Changes to general gameplay/AI with Viking Addon?

[+DOC+]

One of the major deciding factors in whether i purchase the Viking Expansion will be the ambiguous changes to gameplay/AI that's been tagged on at the end of the list of features. What therefore i would like to know is just what exactly does this mean or even entail? Would someone from CA be willing to elaborate...?

Arguably, two of the most aggravating aspects of MTW were the poor use of ships and consequently the setting up of trade networks by the AI and the progressive destruction of improvements as the AI constantly swapped its territories. Not only could the human easily out-do the AI in financial aspects of the game, but also end up finding AI factions that had returned to the Stone-Age. In effect the hardest part of MTW, like STW, is the start as that is when the AI and human are on equal footing.

There were also issues with AI factions hitting bankruptcy before they'd even managed to get started. All you have to do is search for "Danes" in these fora to pick up on this inherent problem.

So, whilst the Expansion pack looks lovely and the new campaigns, units and setting interesting, what about the gamplay and AI?

Here's looking forward to being encouraged and re-assured into buying the new expansion.

Regards

Doc

[econ21]

Good thread idea, +DOC+. I hope we do see some changes - those to Shogun from Mongol Invasion were very substantial and I think improved the game a lot.

I agree with the three you mention, vis (1) more AI building ships and establishing trade routes; (2) less destruction of infrastructure on occupation (arguably no buildings destroyed unless you take the castle); (3) let the Danes get out more (or give them Scandinavia from the out). I suspect they would not be hard to program - WesW apparently has modded to solve (1) and (3).

I would like also like:
(4) some diplomatic tweaks, especially increase the likelihood of accepting a ceasefire if the AI is clearly losing.
(5) get the great achievement scores right; and ideally give us more variety after the early period (crusades are fun, but most factions after that just get homelands and conquest).

I guess my numbering also reflects the priority I assign to them.

I am cautiously optimistic some of the above will be addressed; despite not producing any more patches, CA still have a lot of goodwill from me for producing such a brilliant and innovative engine as the Total War one and such a great sequel in MTW.

[+DOC+]

Ahhhh lol, Simon, how could i have forgotten the necessity of fixing the Glorious Achievements, which has been my personal crusade with CA since day one http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/argue.gif

That's a must for me to even contemplate buying the expansion. Your number 4 is also very desirable. Nice one. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[ToranagaSama]

Quote[/b] ]So, whilst the Expansion pack looks lovely and the new campaigns, units and setting interesting, what about the gamplay and AI?


ToranagaSama, seconds this question; and hopes no one is holding his breath waiting for a response. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

[Lord Romulous]

i have read in the jousting fields fourm that money has been allocated for some minor MP stability and balance improvment. I would imagine that with the focus of MTW being sp then the sp gamebugs and definences would also be looked at.

i am crossing my fingers.

Please CA Respond to DOC's and Simons questions. the whole community really wants to know this.

[chilling]

On the same note I'd like to see the info parchments updated. Not being able to sort them is a real pain and causes major micro managment syndrome, especially later in the game when the only real way to effectivly manage your provinces is to click through every one in turn, every round. Sorting the lists would make this much easier.

Couldn't the economic screen show what each province is building in both the building and training queues that again would make things a bit easier. Having the amount of profit each province is making and how much trade is being made by the port would also be nice.

I doubt any of this will be done for VI but it will be dissapointing if the info panels can't be more useful for RTW.

[Lord Romulous]

bump. CA Please reply.

[cugel]

"Arguably, two of the most aggravating aspects of MTW were the poor use of ships and consequently the setting up of trade networks by the AI and the progressive destruction of improvements as the AI constantly swapped its territories. Not only could the human easily out-do the AI in financial aspects of the game, but also end up finding AI factions that had returned to the Stone-Age. In effect the hardest part of MTW, like STW, is the start as that is when the AI and human are on equal footing.

There were also issues with AI factions hitting bankruptcy before they'd even managed to get started. All you have to do is search for "Danes" in these fora to pick up on this inherent problem.

