Pausing

[Psyco]

do you use the pause button??
i personally find it cheap and without it seems more realistic (im pretty sure that back then you couldn't stop time for a while and wander around and see everything thats happening)
what do you think?

[Alastair II]

Well, our battles do go rather quickly. I personally don't use it, but I could see how someone would want to be like a real general and have all the time in the world. You see, real battles take many hours (days sometimes), and so real generals normally have a lot of time to think. That's one rationale I can think of for using it. I personally don't use it because I eventually want to be good enough to play MP, and there you can't use pause.

[TheViking]

Quote[/b] (Alastair II @ Jan. 06 2003,03:37)]Well, our battles do go rather quickly. I personally don't use it, but I could see how someone would want to be like a real general and have all the time in the world. You see, real battles take many hours (days sometimes), and so real generals normally have a lot of time to think. That's one rationale I can think of for using it. I personally don't use it because I eventually want to be good enough to play MP, and there you can't use pause.
do you mean as the battles was fought b4???

1 thing i can tell you, they never had all time in the world. And if battles took many hour to fight there was proberly more then about 1000 men

And no i dont use pause button

[deejayvee]

I use the pause button because the AI has the ability to give orders almost instantly. This is particularly important if you're moving more than one unit at a time.

Also, as someone who doesn't mind a bit of table-top wargaming I am used to having time to plan out my moves.

[TheViking]

it should be like chaos in the fights. I make up my plans b4 the fight, and if the enemy havnt set up as i should want it to have, i make up new plan while fighting, waiting for the enemy come to me or when im on moving against the enemy

[Marco]

Dont get yourself into bad habits if you want to go mp. Once you get used to it you ll find you have enough time to order your troops about. Only problem I have is keeping track of where my units are during the battle, i.e some of them could of been routed and rallied at the back, and some of them could of been chasing down a routed unit at the front.

[The Last Emperor]

I only pause the battle when i need to answer the phone or pee. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[deejayvee]

Quote[/b] (Marco @ Jan. 05 2003,23:41)]Dont get yourself into bad habits if you want to go mp.
I've LAN'd MTW and STW a few times but luckily the other guys were also SP-pausers so it didn't put me at much of a disadvantage.

One thing I did notice was that the defender would invariably win.

But as I said before, the AI has essentially the same functionality as a pause button, so I don't think the pause button gives you an unfair advantage.

[Jaret]

I use it ... for several reasons.

When you are the attacker, all the Army formations that exist don´t set up the units where you want them in the first place. Since the defender can choose freely where to place his units ... I use the P button to get my Army into the Formation I prefere.

Every Unit has it´s leader that could and would issue orders to them ... as discussed with the General ( ME ) before the Battle. But those bastards won´t do their jobs right ... so I have to tell them again what I want during combat ... meaning give every unit a target at the same time ( on the 2 Trumpet/Drum/Whatever ) to make my front advance upon the enemy as I wish ... so I pause to give those orders.

Sometimes everything goes wrong ... and lots of decissions must be made in a short time ... again unit leaders would normaly issue those Orders ... like turn towards the enemy that is charging your backs and don´t stand around doing nothing ... so I pause to be able to give obvious orders.

I don´t pause in every battle ... but often when I´m the attacker ... I´m more the defender kinda guy http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif .

Oh and of course I pause when I have to pee http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif.

[TheViking]

ok i also pause when its obvius, peeing, anser telephone etc.

Do this when you attack:
select all men you will have in the front, click behind the enemy line, send out your flankers on each side, or the side your gonna flank.
After you done that, go back to your frontunits, pick one of the units and order that to attack an enemy unit, and continue do so till you orderd all your men, then go back to your flankers and give them their orders.

There is plenty of time for all that. No need to pause even if your an attacker.

If your defender you can chose where you want to defend.

And use the alt button much when your going to move your whole army or parts of it, and when your turning it in another direction.

These hints is only for you who want to try out MP later. Cus there aint no pause button http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[solypsist]

there already exists a thread whereby this subject is discussed.
it broke down to most users here use the pause but play on maximum speed. search for it.

[Swoosh So]

I find the button handy when i get mouse lag, yes i get it in single player and also when my mouse isent moving very well (bane of my life) i must have bought about 10 mice in the last year I know I know get an optical one


SwoooooooooOooOOOOshaaaa

[Sandy-San]

pause button? what pause button? you mean you can give orders while paused? oh.... ehem...

that was never in STW was it? please say it wasn't

[Kraxis]

It most certainly was... 'P'...

[jrexchandler]

I justify the use of the pause button like so..

If I was really a general, I would have people that I have chosen to be in command of the individual units of my army.
These people would be able to make intelligent decisions about where to march, who to attack, etc based on my overall plan.

But, in MTW you are in complete command of every unit and don't have the support of an intelligent underling, so I pause.

Rex

[Swoosh So]

Lol you dont have to justify anything, I laugh when we all say i have to use it because.... Lol its the AI your playing youll win anyway1

[Cazbol]

I admit to using it but then I'm only playing my first game and I'm a tactical weakling. I'll play without it next time.

Cazbol

[Sir Chauncy]

I have 6 units of heavy cav all ready to counter charge. OK, well without the pause button, how do you get then to charge at the units that you want and at the same time. It cannot be done. The computer does this almost instantly and back in the olden days surely, though you would not have been able to micromanage like you can in Total War, I am damned sure that you would have been able to issue a concerted charge.
Pause button it is for me. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif

[deejayvee]

Quote[/b] (Swoosh So @ Jan. 06 2003,11:14)]Lol you dont have to justify anything, I laugh when we all say i have to use it because.... Lol its the AI your playing youll win anyway1
I'm not too worried about losing to the AI. What I worry about is that unit of Hobilars that I haven't checked on for a while that are now down to 12 men and are routing. When playing SP, you don't need to just think about win and lose. You also need to think about minimising your losses so you can go on to fight another day. This is irrelevant in MP.

