unofficial Viking news

[Kraellin]

with the recent new chat feature now available through these forums, i decided to invite gil, or anyone from CA for that matter, to come have a chat, officially or unofficially as a patron of the .org.

today, giljaysmith was gracious enough to come join us and answer a few questions. once we had verified this truly was gil, and not some prankster posing as same, he answered a few questions for us.

i'm afraid this current chat doesnt allow for cut and paste operations, nor to save text, so i just took a few notes. you'll have to bear with me on this and this is NOT anything official.

i'll just post a summary, rather than try and re-enact the whole question and answer thing.

1. glory goals are fixed in campaign
2. the game can now handle multiple strat maps
3. there are now more editable files
4. new units, of course
5. there are still no turns by season
6. no great diplomacy improvements (but that does sort of hint that there might be a few minor ones)
7. there is a new 'pre-battle screen' for arranging your troops and re-inforcements
8. battle ai might have been improved a touch (he wasnt real sure of this)
9. LOTS of bug fixes
10 and i think he mentioned that multi had some bug fixes as well (it was early in the chat and i wasnt taking notes yet)
11. oh yeah, one other thing; there will be no player beta test team this time. they are essentially balls to the wall trying to get this thing done, so good or bad, that's how it is.

that was about it. he wasnt there for long and i'm sure we didnt cover everything. he also mentioned that we shld or could ask longjohn questions; that he thought longjohn was still hanging around the forums a bit now and then.

i've also prolly missed a point or two and the others that were there could maybe fill in anything i've missed.

this was just an informal little thing. lasted only about 5 minutes or so and certainly isnt official. it was quite humorous at first, since it's somewhat difficult to verify if a person really is who he says he is, but gil logged into the .org to verify his identify for us and it did seem like him, having talked to him before in private messages :) sorry, gil, just covering my ass :)

and thanks, gil, for taking up my invite. was good to talk to you again :)

K.

edited for typos

[Kongamato]

Unofficial Viking stuff, basically an observation I made:

After re-examining the Gamershell screens, I have found what could be a shot of the Byzantine Lancers disguised as Pictish? Cavalry. Look at their shields.

Link to page, second row first shot (http://www.gamershell.com/hellzone_RTS_Medieval_Total_War_Viking_Invasion.shtml)

I decided the shot was too big to post as an image.

[Heraclius]

yeah you're right. they have the Byzantine symbol on their shields what gives?

[solypsist]

Quote[/b] ]once we had verified this truly was gil, and not some prankster posing as same, he answered a few questions for us.


hehe, nice one and thanks for the news

[andrewt]

News about the game seems very few and far in between considering that Medieval sold pretty well. It was in the top 10 for a few weeks. You'd think they'd hype up the game since it's only a month and a half until release.

[Nelson]

Numbers 1, 7 and 9 are especially encouraging.

Thanks, Krae

[andrewt]

It's 3, 4, 7 and 9 for me. I don't really edit files but I like looking at them to get a better understanding of the game.

[Draksen]

your #3 is very interesting ... very very interesting ...

will we be able to "reinject" STW's strategic map into MTW and this way "recreate" STW with the MTW improvements... ?

[GilJaysmith]

Note that I did only a little work on Vikings, so if any of these turn out not to be included, please attribute it to my unique combination of optimism and poor memory, rather than to CA (or to Krae's transcription service :-)

[Knight_Yellow]

4,6,7,8,9,10

Multi Multi Multi

[Kraellin]

well, gil seems to be getting bored about the same time of day that i am, so i once again ran into him on the chat. tosa and tenkisoratori (sp?) were also there or came in. and being bored, we did ask him some more questions and he did once again oblige us with what he could.

being that there is, as mentioned before, no cut and paste and no save text feature to this chat, i once again, just wrote down the answers to the questions, rather than who asked them and exactly what was asked, and even the full and exact answers. ok, so i'm lazy.

at any rate, this is an additional condensed version of gil's answers. and gil, feel free to qualify or correct or elaborate on any of these.