So, whilst the Expansion pack looks lovely and the new campaigns, units and setting interesting, what about the gamplay and AI?

Here's looking forward to being encouraged and re-assured into buying the new expansion."

Hear Hear I agree with this 100% THIS is what I'd like to see from any new TW: improved AI. I don't think it would be that hard either.

Improved diplomatic options (possibly the elimination of agents -- at least and the substitution of diplomatic screens with options like "spy on province X" "propose Armistice to the French" This would be easy to incorporate. We don't need Civilization level diplomatic options, so don't set up straw man arguments about how this is "Total War not Total Diplomacy" -- we want MORE diplomatic options -- not a burdensome number of them

Handling large numbers of agents is a pain in the butt and so unnecessary. This was one aspect of Shogun that should have been eliminated. Instead, it's worse if anything Get rid of the agents Is there anyone who enjoys waiting endlessly during moves as a swarm of agents move pointlessly from one province to another? Yes, you can eliminate AI moves, but then you can't see important events like the movement of armies The AI seems to move them at random anyway, so just eliminate them and subsitute message screens. (There could also be an option to let the AI handle diplomacy and agents, so players who don't want to bother with such messages don't have to -- then, the only messages the player would see would be if one of their generals say was tried for heresy or something of the sort -- they'd never have to look to see if spy Z was caught and killed in province B)

In addition, why can't the message screens be consolidated into ONE changes screen "The following building were completed: Spearmaker in Aquitane, Tavern in Greece, Armorer's Guild in Trebizond, . . . etc.) Why should we have to click through endless messages?

As for having Wes's medmod having "solved" the trade problem, I don't think so. With no disrepect to Wes, I've looked at his unit_prod and build_prod files and they are quite similar to the values I've been using for some time (originally suggested by DOC and Kraellin who also playtested similar modifications). Bottom line: yes, the AI builds more ships, but it still doesn't know how to use them properly. This is a code problem and not fixable by modding. (See this thread from the dungeon that discusses the matter: http://www.totalwar.org/cgi-bin....9;st=25 (http://www.totalwar.org/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=5;t=4439;st=25)

[Dr_Who_Regen#4]

Are any developers going to respond.....

please

[eat cold steel]

VI will be great Sorted list, Glorious Achievements, trade routes, building destroy after siege, it's all there.

[sassbarman]

Good to hear eat cold steal especially the part about damage to structures only after seige ends that alone will improve gameplay a ton. I wonder though if it would be possible to add a religion filter key similiar to the one used to check your sea zones, it would be handy to see the religious hotspots on the map. e.g. if your playing a catholic faction and you hit lets say the B key the map would indicate areas 66%-100% catholic as green 33%-66% yellow and so one - well you get it. This would aid in reducing the chances of rebellion, planning crusades knowing where to send your religious agents etc. Anything you could do would be appreciated.

[falaffel]

How about AI Eat Cold Steel ? Any changes to the tactical/Strategic AI ?

/ Falaffel

[+DOC+]

Ahh many thanks ECS, that's what we all wanted to hear http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

I suppose it would be too much ask how some of these points have been improved (e.g. trade routes, sorted list and GA?)or if there are any other tweaks that you've included....? Just to really convince me to buy VI http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

DOc

[econ21]

Wow From the horse's mouth, so to speak. My faith in CA is upheld. They did improve Shogun a lot with the MI and if we have to pay for their time, well, I guess there's no such thing as a free lunch...

Thanks for listening, CA

[chilling]

Pre orders VI.

[Kraxis]

ECS you have saved many a soul here...

*Yells*
"Guys, you can come back down from the ledge now. No need to disturb the trafic like stockbrokers."

I'm looking forward to seeing the Danes becoming a power you actually have to keep an eye on.

But I too wonder about the AI...

[cugel]

"VI will be great Sorted list, Glorious Achievements, trade routes, building destroy after siege, it's all there.

Thanks Eat_Cold_Steel for responding Destroy buildings only after seige is good. BUT the AI doesn't assault castles much (I'm not sure it does it at all). Will the AI problem of desertification be addressed? This is as big a problem as the AI trade problems.

The AI doesn't defend it's provinces adequately and as a result, provinces are swapped around by the AI like poker chips. Everytime this happens, buildings are destroyed. After 100 years or so of this, most AI provinces are low tech. Some are even barren. I know this actually happened to parts of France during the 100 years war, but it makes for lousy gameplay. Can't there be a setting, like on expert, where this doesn't happen (i.e. the AI doesn't destroy buildings when taking another AI province -- only the player does so), so that the AI can build enough high tech units to put up a good fight in the later stages of the game?

I think this would improve gameplay more than just about anything, and it wouldn't be tough to implement and wouldn't make things too tough on the casual gamer. After all, if the player is playing on expert, he should expect a tough match http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[Mihai Viteazu]

Another thing I would like to have in VI, and I think very easy to realise, are lists moving up or down one page at a time. It's really annoing to have to click once for every province, army and so on http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/pissed.gif

[ToranagaSama]

ToranagaSama opens his mouth and breaths a shallow breath-- amazing Thanks for hearing, listening and responding, ECS.


Quote[/b] ]Hear Hear I agree with this 100% THIS is what I'd like to see from any new TW: improved AI. I don't think it would be that hard either.


If anyone hasn't tried the Medieval Mod, please do. Its interesting to note the AI improve noticeably, when some things are "fixed". Not that the AI has been modded, other stuff has been tweaked and clean-upped. The AI simply performs a bit better and provides a better game, when its not hindered.

What I'd like to see with Viking for a start, is for "things" that are broken to be fixed, "things" that are incomplete to be completed and this would go for all "things" including the AI. Just doing this "cleanup" would improve gameplay substantially.

Afterwhich, then CA might MOD some improvements to the AI, and lastly, pump up the AI's ability to field a challenging army.

Do the above, and make a great game better.

Vikings? I suppose its a nice attempt to "freshen" the game and give it more life, but, frankly, if its more of the same in a viking "Candy" wrapper....yawn http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

[ToranagaSama]

While we're on the subject of list:

In my present campaign, Medieval Mod, I'm the Danes and wish to take Pomerania.

Pomerania, is the only province the Danes receive trade income from aside from the British Isles, and its held by the French.

The question is, if I take Pomerania, how much trade income will the Danes lose? Without pen and paper, a lot of clicking and parchment viewing, its vitually impossible to tell.

So what's needed is a Parchment that informs the Danes of precisely how much Total trade income is being received from Pomerania; in addition it might be nice to know how much total trade one receives from a particular Faction.

My Chamberlain keeps screaming for this information http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Hmmmm...thinking on that last line, information like the above and other information we've been asking for should not be "given" to us, gameplay wise. It should have to be earned and tied to certain ADVANCED "buildings".

Tied perhaps successively to, Royal Court, the Royal buildings that follow the Royal Court (forget names); and/or maybe to Merchant, Merchant Guild, etc....

[Orda Khan]

I think I would be happy if the crashes were sorted, other stuff is secondary to the frustration involved when the game crashes after you just fought 12 straight battles only to have to do it all again. Please don't mention auto resolve....what a joke

.........Orda

[Lord Romulous]

Thank you Eat Cold Steel.

as ECS is the programer of the ai, I cant imagine the improvments he mentioned being implemented without the ai being modified to take advantage of these.

One thing he did not mention was any tweaking to the diplomatic ai. that would be fantastic also.

i will now buy a copy of VI. before ECS's comments i was unlikly to do so.

[ICantSpellDawg]

i think the various religions should play a part - like have random rabbi's, pagan priests, heretics running around the map - once you get a province, it seems like the religions just die out - you should have to make a real effort to get rid of them

[eat cold steel]

Tha AI has been tweaked here and there, mostly to get the viking to behave like raiders, and then settle down later on.

If you are unsure about VI, then I am sure this one single feature will change your mind. You can now save between battles.

[econ21]

ECS: Brilliant Saving between battles would be great. Now maybe I will be able to get some sleep on weekends...

[Daveybaby]

Wow Nothing but good news it seems. All wishes fulfilled

I'm almost expecting to see a comment by CA that VI will add multiplayer campaigns http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[chilling]

Saving between battles, it get's better and better. Thank god the CA team visit the various forums, read them and actually do something about some of the issues that are raised. They must be one of the best developement companies for listening to their customers.

Multiplayer campaign, I guess we'll have to wait for RTW for that.

[falaffel]

Quote[/b] ]Tha AI has been tweaked here and there, mostly to get the viking to behave like raiders, and then settle down later on.

If you are unsure about VI, then I am sure this one single feature will change your mind. You can now save between battles.

Thank you for the information ECS.

/ Falaffel

[Plaxx]

ECS, you and the others at CA have my thanks (and my cash) for VI

Any news on a release date? Even a rough guess? Please??

[powdermonkey]

The GAME uk website lists VI release date as 02/05/03 http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif
Does this still look accurate? CA guys wanna answer? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif

[Swoosh So]

Eat cold steel What did you mean when you said trade routes? do you mean land trade routes? or just sea ones?

[Swoosh So]

Could you also if u have the time list most of the changes from mtw to vi?

[bakdal]

It is grand that CA seems to include most of hard argued wishes from the players into Viking Invasion.

In my view two questions remain unanswerede by Eat Cold Steel, both regarding an improved gameplay on the strategic map:

1. Better options for management. Many have asked for different sorts of lists, but I guess it's tools to omprove management in general. That is indeed needed. In the end game fase it takes lot's of time to manage the impire, and I even use an ol' fashioned note book to keep track of certain things.

2. Improved diplomatic options. I know the better odds for a AI factions to accept offers have been discussed, but more complex diplomatic options would be nice.

I believe the first of these suggestions ought to be pretty easy to implement. It's not new elements really, but merely improved tools for showing and viewing the existing.

Still, it feels a bit strange sometimes, to use so much effort on spotting weaknesses of the best game I've ever played (in a tie with Civilization).

All the best,

Bakdal

[eat cold steel]

I can say anymore on release date than what's on totalwar.com already, and it's up to activision when to release the game.

> Better options for management
All of them scrolly information parchment will show you the same information as before, but now you can sort the list under any columes. The scrolling will be must faster than before even with huge list of generals.

> Improved diplomatic options
Tweaked here and there internaly, no new options as far as the player is concern.

> trade routes
I mean the AI now actively try to create trade routes and less likely to attack another faction if their own trade route would be disrupted.

> other changes
A lot of work has gone into making the game even more modable, there are far more startpos command added so the modders should be pretty happy. The AI is being refined continuiously. The new pre battle screen that lets you decide the order of your reinforcment, select a general, and see the enemy troops if you have spies. These are the changes I can think of to the strategy map engine at the moment, plus all the new content of units and viking era, music and event art.

[chilling]

I see I'm going to have to start building spies.

Is the game going to be backward compatible with existing games in progress?

Nothing worse than installing a new 'patch' and finding all those unfinished games are unplayable. It would be nice to know before installing, just so you can finish off any campaigns you want to before trying the new stuff out.

[eat cold steel]

> Is the game going to be backward compatible with existing games in progress?

Yes, a lot of effect has been put into making sure your old savegames can still be loaded.

[+DOC+]

Once again many thanks for supplying us all with enticing bits and bobs about VI.

I just wondered whether any thought had gone into producing a Hall of Fame for MTW? After all the hard work that goes into completing a single campaign it would nice to have a way of recording triumphs and disasters with a suitable score and possibly some interesting game statistics... i don't suppose this will be on the agenda?

Has anything been done about improving (over and above obviously fixing) the Glorious Achievements mode of MTW? It was such a shame that the main factor involved in providing a more interesting alternative to the slightly mundane conquest mode proved to be the one major failing of MTW. I'm assuming that there'll now be GAs for the 3 new MTW factions, the Sicilians, Novgorod and Aragonese? Will there be any more interesting GAs included?

Will there be any modifications to the sieging/besieging aspect of MTW from the strategic map side of things? Attrition for the besiegers? Longer siege times? Amount of building destruction? I gather that buiding destruction will now occur upon complete province capture, i.e. including the castle....?

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Swoosh So]

Sigh* i guess the idea for ai controlled generals never made it http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif oh well sounds good so far, What units have been added to the origonal mtw campaign? Will heroes and ga's be modable in the vi exp pack? I know i ask alot of questions...:)

[eat cold steel]

> Hall of Fame
Was on the original design, but was dropped due to time limitation.

> Glorious Achievements
No new goals were added as far as I know for the old factions, but the conquest points have been tuned down a bit to put more importance on the other goals.

> Attrition for the besiegers?
Yes

> Longer siege times?
Same as patched.

> Amount of building destruction?
Same as patched

> I gather that buiding destruction will now occur upon complete province capture, i.e. including the castle....?
Yes, no build will be destroyed until the castle is captured.

> What units have been added to the origonal mtw campaign
Check out the official site, more units will be listed as time goes on.

> Will heroes and ga's be modable in the vi exp pack
Heros yes, achievements no - except the homeland and conquest.

[Plaxx]

Thanks, ECS Sounds great, and I am sure that many of our requests/concerns will be further addressed in Rome:TW

Keep up the hard work, we do appreciate your effort and your time in answering our questions.

[Namarie]

I like when they do naught but improve on a allready good game.. This lot will surely last until the sequel

Hope they have put equally strong efforts into it too.. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Swoosh So]

Eat cold steel in the origonal release of mtw there were files relating to a campaign summary that was produced at the end of the campaign eg: assasinations complete : 100 Battles fought : 200 Battles won 110, men killed 100000 etc, will this feature be enabled for vi? Im sure alot of players would love this put back in as the ending was very dissapointing and at least this way you could reflect back on your campaign?

[Mihai Viteazu]

Thanks for your answers, ECS.

I, and I think the others too, appreciate very much your participation in this forum. It's good to know someboby at CA is listening to us, gamers. The information you give us makes me even more anxious to get VI. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[Wellington]

Quote[/b] (eat cold steel @ Feb. 17 2003,09:19)]A lot of work has gone into making the game even more modable,
A LOT of work http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif Sounds great

Will the VI modding enhancements allow -

1) people to change factions colours - or are they still hardcoded in VI?

2) people to add their own new units, or are the BIF folder names still hardcoded in VI?

3) people to create realistic 'Historical Battles/Campaigns', or will the AI in VI still insist on moving all units to the highest/steepest ground as soon as a pseudo-Historical battle commences, thus screwing up any resemblence of a 'Historical' order of battle?


Any or all of these would be most welcome for modders, and are the enhancements most of us really want (as CA know&#33http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif.

Welly

[Tyrac]

I am still going to wait and read the forums for a few days after VI comes out before I buy it I think. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif I am confident I will be purchasing it though...... and I was not until I read eat cold steels posts here.

[eat cold steel]

> campaign summary
Was part of the Hall of Fame feature that was dropped.

1) people to change factions colours - or are they still hardcoded in VI?
You can changed colours, as well as use custom lebels so you don't have to use ID_SCOTLAND and FN_ENGLISH. The bad news is that most (all?) of your lovely modders tools will not be compatible anymore.

2) people to add their own new units, or are the BIF folder names still hardcoded in VI?
Donno, not my area - but I througt the graphics file names are generated from the Name/Identifier column in the unit prod file?

3) the AI in VI still insist on moving all units to the highest/steepest ground?
Eh? This has been fixed for the patch - the AI follow a script file for historial battles... unless it's been removed without me knowing, isn't there a editor shipped with the patch?

On top of all these, the "spammy" events like counterspy and building complete reports can now be replaced with one single summary scroll.

[chilling]

I like that last point. No more click fests at the end of a turn.

[Wellington]

Quote[/b] (eat cold steel @ Feb. 19 2003,04:25)]> campaign summary
Was part of the Hall of Fame feature that was dropped.

1) people to change factions colours - or are they still hardcoded in VI?
You can changed colours, as well as use custom lebels so you don't have to use ID_SCOTLAND and FN_ENGLISH. The bad news is that most (all?) of your lovely modders tools will not be compatible anymore.

2) people to add their own new units, or are the BIF folder names still hardcoded in VI?
Donno, not my area - but I througt the graphics file names are generated from the Name/Identifier column in the unit prod file?

3) the AI in VI still insist on moving all units to the highest/steepest ground?
Eh? This has been fixed for the patch - the AI follow a script file for historial battles... unless it's been removed without me knowing, isn't there a editor shipped with the patch?

On top of all these, the "spammy" events like counterspy and building complete reports can now be replaced with one single summary scroll.
ECS,

GREAT Many thanks for the replies, I appreciate it.


Quote[/b] ]You can changed colours, as well as use custom lebels so you don't have to use ID_SCOTLAND and FN_ENGLISH

Brilliant I was anticipating this eventually - this opens things up enourmously.

Does this mean with VI we can also add new factions with new colours?


Quote[/b] ]The bad news is that most (all?) of your lovely modders tools will not be compatible anymore.


Not ones written by those of us who anticipated this http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif


Quote[/b] ]Donno, not my area - but I througt the graphics file names are generated from the Name/Identifier column in the unit prod file?


They are but within limits. The Graphics image folders (BIF's) appear to be hardcoded so while you can mix, max and/or replace existing stuff you can't appear to add new stuff.


Quote[/b] ]Eh? This has been fixed for the patch - the AI follow a script file for historial battles... unless it's been removed without me knowing, isn't there a editor shipped with the patch?


News to me http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif but it would be very welcome if changes have been implemented.

Anyone else know an editor for this?

[Michael the Great]

Quote[/b] (eat cold steel @ Feb. 17 2003,09:19)]The new pre battle screen that lets you decide the order of your reinforcment, select a general, and see the enemy troops if you have spies.
Could you please tell us more about pre battle scouting system ECS?
Can u deploy(arrange) your troops for battle before u press the begin battle button(so before the enemy starts marching towards you)??
Oh,and how can you 'scout enemy formations'?


Thanks.

[Alrowan]

ahh

ECS is the new bestest CA dude
a few points i like to ask...

can you now see what children you married hiers have?

Is it possible for the attacker to deploy however they wish in SP games?

is there going to be any real need for some of the buildings (military academy and such)?

[Rosacrux]

ECS, you are making us one bunch of happy monkeys... cheers mate, you have justified (for me, at least) to spend the moneda to actually buy the VI.

Seems it is going - along with the renewed modding effort that shall follow - to occupy some of our free time until finally RTW comes out.

[chilling]

Sorry, another thing. hehe.


You come on here and all you get is a million questions, just a testiment to the beauty that is MTW.


Anyway, arse licking over.


How about those Longbow men?

Can they have a few more arrows or shoot slower?

In the game they are the best 'professional archers' but they run out of arrows just as quickly as normal archers. They are basically useless because you get Arbs at the same time, making Longbow men sort of redundant. The best ones are the 3 free ones you get with Wales. Treated carefully they can be nice little generals by the time you get to acutually build them.

The 3 in Wales are usually the only longbows I use, switching to arbs as soon as I can build them.

[econ21]

Chilling, I agree with you about the longbowmen but then again it is so easy for us to mod the ammo in the crusaders_unit_prod11.txt file.