[pdoan8]

Pause? What's wrong with that? I believe that I am holding the record pausing time. So proud of that http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

In the battle against the Mongol, I paused the battle for more than 12 hours to go to bed and resume in the next day.

Another battle against the Egyptian in Palestine, I paused the game for 10 hours to go to work and resume after I came back from work.

I also pause to issue order, to look at the battle, to position troops, to draw formation, and many more reasonssss

[Sandy-San]

doh i can feel a hundred thousand ghostly sprites pointing at me accusingly - 'we died because you didn't pause'

learn something new everyday....

[el_slapper]

Sandy-San : they died because their day had come...

I don't pause. If I lose because I'm not quick enough to give orders, I'm a bad commander. This happens. Drawback in the campaign. Cool. Where would be the challenge if every battle was easily won???

Yeah, I've lost several battles I should have won. It's not a shame. I also win some I should have lost(charging the lone peasant enemy with spearmen and seeing the morale of the enemy dominoing down). So is war. Mistakes have to be assumed. I often fail my campaigns on difficult, but, hey, you can't win everytime.

[LadyAnn]

I paused in SP mode, not to see what the AI is doing, but to let the AI think a bit more http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif You see, I have a slow computer http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

Seriously, I do pause to...
1. go for bathroom; (would be comical if you arrive to emergency room due to a bursted blader and tell the doctor "I held it to finish my battle")
2. long battle; (no way I lose sleep over the AI, better lose sleep over multi)
3. emergencies (change diapers, feeding kids, clean up mess, etc.)
4. talk over the phone (dont want to lose whatever small social contacts I still have)
5. eat (computer game is not the best diet program)
6. drink (for those who drink beer, this should be reason number 1 to pause)

So, I think the pause button is handy. Now, if they let me save the battle when I pause it, I am even happier. I know people would use to generate "the perfect battle" and refight the same battle over and over again until he/she win it. But for someone honnest to oneself, pause/save would allow me to go away from computer without putting a fence around it. You see, I have a 3 year-old nephew with fascination to pushing buttons, in particular, the green power button.

Annie

[The Great Dane]

Hey LadyAnn
What a fantastic story regarding the pause-button

If any of you wants to get into the tough league then do as me: Leave the battle running, take the pee and find yourself rushing back to the computer and giving orders to the troops with your pants round the ankles http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[LadyAnn]

Err, pants around ankle is very un-lady-like. But don't forget to lower the seat. And remember to go back and clean up the trail after the battle finish...

Annie

[spiffy_scimitar]

actually, human excrement on the battlefield is probably pretty historically accurate, LadyAnne, I propose you leave it there http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[TheLastEuropean]

I have started using horse archers a lot and the result of this is that I have also started using the pause key a lot more. Have you tried controlling 6 horse archer units against the AI when you have them spread all around his formation? Since the AI can simultaneously control and micromanage all it's units all of the time it is inevitable that several horse archers wil be lost merely due to the fact that you simply cannot move 6 units simultaneously nor be everywhere at once. Playing like this you literally end up ALL over the map and it is humanly impossible to keep track of everything. Simply moving from 1 horse unit to another on the other side of the map wastes a lot of time which the AI fills with millions of micromanagement moves - you just cannot compete against that.

With a regular inf+combat cav. army I hardly pause at all since I'm packed tight into 1 extensive formation which is easily observed and controlled but when you have more than (say) 3 horse archer units roaming around it can become quite a struggle to keep up. 6 gets hard

Somebody said you pick up bad habits for MP. That's a bad comparison imo. In MP your opponent suffers the same micromanagement restrictions as you do - ie. they can only be in 1 place at a time. You just have to ensure that you're also in that place so as not to have an inert unit caught. Watching 1 of Magyar's all cav army replays demonstrates this. You have plenty of time to move about etc. etc. With the AI it's hectic and non-stop. In those circumstances I don't see any 'weakness' in using the pause key. I also subscribe to the statement that unit commanders would be responsible for reacting to threats automatically. In real life you're hardly likely to see a unit stand there motionless and do absolutely nothing whilst another unit charges and slaughters it.

So, to sum up, I would say it depends on your style of play. Given that and the complexity of the game it's just too simple to say it's 'weak' to pause.

IMO of course.

[Teutonic Knight]

ummmmmmm.........HELP I threw away my cd case... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif oooops http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif meaning no cd code, meaning, no mp game

[LadyAnn]

Mistakes cost something http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif.

Do you still keep the manual? Perhaps it is still on it (some said it is on the manual too)

Annie

[Nord]

Quote[/b] (Psyco @ Jan. 05 2003,21:29)]do you use the pause button??
i personally find it cheap and without it seems more realistic (im pretty sure that back then you couldn't stop time for a while and wander around and see everything thats happening)
what do you think?
yeah, but back then you didn't sit infront of the computerscreen with a mouse and keyboard either....

I use the pause button mostly when charging when I need to send different units in different direction simultaneously, and in SP in doesn't matter anyways :P

[andrewt]

I pause a lot. I don't have the patience to learn how to control the camera easily and I really dislike that part of the game. That's why I don't like a lot of 3d games. I pause to get a better camera angle to give orders. I also pause to micromanage my troops.

I usually move my units towards the enemy and slide to maximum speed until they are close enough. I pause, give new orders, slide down to minimum speed and play at that speed until it is time to retreat or chase down the enemy. Usually I slide it back to maximum speed and pause if I need to give new orders.

[Acronym]

I usually don't pause to give orders(after a year of playing total war games the buttons are second nature), but I do like to pause and look at the two armies fighting, makes for some cool screenshots http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif