least some more then before). Hope you guys like it.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_3rdED_preview08.jpg
More on the orthodox theme, from top left we have palace guard, dragon order knights, cataphract regiment, Slavic foresters (remake) and Russian infantry (remake).
The palace guard unit is going to replace the Russian palaceguards and will be available exclusively to Russia and Hungary (the dragon order infantry will probably be removed as well due to this new unit). The cataphract regiment will be a new “super” formation for Byzantium – while daunting to face in battle - it will cost plenty of cash and take time to develop (and it will be expensive to maintain as well). Still, as with everything else it will be possible to do something about them if one ends up having to face such a formation in the field. Arrows and spears would be my recommendation to all who want to try ‘em on in the new redux – once released to the public, that is. Finally, the Slavic foresters and Russian infantry finally got infopics that I am more satisfied with.
Ok, thats it for now.
- Cheers
That looks great Axalon! Good job keeping this game alive and fresh!
Geezer57
09-04-2010, 15:04
[COLOR=black][I]Ok, some previews on new redux for you folks
Looking good! I'm anxiously awaiting the release of the new Redux.
Thanks Axalon!
Hi and thanks guys, here are some other previews…
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_3rdED_preview04.jpg
From top left, we have infopics for Spanish raiders, Saxon heavy spearmen, Saxon warriors (infantry), Frankish infantry (remake) and hospitaller foot knights (remake)…
Now, the Spanish raiders marks the return of the MTW "jinette"-concept to reduxed battles after a rather long absence there. And yes, they hurl spears if given the chance and can do much damage if allowed to do so (they must still have the chance for it). The Saxon heavy spearmen will replace the old and more diffuse “Saxon infantry”-unit and thus making things clearer. Saxon warriors finally got a pic that do them better justice (the old one had wrong weapon for starters). As for the hospitaller fotknights (along with all western orders) now have distinctive shields in the pics to set them apart from other foot-knights and orders.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_3rdED_preview05.jpg
In this one we have (from top left) Spanish lancers, pikemen, Spanish champion, archers (plain) and halberdiers (Catholic).
Well, I was never really satified with the old pic for the lancers so I finally came around to change it. Same story for the pikemens as well essentially. The Spanish champ turned out to be quite a challenge to create a pic for - that would also satisfactory work with the concept – I eventually ended up creating this one and I think we finally have a winner for it. The new archer pic is the result of me not being entirely satisfied with the old one - same thing for the halberdiers (there is yet another version for orthodox factions as already shown).
Feel free to post up questions and comments on this if you got any. Ok, that's it folks….
- Cheers
Well first let me say THANK YOU!!!! for your hard work and others that help make the Redux!I end-up installing Redux because of the "crash to desktop" issue I was having, the game is so awesome that I had to play it again!
Your files FIXED my issue and the game is stable!!no more crashing!I can play for hours!!
Redux is tough but I like it, If I may suggest would like to see the same amount of factions from the original game, I really enjoyed factions that no longer are present BUT If it wasn't for Redux I wouldn't be playing at all!!!
2010 is almost over...looking forward to the next edition!!!
Really like the screen shots, keep it coming!
Well, I for one appreciate all the good efforts you've been making and look forward to playing your next release. By the way , are you planning to create other mods ? If so I might be able to help. Been tinkering with Hellenic Total War Bifs and it seems I can come up with modified ones that would suit ancient and medieval warfare alike. It just takes a lot of time but with proper motivation I could be persuaded to find the time. :)
Achilleslastand
12-12-2010, 07:16
How is version 3 coming along?
I fear that, with no recent activity in this forum, it most likely has come to a standstill.
Hi, thanks a bunch and merry xmas everyone… I’ll start with Tobrak…
Your files FIXED my issue and the game is stable!!no more crashing!I can play for hours!!
Well, I do take bugs and stability-issues very serious. I have certainly tried to kill all bugs as much as possible, and on principle, I consider stability to be the virtual alpha and omega of any video game. I have always tried to make redux as stable as possible, I take pride in the fact that redux is seemingly as stable as it is – sometimes I can only get there at a price - removing features and ideas and so forth during design – all things considered with the fairly weird MTW-engine.
Redux is tough but I like it, If I may suggest would like to see the same amount of factions from the original game, I really enjoyed factions that no longer are present BUT If it wasn't for Redux I wouldn't be playing at all!!!
I have no plans to restore the old factions, sorry. Feel free to do that on your own if you like.
Really like the screen shots, keep it coming!
Great, then I guess I should hammer out some more of those…. Err, I just have to get around to do that then (whenever I have time for it). ;)
...
By the way , are you planning to create other mods ? If so I might be able to help. Been tinkering with Hellenic Total War Bifs and it seems I can come up with modified ones that would suit ancient and medieval warfare alike. It just takes a lot of time but with proper motivation I could be persuaded to find the time. :)
Well at the moment, my sole modding-agenda is to actually finish up the new Redux – first a beta and then a full and proper release after that. I have certainly considered doing various expansions for it beyond that (possibly designed solely upon VI), new and smaller campaigns-maps and “mini-campaigns” and such - but all that is pushed into an uncertain future – the ideas for it is hardly the problem – while time is. Feel free to do some expansion for redux if you like, put in some extra troops or whatever you think would be fun – after all, redux is specifically designed for such “custom” additions. 12-15 “free” slots for units or something like that. As for factions, the same thing applies – the only thing that is certain is that I won’t do it. I would however think it would be cool and fun if somebody (who wanted that) did.
As things are now, (and it will probably be final), there are two vacant unit Bif-plates/textures in the files for the MTW 1.1-version of the new redux (I don’t remember the exact names as I write this and VI also some additional 10 custom ones as we all know, all those will be unused by regular redux). Once the new redux is out, I will try to set up threads for the benefit of discussions, suggestions and implementations of alternative versions/expansions of redux done by people willing and interested in doing such stuff. I get the feeling that at least some people would like to get a place for just that. Previously and regrettably, I had to put a lid on all that simply to maintain some sort of clarity around here – but if there were clearly designated and dedicated places (threads) for it around here – such problems would disappear.
...
How is version 3 coming along?
Yeah, I guess that’s the big question, isn’t it? Well, at this point it’s fairly close to beta-release. I think we will (finally!) see such a release in Q1 of 2011 – ahead of the commercial release of STW2. New redux has essentially been delayed for two full years now…
- It is not all bad since I have had time to think things thru as I designed stuff. Refine and redesign things, redo and improve various GFX all over, remove redundant stuff (both from my own designs and CA-designs), find ways to bypass or camouflage various MTW-weirdness, get various calibrations right (weapons, shields, horses etc), testing and creating new GFX, get a decent grip on the AI and how it actually works, general testing, balancing etc. etc. etc.
On top of all that, creating a game I like of course…
...
I fear that, with no recent activity in this forum, it most likely has come to a standstill.
As always, I do appreciate that you keep an eye on this place in my absence. I would probably have made the very same conclusion myself – given the circumstances. At various points it has also been very true as well due to various reasons and obligations on my part.
Futhermore, I also feel that the people who do play and are interested in redux should be the ones keeping this place active – not me. I just do and design the darn game, the rest that happens here is virtually up to the redux players themselves… I guess, it is a bit of that as well in this equation. Anyhow, thanks again for answering Achilles.
Ok, that’s it folks… Again xmas all.
Redux & 2010
As tradition would have me do; I’ll share some remarks on Redux and what happened on that note during 2010. In general terms it was a surprisingly good year for something that is dependent on an 8,5 year old (and problematic) game to run. I certainly hoped that I would be able to release some new material during 2010 but as things eventually turned out that did not happen.
In 2010, Redux (as work done for MTW1) was recognized and awarded over at the TWC (to my big surprise – in more ways than one), I found out that people in China play Redux, and during the summer 2nd Edition hit the 2000 downloads marker (and the VI-upgrade module also hit the 1000 marker later on) among other things. Despite no new material was released, people kept downloading Redux all the same (as I write this 2nd edition alone has some 2700 downloads). Furthermore, Filefront/Gamefront management did not screw up for a change - and didn’t delete the redux-files – a nice surprise as well. In contrast, Atomic Gamer has yet to screw things up since 2008….
Here at the Org. this very thread generated some 10.000 “new” views despite fairly few posts made during 2010 - thus I draw the conclusion that people are still interested in Redux somehow while usually reluctant to post? I don’t have a clue as for why that is and personally I think that is a real shame.
Regardless, 2011 is just around the corner and hopefully that will be an exiting year for all people interested in Redux (hopefully for me too) as plenty of new material will be released due to 3rd Ed/”new redux” (I’ll post details on that later). Finally, my thanks to Tosa for allowing us to have this reduxy place/forum – which is not to be taken for granted folks.
Anyways, a happy new year and a bunch of woof-woof from Lassie…
- Cheers
Gaiseric
01-08-2011, 15:34
Congratulations on your Mods success!!! I downloaded MTW Redux in Late 2010, but have not had a chance to play it yet. Currently I am playing some of the other MTW mods and I am very impressed with what the modders have been able to do with the game. As soon as I get in the medieval mindset I will give Redux a try and maybe make some posts in the subforum.
Take a look here Axalon, i found something that might interest you about the weather in MTW; post#5:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?111355-Modify-weather-in-MTW&p=2053248771&viewfull=1#post2053248771
Hi and thanks again folks…
First of all, Filefront/Gamefront-management has yet again in their infinite wisdom screwed up – this time they deleted all my file-statistics to hell. The files are still there but all statistics are gone. Wonderful…
Anyhow, below is a demo-pic of the new provinces and sea-sections in Redux. Note that there are no “extra regions or sections” – I’ve just redesigned the map all over (again) for better and improved gameplay with the existing number of regions in the original game – that is 99 land and 37 sea. Trade and sea-stuff functions much better for the Ai it seems. Old key-strategic regions like Cordoba, Flanders and Syria has been toned down in importance. Islands like Malta and Rhodes has totally disappeared – they did not contribute enough to the game to stay in.
New provinces like Picardy, Couronia, Tripolitania etc. etc. are in. Africa is bigger; the Baltic and Black Sea regions are a bit more complex and interesting while less decisive etc. Successful travels from Wessex to Novgorod or Egypt are longer and thus harder to achieve. There are ultimately 4 bottlenecks (instead of just the one in the original) separating the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic area etc. etc. etc. Find out all about it once the beta of new Redux is out – which seems to be fairly soon at this point.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/universal/RegionMap_Redux.jpg
Hopefully people will like these changes; at least I like ‘em. Here is a sample of the original map for comparison...
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/universal/RegionMap_Original.jpg
Anyhow, I’ll probably get back here soon with more news and stuff so stay tuned….
- Cheers
As a map afficionado, color me VERY intrigued.... yes indeed! Really nice and clean design.
Perhaps you would like to go the BKB route and add Iceland (full of angry Norsemen) in the upper left corner
of this lovely map? Also, maybe the province borders in North Africa could be made a little more irregular
to match the rest of the layout?
Wow, this is very nice map, with many clever changes... it seems to get tight in Eastern Europe. I would only change West Africa for some province between Poland and Hungary, they are still too big with too many neighbours(Hungary especially), but it's your map of course :)
Sea regions - outstanding.
Not sure about downgrading Cordoba and Flanders in strategic importance - although i do not know your factions' starting positions. The AI does better with fewer regions/more bottlenecks where he can marshal his forces faster and coordinate them better.
While Syria is downgraded in strategic importance in your map, its replaced by Edessa that gives a similar bottleneck as Syria had been and one more province distance to Jerusalem/Tripoli/Arabia. I think this is potentially a good change and it will help the AI there - but of course also the player that controls Egypt and the middle east.
The more sea regions in the North and Baltic seas are certainly a good change - that sea area has far less regions than the Mediterranean equivalent that makes travel/trade in that zone too quick, especially for the player. Not sure however the Med sea zones needed an increase - although again i am not familiar with your starting zones, the economy and the naval game in redux.
Overall, they seem prudent changes.
Maps looks interesting. More sea regions is a very good idea. More provinces in Africa - it should help Almohads to survive a little longer. Eastern Europe - less provinces means even more devastating Mongol invasion. Is it good? We will see. Downgrading Syria is decisively good idea.
Cyprian2
02-13-2011, 03:37
Very intrigued and looking forward to the new Redux, Axalon. Will additional factions be playable in this version?
Hi and thanks guys... Some replies...
Perhaps you would like to go the BKB route and add Iceland (full of angry Norsemen) in the upper left corner of this lovely map?
It certainly has crossed my mind, but so far I have refrained from that for various reasons – thus it probably won’t be part of standard redux. I have considered possible future redux-expansions and “minicampaigns” – for instance based in pagan Scandinavia (including Iceland) as a possible project exclusively for VI. Time will tell what happens.
Also, maybe the province borders in North Africa could be made a little more irregular
to match the rest of the layout?
I have been thinking the same. I’ll might very well fix that for the formal release but in the beta-version(s) I probably won’t. Maybe later essentially…
...some province between Poland and Hungary, they are still too big with too many neighbours(Hungary especially), but it's your map of course :)
Yes it would be nice and the idea is good in general – however I have already hit the roof of what I am certain that V.1.1 can handle all the way. Thus it won’t happen in the standard version of Redux – sorry… Maybe in some special/alternative expansion for VI as it is possible there. Either done by me or somebody else, that is possible in practical terms.
The more sea regions in the North and Baltic seas are certainly a good change - that sea area has far less regions than the Mediterranean equivalent that makes travel/trade in that zone too quick, especially for the player. Not sure however the Med sea zones needed an increase - although again i am not familiar with your starting zones, the economy and the naval game in redux.
We all have opinions on stuff, you are no exception. New Redux - as far as I can tell - is significantly different from a raw MTW (even from old redux) and that will probably come to light as people try the new beta – once out. The components, circumstances, rules and AI strike me as different all over - save hardcoded stuff - while the typical activities and goals of the game as such are the same as raw MTW. I think this map is part of that reality.
Maps looks interesting. More sea regions is a very good idea. More provinces in Africa - it should help Almohads to survive a little longer. Eastern Europe - less provinces means even more devastating Mongol invasion. Is it good? We will see. Downgrading Syria is decisively good idea.
Well, I did not actually increase the sea-regions in number – I only redeployed them differently on the map. As far as I can tell, for the better as well. Then again, people might have different opinions on that of course, as always. I like it anyhow, but you are right, the only way to find out for sure what you think is to try it out for yourself.
The Golden Horde is not a factor in redux, it never was. It (still) got the Lithuanians instead and they may work in similar effect, that is, if the circumstances for it are right.
Very intrigued and looking forward to the new Redux, Axalon. Will additional factions be playable in this version?
Yes… In new redux - in the “regular” campaign – there will be 10 factions available for the player (the rest is locked)… 6 “regular” factions (catholic) and 4 “optional” ones (pagan, orthodox and muslim). In total there will be 18 factions just as in old redux. Beyond that there will not be any additional factions in the standard version of it (for several reasons).
Again, thanks guys for your interest and posts here…
- Cheers
Originally posted by Axalon
We all have opinions on stuff, you are no exception.
You mean?
Edit: Nevermind...
Its ok Axalon.
Congrats on your org award btw.
I always thought you deserved one for all the hard work despite not having tried Redux, hence why i nominated you for it.
Great looking map Axalon. Have you ever wondered what the white thing in middle of Arabia is meant to be? I know it was there in original. The two next to it you can kind of understand as sea either side of Sinai (though better if blue) and the one on Egypt border might be the Qattara depression. But the one in Arabia? - I'm foxed
Been wondering about that too...I thought the Quattara depression is far closer to the coast and more elongated.
The Sinai bits must be definitely the sea and it suits pretty well (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=qattara%20depression%20map&um=1&biw=1339&bih=809&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=il) - but for the Cyrenaica and the Arabia bits...a large oasis? (or a mirage of one :)? No idea.
Been wondering about that too... a large oasis? (or a mirage of one :)? No idea.
Me too so I removed them. You can get the fixed maps here (http://www.gamefront.com/files/20016468/MTW_LUKUPMAP_ZIP) (maps for vanilla mtw).
Hi there and thanks Wes...
No worries, I have fixed it/deleted both anomalies. Durango’s straight lines
have also been fixed in the process....
Gollum...
I certainly appreciate that you wanted to somehow recognize my work.
As for HOF awards, I am torn. I like some of it and some I don’t.
- Cheers
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/universal/RX_ReleaseNote_01.jpg
Eagerly awaiting this release :balloon2::balloon2: (noting it's a beta and you may want some playtesting)
Since last release I've played some great MTWII Mods - the vanilla game made much more interesting and even beautiful - but boy is the battlefield AI unbelievably stupid and repetitive :no:
Trapped in Samsara
02-28-2011, 13:56
To Axalon and Gollum
You guys are like buses: you wait and wait and wait, and then two MTW mods come along at once!
Not complaining, mind. Feeling rather spoilt, actually.
Best regards
Victor
Sapere aude
Horace
(noting it's a beta and you may want some playtesting)
Yes! :laugh4:
The more and detailed intel that get reported in - as people play and test new Redux beta - my chances to make things better obviously increases for the formal release. I have yet to craft the VI-upgrade and thus this beta is currently only compatible/applicable with V.1.1 (gold-, eras-owners will simply have to wait for the VI-upgrade, sorry). I’ll try to make the VI-stuff as soon as I can. I’ll release it when it is functional and fairly done essentially…
Anyhow, da link is up! I'll set up another reserve-link sometime soon. Anyway, it would be good if somebody could confirm that the files works?
- Cheers
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/universal/RX_3rdEd_BETA_header01.jpg (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?106497-MTW-Redux-Beta-Released!-(3rd-ED))
This is a BETA-version of new Redux (Medieval Total War-Redux 3rd Edition) as such not everything is carved in stone yet or completed. Anyhow, it requires the original MTW game in order to run - as in the V 1.1 version or with the compatibility-module it can also run on VI/V 2.01 – the game and experience is the same.
To install Redux you first set up a clean install of MTW somewhere and then properly patch it up to either V1.1 or VI/V2.01 – once that is done you THEN copy/paste over Redux on top of MTW, standard package first and VI-module last… If done this way, Redux should work just fine.
The primary campaign in this version of Redux is “RX-classic”, a scenario which offers a campaign spanning from 700-1260 AD – in total 560 turns. 10 out of 18 factions are playable in it along with unruly rebels and pirates as well. The overall goal is total supremacy over Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, either by achieving 60% or a 100% domination of all provinces. The means for achieving this goal are troops, ships and agents, and yet more of the same. Development and a functional economy is key for survival on the road to glory - without it you will surely perish.
Anyhow, while we wait for the formal release, please report in bugs, typos and anomalies if you encounter any.
- Enjoy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mod Name: Medieval Total War – Redux
Mod Version: BETA 1000 (3rd Edition)
Language: English
Terms of Use: P.U.O, Personal Use Only, any other plans, let me know and we’ll see.
Applicability: Medieval Total War v1.1 only. Not compatible with V2.01 yet…
Size: Rared 184 Mb/Zipped 237 Mb/Uncompressed 335 Mb
Operating System: 2000/XP (Vista/W7 unconfirmed)
Hardware: see “Redux_ReadMe.txt”-file, hardware issues & info section. In short; ATI X800 series are probably the best GFX-cards for this game coupled with drivers prior to 2005 (ATI 9800’s are also good GFX-cards). Virtually everything else is “try and find out” essentially.
Description: This is a BETA-version of new Redux (Medieval Total War-Redux 3rd Edition) as such not everything is carved in stone yet or completed. Anyhow, it requires the original MTW game in order to run - as in the V 1.1 version or with the compatibility-module it can also run on VI/V 2.01 (once released) – the game and experience is the same.
Credits: see “Redux_ReadMe.txt”-file, credits section…
Download Links:
Download zip-version:
http://www.atomicgamer.com/files/90532/mtw-redux-beta1000
Download rar-version:
http://www.gamefront.com/files/20059609/MTW_Redux_Beta1000_rar
------------------------------------------------------------------------
G. Septimus
03-04-2011, 04:34
This makes me...
want to play MTW again
:knight:
I'd like to play new Redux but I don't have MTW 1.1. I have to wait for the VI version.
btw I'm curious, What are the reasons of still making a mod for MTW 1.1? What are the main differences (in case of modding) between 1.1 and 2.01?
Achilleslastand
03-04-2011, 17:05
This is great news although it will be a couple weeks til i have proper time to install and play.....Meanwhile can someone post up some screenies?
Trapped in Samsara
03-04-2011, 18:25
Hi Axalon
Good man!
Much to my surprise I cannot find the MTW v1.1 patch on TotalWar.com.
Being somewhat paranoid about malware and the like, can anyone suggest a good clean site from which I can download the 1.1 patch?
Thanks in advance.
Best regards
Victor
Sapere aude
Horace
Hi victor,
try this:
http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/medievaltotalwar/patch/16.html
Just tried it and seems clean and all. As i recall there was an org link too but it seems broken from the front page - maybe it works from the mizu server though.
Hi guys and thanks to Gollum for providing da extra link. Anyhow, I’ll
start with Gaius, but first for those who might need it…
The Official MTW Patch 1.1
==================================================
http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/medievaltotalwar/patch/16.html
http://www.atomicgamer.com/files/23464/mtw_v1-1_us_euro_release-zip
Both links are functional and reliable…. (US/Euro-release)
This makes me...want to play MTW again
Well, Redux is good place to start, so feel free to give it a shot if you like. Besides, redux is infamously crammed with sexy little princesses – and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I mean royal vixens just aching to meet and marry you... How can you or anybody possibly turn that down, you can't can you?! :laugh4:
...
I'd like to play new Redux but I don't have MTW 1.1. I have to wait for the VI version.
You are probably not alone, it will come eventually... Hopefully you (and others) will like it, once you get the chance to play it.
btw I'm curious, What are the reasons of still making a mod for MTW 1.1?
For me, three things; availability for all, practiced solidarity with V.1.1-owners and personal preference (just like some people prefer original STW ahead of the Wardlord edition for instance).
Non-VI owners has with little exception been left out in the cold and ignored – I wanted to change that – while still offering an game-experience that can succesfully compete with the big stuff done for VI exclusively. As if, for once, VI did not actually matter. Proving that VI is hardly a neccesity for making intersting and good stuff for MTW on general terms – contruary to popular belief it seems. VI is easier and friendlier to work with and it does offer more possibilities - but the results are not available for all. I don’t like that circumstance and at least redux in its standard form should and will be available to ALL – utterly regardless of what version of MTW they have. Roughly 50% of all people who play, or have played, redux have probably done so upon V.1.1. Redux is thus unique, since it does offer virtually the same game and experience regardless of version of MTW – no other major mod has done that or have such traits to date.
What are the main differences (in case of modding) between 1.1 and 2.01?
40 ton of differences… In short, I think V1.1 is harder to handle, more screwed up and restricted. You have more options and possibilities in VI, and it is easier and friendlier... etc. etc.
...
This is great news although it will be a couple weeks til i have proper time to install and play.....Meanwhile can someone post up some screenies?
Achilles, I will probably put up some screens eventually. For now I’ll pass that ball to the community, if somebody is kind enough to post up some screens of new redux – then feel free to do so. In the unlikely event that it actually happens, please remeber that for pics bigger then 800x600 pixels use spoilers or thumbs etc.
...
Being somewhat paranoid about malware and the like, can anyone suggest a good clean site from which I can download the 1.1 patch?
Well Victor, I can certainly relate to that, anyhow you got two solid links now. Do enjoy da game…
Some other notes…
I have finally put another link for the new Redux BETA (over at Atomic gamer, slower but have yet to disapoint me). I may have also been too eager to get rid of the 2nd Ed links so I have put them up again for reference for any people wanting to try out old redux out as they wait for the new VI-upgrade module. Furthermore, it would still be good if I can get it confirmed that the files works – I do believe they work – but it would be better to be 100% sure. Anything else, fire away…
- Cheers
Thanks for the answers. I'll be waiting for the VI version but in the meantime, could you give us a little insight into the new features/changes of 3rd edition (except already described map changes)?
This post consists of a number of firsts:
It's my first on these forums - I joined in particular to say thank you for continuing to develop for MTW and not just VI. I feel VI's siren call when I see it second hand, but resist the temptation as I'm sure it would eat up months of my life (I'll save them for Redux instead!)
Possibly the first download - I doubt GameFront's statistics display the truth as I can attest that at least one completed. It might have been due to problems with IE warnings "are you sure you want to download this file". Everything seems intact; no errors found according to WinRAR.
I look forward to installing and trying it out later, but first a couple of comments on the readme, which I skimmed through:
- I think you have mentioned at some point in this thread that Redux is balanced for a particular army size (something other than Huge). It could do with repeating, probably a number of times.
- 'Audio & Redux' section says that battle music can be restored. Assuming the original is backed up, stating which folder/files this is would be helpful.
- maybe a separate "Top Ten Do's and Don'ts" file that can be printed out or whatever, to avoid the nastiest bugs and Alt-Tabbing to the readme.
Axalon
This is a repeat post. Dunno what happened to my last one telling you it was all working sweetly (playing as Saracens). I must have forgotten to press something!
In the interim my son also had a go with it (as Byz) and pronounced it a fun mod - so you have two observations for the price of one.
First of all thanks. Really good and polished Mod, bringing a fresh take on the game and therefore a new playing experience. A few particulars:
We were both very struck by the rebels - persistent devils, with good troops, who don't seem to be preventable just by keeping up loyalty. Not sure what's going on - more than one type of rebellion? - but it keeps you on your toes.
I like the wide array of buildings, all well thought out and giving flavour as well as options.
New sea provinces seem to be working well in terms of making trade a bit more challenging and mad sea invasions a bit less likely.
So, very highly recommended to all who have MTW 1.1.
My one suggestion - since it is a beta - is to have more units restricted by area, so provinces have a bit more of an individual flavour. I like what you have done with Armenians. I'm not so keen on being able to spam camels in places like Cilicia. I like my empire to have unique contributions made from its different territories, and it adds to the feel of the game that within the same faction armies will have different characters according to where they originate from.
No bugs at all found.
Hope this game is still fun for you to play - even when you know what is going on under the hood - and that you will be encouraged to keep polishing now that the hard labour is hopefully done :yes:
Hi and thanks a bunch guys,
Plato…
I really appreciate the input and your post in general. I needed to hear that stuff and Intel. Furthermore, it is much easier for me to fight the good fight when some of the V.1.1 users step forward here - ultimately proving that I ain’t dreaming it all up...
Possibly the first download - I doubt GameFront's statistics display the truth as I can attest that at least one completed. It might have been due to problems with IE warnings "are you sure you want to download this file". Everything seems intact; no errors found according to WinRAR.
Yeah, there is definitely some crap going on at gamefront (yet again) – I downloaded the file a second time just to confirm that something was wrong with the stats.
- In light of these events, I would recommend everybody to turn to Atomic instead (primary link) since they have yet to screw up in anything actually… Err, I mean that in the best possible sense. :laugh4:
Wes…
I really appreciate your post and Intel as well. I needed to hear your stuff also and get that confirmation. Do keep an eye out for da bugs – please post ‘em up at the debug area if you find any (a promising candidate could be some weirdness in da battle animations, odd positions of weapon & shields etc, I fear there might still be problems there). Keep me posted on your general experiences as you play new redux – regardless the faction. To be honest, at this point I am mostly hoping for the “regular-factions” – but the optional ones are good to get some Intel on as well (I must get it anyway). As I said before, the more Intel, the better decisions I can make. I will probably set up threads for such ends at some point (at least for regular factions).
I like the wide array of buildings, all well thought out and giving flavour as well as options.
Yup, the plan is to provide plenty of choices and diversity for the game.
My one suggestion - since it is a beta - is to have more units restricted by area, so provinces have a bit more of an individual flavour. I like what you have done with Armenians. I'm not so keen on being able to spam camels in places like Cilicia. I like my empire to have unique contributions made from its different territories, and it adds to the feel of the game that within the same faction armies will have different characters according to where they originate from.
I can certainly sympathize and you already got your wish all over the map here and there. However, MTW will not allow me to do that all the way – I must have at least a few units “universal” for each culture or get screwed up rebeliions for sure. - Tell you what, if you want to draw up a suggestion on da camels were you want the lines/border for the “camel zone” and I will give it a serious and honest read. It is not utterly carved in stone yet, as you pointed out. Convince me…
Regarding the rebels
===============
Yeah, I have turned up the heat on them significantly - in effect making redux much nastier then it ever was before (as it should have been in 2nd edition). Rebels and pirates are for real in redux and don’t ever forget it – if allowed to roam too freely they will eventually become serious problem for you as well.
- While testing I’ve seen them smash regular factions to smithereens all over the map (England, Byzantium, Saracens for instance). It all goes back and forth, sometimes they get really strong, owning virtually every sea-square (forcing you to fight for every measly square) and sometimes they get wiped right of the map (seems like this happens a bit more often these days) and spend their days as a mere curiosities in some remote corner, virtually exterminated. It will be really interesting to get more info on them and how they affect the overall game-experience.
Stazi…
Your question is both understandable and valid. I will get back to it in a separate post – shortly (I hope).
- Cheers
Hi Axalon
I played a brief campaign as Spain and my son a much longer one as Byz.
One very small bug that I've posted in the bug area, but very smooth and no crashes in more than two hours of play.
Factions were all developing and spreading as they should. Rebel ships a real challenge to get rid of and establish trade. After many turns as Byz my son, on standard, went down to a triple attack by huge stacks of Italians, Saracens and (smaller) Russian.
Finally, you kindly asked my opinion on limits on camels. Historical arguments don't really wash with Redux (tho for a fact camel units were rare at all periods). So let's go with the logic of the game and say camels should come from desert (not dry) provinces, embracing the areas inhabited by Bedouin and Tuareg, ie all North Africa, Sinai, Arabia, arguably Syria and Jerusalem but not Antioch, Tripoli, Edessa, Cilicia, Spain or points north. I'd like them to be an exotic and different challenge - like a left handed fighter - rather than commonplace and not geographically rooted. Given the climatic zones the game covers, I think it's quite appealing to have desert areas feel as different as possible - and provinces on the margin of deserts being menaced by what comes out of them
Axalon,
Thanks for the mod. Great stuff. :sunny:
Hi guys…
Thanks for the mod. Great stuff. :sunny:
Do enjoy da game… :wink2:
...
Factions were all developing and spreading as they should. Rebel ships a real challenge to get rid of and establish trade.
Good…. Please keep me posted…
After many turns as Byz my son, on standard, went down to a triple attack by huge stacks of Italians, Saracens and (smaller) Russian.
Interesting… Naval invasion as well?
Finally, you kindly asked my opinion on limits on camels. Historical arguments don't really wash with Redux (tho for a fact camel units were rare at all periods). So let's go with the logic of the game and say camels should come from desert (not dry) provinces, embracing the areas inhabited by Bedouin and Tuareg, ie all North Africa, Sinai, Arabia, arguably Syria and Jerusalem but not Antioch, Tripoli, Edessa, Cilicia, Spain or points north. I'd like them to be an exotic and different challenge - like a left handed fighter - rather than commonplace and not geographically rooted.
Ok… I am not dismissing these ideas just quite yet. The camel-zone can shrink.
Any other players with opinions on da camel-zone? I won’t wait forever thou…
- Cheers
Previously in post:422, Stazi wrote....
...could you give us a little insight into the new features/changes of 3rd edition (except already described map changes)?
I decided to do better then that for you (and others interested). I will do a “numbermania contest” in which the numbers will do all the talking here – because regardless what we may think of them – the applied numbers just are what they are and they don’t lie - they are there and will to a significant degree influence, or create, most circumstances of the game. Applied numbers are thus very useful in providing an honest, accurate and ruthless overview of what the internal “character/architecture” really looks like in a game - and ultimately what one can expect from it. Especially for stuff heavily dependent on numbers – just like MTW and things made for/or based upon it. I’ll start easy and get more detailed as we go. That said; let the contest begin… 15 rounds…
MTW vs. Redux!
The Numbermania Contest 1A:
============================
Round 1: Most turns
--------------------------------------------------
MTW: 366 total
Redux: 560 total
-
-
Redux wins! Most turns...
R2: Most Factions
--------------------------------------------------
MTW: 20 total (all eras)
Redux: 18 total (all used at start up)
-
-
MTW wins! Most factions...
R3: Agents in game
--------------------------------------------------
MTW: 12 total (all eras, 15 GFX-wise)
Redux: 09 total (in effect - otherwise 10 and 15 GFX-wise. )
-
-
MTW wins! Most agents…
R4: Tech-Tree buildings
--------------------------------------------------
MTW: 103 total or 108 with VI…
Redux: 169 total (active, in effect 165-166 I think)
-
-
Redux wins! Most buildings…
R5: Troops
--------------------------------------------------
MTW: 115 or 149* total --- *VI-numbers
Redux: 198 total (active)
-
-
Redux wins! Most Troops…
R6: Unit clusters (default)
--------------------------------------------------
MTW: range: 12, 40, 60, 96, 100 men* = 5 clusters (excluding artillery)
Redux: range: 1, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 20, 24, 40, 60, 80, 100 men* = 12 clusters (excluding artillery)
-
-
Redux wins! Most diversity…
R7: Actual variables: Charge bonus
--------------------------------------------------
MTW range: min 1 --- 8 max = 8 variables /8 used
Redux range: min 1 --- 15 max = 15 variables /10 used
-
-
Redux wins! Most diversity…
R8: Actual variables: Attack stat
--------------------------------------------------
MTW range: min -2 --- 6 max = 9 variables /9 used
Redux range: min 0 --- 15 max = 16 variables /13 used
-
-
Redux wins! Most diversity…
R9: Actual variables: Defence stat
--------------------------------------------------
MTW range: min -3 --- 7 = 11 variables /11 used
Redux range: min 0 --- 15 = 16 variables /13 used
-
-
Redux wins! Most diversity…
R10: Actual variables: Armour stat
--------------------------------------------------
MTW range: min 1 --- 9 max = 9 variables /8 used.
Redux range: min 1 --- 9 max = 9 variables /9 used.
-
-
Redux wins! Most diversity in used variables…
R11: Actual variables: Honour stat
--------------------------------------------------
MTW range: min -2 --- 12 max = 15 variables /7 used.
Redux range: min 0 --- 10 max = 10 variables /7 used
-
-
MTW wins! Most diversity in variables…
R12: Actual variables: March stat
--------------------------------------------------
MTW range: min 4 --- 9 max = 6 variables /3 used
Redux range: min 4 --- 9 max = 6 variables /5 used
-
-
Redux wins! Most diversity in used variables…
R13: Actual variables: Run stat
--------------------------------------------------
MTW range: min 8 --- 24 max = 16 variables /6 used
Redux range: min 7 --- 28 max = 21 variables /20 used
-
-
Redux wins! Most diversity...
R14: Unit Cost
--------------------------------------------------
MTW range: min 50 --- 800 max = 750 variables /? used (plenty)
Redux range: min 75 --- 2500 max = 2425 variables /? used (plenty)…
-
-
Redux wins! Most diversity...
R15: Artillery
--------------------------------------------------
MTW: 11 total
Redux: 6 total -
-
-
MTW wins! Most artillery...
Final Results:
============================
MTW: 4 wins
Redux: 11 wins
...So Staz, tell me what you see (as in your conclusions). Whenever ready.... :wink2:
This offer is open to all BTW...
- Cheers
Thanks for the info. Interesting way of showing the mod features....hmm... What can I say?
The diversity is decisively good. Large quantity of troops and buildings is what I like. I hope most of them are different and distinct from the others. Of course, raw numbers don't tell much about overall quality but it's something I'll have to check by myself.
Reduced artillery - it's not good. I hope you left most useful ones. I love artillery micromanaging. Sometimes I build strong defensive army just to hold enemy long enough to skill up the artillery. Seeing enemy general killed by a bouncing ball - priceless.
btw Charge bonus - I've read somewhere that the range is 0-9. Anything above 9 is considered 9. Is it true?
Is it all about bigger variety of units, buildings and other stuff or there are some new ideas behind those numbers (comparing 3rd to 2nd ed.)?
Hello Stazi,
The diversity is decisively good.
Agreed... Let me tell you what I see out of a designer-perspective and this might be unpopular to some. Anyway....
The numbers does show that raw MTW can not really keep up or successfully compete with redux in applied and actual diversity in battlefield-simulations – like it or not. On general terms, diversity is good for any game, the more diversity a game has the better it usually is due to being unpredictable and varied - thus interesting for us – that is the rule anyhow… The antonym for it would be evenness/regularity - or “conformity” as I usually call it - and there is little doubt that MTW got more of that then redux does, again the numbers show that with little mercy.
Large quantity of troops and buildings is what I like.
Well that is your privilege… Me not so much…. Why? I fail to see the virtues of quantity as such - while I am a strong believer in the virtue of quality. Troops and buildings etc are no exceptions for me. Why? Because if too many troops or whatever is included in the game with quantity in mind - the distinction-markers/variables will usually be too few to deliver traceable and thus meaningful distinctions for each included part (eg. troops).
When that happens we are forced to re-use variables/numbers and thus we get increased regularity/similarity in the variables of aspect X as a result. The distinctions-apparatus of aspect X thus breaks down and in turn we get gradually weaker and weaker or no distinctions for all parts/troops in this aspect. A sort of conformity develops in the parts/troops as the distinctions get increasingly harder to identify for each new part included in relation to the other, already included parts/troops…. An army of virtual clones appear basically.
16 parts/troops assigned with “3”s in aspect/stat X will never function any better in-game just because we add some 200 more parts and assign “3”s to them as well. It has already exceeded what a conventional range 0-9 can actually handle – in fact it only makes things worse for the game. If the range of distinctions is indeed 0-9 then we got 10 variables, if we include say 12 or more parts to be defined by these variables we are thus forced to rely on other aspects to make all parts truly unique or at least distinct. If the variable-ranges are too small and limited all over the distinctions of things gets increasingly impossible achieve. MTW and Redux are no exceptions.
Of course, raw numbers don't tell much about overall quality but it's something I'll have to check by myself.
Well, they won’t tell anything about GFX true - but they do tell you that it is possible to expect redux to be more diverse and unpredictable in battle then MTW. That is, if we go by the assumption that I do have some clue of what I am doing as I design these things. Either way, you will eventually find out as you try the game.
Reduced artillery - it's not good. I hope you left most useful ones. I love artillery micromanaging. Sometimes I build strong defensive army just to hold enemy long enough to skill up the artillery. Seeing enemy general killed by a bouncing ball - priceless.
…I did forget to mention here that Redux has no gunpowder at all (it has always been like that for redux). That means that MTW only got 4 relevant and comparable artillery pieces – if we want to be fair. Redux got 6, but in effect they are just 4 so “round 15” would then be a “draw”. If we want to be unfair – then MTW still "wins round 15” as specified…
btw Charge bonus - I've read somewhere that the range is 0-9. Anything above 9 is considered 9. Is it true?
Nah, that’s nonsense. Any stat can be set and have effect above 9.
Is it all about bigger variety of units, buildings and other stuff...
No, that’s the “gameplan” of XL essentially… And that “gameplan” comes out of a firm conviction that applied quantity is indeed a quality. I do not share that conviction, I never did. To me Redux is about quality, not quantity. Quality from distinctive capacities and purposes for all parts in the game – that is the plan anyhow. I do that at the expense of quantity. Trying to trim things down as much as possible - "axing" whatever "redundant" stuff I can find that (to me) have no convincing function or place in the game (obviously, I do not do this if it clearly hurts the game). Agents (and factions) in redux are good and obvious examples of that attitude as “round 2” (and 3) shows. I have axed troops as well (and I did scuttle the entire CA unit-roster from MTW. Had I been interested in quantity, I would have kept it). More of this and that in abundance is to me not a viable or good way to secure an interesting game. Pretty much for reasons mentioned above.
…or there are some new ideas behind those numbers (comparing 3rd to 2nd ed.)?
Well, the new numbers does better comply with what I have in mind for Redux – more demanding, diverse and interesting battles essentially (and other numbers creates some corresponding circumstances for the strat-map basically).
So much for my ideas… Other comments? Anybody? Or shall we move on?
- Cheers
Axalon
Just a thought for the VI version which you mentioned will come at some point
I like the way that Redux brings raiding back. Because it takes longer to build loyalty, very often you take a province but you know you can't hold it. The choice whether to try and hold or to take what you can and get out is therefore a real one as too often it isn't in vanilla and other Mods.
But I wish the game didn't allow you to raze everything to the ground and leave scorched earth. It's a bit of an exploit because AI wouldn't do it. It's also not how Medieval war was waged. So you could just make a rule not to do it and stick by that - but I always prefer to try and build it into the game rather than rely on my restraint.
So with VI you have a small additional option, which is to use the indestructible Forest Clearing building. I remember that MedMod built this in as second or third level in the improved farmland tree, so that once you or the AI had achieved a certain level of improvement that at least could not be taken away. Don't know whether the building can be inserted into any tree (I think I tried with the castle one once and failed) but it would be good if at least something was left standing when the razzia moved on.
I'm getting to grips with 1.1 but I think a VI version will bring a few more players. Playing an old game like MTW is pretty arcane, but playing an early version of an old game is niche to the extreme. Redux deserves a wider audience
Indestructible Forest Clearing is hardcoded. You can't make other buildings indestructible. Sometimes you really need to destroy something. For example, church of the other faith that stays after you conquered the province. It happens sometimes. The church still spreads other faith and occupies the slot so you can't build your own.
I'm getting to grips with 1.1 but I think a VI version will bring a few more players. Playing an old game like MTW is pretty arcane, but playing an early version of an old game is niche to the extreme. Redux deserves a wider audience
You're right. I think most of the people (like me) nowadays have gold, eras or other editions which have VI built-in.
Religious buildings of other faiths get caught by the autopillage AFAIK, to make space for that factions religious buildings, and that helps teh AI. If you are Catholic and capture an Orthodox province the Orthodox buildings work but now for the Catholic faith and vice versa, so there is no need to pull them down and build your own, That is so for churches, monasteries and Cathedrals of vanilla; i don't know if Redux has more/others, as i haven't played.
I had a situation that christian church, in a province conquered long ago and surrounded by my provinces, was still spreading catholic faith (I was orthodox). I tried to suppress it by sending priests/bishops but they were able to help only to a certain level. After I destroyed the church the province was fully converted to orthodox in 1 turn. IMO the catholic<>orthodox change not always works as intended.
It's only an example not connected with Redux mod.
Hi Wes and all others interested in Redux….
Your idea is not bad, I’ll consider it. If I do use it, I will probably do what was already done in Med-Mod – using farmland. 60% or something. Anyhow, if you don’t like razing stuff – then don’t, the choice is yours, as it should be (just like longbows for instance). Regardless, CA is to blame for the general AI-circumstance – not me. I guess the auto-razing is there to supposedly reflect the AI razing stuff while on the warpath.
Anyhow, regarding camels, I’ve decided to grant you the desert-regions to serve as a distinction marker for ‘em. Meaning, all camels will be removed in all non-desert territories in all previous entries in da crus11-file. There… Happy? :laugh4:
I'm getting to grips with 1.1...
Excellent, please assist me here and post up some impressions and experiences with various factions in Redux then. It would probably be very, very useful to me… As it is, I am “driving virtually blind” as I try to get a perspective on things beyond my own. Essentially, experiences and impression as per each relevant faction (primarily the regular ones). Some ideas at the top of my head as in what possible aspects might be interesting here to get you started…
Unit roster profile… General weaknesses, strengths etc. – if any? Analyze, chart it essentially.
Tech-tree profile… Is it distinct and different enough? Etc. etc.
“Uniqueness”… Distinctiveness in factions in general. Etc. etc.
Starting circumstances… Does it take long/short to get proper “control”? Any instant threats? Etc.
Economy, start and later… Is it tough enough? Usage of trade or farming, both? Etc.
Enemy behavior… Predictability… If any? Type of attacks… Land/naval all over the map… Etc.
Cultural differences... Does it really “feel” different? If so, then how? If not then why? etc.
Battles…. General experiences, AI-army compositions etc.
Blitzing…. Is it possible? Is it sustainable?
Naval-circumstances etc.…
Rebels and their behavior etc.…
Superpowers… Changing from game to game? As supposed to? Or are the standard powers?
Pirates! General experiences, impressions and circumstances. Etc.
Which faction dies first? Does this change? As supposed to? Any standard or unexpected scenarios?
Etc. etc. etc. things like that…
I need to know these and such things… I need Intel essentially… If it turns out to be plenty - I’ll set up a dedicated thread for it – if necessary for each relevant faction if need be.
Anybody who has gathered a decent amount of Reduxy XP - as in played multiple campaigns, various factions or specialized in a single faction - are more then welcome to help out.
...I think a VI version will bring a few more players. Playing an old game like MTW is pretty arcane, but playing an early version of an old game is niche to the extreme. Redux deserves a wider audience
Yup… I work bottom up - V1.1 skeleton first then VI. Call me extreme and crazy but that is what I do. VI-stuff will come eventually – no worries.
Redux deserves a wider audience
Well yeah… I think so and I am happy that you do too, but I can only do so much, you know….
I can only offer the game - that is what I do - the rest is up to you guys - the players - because that is your part. If you guys want more people to play Redux, then start preaching the “the bliss and sexiness of Redux” or something of the sort and it might happen. Encourage people elsewhere, far and wide, to actually take that final step to download Redux and try it out – the rest is up them and saint Lassie in the sky.
All I know is that 3rd edition can successfully compete with any comparable stuff done for MTW1 that I have seen and encountered since 2002. I would have never ever bothered to continue working on it if I did not really believe that - it would be insane otherwise. It is as extensive in scale and detail as any other project I have ever seen for MTW1. It is also very different from everything that is comparable enough to it that I have seen. It is among the toughest, if not THE toughest, major alteration publicly available for MTW1 to date, as I understand it (that is not necessarily what everybody else want and like, but it is what I want and like – and hopefully others do too). Short of all that, it is virtually a matter of personal preference and activity - and that is out of my hands.
- Cheers
And another one…
I had a situation that christian church, in a province conquered long ago and surrounded by my provinces, was still spreading catholic faith (I was orthodox). I tried to suppress it by sending priests/bishops but they were able to help only to a certain level. After I destroyed the church the province was fully converted to orthodox in 1 turn. IMO the catholic<>orthodox change not always works as intended. It's only an example not connected with Redux mod.
Actually Staz, that circumstance is pretty common in Redux – consciously so by design because I like it. To me it serves as a reminder that a province (might) have been once conquered while a small stubborn minority in that province still refuses to conform 100% - unless drastic measures are indeed taken to correct it. Razing a church etc. etc. For those who are historically inclined there are plenty of such circumstances thru out history. I wanted that circumstance to be a part of redux and it is fairly common for all religions in Redux. Technically, I think it is possible to have a circumstance of 2 such minorities at the same time in Redux.
… i don't know if Redux has more/others, as i haven't played.
How to put this…? :)
Quite right…. You have not played Redux.… For over 2 years and counting by now.... And.... Redux still remains as different from MTW - as always. As you would eventually find out – should you ever decide to break your habit to “not played Redux” and actually try it out. :laugh4:
- Cheers
-----------------
No offence Gollum, it was just a too good opportunity to pass on. Please, feel free to try out Redux and join the discussion for real instead. As long as you don’t, you will never be able to fully participate here – after all, this is the redux-area - it certainly helps if you have actually played the game this place is all about.
That took a while, needed to find my spectacles...:)
I promise you never to participate in any reduxy area discussion again until i have played Axalon. Sorry for the intrusion. All the best with it.
Regards
Trapped in Samsara
04-01-2011, 13:51
That took a while, needed to find my spectacles...:)
I promise you never to participate in any reduxy area discussion again until i have played Axalon. Sorry for the intrusion. All the best with it.
Regards
Oh don't disappear, Gollum! You add tremendously to the allure of this thread. ;~}
Best regards
Victor
Sapere aude
Horace
Do whatever you feel is right Gollum…
----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
Anyhow, I need Intel…. (and yes, I am serious)
In order to make better decisions as I work with Redux - I need Intel. It’s that simple. I know that at least a few dozens of people have played or do play the beta (arguably at least some of these can and will see this post). I appeal to all of you to help me out on this note. The sooner the better…
I am not asking for a review Redux or anything of the sort – that is hardly the point here. I am merely hoping that at least some of you could be kind enough to help me out and post up your “dry” game-experiences as per faction (and failed/lost campaigns is just a valuable and appreciated as wins) to set my own experiences into proper perspective so I can make good and solid decisions in my continued work with the BETA. That’s all....
Primary faction-experiences of interest: (at this point)
Poland
France
England
Spain
HRE
Italy
Norse
Secondary Factions:
Byzantium
Moors
Saracens
Again, a few possible pointers and suggestions to get you started….
Which faction have you played (how many times/restarts)? On what difficulty? On what size-setting?
How does the Redux Beta start-up look like for your faction? Turn 1-50 essentially…
How does the Redux Beta end-game look like? As you are close to winning/losing?
Which super-powers emerge and remain as you play? Is there a pattern or is it changing in your campaigns?
What would you consider to be the strength(s) with your/this faction as you play? If any?
What would you consider to be the weakness(es) with your/this faction as you play? If any?
Rebels and pirates, what kind of impact do they have in your game? If any?
Do different enemy-factions offer different or distinct challenges in battle? Might there be differences in army compositions in such regards? If any?
What is your grand stratagem/doctrine as you play? Slow defensive advance, fluid raiding or Blitzing etc. etc.… Does it work? Is it sustainable doctrine in the game?
Other aspects at your discretion, if you like…
Etc. etc. things like that. All I ask is that you at least try to explain your reasoning should it be relevant. And, it does not need to be Shakespeare quality, it just need to be comprehendible so I can actually use the Intel - for obvious reasons. So, hopefully at least some people show up and answer this call – if not, then I can say with good conscience that I certainly tried…
- Cheers
…And people wonder why my regard for the community is low?
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/universal/RX_ReleaseNote_03.jpg
I have been meaning to write up a preliminary report on the French, having played something over a century. If you want, I have plenty of excuses, but hopefully I'll find the time this week. Appended below.
As I am still playing, will it be safe to upgrade to beta 1001? Would there be any risk to my savegames?
The French - Interim Findings (Beta 1000)
Settings
- Unit Size: Default
- Difficulty: Standard
- Mode: Glorious Achievements
I might have misjudged this, but I was curious as to what this mode might offer. Having started in 700AD, I find points only come into play in 1100AD - I hope to be long finished by then. This was probably a mistake on my part, but it wasn't something that I was strongly steered away from.
No restarts: I've made my bed and I'll lie in it. Also, I was enjoying myself too much.
Start Position
There appear to be a fair few opportunities at the start. The Burgundians stupidly vacate their homeland while attacking Lorraine, allowing me to waltz in. The English lose a lot of regions, particularly in France, to uprisings and I gradually mop those up. The HRE over-extends itself westward: when I defeat their vanguard the provinces behind fall to rebellion, and I leave those as buffer zones. At some point the Lombards try unsuccessfully for Burgundy and get chevaucheed in return.
It is now about 735 and, by and large, peace reigns everywhere until 760.
Mid-game
I've focussed on trade and got fleets around the coast of Europe ("from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic"); net income has been as much as 25,000 florins a turns - so much I'm having difficulty spending it.
Using my fleets I cut the Moors in two by landing in Granada. A few more sea-borne invasions later and they were done for. The Lombards collapsed through not having an heir, so I bribed Genoa and Lombardy to join my realm, and invaded Provence. The Aragonese have also been swallowed up.
I've got to 810AD and the Byzantines have attacked some of my ships - the end-game has commenced.
Superpowers
Only the Byzantines challenge me: I'm the richest and mightiest, they occasionally get technical achievement. It has seemed inevitable, no one else has got a look in and I'm surprised the Saracens have lasted up until now.
Strengths / Weaknesses (of the French)
None. Though after a very virile start the lack of male heirs is beginning to worry me.
Rebels & Pirates
Pirates can be annoying when they interrupt trade routes, but they can gradually be pushed back. I'm not sure of the best way to deal with them; I assume it's a matter of seizing their home provinces. Unfortunately the faction AI doesn't seem particularly interested in going after them (or other rebel regions eg. Ireland and Finland which don't even have armies in them).
Rebels? Certainly at the beginning they felt like some axis of evil or terror network. How else to explain a combined Scots-Italian rebellion in Flanders, or Northumbrians in Sicily? I'm more sanguine about them now.
However, the restiveness of conquered territories gives me cause for concern. Adjusting the tax rate has a predictable effect on the happiness of a province, but in recently-conquered areas even just moving out one unit can cause it to plummet.
Enemies in battle
There are many factions that I have yet to fight but, broadly speaking, they do feel different. However, since it's the same old AI which tends to behave the same, the differences are at the unit level: something I wouldn't pick myself (such as Champions) or something I've not faced before. For a first play it's certainly holding my interest.
Strategy
I'd call it punctuated equilibrium - I'm happy to sit back and develop but try to take opportunities when they arise (or I engineer them) and then try to maintain offensive momentum. It's worked well so far, but is likely to change once the showdown with the Byzantines is in full swing.
Units (French)
Foot Knights and Feudal Footknights feel like a duplication.
The change in units' size with upgrades does jar sometimes, eg. Archers (100) but Feudal Archers (40), Crossbowmen (40) but Frankish Crossbowmen (100).
Units (Other)
Galleys (Byz but probably Rebel also) have a movement range of 3, outpacing my Royal Warships.
Tech Tree
Too much can be achieved at the Castle level of development and, so far as I can see, Fortresses are pointless. Citadels seem only to be worthwhile in regions with iron deposits (for the Metalsmiths Guild upgrade and Order Palace), everything else can be done in Castles. So, despite being the richest, I have little advantage over other factions.
Military Academy appears useless.
Faction Graveyard
The Portugese and the Polish seem to have had the toughest time: both have been extinguished and returned; they were suffering territory-wise anyway, and continue to do so.
Neither the Spanish nor Aragonese have done well, focussing on the rebels in Navarre rather than the Moors. The Spanish succumbed eventually. The Aragonese were notable for spamming Travellers.
General Thoughts
I had misgivings about the unhistorical start; it all seemed too advanced for 700AD. I then realised that a better way to think of it might be as beginning in 980AD and there being two turns in every year.
Crashes
I have had a couple of game freezes. They've occured in the end-of-turn results phase while playing the schiiick-clang sound for reporting some military action. I suspect it to be related to Rebels in someway since the most persistent incident was when I felt I couldn't hold on to Mauritania and moved my army out completely. After I took steps to maintain control and avert an uprising, it didn't give me any more problems.
Hi, thanks and very interesting Plato….
Hopefully other people find this just as interesting as I do. Despite this stuff is not from a finished campaign, it useful and valuable info all the same (in several ways, and entertaining too). Much obliged for this stuff.
For me, what matters in this context is your (and others) perspectives and experiences as acquired while managing the French crown (or faction X) – thus I guess it is better if I won’t make any detailed comments on this – unless explicitly asked too. Still if anybody else would like to comment somehow on this – feel free to do so. I don’t see any harm in that, and it could be fun and interesting too.
One note however, I would suggest to not focus too much on the supposed period as such – AD 700-1260. It is essentially just a necessary evil due to MTW-hardcoding. To me at least it is just a matter of turns (always were) basically set in some undefined medieval period. The years-concept is already in the dumpster in my mind, and thus any fixed or a certain period and related progression to that is as well. The only “years” I have ever played in TW was in STW1. Anyhow, we got similar problems with the glorious achievements mode – while still technically possible to play it in this state we are no less forced to only receive points at the specified points due to MTW-hardcoding (which certainly screws things up, for me at least).
A general note on citadels and fortresses… These increase and influence stability-, mercenary- and garrison-levels… See file for details…
As I am still playing, will it be safe to upgrade to beta 1001? Would there be any risk to my savegames?
Nope, it should be safe, RXB1001 is supposed to be save-game compatible. Just install and put in the saved games and play on…. :wink2:
- Cheers
Ok, the links are active…
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/universal/RX_ReleaseNote_03.jpg ( https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?106497-MTW-Redux-Beta-Released!)
I'll give Poland or Italy a whirl over the next couple days. =)
Axalon
This isn't the most useful feedback but it's the best I can give you
My son has been playing as the Italians for WEEKS - turtling unless attacked.
Very stable - no crashes or freezes.
The big factions have been the Lithuanians, Byzantines, French, Spanish and Germans. All have waxed and waned while the Saracens have quietly owned the Middle East.
The Byz are the faction that built a big sea empire - then smashed by the Italians, and for ever afterwards they have been reappearing in random parts of the map each time they were wiped out.
The Spanish built huge herd like armies that graze gently over Spain, southern France and North Africa, never really doing anything.
The French, Lithuanians and Germans expanded more steadily and logically until they bumped into the Italians and got their noses bloodied.
One or two factions have gone permanently, but most others have a province or two here or there, not always islands.
No crusades have been witnessed
The game is obviously challenging and entertaining him - I can only think of one other Mod that he played so long - and that was about 5 years ago when he was easily amused!!
I think the killer features for him are (aside from stability) the variety of units - he had an army of champions at one point - the difficulty of permanently destroying factions (if you're not careful, raiding them only causes loyalist revolts that bring them back even stronger) and the challenge of trying to maintain a trade network since there's always at least one faction or rebels pumping out ships.
For my part, I'm a rotten beta tester because I start tweaking straight away. So on a parallel installation, I turned the Portuguese into the Fatimids (in their original base of Tunisia) and set off to conquer Egypt. I did that OK, but the Italians not only invaded Tunisia and beat off my various attempts to expel them - they then followed my track to Egypt gobbling up each of my provinces en route and knocking me out of the game. I like it when the AI acts as though it knows what it is doing!
Be assured though, if I ever find a bug I check that it's there on the original installation and not something I've imported
I'll keep my eyes open on the new version now
Hi guys….
I'll give Poland or Italy a whirl over the next couple days. =)
Please do... :)
...
Wes, all Intel is welcome and appreciated here…
Overall it is an “I’ll take what I can get”-circumstance and your stuff remains interesting and useful to me at least. And the same thing applies as already stated on Platos experiences – I suspect that it is for the better if I refrain from making detailed remarks on this stuff (unless asked too) - while I see no problems if others do comment on these things (and it is more fun).
For my part, I'm a rotten beta tester because I start tweaking straight away. So on a parallel installation, I turned the Portuguese into the Fatimids (in their original base of Tunisia) and set off to conquer Egypt. I did that OK, but the Italians not only invaded Tunisia and beat off my various attempts to expel them - they then followed my track to Egypt gobbling up each of my provinces en route and knocking me out of the game. I like it when the AI acts as though it knows what it is doing! Be assured though, if I ever find a bug I check that it's there on the original installation and not something I've imported
On general terms, things will probably brighten up for you, and all people like you, as I intend to eventually set up a special and dedicated area for “Alternative versions” of Redux. Thus making this place relevant and attractive for such people too. I’ll do that when most things (errors, bugs and uncertainties) have been sorted out and the general frame, details and mechanics etc. etc. of Redux is more or less established and determined.
After that, I’ll set up a dedicated corner here just for people like you – who can’t help themselves but to make changes in Redux somehow on whatever level – using it as the platform it is intended to be. That way, all such people get a chance to discuss and share their stuff and additional material as they please with likeminded people while it still does not get confused with the regular version of Redux – which is critical, for obvious reasons (as experience have shown on several occasions). However, I must first establish the basic version of Redux first - before all that happens.
In case you have left the unit-roster and AI-settings intact, feel free to provide Intel on battle-experiences and AI-army compositions and such if you like. I could use that too.
I'll keep my eyes open on the new version now
Please do...
- Cheers
downloading this mod now :)
Trapped in Samsara
04-16-2011, 20:52
Hi Axalon
Long Easter weekend coming up, immediately followed by May Day + royal wedding weekend. Woohoo! (I'm not a fan of the monarchy, but thanks for the extra day off work, Wills and Katie.) So a MTW - read Redux - fest is in the offing chez moi. The beer, pizza, coffee and cigarettes are on order.
Dowloading the 1001 + VI module files right now. Looking forward to enjoying the fruits of your hard work and skills. Big thanks.
Best regards
Victor
Sapere aude
Horace
Hi guys, all I got to say is…
downloading this mod now :)
Amen to that....
Long Easter weekend coming up, immediately followed by May Day + royal wedding weekend. Woohoo! (I'm not a fan of the monarchy, but thanks for the extra day off work, Wills and Katie.) So a MTW - read Redux - fest is in the offing chez moi. The beer, pizza, coffee and cigarettes are on order.
Dowloading the 1001 + VI module files right now. Looking forward to enjoying the fruits of your hard work and skills. Big thanks.
Best regards
Victor
Amen to that - too.... :wink2:
...
Anyhow, I have created some new demo-pics for Redux as it needed new ones. I suppose they won’t do much good for people who already play it - but hopefully they will assist to convince other “less receptive and open minded” people that Redux is well worth trying out. All I can say is that I certainly think so and it appears that I am not completely alone with that notion (thank god!). I do think that much more people should try it out however and hopefully these pics will support the process. Hope you guys like 'em...
Demo01
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_Demo00.jpg
Demo02
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_Demo01.jpg
Demo03
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_Demo02.jpg
Demo04
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/screens/RX_Demo03.jpg
- Cheers
Nice pics as always. I don't know why but those pics reminded me of the very old game Lords of the Realms II (hmm...good old times). Maybe it's this new greenish map.
I especially like princesses' strategic icons but their portraits... you know.. it's probably personal taste but they look like some man who changed sex (no offense).
I haven't noticed this before but did you change bridge textures?
Thanks for the VI version. Tomorrow starts my 2 weeks holidays. You couldn't choose a better moment for the release....damn, when have you uploaded the VI upgrade? I've noticed it just a while before.
Hello Staz, (never heard of that game),
Nice pics as always.
Thanks… I do what I can.
...this new greenish map.
Well, I changed it as I don’t like the usual “grey” map of MTW. It is better for the eyes and I think it looks better too. To me it is cleaner and better, I prefer it.
I especially like princesses' strategic icons...
Me too… So then we are two...
...but their portraits... you know.. it's probably personal taste but they look like some man who changed sex (no offense).
There is a first for everything it seems…. To be honest, I have hard time taking this stuff seriously. I mean, if you really feel that the MTW-princesses somehow look more attractive to you then by all means revert back to them. After all, that is your privilege and headache. Suffice to say, I won’t do it as I (and bunch of other people) clearly prefer the RX-kind. Any day actually… No offence intended.
I haven't noticed this before but did you change bridge textures?
Yes, I changed the bridges. For the better I would say. There are a lot of changes from MTW to Redux. Unless people look closely enough much of it will barely be noticed – but it is there alright. Set up some solo fight, similar troops, lush, river-map X for instance both in MTW and Redux at the same time and you can see plenty of changes when compared closely – escape out and check next screen and then go back – troops, interface, textures, animations etc. etc. is changed. I think that is probably the best way to put the scale of Redux into proper perspective.
Thanks for the VI version. Tomorrow starts my 2 weeks holidays. You couldn't choose a better moment for the release....damn, when have you uploaded the VI upgrade? I've noticed it just a while before.
My pleasure. It was released 12.04.2011. Due to the new Org-management-craze on various TWS2 contents of sorts; my Redux-release-note disappeared pretty fast from the front-page-section. I guess it is hard to avoid and there is little to done about it – many/most regular Org-members are as indifferent to Redux as I am to their TWS2-stuff. And so it goes.
Anything else fire away...
- Cheers
Would there be any hope for some Reduxed Historical Battles?
I know that you state in the Readme "Selecting historical battles will cause Redux to crash, so don’t do that." Is this the same sort of crash as when original MTW Quick Battles aren't deleted?
I'm sure that Custom Battles could be created with ease, but they're really not the same.
Hello Plato,
Well it depends… If you are expecting me to do it – then essentially no, there is no hope… If you or somebody else interested decides to do it - there certainly can be hope for it… I don’t know and I can not tell…
If you are asking me if it is ok for me that you try to do it – then the answer is yes, go right ahead… The troops and GFX you already got (and it is unlikely they will change). Set up a thread for it and any further discussion on what battle to focus on, how to progress, research etc. etc. etc. can be discussed there. Completed reduxed historical battles can also be distributed and downloaded in that thread – all such stuff in one place essentially… It can be your and others project – it seems limited enough to be very possible to see thru to completion – or so I think. Use the guides for how it is done… Here….
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?49980-How-to-make-Historical-Battles
I know that you state in the Readme "Selecting historical battles will cause Redux to crash, so don’t do that." Is this the same sort of crash as when original MTW Quick Battles aren't deleted?
Yeah, more or less…
- Cheers
Over at the new thread(!), Redux: size-settings, Victor wrote….
Hi Axalon
Off topic: am playing Beta 1001 + VI module and having lots of fun - Italians, Standard difficulty. Absolutely rock solid (no crashes or hiccups) after 88 years; say, a dozen hours' play. What do the "Embargo" line of buildings really do? I cannot figure this out.
The embargo-stuff is essentially an AI-thing… The AI can at times benefit greatly from taking a break in constructions in order to save cash (due to reduxed economic-model, but it would work in MTW too). This is especially true for the rebels in Redux – for which this stuff is primarily used… Players can of course “build” an embargo too, but all it does is to swallow up turns while no buildings are constructed during the specified time – as suggested in the description.
Anything else fire away folks….
- Cheers
I've started a Saracens' campaign. Some of my first impressions.
They don't have any recruitable horse archer unit!! Camels are useless as skirmish unit (too slow). IMO "Camel Archers" are totally useless. 40 camels too weak for melee even with medium cavalry. They use the worst bows so can't cause any significant losses to the most of the units.
Muslim factions really need some love - especially Saracens. They don't have any armor piercing unit - missile or melee. One Nubian Slayer doesn't count. Their units are not cheaper or greater in numbers than christian or orthodox. Most of their units have lower stats than similar european units. No pikeman or halberdiers of any type. They can win in the desert thanks to heat and camels but outside the desert they can't compete with all those heavily armored freaks.
Ohh... I've forgot about Naptha Throwers. I don't count them as normal missile unit but rather kind of special team. They are good but not last long if enemy has any archers.
---- EDIT ----
Some additional thoughts about campaign:
Rebels seems too powerful. There was a moment they owned 2/3 of the map. Their units seems too cheap. Some provinces hold 4 full stacks, others 2 stacks at average. Units are not strong but they win with pure numbers. After some factions reappeared they got the rebel armies that stayed in their provinces. It made them insanely powerful right after reappearing. It may seems fun to play but it's not. You have to fight the same rebel units (mostly light infantry, xbows, etc) all the time - no matter if you fight real rebels or returning faction with rebel units. These units are no match even for small but well-trained army. Personally, I like when different factions have their own units.
Graphically, your mod is absolutely amazing. I've fully realized this when (after a few hours of playing) I switched to the original version. Now, it looks pale and plain. I like the variety of units and buildings, new icons, info pics, etc. btw muslim slaves in cuirasses? Slightly too well equipped don't you think?
Baron von Manteuffel
05-19-2011, 23:35
Hello Axalon, it's been a long time. I finally got a hold of an older PC and can't wait to get my fix. ~:cheers:
berserkr
05-26-2011, 07:51
This mod is one of the best I've played. Amazing artwork with all the new portraits / unit icons / camp map, it really breathes new life into this game. So far I've played as English/Moors, playing as Germans now. I find that as the English (or any faction with access to ports in the beginning), I could just establish trade and never attack the rebels and it worked (I had about 200,000 florins). Then suddenly all the Spanish regions suddenly started revolting (its was ~850 A.D.) and the rebels attacked Flanders which had two of my armies (both full stacks). Script or not, but it certainly changed the flow of events in the game which I thought I pretty much won. As Germany it is definitely much harder since your land income is meager and once you start attacking rebels, you have no chance of getting sea trade going because each sea region will have a million rebel ships.:sharky:
Very nice graphics for what used to be plain old royal knights, really makes them stand out with that solid faction color on the horse armor or whatever it's called :P I was wondering why the Germans/Papacy didn't get a piece of that, theirs are still white, but different model i guess.
For the Moors btw it would be nice if theirs or the Egyptian's unit rosters were different from each other, otherwise they are not all that quite unique. :egypt: would be most happy!
Very nice unit roster for the English. Denmark, although having way fewer units still makes it attractive, but I did not really like the Byzantine units, I guess I could always add back the ol' Varagian Guard, it had one of the best looking icons / graphics. I understand you want to encourage to get Mercenary troops for the Byzantines, that's a cool idea although it can get pretty darn expensive. Haven't played as them yet though, but I will soon since it is my favorite faction.
I really wish you continue with this project and I look forward to any future releases :)
Trapped in Samsara
05-26-2011, 15:03
Hi
When RL stops cr@pping on me (my boss has resigned = huge increase in my workload) I intend writing up some thoughts on my first Redux campaign as the Italians, i.e., the Venetians.
But just want to say I think what you've done with the sea regions plus giving rebels the ability to build pirate fleets is genius, Axalon. It works on so many levels, with maybe the best being the disruption to trade which massively impacts on the player, of course.
As the Venetians my conquest strategy has virtually been dictated to me by the need to keep 'pirate suppression fleets' at sea to stop the b@$t@rd$ from cutting my (very lucrative) trade routes. Pretty historical, I believe. So I have, e.g., taken the Crimea to have a port on the Black Sea to keep the support costs sensible.
Also, haven't encountered any stacks with stupid amounts of artillery - which has been a longstanding gripe of mine.
Also, the other night I got my @r$e kicked by the Lithuanians in a battle I expected to win, and lost my 4 star (= second best) general in the process. It's been a while since something like that has happened to me in MTW. Refreshing.
Thanks Axalon.
Best regards
Victor
Sapere aude
Horace
Hi and thanks for posting guys…
------------------------------------
Baron…
It certainly has, but that don’t make me any less happy to see you posting here once again. :beam:
------------------------------------
Staz…
In general, I think your inexperience with redux is the main cause and source to most remarks in your post – and thus, I suggest that you gather more experience and solid understanding of Redux before you do further suppositions about it (as it is, the stuff can so easily be deceptive and misleading to casual readers here, even if that was probably not your intention, I still fail to see how such circumstances is somehow desirable here. We should try to avoid that as much as possible, at all times. Everybody wins that way, this includes you too). And, you will probably find plenty of answers and surprises in regards to your own post that way.
Anyway, if you got problems in battle with Byzantine and Catholic “tanks” etc. Just make a post in the “Battle & tactics”-thread and I or anybody else with enough experience in reduxed combat can help you out there - as it is still very possible to defeat them with Muslim forces - and outside the desert too…
Camel Archers are not “totally worthless”; if that had been true they would not be able to do anything worthwhile in battle – that is not true. Revise your tactics and get more experience and you will realize that. Camels are slower then horses (as usual) and thus skirmishing on infantry is more viable tactic...
RXB1002 will include Muslim horse archers as this has been an oversight by me.
RXB1002 will get new infopics on Slave Militias. I will make a better and more representative one. The old CA-pic will be removed…
------------------------------------
Berserkr...
Thanks and welcome to this place… It’s nice that at least some people recognise and value the work done on portraits, stratmap etc. etc. Anyway, interesting strategy with the English – as you already pointed out it is hardly very sustainable one as it is a virtual timebomb just waiting to go boom…
Rebels & pirates
--------------------------
Personally, I think that one should contain the rebels as soon as possible or when one can afford it. At least in the relevant region of interest - before they get too dangerous and strong there – as they can at times. If rebels are left alone for too long in provinces with ports and castles they will obviously grow stronger, with more troops and ships, eventually becoming truly dangerous as long as they stay there… We are more or less forced to actively fight them in Redux - sooner or later – or there might be chaos all over the map. Still, I have seen plenty of campaigns were it never comes to that as they are pretty fast reduced to obscurity in some corner. This is Redux, so it can go either way, depending on what happens in game. Anyway, allowing the rebels/pirates too many functional ports and wharfs is never a good idea in the long run….
Factions & unit-rosters
--------------------------
In Redux I work with cultures and regions rather then single factions. Because of that circumstance, some factions have very similar unit-clusters assigned to them while others have very special ones. England, Norse and Byzantines for instance have very special unit-clusters (there are both benefits and drawbacks with that, as it should be). The HRE, Lithuania and Russia have also plenty of that. Poland and Hungary to some degree too. While France/Burgundy or Italy/Lombardy or Spain/Portugal/Aragon (essentially) has similar units and tactical profiles (as they are in the same regions, same cultures, same war-traditions etc. etc.), and so does Saracens/Moors (essentially). This is how things are designed. Region and culture (and also war-traditions) is what primarily matters - not the faction as such.
I know that many others have designed with such faction-perspectives, as did CA, but I don’t like it much personally, thus I abandoned that. I prefer region and culture instead as done in Redux. And in contrast, I prefer when all units have at least some clear function and purpose in battle, if not unique, then at least distinctive. As in “quality in parts” (reduction, distinctiveness in traits and purpose etc.) is better then “quantity in parts” (addition, standardization in traits and purpose etc.) – the latter is however a common design-approach in most major stuff.
Germany it is definitely much harder since your land income is meager and once you start attacking rebels, you have no chance of getting sea trade going because each sea region will have a million rebel ships
Yup, that is fairly true. Especially games upon VI/V.2.01 it seems (due to slow starting activity by the Norse). It is a bit problematic as the pirate-fleets can easily become too powerful if we play HRE (with other starting-factions this is hardly a problem). I have already investigated these very circumstances before but I have yet to find a good and acceptable solution to it – all things considered. Still, we can all the same counter it in Redux, but that requires a determined strategy of reducing functional pirate-ports and preferably building up a few ports to the HRE as well. And preferably fast.
If we do that, then it is still very possible to have some sea-trade as the HRE as well. I like when pirates are strong but as you say “millions of ships” are too much – some 50-60 ships over the map would have been much better, however I have yet to find a really good way to make that happen due to the engine (the ship-stats don’t work, never did in MTW, otherwise that could have been one possible solution). Thus, if we truly want sea-trade with HRE, we must actively fight for it in a way that is much harder then with other factions.
…I did not really like the Byzantine units,
Well, that’s a shame, you can’t win them all I guess… Anyway, they are good enough for me (and others) anyhow. You can always include units on your own as already pointed out - there are vacant slots for it in RXB1001 – “Additional01” etc. etc.
Pope and HRE knights have “white-horses” as the faction-colours would be crappy in V.1.1 thus I decided to stick with the old white for those two. As simple as that.
------------------------------------
If I somehow forgot something here, by all means remind me… Victor, I'll
get back to your stuff in another separate post (soonish hopefully)...
- Cheers
In general, I think your inexperience with redux is the main cause and source to most remarks in your post – and thus, I suggest that you gather more experience and solid understanding of Redux before you do further suppositions about it (as it is, the stuff can so easily be deceptive and misleading to casual readers here, even if that was probably not your intention, I still fail to see how such circumstances is somehow desirable here. We should try to avoid that as much as possible, at all times. Everybody wins that way, this includes you too). And, you will probably find plenty of answers and surprises in regards to your own post that way.
As I wrote at the start of my post - it was my first impression so I think any casual reader understands that it's very subjective opinion.
Anyway, if you got problems in battle with Byzantine and Catholic “tanks” etc. Just make a post in the “Battle & tactics”-thread and I or anybody else with enough experience in reduxed combat can help you out there - as it is still very possible to defeat them with Muslim forces - and outside the desert too…
It's not about me. It's about the factions balance for the AI. I can win with any faction but not the AI. When I play as one of the western european factions, muslim armies are easy to beat even when I'm outnumbered 10:1. Their armies don't contain any really dangerous unit. Maybe it's because of my playstyle - my armies are missile heavy so lightly armored muslims are not a threat for me.
Camel Archers are not “totally worthless”; if that had been true they would not be able to do anything worthwhile in battle – that is not true. Revise your tactics and get more experience and you will realize that. Camels are slower then horses (as usual) and thus skirmishing on infantry is more viable tactic...
My fault. "Totally worthless" was a bad choice of words. I meant "worthless comparing to other units". Even skirmishing with fast horse archer unit is risky when enemy army contains any cavalry units. In this case camels get caught by cavalry and finished by any other unit. Situations when enemy army doesn't have any cavalry units are very rare. Skirmishing with slow camels is a waste of a unit slot. Of course, it's my personal opinion.
Anyway, I'm going to gather some more experience this weekend so I hope my next impressions will be much more... balanced. Thanks for your efforts. Your mod is totally different from all others and it's very refreshing.
berserkr
05-27-2011, 22:46
Regarding adding new units, is there any difference if I put them into rows labeled "blank" as opposed to "Additional xx" ?
Btw id really like if someone could help me with a link for a bif reader, all the links here go to the paint shop pro download...
Also, has anyone ever even tried making completely new unit textures or is that impossible for this game besides adding new shields/weapons to existing unit textures or slightly modifying or recoloring the base textures for units (the ones in LBM format)?
I have a strong desire to add a unit based on snapshots of a 3d model from different angles / movements and rescaling and cleaning up the images and of course getting the right coordinates and stuff for the individual frames when assembling the LBM file. Anyone ever try this, im just curious how feasible that would be?
Regarding adding new units, is there any difference if I put them into rows labeled "blank" as opposed to "Additional xx" ?
I don't know if blanks are used for something but generally - no difference. One unit - One row. That's all.
Btw id really like if someone could help me with a link for a bif reader, all the links here go to the paint shop pro download...
This package (http://www.atomicgamer.com/files/68512/mtw_tools_resources-zip) contains bif reader and some other useful stuff.
Also, has anyone ever even tried making completely new unit textures or is that impossible for this game besides adding new shields/weapons to existing unit textures or slightly modifying or recoloring the base textures for units (the ones in LBM format)?
Check e.g. Hellenic, Napoleonic, Pike & Musket mods. They contain a lot of new units so yes - it's possible.
I have a strong desire to add a unit based on snapshots of a 3d model from different angles / movements and rescaling and cleaning up the images and of course getting the right coordinates and stuff for the individual frames when assembling the LBM file. Anyone ever try this, im just curious how feasible that would be?
Repository (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forumdisplay.php?39-Repository) is the place where you should look for. There are 2-3 sticked treads that contain useful information how to do this.
Hello berserkr,
I have not much to add to Staz remarks on the matter but I suggest that you try to stay away from the “blanks” as much as possible as these are slots that might be used in the future versions by me. If that don’t matter somehow, then by all means use those too – they are fully functional.
- A
Ok Staz, this post is for you….
As I wrote at the start of my post - it was my first impression so I think any casual reader understands that it's very subjective opinion.
Well, let us hope that you are right. Anyway, I can explain in full detail as for why I have problems with it in the first place. For details, see spoiler….
First of all, let me outline some of the vital the differences between “personal claims” and “general claims”. The reasons for it will become clear eventually. So…
A strictly personal opinion or claim holds certain safeguards and privileges as it by definition only concerns and is representative for the person who expressed that opinion/claim – thus tradition would have us greet it with leniency as it usually does not concern the rest of us anyway. The usual way to signify that it is in fact a personal claim/opinion is to insert the “for me”-clause or similar within the claim. That way there is no question about what it is and thus it will be, and can be, expected to be treated accordingly…
Now, a public and general claim aims to be universal and valid at a collective level – as in elevated above and beyond the person that makes the claim – it is essentially declared to concern all of us somehow. Due to that very circumstance the terms and rules for such claims are radically different then personal ones - and all safeguards and privileges are long gone with it. We enter the realm of facts, basis, credibility and relevance - as these are the only stuff that matter at this level – while we also leave all the personal and subjective stuff behind us it is irrelevant in a universal context. The reason for that practice is obvious; the subjective and personal simply fails to concern or be valid for us all - and it is not truly dependent on facts. At a collective level, facts is the only thing we can truly deal with as these remain valid for all of us regardless what we may personally think of them. They just are, no matter our opinions of them.
If the facts are unknown to us, we then rely on basis, relevance and credibility to provide strength to our claim. The more the better. Now, tradition has it that all public and general claims are allowed to be tested and examined to determine if they are actually valid or not - as declared. This is called scrutiny, and anybody is within their full rights to exercise scrutiny upon any public claim anywhere, and whenever they feel like it. As a result, the only way public claims can hope to survive somehow are to rely on facts, basis and credibility – and plenty of it to support and strengthen the claim.
All claims that have these things, and in good order, are usually referred to as “serious” - while claims that somehow is lacking in such regards are called “unserious”. “Serious” essentially means a credible and valid claim, while “unserious” essentially means a faulty and defect claim – usually of too poor quality to be taken into any serious consideration by the collective hence the term “unserious”. Both categories must be explained and warranted when declared as either one (serious/unserious) - that is the global tradition. Tradition also has it that all claims of explicit sub-standard quality should be ignored on sight. The textbook example of that is a claim without any basis to support it somehow.
With those distinctions cleared up….
So why do I have problems with your supposed “impressions” in the first place? First of all, there are no clear distinctions between what are general claims and what are personal claims within these supposed “impressions” of yours. For me that is not acceptable due to the scale of your claims.
They may be presented as mere personal impressions but in reality they are essentially formulated as public and general claims. How so? For starters, they essentially lack the vital “for me” clause and add to that a frequent categorical style in within these claims. That circumstance further suggests it to have universal intentions rather then limited personal ones. Hence the only rational interpretation and explanation is that they are not personal claims as they are clearly not devised and functional as such. The only alternative left is that of public and general claims. So, it is like declaring a train to be an airplane essentially – it simply does not add up. Thus misinterpretations are very possible as a result as their status as either personal or public claims is not truly traceable, if it were then I would not be writing this, now would I?
Furthermore, the stuff is far too bold and categorical to actually comply with any standard concepts of “impressions” - as defined in dictionaries. For instance, “One Nubian Slayer does not count”. That doesn’t leave much room for doubt as it is clearly not formulated accordingly to what it is claimed to be – an impression. It is a declaration, and a universal declaration at that - as it is categorical. It simply leaves no room for alternatives and/or exceptions and it is nowhere near “I don’t think one Nubian slayer should count” - which could have been a functional personal impression (not a very good one but still a possible one).
Now, regardless what these impressions are actually interpreted or intended as, they still have chronic problems with lacking basis all the same - as there virtually are none. Much of it is inaccurate, flawed (or even false or plain irrelevant at times). In essence, it simply creates unnecessary problems and promotes flawed information in the process. That is counterproductive and misleading to the casual reader.
I do have an obligation to ensure that people who come here is not provided with flawed and false information, as I am responsible for this place. The casual reader must be able to rely and trust this place - and above all on the information they can find here as this is indeed a public space, not a personal one. If they can not do that – then their motive to come here is gone (and thus the whole point of this forum is also gone). That is exactly why I don’t want to see any such stuff here in the first place as it is by definition counterproductive here.
So, let us leave it at that as long as you don’t do this stuff again.
It's not about me. It's about the factions balance for the AI. I can win with any faction but not the AI. When I play as one of the western european factions, muslim armies are easy to beat even when I'm outnumbered 10:1.
Alright, it is about “factions balance for the AI”… Regardless, solid and credible basis first, remarkable claims later, alright? Otherwise, dismissed as unserious, due to lacking and untraceable basis…
And then there is the question of proper experience once again. You don’t have enough to attempt such bold conclusions in the first place and it would be better if you could recognize that willingly, rather then having me to remind you of the fact in public. If only to give your own credibility a break.
Their armies don't contain any really dangerous unit.
Not true…. I’ll explain it shortly, but first, if you are going to forward supposed criticism - then at least do it right and proper. As in check your actual supposed grounds for the criticism if that is solid enough to really forward criticism in the first place and this before you actually do forward it here. That way the rest of us get a sporting chance to take it seriously and the criticism might actually end up as productive and worthwhile here. As long as you don’t – it will be nothing of that and essentially reduced to merely an expression that, in this case you, somehow need/want to pass judgment on something even at the price of you don’t having any valid grounds to justify it. This is hardly a flattering prospect for you and in the process it robs me of all possibilities to stay friendly here for long….
Declaring stuff in public is one thing, backing it up with solid and credible basis to support it all is quite another. This is the part were you fail and this is also why I can’t take that (or anything like it) seriously simply because it has no proper and credible basis to it. It boils down to this; you will have to start treating Redux seriously - so I can start treating your posts about it seriously. It is that simple really. That said…
Now, all I have to do to dismiss your claim is to do a bunch of solo battles (no upgrades and bonuses, veteran-level, default size, everything enabled short of camera and clock) - 1 on 1 to prove it wrong. The results and reality found there is obviously in direct conflict with your claim as the Muslims can indeed win against virtually all units the Catholics can muster – the only possible candidate that I could find as an exception to this rule are the royal spearmen formations as Muslims have no true counter to that in 1 on 1 match-ups at least. If you were actually right in your claim, none of that would be possible somehow – it would be impossible. As it clearly is very possible, your claim can not be true as a result. It may be of interest here to also point out that on general terms all units fare better in combat if they are under player supervision then under the control of the AI.
For instance, Muslim heavy cavalry can essentially triumph over everything the Catholic have in cavalry, archers and sword infantry. The only thing that will usually spell doom for them in battle are Feudal knights – however these can be countered by using Saracen/Moorish Infantry units instead and they might very well win in that scenario. And, this is a unit that the Muslim-AI builds in abundance so it is hardly a problem. Muslim regular archers are also able to defeat many Catholic troops in 1 on 1 match-up’s and the list goes on and on and on.… That is the reality here, check it out first hand and find out for yourselves folks. Use RXB1001 files, I doubt it will deviate much…
My fault. "Totally worthless" was a bad choice of words. I meant "worthless comparing to other units".
I agree, it was a poor choice of words and overall phrasing – thus it could be worthwhile for you to be more careful and humble with phrasing and words in the future. Now, personally I would in that case clearly state the context what it was supposedly all about (“Redux, camel archers and possible problems”) and what is my perspective was there (“something is problematic with the camel archers”) and then confine myself to that stipulated context (“camel archers appear to have problems, due to X, due to Y, due to Z etc. etc. and this despite potential factors like A, or B etc. etc.”). I would also provide examples and/or identify such comparative units that I had in mind (at least some, like “Slavic Horse Archers”, “Russian Boyars” etc. etc.) - so people can get a sporting chance to see and examine for themselves what I mean and how I reason. Solid grounds, traceable relevancy and valid perspective are everything to any serious claim – without all that, it is nothing.
Even skirmishing with fast horse archer unit is risky when enemy army contains any cavalry units. In this case camels get caught by cavalry and finished by any other unit.
Again, not true…. All I have to do to prove that is to start 10 solo-battles (same settings as before) 1 on 1 camel archers vs. feudal cavalry and essentially charge head on – then I got all I need to dismiss it…
Situations when enemy army doesn't have any cavalry units are very rare.
More of the same… I’ll have to refute this claim as well as I have seen just that numerous times, over multiple campaigns (I can post up pics if need be. I would also say that this is even more common in MTW actually). I have even been on the receiving end as well – and I can assure you that all my curses are genuine when it happens. It is not always so that we have the luxury to have a fully functional and equipped army. Sometimes we are forced to make due with what we got. A lot of good infantry has died that way, before I manage to drive the blasted camel archers (for instance) off the map or kill them (this has usually been outside the desert btw).
Skirmishing with slow camels is a waste of a unit slot. Of course, it's my personal opinion.
Even if I personally agree with that, it still does not necessarily make it so for all others, now does it? I wish you could phrase it for what it is then… As in; “Personally I think that skirmishing with the slower camels is a waste of a valuable unit slot” or something like it. See the difference there? One is phrased like a categorical general claim; the other is merely a voiced personal opinion.
Anyway, I'm going to gather some more experience this weekend so I hope my next impressions will be much more... balanced. Thanks for your efforts. Your mod is totally different from all others and it's very refreshing.
Before you do post up any further impressions here, do consider all things that I have written in this post and adjust accordingly. Otherwise there will only be more problems and difficulties were there need not be any – and how is that somehow desirable?
Furthermore, in this massive post I have been focusing more on how a matter is - or should have been - treated and presented rather then the actual matters at hand. That is not how it should be here. I simply can not sit here and worry about attitude and phrasing when I should be focusing on the actual matter at hand directly. So, hopefully this post will be the last of its kind and we can move on (and leave all such problems behind us)…
- A
Hi again Victor and sorry for the delayed response (in regards to post:460), some stuff for you then…
I intend writing up some thoughts on my first Redux campaign as the Italians, i.e., the Venetians.
You are welcome to post stuff on Italy and experiences with it at any time.
But just want to say I think what you've done with the sea regions plus giving rebels the ability to build pirate fleets is genius, Axalon.
Yup it seems to work very well. With the change in sea-zones in Redux the AI got a good shot at doing some actual overseas trading too – that of course is very good for the game and the AI. I see it happen all the time – over multiple campaigns and factions (provided they have enough ships for it of course)….
It works on so many levels, with maybe the best being the disruption to trade which massively impacts on the player, of course.
For the player perhaps, still the impact can also be felt for other AI factions as well since the rebels pose a problem for them too. England is a usual target for it and it can at times outright break them, Byzantines and Constantinople is another common target with severe consequences. Naval invasions are possible all over the map as long as there are enough pirate ships around essentially – and provided there are target-provinces that are wealthy enough (it can happen in other cases as well but this strike me as the most common scenario). Like Flanders, Constantinople, Wessex etc. etc.
Obviously the pirates are there to somehow force us to fight for sea-zone supremacy and control in much the same way we fight for various provinces at various points. Trade, transports and coastal security should not be without problems. It also makes all things much more dangerous, unpredictable and interesting as rebel/pirates can do unexpected attacks if they have enough ships that link together. I have seen it plenty of times and it certainly does encourage you to build a fleet and hunt down all pirates close by….
As the Venetians my conquest strategy has virtually been dictated to me by the need to keep 'pirate suppression fleets' at sea to stop the b@$t@rd$ from cutting my (very lucrative) trade routes. Pretty historical, I believe. So I have, e.g., taken the Crimea to have a port on the Black Sea to keep the support costs sensible.
I can’t say I blame you for it. Sardinia, Sicily, Crete and Cyprus are all interesting targets in such regards – almost regardless of faction. Ironically the V.1.1 AI actually strikes me as better at this then the VI-AI. Don’t ask me why, but it is more active and better in conquering stuff, and does faster too it seems. My fave example for it is the Norse but it is true for other factions as well.
Also, haven't encountered any stacks with stupid amounts of artillery - which has been a longstanding gripe of mine.
I don’t think you will either, as it is a matter of design. In some extreme cases the rebels might muster up trebuchet or two but other then that I don’t think you will see any warmachines in Redux as the AI can’t handle it properly. Regular factions will never build any.
Also, the other night I got my @r$e kicked by the Lithuanians in a battle I expected to win, and lost my 4 star (= second best) general in the process. It's been a while since something like that has happened to me in MTW. Refreshing.
It can happen… I guessing it will not be the last time either, it has happened to me as well at various points (during test-runs) and especially with the Lithuanians (which I all too often seem to underestimate). Remember this is Redux, not MTW, and that it is much less forgiving and standardized then MTW and it is a lot different as well. I am not saying that for kicks, I am saying that because it is true. Either take my word for it or feel free to check that out first hand if you like.
Applying MTW tactics in combat is not even a good idea long term in Redux – we will probably fare much better if we just adapt to the more detailed and complex circumstances that is reduxed combat. The best of all is to adapt straight away to that and to get solid experience in what troops are actually capable of - friend or foe alike. After that point it is easier to properly estimate what can be expected in a battle and how it is likely to end up – victory or defeat. It takes time to get there but personally I think it is well worth it as it provides clarity and overview to many circumstances in the game in a whole other way.
Alright, anything else fire away…
- A
Some news...
RXB1002 is coming….
-------------------------------------
It looks like I will soon release the next beta for Redux – version 1002. It contains a bunch of things like various small GFX-improvements, a new calibration of building-AI schematics, a few adjustments of troop AI, cost-adjustments, new campaign-set up and various other minor stuff to improve the overall game experience etc. etc. Also, due to various changes I made to bypass some hardcoded engine-weirdness, the RXB1002 will NOT be save-game compatible. Hopefully it will be out soon...
2nd Edition hits 3000….
-------------------------------------
Ironically, the 2nd edition has hit the 3000 downloads-marker this month despite that the first 3rd edition betas hit the world in March/April this year. I am guessing that it is due to people that do not frequent the Org or TWC Redux-threads very often. My guess is that it is the old official CA-forum and the RX-thread there that is the main culprit for this continued usage of 2nd Edition. I also know that this older version is still distributed here and there over the net – sites from China, Israel, USA and Poland etc. etc.
Reduxy-personal projects….
-------------------------------------
Over at the TWC one gamer has set up a thread for his own personal Redux-project, namely making the Lombards playable and changing their faction-colors for the VI-version. If there is anybody else with other Redux-related projects somehow, or that is interested in that or such stuff, it might be worthwhile to head over there and make a post or two. Sharing whatever ideas, plans and personal projects that you might have in mind for Redux. Eventually, I or somebody else will set up a dedicated thread for “alternative versions” of Redux in this forum as well – but until then, I guess that this TWC-thread is the next best thing for it. Here is the link:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=444727
Alright, that is all I got for now… News, tips or whatever, post it, I would….
- A
Ok, the links for RXB1002 are up...
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/universal/RX_ReleaseNote_04.jpg (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=106497)
Installing this now onto VI 2.01
Does the beta version 3 require a Spanish Fix or is that just for older versions?
I seem to remember something like that a few years ago when I first tried this mod out. Just wondering.
Nah, no such thing is needed with RXB1002. It only goes for obsolete 2nd edition stuff (which I have abandoned btw – still there are some people here and there that download that version all the same. I don't know why as 3rd ED beta is better in every regard - at least I think so)…
- A
Hello again folks...
I have been meaning to post up this stuff on the AI for quite some time and now I finally come around to it. This test of 10 games/campaigns was made to gather further information about Reduxed campaigns and AI-behaviour (game 1-8 on VI/v.2.01, game 9-10 on v.1.1). It is an effort to gather some data about it and chart it out somehow – just to provide a better grasp of what can be somehow expected and concluded from the new AI of Redux.
The findings is very interesting to me personally and they obviously show that Redux have a high level of unpredictability among many other things. Each campaign is evidently not like the next (despite played faction), the AI is generating new and fresh experiences over the map - time and time again even without the player...