BTW, don't tell the other English kings in the entrance hall, but my King provided all his longbowmen with four quivers of arrows

[Lord Krazy]

It would be nice if the weapons in the
ProjectileStats were not hadrcoded.
As it stands, only one weapon slot is free
to play around with and still have all the rest.
Even that has it's limitations as it is hardcoded
to it's graphic in turn.

[Kraxis]

Yeah, it would be cool if each unit had a weapon of its own like in STW... I think it was like that at least.

[Swoosh So]

So will the hall of fame be reintroduced? It seems like a good idea...

[A.Saturnus]

The features of VI seem pretty cool to me. The best are saving between battles and AI won`t attack so quickly when that means breaking down the trade route. So you can uphold peace if you are economically important for a AI-faction. This is much more realistic
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[eat cold steel]

> scouting system?
You know the window where you decide if you want to command personaly or auto resolve? Well that has been expand to a full screen with extra information on your enemies' forces and the terrain you will be fighting on, this is where you can change the order your reinforcement come on the battle field.

> can you now see what children you married hiers have?
No

> Is it possible for the attacker to deploy however they wish in SP games?
No

> is there going to be any real need for some of the buildings (military academy and such)?
> How about those Longbow men?
Not really involved in the balancing side of things. I am not aware of any changes to these issues.

> So will the hall of fame be reintroduced?
It is a good idea, but sadly it will not make it into VI. Maybe Rome...

> people to add their own new units, or are the BIF folder names still hardcoded in VI?
I had a dig around, they are still hardcoded, but I have since allocated 10 extra spaces, I dare not add anymore becuase I am not familiar with battle side of things and am worried about texture space, memory requirement and stuff. You modders have 10 extra folder custom0 to custom9 to mess around with without deleting anything. As a test, I copied the camel folder and renamed it to custom0 and made the viking body to custom0, in battle map the sprite looked completely wrong but I can tell it's reading the camel file, it also mentioned something about no weapon available, but it didn't crash, so I suppose that's enough for you modders to sort out yourselves.

> it would be cool if each unit had a weapon of its own
Sorry too much to ask a strategy map guy to do. I am already breaking out in cold sweat making the changes to bif folders.

[Wellington]

Quote[/b] (eat cold steel @ Feb. 20 2003,10:43)]

Quote[/b] ] > people to add their own new units, or are the BIF folder names still hardcoded in VI?
I had a dig around, they are still hardcoded, but I have since allocated 10 extra spaces, I dare not add anymore becuase I am not familiar with battle side of things and am worried about texture space, memory requirement and stuff. You modders have 10 extra folder custom0 to custom9 to mess around with without deleting anything. As a test, I copied the camel folder and renamed it to custom0 and made the viking body to custom0, in battle map the sprite looked completely wrong but I can tell it's reading the camel file, it also mentioned something about no weapon available, but it didn't crash, so I suppose that's enough for you modders to sort out yourselves.


Outstanding Your a star ECS. You have absolutely no idea how happy this will make us modders.

This alone makes VI an ESSENTIAL add-on for both modders and recipients of mods alike.

With the 34 original MTW BIF's, the new ones for VI and the 10 new customisable ones provided with VI this opens MTW/VI considerably.


Quote[/b] ] > it would be cool if each unit had a weapon of its own
Sorry too much to ask a strategy map guy to do. I am already breaking out in cold sweat making the changes to bif folders

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif It's all appreciated ECS



ECS, one final question if I may (don't wish to test your patience too far )

With the new VI there will, presumably, be an option to either play the original MTW or the new VI. In that case 2 different campaign/strategy maps are involved. Will there be any possibility for us to add our own (different) campaign/strategy maps ?

I presume not because I can imagine the complications this would introduce, in which case fair enough. Just thought I'd ask

Anyway, many thanks for your replies ECS. VI is looking more and more a 'must have' add-on.

Welly

[Wellington]

Quote[/b] (eat cold steel @ Feb. 20 2003,10:43)]

Quote[/b] ] As a test, I copied the camel folder and renamed it to custom0 and made the viking body to custom0, in battle map the sprite looked completely wrong but I can tell it's reading the camel file, it also mentioned something about no weapon available, but it didn't crash, so I suppose that's enough for you modders to sort out yourselves.


ECS,

I just reread what you wrote. It may be worth ensuring that these 10 new customisable folder names are available for all 3 types of BIFs/sprites (Infantrymen/Cavalrymen/Mounts).

I've never tried using a 'mount' BIF for 'infantry' or visa-versa so I don't know how far this hard-coding extends to. Whether it's merely the folder names or the folder type as well.

I'd hate to buy VI just to find the 10 new folders are only available for camels or horse type sprites

Welly

[Lord Krazy]

Quote[/b] (eat cold steel @ Feb. 20 2003,10:43)]As a test, I copied the camel folder and renamed it to custom0 and made the viking body to custom0, in battle map the sprite looked completely wrong but I can tell it's reading the camel file, it also mentioned something about no weapon available, but it didn't crash, so I suppose that's enough for you modders to sort out yourselves.
I am hoping this is due to the actionpage.
Then we can sort it no problem http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

All these improvements are going to make
life much better for us modders http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Not to mention playing the game http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Thanks ECS

I like it when you show up it normaly means
good news http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

LK http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smokin.gif

[Lord Krazy]

Quote[/b] (Wellington @ Feb. 20 2003,12:09)]I've never tried using a 'mount' BIF for 'infantry' or visa-versa so I don't know how far this hard-coding extends to. Whether it's merely the folder names or the folder type as well.

I'd hate to buy VI just to find the 10 new folders are only available for camels or horse type sprites

Welly

This is not how it works.
That won't be a problem.
All the bifs function the same.

10 more slots in the prod11 is what counts
You can make them what you like. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Swoosh So]

Eat cold steel could you post some more screenies of the campaign map? esp scotland http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Mihai Viteazu]

ECS, would it be possible in VI to have an option what to do with prisoners after an autocalculated battle, much the same way as we do when dealing with rebels?

As a campaign takes a lot of time, I think for most players autocalculating some battles is a necessity, but we may still want our generals to get a nice vice like butcher or something http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif So, I don't think it's fair not to be able to do so only because it's almost dawn (hehe, just kidding) and you have to autocalculate a battle http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

[Mihai Viteazu]

Or maybe we just want to kill that perfidious king and leave the AI a lot of florins for development and training http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

However, if we choosed to offer the prisoners for ransom, the AI would still have the option to ransom them or to have them killed, just like now.

[Michael the Great]

Quote[/b] (Mihai Viteazu @ Feb. 22 2003,17:52)]Or maybe we just want to kill that perfidious king and leave the AI a lot of florins for development and training http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

However, if we choosed to offer the prisoners for ransom, the AI would still have the option to ransom them or to have them killed, just like now.
Once I had 800+ rebels captured,but I did not kill them,then it said:'one of your generals has had his demand for ransom' or somethin like that,and I didn't get any ransom...ahh should of executed 'em...I love the sound that button makes(and the butcher vice http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif )

[Mihai Viteazu]

You don't get any ransom for rebels, Michael. You must have fought another battle with a faction that turn. However, if you spared the rebel prisoners' life in battle you will automatically confiscate their lands (which is a kind of a ransom) and you can kill them after that, but you won't hear that lovely sound any more http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[Michael the Great]

Oh yes I'm terribly sorry,I meant 800+ french prisoners not rebels(captured in Flanders),and hey were mostly peasants and militia and I got no ransom for them,it seemed that the general who asked for a ransom didn't get any...
But still,if u capture an enemy king,the situation won't be the same http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Kongamato]

Sorry to bump this, but I just realized the possibilities for AAR games with the new save between battles option. If we can tell who fights in what order, the people given generalships can play in an AAR cooperatively

BTW did somebody already mention this? If so then "oops".