Anyway, I can make plenty of conclusions out of these tests and this material - and it certainly can provide basis for any further discussion, examination and conclusions of these things - if so desired. It also provides a decent clarity and effective overview of circumstances found within Redux - when the results are compiled together like this. Things like the tendencies of the AI (if any), circumstances that possibly generates doom and prosperity to various factions all over the map, and some general answers of in regards to faction-balance, and the AI capacity in such regards etc. etc.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/universal/RX_AI-Management900.jpg
- A
Hello Axalon,
I have been playing your mod now and then and here are my comments so far:
The first thing that got my attention was the new interface and the sound effects associated with it. I chose to play as the English and as soon as I logged in the campaign I was taken by the beautiful map. You did a fine job there. I built my forces and started attacking the rebels only to find out to my great surprise that they attacked back. They almost defeated me. That in my opinion is a great feature in Redux--the rebels should never be underestimated.
You have obviously tinkered with some of the unit bifs, sometimes making them darker, like the Bowmen bif, which blends in nicely with the newly textured ground tiles. Some of the unit shields look great. I especially like the looks and feel of the Cataphract Regiment. Recolouring the Eastern Horse is a nice touch, too.
Probably Redux' strongest point is its dark atmosphere which captures the Medieval theme quite efficiently. Thank you for the hard work you put in this mod and I hope you will continue to develop it.
Best of luck
Hello again folks… As I have plenty to say this time, I will do multiple posts here – if nothing else, for the sake of clarity. Making it easier for all to follow what I am discussing - and when and where I am discussing it. I’ll do some remarks to Leith in a separate post. Later I will post up some news and other stuff. Anyway, first up…
-----------------------------
Redux & 2011… (Late, but all the same…)
Overall, MTW is going to be a 10 year old in August 2012 (for games that is a virtual eternity) and thus one can surely argue that the releases of the new Redux betas in 2011 was indeed poorly timed (if it happened 2003-2004 at the heyday of MTW1 it obviously would have been better). So, the timing as such was truly awful as these days one can hardly expect that people have much interest in any or some work that rely on the MTW1-engine, such as Redux for instance. All the same, the 3rd ED betas did manage to get some +500 downloads in 2011 (and the 2nd ED managed to hit the 3000 marker as well). This very thread still somehow generated +10.000 views in 2011 (and we have the same story for the TWC-counterpart, +10.000 views as well). Evidently, somebody other then me, was still interested in Redux somehow during 2011….
In March 2011, the RXB1000 was released to the public (v.1.1 only) and this was the first new material to be released for Redux in 4 years(!). It was to be the first of the three betas that was released in 2011. Up to that release the 2nd ED had soldiered on as there was nothing else available for Redux at the time. To me the 2nd ED was – GFX speaking – in many ways a continuation of the original MTW and corresponding to those standards found there (weapons and shields is an obvious example, among others). As we all know, things do change and obviously Redux had changed as well over time and the RXB1000 release probably made that abundantly clear to all people who have tried out 2nd ED. Just in GFX, the project had travelled far and beyond what we had in 2nd ED. To me that was also very true in terms of designs and mechanics as well. In short, I think the RXB1000 brought a new look, new designs and new ideas to the table. To me, the new beta was in comparison pushing the boundaries and framework far beyond what was ever realized in the previous 2nd ED of Redux. The new Redux had evolved to something that was not just merely some more or less extensive modification of MTW1, but something else that could provide a distinct and unique experience in it’s own right, clearly and undeniably different from MTW1 (or even 2nd ED Redux). My old goal had finally been, at least more extensively, realized with the new beta.
In April, the RXB1001 hit the world and this time Redux (again) attained full compatibility to all major versions of MTW1 (v.1.1 and v.2.01 compatibility, including Gold- and Eras-editions). A bunch of bugs was detected in that version as well – as expected. All the same, all the previous known bugs had been killed (or charted) – and stability was improved further. Still there were a few bugs and errors around along with things that could be improved upon. Again my thanks to all the friendly souls that helped out with the bugs and other stuff during 2011.
In June, the RXB1002 was released and it was to be the last beta released in 2011 (again both v.1.1 and v.2.01). The changes to AI, and the further upgrades here and there created what turned out to be a very polished beta with few reported bugs, while offering solid stability. To me, the RXB1002 was what the RXB1000 should have been.
Autumn 2011, I also found out that new Redux also worked on W7 and thus that nagging question mark was finally answered in full. It turned out to be very possible to play Redux on W7, and this on some fairly modern hardware and drives (in my case, ATI HD5800 cards, Catalyst 11.8, 64-bit drives etc.). In some regards, Redux actually seem to run better on W7 then it does on W2k or XP - imagine that (loading times, sound-settings etc.) I still did find a few minor anomalies however (thus it is to be expected while using W7), but these were in most cases small-time issues (see the Redux & W7-thread for details). All this means that future releases of Redux will be branded as W7-compatible. It does not mean that it will work perfectly every time on whatever hardware people might have out there, but it does mean that Redux - evidently - do get along with the OS as such – and thus potentially hardware that rely on it as well. Whatever fuss there might be in the future on this - it will be a problem that is limited to various drivers.
At any rate, 2012 is already here and I can only hope that it will be a good year for Redux as well. I do think that we will see more releases for Redux in 2012, but I don’t know how many at this point. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up being more active on these boards this year? After all, I have already played enough of Skyrim (yup, I killed da dragons, watched the bugs, and did all what the Bethesda-designers wanted me too. After all, I was given little choice…), Dragon Age II (I screwed Isabela, since she seemed to be the only foxy enough option to me…), Mount & Blade (this game I truly recommend btw, but mod it folks!) and TW Shogun2 (better then I expected it to be - but it is not STW1 and it has all the usual junk and problems of the MTW2/RTW-engine. Still, I did like the sea-battles... Steam is as unsexy and unwanted as ever) in 2011…
- A
Alright, some remarks to Leith’s previous post…
The first thing that got my attention was the new interface and the sound effects associated with it.
I don’t know, but you might be the first one who ever commented on the fact that Redux do have a different interface and SFX (and even some unique music as well). I changed it because I felt it would be better that way – hopefully people agree with me on that. Suffice to say it was not done on a whim; it was a conscious decision as I felt these things could be improved upon to serve Redux better. Futhermore, it distinguishes Redux from MTW1 more clearly as well. Both games do have a different style and profile. At any rate, I would be interested in seeing some more on what people might think of these things and the changes in experience it brings.
I built my forces and started attacking the rebels only to find out to my great surprise that they attacked back. They almost defeated me. That in my opinion is a great feature in Redux--the rebels should never be underestimated.
That’s Redux for you right there…. We should not assume anything in Redux that it will be like MTW, because usually it is not – as you obviously found out… Redux, is a new and alternative take on the concepts of MTW, and thus it is designed differently, with other and new ideas applied (which obviously will change the mechanics and circumstances of the game – ultimately providing a new and different game experience)…
You have obviously tinkered with some of the unit bifs, sometimes making them darker, like the Bowmen bif, which blends in nicely with the newly textured ground tiles.
Yup I did…. It is gratifying to know that at least somebody around here notices and appreciates such stuff (other then myself)… Thanks…
Some of the unit shields look great.
Yup, I agree, some shields do look great. But what we are striving for is to make ALL shields look great in whatever work it might be, Redux or elsewhere – as ridiculous and impossible as that goal may be to us. I do think you are indirectly on to something here, because I also agree that not all shields look great and that some of them in RXB1002 can (and should) be improved upon to look better. This is one thing that I have in fact been working on in the up and coming RXB1003-release - upgrading several shields and other GFX to look better. I think the only reasonable goal here is to strive for making things look “good” at least, as “great” will always be exclusive and thus impossible to achieve for everything. Thus, at least I will have to settle for “good” on such material as a general standard.
As for the style of Redux shields, because I do think that they have a certain general style that goes all over – distinct and apart from the original game – namely dirt… Shields in Redux are with little exception seemingly dirty. Dirt is probably more then anything that makes it possible for us to recognize and distinguish the Redux-shields apart from the intended CA look and style of MTW (and indeed even other MTW-work as well, I have yet to see any such examples elsewhere. Until I do, I think this is probably unique for Redux).
I especially like the looks and feel of the Cataphract Regiment. Recolouring the Eastern Horse is a nice touch, too.
Well Thanks… I think we all have our various fave things in Redux. Suffice to say, I made all these and other changes as I felt it would be for the better and that Redux would benefit from them. Hopefully many people will agree. Still, it is always interesting for me to hear what whatever these fave things may from one player to the next. So again, thanks for taking time posting and sharing on these things.
Probably Redux' strongest point is its dark atmosphere which captures the Medieval theme quite efficiently. Thank you for the hard work you put in this mod and I hope you will continue to develop it.
More of the same, we all have our various fave things in Redux and stuff that we value and prefer above others (as is to be expected). Among my own fave stuff is the blatantly superior freedom of choice offered to the player (as compared to MTW) that we have in - for instance – troops and their actual capacities and how we might use them. Redux is more diverse and detailed on these things, and thus every such choice matter more and we will more swiftly and more decisively reap the consequence of our choices in whole other way then what is actually possible within the framework of original MTW designs. This spells more freedom and flexibility on how we might solve things in battle for instance – to name one…
That should not to be confused with some mere quantity of troops that one might include in a game such as MTW. Mere quantity, only offers mere quantity, and that will never ever be actual diversity. In short, if we got 5000 hamburgers, we will still only have hamburgers as our possible choice and that is not diversity, it is just quantity. True diversity comes out of varied and distinctly different traits (capacities) allocated to each individual unit/part within or related to aspect X, not adding more quantity of units/parts that are doomed to only be incrisingly impossible to distiguish individually regarding that aspect X... Anyhow, another fave I have is close to what you seem to like here, namely the different feel and look of Redux.
At any rate, thanks posting man….
- A
Another post on the AI of Redux (RXB1002).... This time I have gathered data on the opening moves by the AI - as in the first 10 turns and how that might look like. It may serve as a decent reference on how the AI might expand as the campaign starts. While the info, when compiled like this, is very revealing on what we might expect of the AI - it still does not show every possible rout the AI might take (I have seen many scenarios that are not represented in these 10 reference games). Anyway here it is....
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/universal/RX_AI-Management710.jpg
- A
Redux News….
I am currently working on RXB1003 and thus I can now confirm that there will be another Redux-release in 2012. Maybe more, but one thing at a time. I don’t know about release dates at this point – all I can say is that “its on its way”. One thing is certain anyhow - as of RXB1003 - Redux will officially support Windows 7 and that means that folks using (or considering to use) that OS will then be free to try out Redux at will (and from that point I’ll then try the best I can to support people, if problems occur on Redux) – if there previously was any uncertainties due to OS – they are now gone as far as W7 is concerned. I can now fully confirm that running RXB1003 on W7 (and essentially modern hardware) seems to present the game within fully acceptable parameters with only a few small-time anomalies of various kinds that can’t be helped due to the MTW-engine and various drivers (see Redux & W7-thread (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?138715-Redux-amp-W7) for details).
As for Windows Vista, that OS will continue to hold the status of “not officially supported”/unconfirmed on Redux, even if I have seen several claims that it too does work with Redux as well. I don’t have any Vista available and thus I can not confirm and check on anything related to it. Regardless, that status will still stand until further notice.
At any rate, what might we expect of the future RXB1003-release then? Here are the things that are already are set to be included in the release – it is possible that there will be even more stuff eventually, time will tell…
Upgrades on GFX, Burgundy
Upgrades on GFX, France
Upgrades on GFX, Papacy
Upgrades on GFX, Portugal
Upgrades on GFX, Russia
Upgrades on GFX, interface (various)
Upgrades on GFX, units (minor)
Upgrades on GFX, Peasant BIF-plate (minor)
Upgrades on GFX, models (for improved experience with W7)
Upgrades on “battle-animations”, Dragon order knights
Upgrades on various files (minor)
Russia will be unlocked and be fully playable as an optional faction (officially)
Minor adjustments on unit-roster
?
- A
Hi again folks,
I just wanted to put some spotlight on the fact that I have formally opened up a new "section" in the 'ol Redux-archives (the "adventures-thread") and totally recommend all curious people to head over there and have good and entertaining read. That's all. Anything else, fire away....
- A
Hi Axalon,
"...that the releases of the new Redux betas in 2011 was indeed poorly timed..."
Can´t agree. After those 10 years I personally only start to play any MODs and so am happy about someone like you still working on a game for others! Like you, I didn´t get along with the engine of RTW and onwards, so kept playing MTW/VI all since they were available. Right now downloading your MOD and hope for a good time :-)
greetings from a traditionalist,
daigaku
Hello Daigaku,
Well, in general I think it is easy to forget that Redux (or something like it) is truly fighting against the odds in terms of attention these days. Most of the older major stuff still rely on old merits from the glory days of 2002-2004, and manage to do fairly well because of that. Redux don't have that advantage and it's primary problem - even after 4-5 years of public distribution - is still that many people don't even know that it exists. And, even if they do know about Redux it is hardly certain that they will ever bother to actually try it out like you do. This is in large part due to timing, supposedly a "too old game to bother with" etc. etc. etc. If it had been 2002 it would have been a different tune I'm sure. So, timing is important in many ways. Redux would have been much, much better off as a public entity - if the timing had been better. And that was essentially what I had in mind as I wrote it.
Anyway, have fun. If you want ask or discuss something about Redux, this is the place for it...
- A
If it had been 2002 it would have been a different tune I'm sure.
There is absolutely no doubt that Redux would have been equal to MTW XL in terms of popularity, if it were around in 2002-2004. In fact, many people don't appreciate that this mod changes a lot of stuff - graphics, sound and game play alike. I know, I've looked through the files.
Timing is everything, and it's a big reason why I'm not doing any public modding. There's just so little real demand compared to the avalanche of stuff being offered for a title like RTW, and I don't feel like developing a mod with just 1-3 people interested in giving input (besides the fact that a large group actively playing can give much faster play balance suggestions).
That's what you get, Axalon, for stubbornly refusing to abandon this "lame grafix" and "old" little game :laugh4:
Hej Dura, alltid trevligt när du hälsar på här… (Hi Durango, nice to see you here again)
There is absolutely no doubt that Redux would have been equal to MTW XL in terms of popularity, if it were around in 2002-2004. In fact, many people don't appreciate that this mod changes a lot of stuff - graphics, sound and game play alike. I know, I've looked through the files.
Obviously, we will never know for sure but I am with you. In those days people were virtually screaming for more or less everything that Redux has to offer. That said, Redux is also in many ways the result of evolution, and that would not be possible without the groundwork done by the pioneers during that period – most of which are listed in Redux-credits since day 1.
And, yes people do seem to be reluctant to acknowledge the actual extent of RXB1xxx-releases. I agree. I really don’t know why, actually. Any ideas? Anybody?
Timing is everything, and it's a big reason why I'm not doing any public modding. There's just so little real demand compared to the avalanche of stuff being offered for a title like RTW, and I don't feel like developing a mod with just 1-3 people interested in giving input (besides the fact that a large group actively playing can give much faster play balance suggestions).
Yup, timing sure is important. I can totally relate to what you are saying, and fully agreed (I acted differently for other reasons). I have been struggling with that problem ever since Redux was released for the first time. And, let me tell you that it is their loss (read the community) that you don’t do more public MTW-stuff as you are both serious and talented in your work. If people are too lame or stupid to realize that – screw them! Screw ‘em all! You can quote me on that, any day.
Anyways, the few that do show up (read post) and are truly interested and/or supportive somehow (obviously, that exclude the fakers) – they are the real community. Those are the ones worth their salt – the rest, well… Let’s just say, that I have little regard for them.
That's what you get, Axalon, for stubbornly refusing to abandon this "lame grafix" and "old" little game :laugh4:
Yeah, I am guilty of that…
I have played or worked on this damn game for almost 10 years now, this regardless of the whims of the majority. I know it better then most, and to me it is a flawed screwed up mess – but – it is a “flawed screwed up mess” with a lot of potential to be great (like STW1) despite all things. And, that is what I am in business for, sorting things out, reworking and re-designing things, making it work properly, and slap some make-up/cosmetics on it so looks a little better and sexier etc. etc. Obviously not all are fully possible due to hardcoding, but I would say the very much in MTW is possible to improve upon for the better. AI, troops, tech-tress, stratmap-designs, faction-designs, game pacing, textures, trade, prices, cash etc. etc. etc. You name it; usually it can be improved upon somehow. And that is what I do and what Redux is all about.
…The hard part is not creating something somehow better or tougher then raw MTW – that has been done, and that long time ago - that is not the trick. The hard part is to make ALL things work properly and efficiently by itself and in combination with all the other parts - at the same time and whatever it may be. Making all things fit together and function properly, so it all (as whole) can create and provide a great and different experience – as game (each time). That is the hard part, and that is what Redux is about. Quality in each part to ensure quality in the overall game-experience. Something varied, interesting, exiting and uncertain – as a game should be.
Now, if people are either too fancy or stupid to at least examine that alternative – then I am hardly to blame for it, now am I? :grin:
- A
Alright, some happier news. For all "reduxians" out there, new and old....
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/images/redux/images/universal/RX_ReleaseNote_05.jpg (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forumdisplay.php?263-MTW-Redux)
The following changes are to be expected with RXB1003....
Windows 7 officially supported.
Upgrades on GFX, Burgundy.
Upgrades on GFX, France.
Upgrades on GFX, Papacy.
Upgrades on GFX, Portugal.
Upgrades on GFX, Russia.
Upgrades on GFX, units (minor)
Upgrades on GFX, Peasant BIF-plate (minor).
Upgrades on GFX, models (for improved experience with W7)
Upgrades on GFX, interface & icons (various).
Upgrades on GFX, frontend and loadingscreen
Upgrades on GFX, various models and textures
Campaign/stratmap-texture upgraded.
All princess portraits (Catholic, Orthodox and pagan) upgraded to the “2012-paradigm”.
Upgrades on “battle-animations”, Dragon Order Knights, Russian Boyars, Slavic Horse Archers, English-, Spanish-, Frankish- and Papal Knights.
Russia will be unlocked and be fully playable as an optional faction (officially).
Spies returns to Redux, now available via the chancellery-building. “Travellers” are out - the engine could not handle it properly....
Minor adjustments on unit-roster.
Minor adjustments on buildings/tech-roster.
European-editions compatible, French/German/Italian/Spanish-editions. (In English)
A few minor bugs and errors killed.
Scotish Nobles get their shields.
?
- A
Hej Dura, alltid trevligt när du hälsar på här… (Hi Durango, nice to see you here again)
The pleasure is all mine.
And, yes people do seem to be reluctant to acknowledge the actual extent of RXB1xxx-releases. I agree. I really don’t why, actually. Any ideas? Anybody?
Well, us being modders probably has something to do with it. How many people actually "open" the game and peek inside? I always do it, and have always done it. But many are just happy to enjoy the game as provided by you, and trust your judgement and taste. Seeing as hundreds (if not thousands) of people have played Redux to this day without critically inspecting it reflects favourably upon you, I think.
Yup, timing sure is important. I can totally relate to what you are saying, and fully agreed (I acted differently for other reasons). I have been struggling with that problem ever since Redux was released for the first time. And, let me tell you that it is their loss (read the community) that you don’t do more public MTW-stuff as you are both serious and talented in your work. If people are too lame or stupid to realize that – screw them! Screw ‘em all! You can quote me on that, any day.
Thanks, man! But regretfully I don't think there will be even home modding for me in the future - I suffered a disastrous hardware failure last friday, and all my MTW mod files are gone together with the game itself. And I have no backups... except for some art stuff and music.
Yeah, but back in the days I would've worked the full modding scene like a boss :yes:
I have played or worked on this damn game for almost 10 years now, this regardless of the whims of the majority. I know it better then most, and to me it is a flawed screwed up mess – but – it is a “flawed screwed up mess” with a lot of potential to be great (like STW1) despite all things. And, that is what I am in business for, sorting things out, reworking and re-designing things, making it work properly, and slap some make-up/cosmetics on it so looks a little better and sexier etc. etc. Obviously not all are fully possible due to hardcoding, but I would say the very much in MTW is possible to improve upon for the better. AI, troops, tech-tress, stratmap-designs, faction-designs, game pacing, textures, trade, prices, cash etc. etc. etc. You name it; usually it can be improved upon somehow. And that is what I do and what Redux is all about.
10 years? Holy sweet jesus... no wonder you get a little annoyed at some people either not recognizing your efforts or stealing work without giving credit. You practically have a Ph.D. in Medieval: Total War-ology. Giving you the game's sourcecode someday would turn you into a full on recluse, I bet. You would emerge from a cave 25 years later with the perfect TW game.
What can I say? Keep it up. Polishing is what I too believe is important, and especially so with coherency in graphics and design - I admire the fact that you not only create new graphics to blend in with the originals, but also won't stop til all relevant files are replaced or added. Either it's all the portraits, or none.
That's what makes a mod feel "official".
…The hard part is not creating something somehow better or tougher then raw MTW – that has been done, and that long time ago - that is not the trick. The hard part is to make ALL things work properly and efficiently by itself and in combination with all the other parts - at the same time and whatever it may be. Making all things fit together and function properly, so it all (as whole) can create and provide a great and different experience – as game (each time). That is the hard part, and that is what Redux is about. Quality in each part to ensure quality in the overall game-experience. Something varied, interesting, exiting and uncertain – as a game should be.
Let's drink to that! ~:cheers:
...on second thought, we're Swedish, so let's drink anyway!
Trapped in Samsara
04-17-2012, 10:05
You practically have a Ph.D. in Medieval: Total War-ology.
Dr Axalon, MTW!
Has a certain ring to it, no? :yes:
Hi,
Axalon: sorry for late report, but had corrupted downloads with the .rar-versions, the .zip-files worked then..
am some 300 years into a norse/standard/GA campaign, my all time favourites. nice you made them pagan, did that myself in one of my attempts to get some new spice into the game..
WOW! What a MOD. Completely new look´n feel, regionalized special troops, monstrous amounts of time and money needed to do my main thing, building up infrastructure in every province and so on...and those graphics, that´s really great work!!
Dear Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. MTW, THANKS for that!
one thingy is slightly annoying: the level of armour/weapon upgrades is very hard to recognize from the icons (I always retrain everyone if possible), but that´s till now the only little flaw in an excellent masterpiece of work. ah yes, and my blood warrior kings don´t get girls as kids, and no emissarys as the danes.. they always made diplomatic issues an issue of the axe:-)
Looking forward to discover more loads of new and interesting bits and pieces in a 10 year old game,
thankful greetings from Blackforest,
daigaku
Hi again,
just wanting to sum up a bit my experiences, took some time playing cos i´m exhausted from work yesterday....
Redux being the second MOD I´m playing I´ll stick to it.
Had some fun tonight - wanted to get rid of some heirs, sent them to Lithuania to get killed. Four units of Norse Bodyguards, put away in those nice little forests in Couronia and Lithuania. In about 10 battles those guys killed about 4000(!) Liths....
Had to rout them in the end to get rid of them....and still, running away, the four remaining Princelings(valour 9,10,10,11) killed some 200 LithCav! Had this kind of experience never before, not even with tanked up Huscarles :-)
those pirates - after fighting them off for about 150 years was fed up and invaded every reachable region in their hands and tore down everything to burned ground. Open trade routes now, no more disturbance of (hard needed) income.
AI - behaviour: As in vanilla, I´m tired of a 2star Admiral with two ships to sink my fleet of 6, led by a 5star Admiral. Quicksave, and if necessary quickload and re-fight.
Meanwhile it´s 970, the Portuguese own 1/4 of the map, the Russians another 1/4, the germans nearly that much and I´m sitting in Scandinavia, Britain incl. Scotland, and Couronia waiting for the others to attack :-) income beyond 8000 a year, an army
leveled up to highest armour/weapon/valour/morale upgrades available (every region gets up to the Great Temple anything I can build).
Gameplay: Hard, much harder than vanilla, though I autocalc the most battles due to old hardware (beyond about 2000 men on the battlefield it gets unplayable). No crash till now, no strange behaviour like freezing, everything smooth running.
Optics: My god, Axalon, you must be a painter-wizard of some sort. sure haven´t found all the new stuff, but from the Map to the Princess´ faces everything redone - new icons for tradeable goods and resources, all-new (and much more
beautiful) battlescreen animations, ships and all - okay, now I know why you´re somewhat late with REDUX :-)
Looking forward for: High-armour retrained Highland Clansmen to wipe out the desert nations - and putting those Russians at ease....
Busy greetings,
daigaku
Hi and thanks a bunch guys, however let’s just stick to “Axalon” shall we? Daigaku, I’ll do a separate post for you… Anyways….
Well, us being modders probably has something to do with it. How many people actually "open" the game and peek inside? I always do it, and have always done it. But many are just happy to enjoy the game as provided by you, and trust your judgement and taste. Seeing as hundreds (if not thousands) of people have played Redux to this day without critically inspecting it reflects favourably upon you, I think.
Maybe… I think there are probably more then a 1000 players that have tried 2nd Ed (It had 3000+ downloads). As for the new betas I’m guessing roughly about 200-300 hundred people played some version of that (about 600-700 downloads, mostly RXB1002). Anyways, let’s hope you are right.
Thanks, man! But regretfully I don't think there will be even home modding for me in the future - I suffered a disastrous hardware failure last friday, and all my MTW mod files are gone together with the game itself. And I have no backups... except for some art stuff and music.
That's tough...
or stealing work without giving credit.
When you worked hard on something you get more then just annoyed when people are trying to steal your stuff. Besides, it is just so god damn poor style.
…won't stop til all relevant files are replaced or added. Either it's all the portraits, or none.
Thanks a bunch... I can tell you, working on portraits is very tough. Especially all female-stuff, as those are always the ones that are first (and most) put under scrutiny. Always. I think the original game got 200 of them (VI put in some 60 extra), I have included 160 (fairly unique) portraits for RXB1003 and easily discarded another 50-60 as they were not good, solid or distinct enough. Females are usually the ones that take the most time and work, for me anyways. I created a new “paradigm” (essentially template) for RXB1003 and hopefully that will do for a long time (time will tell). I think most of them are hot and vulgar enough and hopefully that will go for most other people as well. I must admit I have had my fair share of jokes at the expense on da poor girls (read princesses/portraits) found in RXB1003…
Anyways, I'll always have some Norse mead or Spanish wine ready here (and wenches!) - all honestly and properly plundered, of course...
- A
Daigaku… My thanks for you taking the time to report in here on various things and experiences. Stuff like that will eventually benefit Redux, one way or the other in the end. I appreciate it.
On a general note….
------------------------
I have little intelligence on the last stages of Redux-gameplay on the RXB1xxx-releases (essentially AD 950 and owards). Perhaps you (or anybody else) could help me remedy that somewhat. This by doing a bunch of shoots on various pre-battlescreens (when the troops are displayed before battle, settling reinforces etc.) as you continue to fight various battles in the later stages of Redux - so I could have a closer look at how the AI is doing in army-composition, troops etc. etc. 5-6 of them would probably do the trick (more then that is a bonus). The enemy faction matters little, but it is better if there is at least 2 screens of various factions, and from separate battles….
To take screens…. Use the F2 button, and the resulting targa-pics are stored in the “TGAs”-folder within the game (and then you will have to convert that into JPEGs). The alternative is to press “printscreen”-button 5-6 times on each screen (just so you really get a screen-dump), then use “alt+escape” to get out of game and paste (ctrl+V) your screen dump onto a blank page in MS paint (found in assessoaries) – then save that, select JPEG-format. Then attach the results directly onto this thread or upload them somewhere (Image schack or whatever) and then link it to this thread somehow. That would really help to remedy things here. Usually I have policy of max 800x600 pixels in size but I think higher resolutions is better on this and I can later on put in the spoilers for you. This to bypass all the fuss larger pics creates. I would appreciate it. Either from you or somebody else (or both). Anyways….
sorry for late report, but had corrupted downloads with the .rar-versions, the .zip-files worked then..
I have downloaded and checked out the rar-uploads and they seemed to work just fine. Either you were extremely unlucky or you did something wrong. Anyways, you reporting that in are still appreciated here. I take such stuff very seriously.
norse/standard/GA campaign
What size-settings did you go for?
one thingy is slightly annoying: the level of armour/weapon upgrades is very hard to recognize from the icons (I always retrain everyone if possible), but that´s till now the only little flaw in an excellent masterpiece of work.
It is impossible for me to cater to everybodys preferences at all times. I understand what you mean, the black/red/blue and gold are obviously easier to spot, I agree. However, personally I thought they looked crappy in combinations (armour + weapon upgrades) and so I changed it to more “naturalistic” Black/Grey/lightgrey. Redux uses only 3 upgrades (like STW1, while MTW has the usual 4). I guess level 2 and 3 are indeed harder to distinguish – but that means that we must pay more attention as we scan the enemy’s formations – and I liked that aspect (essentially reflecting that it is harder to determine the actual level of armour and weapon upgrades in enemy formations, other then the obvious fact that they have them somehow. That sort of thing essentially). Anyways, I see no problem in you reverting to the old files if that is what you want. You simply replace the new ones with a set from the original game. The file is called “weapon_bonus.BIF” found in campmap-folder…
ah yes, and my blood warrior kings don´t get girls as kids,
This is courtesy of the v.2.01-engine…. Hardcoded… If I could fix it somehow (at acceptable costs), I would. It works 100% on the v.1.1-engine, but that has other problems in turn….
and no emissarys as the danes.. they always made diplomatic issues an issue of the axe:-)
True, and no spies either… I simply felt that it was not true to the Norse style so I removed them. It also provides different and distinct circumstances for that specific Norse-experience which is supposed to be different anyway. They simply have to solve some things differently as they are more limited in options on how to do some things. Obviously, as any faction they have weaknesses. That is part of their limitations. The druid however, can still be used as a peace-envoy or to broker alliances – if so desired. So, that possibility is still open to them. All the same - no bribes, no spies or trials etc. etc. etc. That simply was not Norse enough for me as I designed things here…
POST:487
Had some fun tonight - wanted to get rid of some heirs, sent them to Lithuania to get killed. Four units of Norse Bodyguards, put away in those nice little forests in Couronia and Lithuania. In about 10 battles those guys killed about 4000(!) Liths....
Had to rout them in the end to get rid of them....and still, running away, the four remaining Princelings(valour 9,10,10,11) killed some 200 LithCav! Had this kind of experience never before, not even with tanked up Huscarles :-)
Well… The Norse bodyguards are very tough in the first place. Only a few units can truly match them in close combat. I think more then anything it shows the price involved for using the wrong troops against them. It does not help to make them more mortal that they were princes either or that they had high levels of valor. If you want ‘em dead park them in front of some serious archers or better still crossbows – that will kill them (eventually). Their only 2-3 true weaknesses are arrows, cavalry-charges and speed…. As a final note on this - princes chances of survival are actually slightly greater on auto-resolves, they are more likely to die in live battles. For future reference….
those pirates - after fighting them off for about 150 years was fed up and invaded every reachable region in their hands and tore down everything to burned ground. Open trade routes now, no more disturbance of (hard needed) income.
I would do the same thing myself in such circumstances…. Better still I would try to avoid those circumstances in the first place – however that can real hard at times… The problem being that we can’t do all things at the same time (there is usually not resources for it). We must set our priorities and act out of that. This usually means that there will be trouble in some other regard. Nowhere is this more true then in the beginning a campaign.
AI - behaviour: As in vanilla, I´m tired of a 2star Admiral with two ships to sink my fleet of 6, led by a 5star Admiral. Quicksave, and if necessary quickload and re-fight.
This is courtesy of the engine and hardcoded as well (regardless of version)… Obviously I would change it if I could… But yeah, that is annoying…
Meanwhile it´s 970, the Portuguese own 1/4 of the map, the Russians another 1/4, the germans nearly that much and I´m sitting in Scandinavia, Britain incl. Scotland, and Couronia waiting for the others to attack :-) income beyond 8000 a year, an army
leveled up to highest armour/weapon/valour/morale upgrades available (every region gets up to the Great Temple anything I can build).
Well… They will attack as soon as they get enough “inviting and promising” chance for it. As long as you deny them that the chances for them attacking you are smaller. The AI is a coward, always were. If you want war, relax/weaken your border-garrisons and preferably in a rich province – they will attack there, once “convinced” they can get away with it. That’s my experience anyway… On the other hand, you too can start a war, you know…
You obviously do take advantage of the possibilities the Norse have in tech - as you should, as you should…
Gameplay: Hard, much harder than vanilla, though I autocalc the most battles due to old hardware (beyond about 2000 men on the battlefield it gets unplayable). No crash till now, no strange behaviour like freezing, everything smooth running.
You do as you please, but I would in general suggest that you try to enjoy the battle-side of things as much as possible, after all, it is a big part of the experience.
Optics: My god, Axalon, you must be a painter-wizard of some sort. sure haven´t found all the new stuff, but from the Map to the Princess´ faces everything redone - new icons for tradeable goods and resources, all-new (and much more
beautiful) battlescreen animations, ships and all - okay, now I know why you´re somewhat late with REDUX :-)
I have worked very hard on this, I’m glad that it is appreciated by you and others. It warms my black 'ol warrior-heart…. Many thanks. I must admit that this post was a little too big - even by my standards... All the same, I do appreciate you reporting in your experiences and feedback here - hopefully there will be more such posts from you here.
- A
I autocalc the most battles due to old hardware (beyond about 2000 men on the battlefield it gets unplayable).
How old is your hardware?
I had a similar problem, but cured it by reverting to an 'appropriate vintage' graphics driver. I have an ATI Radeon X800XT PE and was using Catalyst 9.3 and DirectX 9.0c. Replacing it with Catalyst 4.12 (which works with DirectX 8.1 that the game was designed for) sorted it for me. (I didn't have to change DirectX versions).
The issue was present with vanilla MTW, so I don't believe Redux places a substantially greater burden on resources. Now 4000 vs 4000 battles are a matter of tactics, not framerate.
Hi,
@ Axalon: Thanks for this fast reply, covering all my input.
Don´t know the mechanics of quoting, so I go ahead...
-Your request about battle screens: Sorry, I´m out here - PIII/850 on ABIT BH6 with slotket, GF2 TI 64MB DDR, 512MB SDRAM, Win98SE - I do battles normally to a max. of about 500 men on the screen, beyond that it gets choppy...again, sorry about that. If it helps, sure I can get some screens with small amount of men, but hordes of 3000 won´t work, I think... ( kept this old machine especially for M:TW/VI, had fun from the beginning)
-The .rar-downloads: I don´t know how backwards compatiple the .rar-engine is, mine is from about 2002 :-)) with .zip, as stated, there was no problem.
-Size-setting: default. Was slightly surprised to see spears wit 40 men and Cav with 100 (LithCav). Adds to the new tactics, I think, one has to develop compared with vanilla.
-Weapon/Armour-upgrades: Thanks for the tip with the .bifs, think I´ll give it a try..
-Girls, Girls, Girls: WHAT are the probs with 1.1? Got that too, and would not mind to install extra for the girl-bonus :-) It´s simply good to have the possibility to get some 6star loyalty3 general more loyal by offering the offspring....
Emissary/Spy: Nevertheless it´s no fun to kill a governor who´s loosing acumen ´cos of pride - this extra valor is hard to replace, but my style of playing asks for a minimum of 6acumen in rich provinces - hmmm....and those randomized v+v don´t help there...
-The Fun-Bit: Of course I wanted them not only to die, I wanted those Lithuanians to be weakened so much that my sparse troops could get hold of Couronia without some 5000 angry riders and spearmen around. Have to say, worked too good!
Btw, CavCharges didn´t work, too - those guys were pure killing machines and some enemies didn´t even go near them :-) the Leading Prince, if they count beyond the 9, must have had a dread of about 20, had come to birth with 7 and killed EVERYthing.....
-Pirates: I restricted my trade to Baltic Sea - Portugal, but half Iberia was rebel at some times, and Brittany too. So to get my economy going, I had to stop this interference. Didn´t want to conquer more than I could hold, so.....
-970: to some extend, I exploit the cowardness of the AI, doing MY thing in the game - one of the reasons I´d call me (in vanilla single player) an expert with the danes - didn´t choose them just for fun, you know :-) being besides all the rumours and turmoils
of "the continent" gives time to develop infrastructure and a small, but hard-to-beat army. Therefor, I play those guys about 80% of the time. Never Blitzed, only my games with the turks left no other choice in the beginning. and even then, I stopped in
Const/Sinai to develop things.....and, as said before, I love to tech up, build whatever is needed to get my way with the game :-)
-Gameplay: Axalon, tell me, is there anywhere a techtree available for REDUX? It´s hard with the trial-and-error-approach to find out what is possible to train where - for example, as Norse invading the British Islands of course I tried to get those
Scottish Nobles - only spending time and money on a vain attempt... so the Irish Horsemen must do for some Cav, ´til I invade Couronia once more (restarted because of building restrictions to train only what´s possible in the given province)...
-Post length: If you type a bit faster than me, you haven´t got a problem. My typing is so poor, THIS post took me about 45min. :-)) and not being a native english speaker with lack of practice for about 20 years formulations aren´t that easy, too
(last 25 years spent free time in greece, learning my 5th language)
-Conclusion: I love what you did to that game. Thanks again for that, Axalon. And sure I´ll keep reporting, asking and having fun here!
Greetings from Markgräflerland,
daigaku
ps. retraining, just saw norse horsemen don´t get valor bonus from master horse breeder ....and out
...and in again: double valour bonus archers guild/master bowyer won´t work neither for ordinary archers nor for norse pathfinders ....down and out in paris and london :-)
Hi guys…
Plato, thanks for stepping in and offering suggestions and input. As always, it is appreciated here. Anyways, what’s up on your end? Any Redux-stuff you want to discuss here? Or are you perhaps waiting for RXB1003?
Daigaku, it seems the finer details of BB-code are not familiar to you. Here, let’s remedy that once and for all….
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/misc.php?do=bbcode
Anyways, you brought another chunk of stuff here. Thanks for keeping things happening here, I appreciate that. It is good for this place, and for Redux as well. Alright, some comments then (and any players are free to join in if they like)….
- PIII/850 on ABIT BH6 with slotket, GF2 TI 64MB DDR, 512MB SDRAM, Win98SE - I do battles normally to a max. of about 500 men on the screen, beyond that it gets choppy...again, sorry about that. If it helps, sure I can get some screens with small amount of men, but hordes of 3000 won´t work, I think...
It might be your GFX-card... 64MB is not really that much. Also check your soundsettings, lower to medium might help. Maybe you should invest in a 1-2 used ATI9800 Pros or some such. Those should not be too expensive or impossible to find. Assuming there is any Win98-drives for 'em. I don't have a clue. If you got a W7 PC, try Redux on that once the RXB1003 is out... Anyways, all this is up to you.
-The .rar-downloads: I don´t know how backwards compatiple the .rar-engine is,
That might be it…
-Girls, Girls, Girls: WHAT are the probs with 1.1?
Them girls... Important stuff indeed. Anyways, hopefully most of it are listed in the “Redux_ReadMe1002.txt”, known bugs section...
Emissary/Spy: Nevertheless it´s no fun to kill a governor who´s loosing acumen ´cos of pride - this extra valor is hard to replace, but my style of playing asks for a minimum of 6acumen in rich provinces - hmmm....and those randomized v+v don´t help there...
I guess it’s hard to play the Norse then… The finer details of evolved government don’t strike me as typical Norse anyway… Getting high acumen might be hard with the Norse. Personally I loathe all random V & V’s (hardcoded)… It just screws things up…
Btw, CavCharges didn´t work, too - those guys were pure killing machines and some enemies didn´t even go near them :-) the Leading Prince, if they count beyond the 9, must have had a dread of about 20, had come to birth with 7 and killed EVERYthing.....
Cavalry-charges don’t do multiple damage which is necessary to kill those princes. On standard Norse bodyguards it will hurt all the same. Arrows are still their greatest weakness (princes included).
-Pirates: I restricted my trade to Baltic Sea - Portugal, but half Iberia was rebel at some times, and Brittany too. So to get my economy going, I had to stop this interference. Didn´t want to conquer more than I could hold, so.....
I can’t say I blame you here. I would probably do the same.
-970: to some extend, I exploit the cowardness of the AI, doing MY thing in the game - one of the reasons I´d call me (in vanilla single player) an expert with the danes - didn´t choose them just for fun, you know :-) being besides all the rumours and turmoils of "the continent" gives time to develop infrastructure and a small, but hard-to-beat army. Therefor, I play those guys about 80% of the time.
Well the Norse is a good faction for just that. Small but strong armies (primarily infantry, sort of their speciality).
Never Blitzed,
I doubt Blitzing is actually a sustainable strategy in Redux. There is so much that speaks and works against it. Both in the overall design and the AI-performance. I think Blitzer’s will have a hard time in Redux to make things work. Once overstretched – which is basically a matter time - the AI will bite back and possibly even wipe the player off the map. By all means, I offer a fair chance for anybody to prove me wrong on this. Deliver the facts that say otherwise. I will examine them with interest…
Axalon, tell me, is there anywhere a techtree available for REDUX?
Nope… If you are willing to create one specific for the Norse, or for all factions - you have my full support. All I can say is that it is obvious that the gains of doing it ‘would not be limited to you personally if you share that work… A good start would be to acquire a GnomeEditor (see post:208) and digging out data thru the files. That offer is open to all btw…
It´s hard with the trial-and-error-approach to find out what is possible to train where - for example, as Norse invading the British Islands of course I tried to get those Scottish Nobles - only spending time and money on a vane attempt... so the Irish Horsemen must do for some Cav, ´til I invade Couronia once more (restarted because of building restrictions to train only what´s possible in the given province)...
I totally understand what you are saying, and I sympathize… The problem is that nobody except for Joh (who for 2nd ED made such stuff, which is now hopelessly outdated, sorry) has actually bothered to compile such stuff into articles or guides somehow – for the obvious benefit of themselves and all other people that play Redux. I kind of have my hands full and I figured that if people wants it bad enough they will eventually create it on their own.…
And sure I´ll keep reporting, asking and having fun here!
You do that. It is sort of the point here.... :)
-Post length
Well, I am no star at this either. Writing does not come easy to me. I try however to do the best I can (with mixed success).
ps. retraining, just saw norse horsemen don´t get valor bonus from master horse breeder
This is due to their requirements in buildings; that is in order - as is the case for the archers and pathfinders as well (no double valor-bonuses). In Redux we must fight to increase valor for high-tier units – there is few exceptions to that rule. Anyway, keep digging, you might find a bug the rest of us have missed….
Alright, that’s all I got for you this time....
- A
Hi Axalon,
...man, you give me quite a bit of work, don´t you! :-) not enough I´m busy renovating a house from 1820, I´ll have to sit now till late night and type along with a speed of about 20/min....
Okay, out of experience, first infos:
- the NorseCav (those recruitable only in sweden and novgorod) do get the valour2bonus from the MHB, but LightHorsemen and NorseHorsemen don´t.
- on the British Isles, recruitable:
Scotland: only Clansmen and Claymores
Northumbria: SaxHeavySpear, SaxInf
Mercia: SaxHeavySpear, SaxInf, EnglForesters
Wessex: EnglForesters
Wales: only those you can build (afaik) everywhere: Archers, PeasCav, LightHorsemen (iirc, deleted all games except the newest start (idiot I am))
Couronia: LithInf (like them!), LithCav, LithNobles, SlavBow (didn´t bother with the Raider-stuff, no real fighters)
-few other remarks: Hardware - tried another (newer) AGP-card, but it seems that "olde piece of hardeware" (mainboard) doesn´t give enough power to the AGP-slot...
Norse: My dear Axalon, those guys weren´t only hard-to-fight b@st@rds, they were some of the best traders of their age, dealing stuff from Greenland(?) till Byzanz and beyond. So acumen is essential for them to flower up their Raiderdom :-)
"Standard Norse Bodyguards": they weren´t. Highest Armour/weapon upgrade, and as stated before, every moral/valour upgrade till Great temple. I think, I counted something like altogether a plus9 morals
Combined with the high dread of born7, mighty slayer and a few more - here you go....and fighting Cav/Spears in a forest....nice try, guys, but it´s time to die :-)
Anyway, with the new game started i´ll keep recording about the norse and their techpossibilities, collecting all info about where I go and post a list in near future (weekend coming:-))
Thanks for your input, critics and help
daigaku
ps. correction: with all the buildings on keep-level I can get a total of 11 morale, not taken in account the valour/moral rise
question: how can come the English start spamming out "Druids"? are they travellers in disguise or what?
...after having beaten every single english ship saw something nice: Stonecircles being built next to christian shrines. Yes, good old Avalon still today sometimes shines through :-)
ah yes, and because there was still a town watch in mercia I could build a town guard. Does look like something got corrupted..........
?????RX-Classic.txt/RX-ENGLAND/MakeBuilding:ID_WESSEX Stone3?????....RX-ENGLAND/MakeBuilding:ID_WESSEX Church????
any chance, playing as the English, to make Britain...PAGAN?!?
Hi,
?? Axalon ?? ...waiting desperately for comment about those last findings - haven´t got a clue how to deal with those special circumstances (only knowing how it´s meant I can deal with accordingly), so if you got a few spare minutes....
greetings daigaku
ps. only after the last post took a near look to your profile. Being swedish of course you know about the economic history of the vikings - no offence was meant, Axalon :-))
Hello again Daigaku, I have moved your last post to the "Redux: debug area"-thread where it belongs. Anyways, let’s see what brought with you here this time…
- the NorseCav (those recruitable only in sweden and novgorod) do get the valour2bonus from the MHB, but LightHorsemen and NorseHorsemen don´t.
This is due to building-requirements... Norse Cavalry can get +2 valor once a "Master Horse Breeder" is built. The others can't due to building-requirements....
Norse: My dear Axalon, those guys weren´t only hard-to-fight b@st@rds, they were some of the best traders of their age, dealing stuff from Greenland(?) till Byzanz and beyond. So acumen is essential for them to flower up their Raiderdom :-)
Essentially true…. This is reflected with the Norse superior capacity to build fleets for naval operations – including trade… Few, if any, factions has it as easy as they do on such stuff. Good, fairly cheap and fast ships that’s easy and fast to build. Still, they don’t get as advanced in trade-orginization as other factions can be (if maxed out). And, no offence taken...
Anyway, with the new game started i´ll keep recording about the norse and their techpossibilities, collecting all info about where I go and post a list in near future (weekend coming:-))
You do that…
Thanks for your input, critics and help
No problem… I would however suggest that you try to format things with various BB-code so your posts get easier to read here. Again, use the provided link above (in my previous post) to find out about the details.
correction: with all the buildings on keep-level I can get a total of 11 morale, not taken in account the valour/moral rise
As I understand it, the moral bonuses (out of buildings) do not stack. If you build something that grant higher bonuses (say +4) then you get that instead of the previous level of bonus of (say +2, for instance)…. This is how the engine works, I'm told. I think the max is +5 moral for the Norse – If I remember this right. If so, no other faction - save the Lithuanians - can get as much bonus...
question: how can come the English start spamming out "Druids"? are they travellers in disguise or what?
...after having beaten every single english ship saw something nice: Stonecircles being built next to christian shrines. Yes, good old Avalon still today sometimes shines through :-)
I liked the idea of a pagan reminiscence on the British Isles, an echo of pre-Christian times if you will - so I let some stuff be available there to reflect it – the druid and stone circles are expressions of that. Druids do spread the pagan ways and zeal – and they are popular targets for Christian-paid assassins because of it…
ah yes, and because there was still a town watch in mercia I could build a town guard. Does look like something got corrupted..........
Nah, no corruption... It is rather that I don’t like to have every (non-pagan) building to be instantly destroyed just because some pagan (or different culture) faction manages to take the province – as it is in the regular MTW-designs. Instead I made sure that some/more stuff still stands even if you belong to a different culture. Essentially, not everything disappears of what once was the previous standing tradition/order of that province. In order to get everything cleaned out -all such stuff must be done manually. Reflecting a more determined and deliberate doctrine of the conqueror to do so. People usually carry on in their old ways until forced to change it by the government/crown. There certainly are a lot of examples of that anyways – and Redux reflects that somewhat in its designs.
You are unlikely to get much gains other then the stability bonuses it provides in this case. You still can’t build any troops because of that building, while you may still develop it in some cases – if you have the coin to spare…
?????RX-Classic.txt/RX-ENGLAND/MakeBuilding:ID_WESSEX Stone3?????....RX-ENGLAND/MakeBuilding:ID_WESSEX Church????
any chance, playing as the English, to make Britain...PAGAN?!?
In short, no.... How about of "Stonehenge"? That's why.... :wink2:
As for units and availability-stuff in general, I'll deal with that in next post....
- A
Alright, I have created a template for use of charting out available special/restricted units as per faction X in Redux. This to make it easier for all people to do this as they play the game. It also provides a simple yet consistent appearence/format that is easy to overview for all, once the results are compiled posted up for public reference. Just copy and paste it and get cookin (for threads/posts use the qoute-button and kill the the quote-markers and everthing else before the template starts and after it ends, that way it is already formated and ready for use).
Fill in the blanks with ALL special (non generic) units available to relevant faction X on each province. If none is a available in province X, a simple "none" will problay do. Furthermore, it is probably better if we all use the actual and full terminology as it appears in game - "Saxon Heavy Spearmen"etc. etc. The reason is simple - it kills all confusion... Anyways, anybody is free to post in their results/findings and that way it might get done faster for all interested in this stuff. To me it seems like a good strategy to check one "region" at a time (as listed below) - but that is just my suggestion. This is player-driven project, so it is your show guys... The princilpe is simple, "If you do nothing - you get nothing".
Once enough results are in and compiled, I can set up dedicated thread for whatever faction is completed/charted out, for future and easy reference - and all relevant credits for it. (In Spoiler)
---Start of Template---
------------------------------------
------------------------------------
FACTION: XXXX
------------------------------------
Greater Scandinavia
------------------------------------
Sweden: Fill in the blanks...
Norway:
Denmark:
Finland:
------------------------------------
The British Isles
------------------------------------
Scotland:
Northumbria:
Mercia:
Wessex:
Wales:
Ireland:
------------------------------------
The Baltics (roughly)
------------------------------------
Couronia:
Livonia:
Prussia:
Lithuania:
------------------------------------
Russia
------------------------------------
Novgorod:
Chenrigov:
Smolensk:
Suzdal:
Kiev:
------------------------------------
Western Europe
------------------------------------
Flanders:
Frisia:
Picardy:
Normandy:
Brittany:
Aquitaine:
Anjou:
Ile-de-France:
Champagne:
Lorraine:
------------------------------------
The Iberian Peninsula
------------------------------------
Navarre:
Portugal:
Castile:
Leon:
Aragon:
Valencia:
Andalusia:
Granada:
------------------------------------
Eastern Europe
------------------------------------
Poland:
Volhynia:
Carpathia:
Moldavia:
Hungary:
Transylvania:
------------------------------------
Central Europe
------------------------------------
Pomerania:
Brandenburg:
Franconia:
Saxony:
Silesia:
Bohemia:
Bavaria:
Swabia:
Austria:
Burgundy:
Tyrolia:
------------------------------------
Southern Europe
------------------------------------
Toulouse:
Provence:
Genoa:
Milan:
Venice:
Tuscany:
The Papal States:
Rome:
Naples:
Sicily:
Sardinia:
Corsica:
------------------------------------
The Balkans
------------------------------------
Constantinople:
Croatia:
Serbia:
Bulgaria:
Wallachia:
Greece:
Crete:
------------------------------------
North Africa
------------------------------------
West Africa:
Morocco:
Mauritania:
Tunisia:
Tripolitania:
Cyrenacia:
Egypt:
------------------------------------
Minor Asia
------------------------------------
Tracesia:
Chaldia:
Cilica:
Anatolia:
Sivas:
Armenia:
------------------------------------
The Middle East
------------------------------------
Edessa:
Antioch:
Tripoli:
Syria:
Palestine:
Arabia:
Sinai:
Cyprus:
------------------------------------
Black Sea Region
------------------------------------
Khazar:
Crimea:
Georgia:
Berezan:
------------------------------------
---End of Template---
Hope it helps...
- A
Hi, Axalon
so if I do understan that right, everything being recruitable from level "Blacksmith" on, no matter what other building it requires, is "locked" to valour 0. Woodys, PeasCav, LightCav, Highlanders a.s.o.
Therefore those NorseInf don´t get any bonus, no matter how far I build out everything possible - I´ll have to deal with that concerning my stratgy of building...
About the organization thing of the norse sure you are right. But as a people, they were at times pretty rich due to "Privatism". Thought that should be possible in the game as well.
I did count for the morale bonuses only the buildings being there after upgrading, not the previous ones.
Those english Druids had, in my experience, a strange immunity to assassins compared to mine - and it took a minimum of 4star assassin of mine to get done with them. Seems so for me, that Druids of a christian country aren´t recognized as the danger they are really. Could that be right in your eyes? On the other hand, it´s nice training for MY assassins to sit at home, having five Druids around and level up from every kill they execute when hordes of strangers pop in to kill my religious men . counted up to eight per province per turn, so within short time, starting from scratch I had assassins with 4-5-6 stars ...
Pity I can´t make Britain pagan - tried it by destroying all the christian stuff in every province I owned, building up pagan faith to over 50%, and hoping my heirs would change to pagan... didn´t work Pity, really, would have loved to keep the old ways going.....
That far for now, am working on the list on two systems (1.1 and 2.1) and will report. For example, taking aquitania leaves me with Woodys, Archers, PeasCav and LiteHorse - nothing else to be recruited....
greetings, and hopefully ´til soon,
daigaku
Just saw that you put this template thingy up there - you really ask for it, don´t you?!? Make me conquer the whole map just to fill in the odds and evens --- okay, let´s meet in africa....
daigaku
Oki, lets see what you got here...
so if I do understan that right, everything being recruitable from level "Blacksmith" on, no matter what other building it requires, is "locked" to valour 0. Woodys, PeasCav, LightCav, Highlanders a.s.o.
Yup...
Therefore those NorseInf don´t get any bonus, no matter how far I build out everything possible - I´ll have to deal with that concerning my stratgy of building...
I suppose so...
About the organization thing of the norse sure you are right. But as a people, they were at times pretty rich due to "Privatism". Thought that should be possible in the game as well.
Nobody is doubting that. You still can get stinking rich with the Norse with enough time, determination, investments and ships to get there. Just as any other faction.
I did count for the morale bonuses only the buildings being there after upgrading, not the previous ones.
Well, if you have maxed out everything you still only get +5 "moral level bonus" for Norse troops due to "great temple". This is in turn translates to x2 in actual moral increase in unit - don't ask me why but that is how I understand it. The rest will not provide any additional moral level bonuses if lower then that. So, you should essentially be able to squeeze out a +10 moral increase on all units trained there.
Those english Druids had, in my experience, a strange immunity to assassins compared to mine - and it took a minimum of 4star assassin of mine to get done with them. Seems so for me, that Druids of a christian country aren´t recognized as the danger they are really. Could that be right in your eyes?
Nope, you were just unlucky...
On the other hand, it´s nice training for MY assassins to sit at home, having five Druids around and level up from every kill they execute when hordes of strangers pop in to kill my religious men . counted up to eight per province per turn, so within short time, starting from scratch I had assassins with 4-5-6 stars ...
I guess the AI really wanted 'em dead then.
Pity I can´t make Britain pagan - tried it by destroying all the christian stuff in every province I owned, building up pagan faith to over 50%, and hoping my heirs would change to pagan... didn´t work Pity, really, would have loved to keep the old ways going.....
Again, the engine can only handle and do so much...
That far for now, am working on the list on two systems (1.1 and 2.1) and will report. For example, taking aquitania leaves me with Woodys, Archers, PeasCav and LiteHorse - nothing else to be recruited....
I'm torn about Woodsmen, they still are a somehow restricted unit. Better include them in the list (as a special unit, although not a very fancy one)...
Just saw that you put this template thingy up there - you really ask for it, don´t you?!? Make me conquer the whole map just to fill in the odds and evens --- okay, let´s meet in africa....
You bet...
- A
Hi,
take back the "happily playing along" of post above. Yesterday evening after some 90 minutes of gameplay - CTD after battle. Think I stick to my old machine and save me nerves and loading time (up to 2.30min). Battling to a max. of about 500 men for over 10 years was no problem for me, so shouldn´t become now...
sad greetings, daigaku
Hi Daigaku,
I can't say I blame you... That's XP on bad drivers for you right there. At least you established that it is indeed possible to somehow get Redux to function on that hardware. Although, I would hardly call it "on acceptable terms" - to me, anything beyond 30 seconds of loading times is straight up unacceptable - regardless the game. STW2 or ETW for instance, goes well beyond that and it clearly hurts the game-experience because of it.
Redux is supposed to be played with loading times below 10 seconds of on average. I can accept stuff up to 20 seconds - beyond that is borderlining the unacceptable if it happens on a regular basis, to me anyways (and what I regard as proper and solid game-design). Essentially, regularly clocking 20+ seconds starts to hurt the game-experience in ways that is extremely hard to counter - if at all possible.
Stick to your old PC, I would do the same. And, it is your call regardless.
- A
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