12. the startpos file can now specify the path to the stats files.
13. no particular change in the weather routines (question was about it always raining, even when sunny predicted)
14. looks like you can customize the factions list much more easily.
15. NO multi campaign for Vikings. (still a lot of discussion about it for the future, however).
16. no known changes in map editor
17. he wasnt sure if a 'historical editor' was shipping with vikings or not.
18. asked him about a TW: Construction Set. his reply was something like, 'what, and put ourselves out of business?' :)
19. again, no beta team for VI, but for RTW, seems likely...too early to say.
20. "not much changed in multiplayer foyer, although we did trim down the size of the host game description packet a fair bit, so it shld be easier for modem people to host, and games shld show up faster in the game list."
21. bugs in foyer. "marginally fixed, prolly, dunno."
22. campaign editor? "unlikely. it's a bit of a hairy job. and as usual no-one ever expects to do this job again. (of course now it's been done 3 times:)"
23. how does CA feel about user mods? "well, we havent had an official policy on modability, is a slight problem. Medieval was intended to be moddable, but you cant just declare that and hope it will turn out that way without taking deliberate steps to ensure it. Rome is much more moddable by design."
24. with the roman empire rising and falling, shrinking and expanding, will anything within the game reflect this or influence this, any ai factors? "dont know."

ok, bear in mind, that most of this was directed at Vikings and gil hasnt been on the vikings project in quite a while (never?). so, his answers may or may not be spot on here. also, this was very informal, just a few folks chatting about an upcoming game in a chat room. so, there is NOTHING official here. also, bear in mind that where i've 'quoted' him, it may not be an exact quote. like i say, this is somewhat condensed and altered just because of the nature of what was going on. so, dont just take this with a grain of salt, take it with the whole salt shaker.

and thanks, gil. always fun talking with you. i hope i didnt hack this up too badly :)

K.

edited for typos

[einar]

Quote[/b] (Kongamato @ Mar. 20 2003,01:07)]Unofficial Viking stuff, basically an observation I made:

After re-examining the Gamershell screens, I have found what could be a shot of the Byzantine Lancers disguised as Pictish? Cavalry. Look at their shields.

Link to page, second row first shot (http://www.gamershell.com/hellzone_RTS_Medieval_Total_War_Viking_Invasion.shtml)

I decided the shot was too big to post as an image.
Yes, they have the byzantine symbol on their shields ¿¿¿???. Are they orthodox??

[Elwe]

Quote[/b] (einar @ Mar. 24 2003,05:36)]Yes, they have the byzantine symbol on their shields ¿¿¿???. Are they orthodox??
Or, more likely, a screen shot taken during testing before the final graphics changes to the sprites had been implemented.

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

[einar]

Quote[/b] (Elwe @ Mar. 24 2003,18:50)]
Quote[/b] (einar @ Mar. 24 2003,05:36)]Yes, they have the byzantine symbol on their shields ¿¿¿???. Are they orthodox??
Or, more likely, a screen shot taken during testing before the final graphics changes to the sprites had been implemented.

Cheers. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wacko.gif
Yes. I particularly like the battle deployment screenshot, it's new, it shows new features of VI. The rest are already known.

[Kraellin]

since there seems to be some more info leaking out about vikings, i thought i'd bump this up again, since this is straight from gil, a CA programmer, and not some magazine or online article.

K.

[Kraellin]

we ran into gil once again yesterday on the forum chat. and being the curios and obnoxious sorts that we are, we once again asked him a few questions. and, he once again provided what he could.

again, bear in mind that this is NOT official news.

25. (re vikings) work is completely finished now.
26. didnt know if ships and trading for ai was any better. told us to ask ECS (EatColdSteel, a CA programmer).
27. Yep. flaming projectiles were added pretty soon after MTW shipped. ... no cows though. (for catapults :)
28. (re choosing your projectile types, stone or flame) I think it decides on the flammability of the target. no shrapnel.
29. from Tosa: is a peasant considered flammable? from Gil: Your optimism borders on the unbelievable, Tosa.
30. Q: will campaign maps be easier to make for players? A: yes. because we've had to make the game able to support two different maps at once. which probably makes it easier in turn for modding, although, i'm sure there are still some hiccups waiting to catch everyone out :)
31. Q: is the reload hardcoded now? A: the stats are reloaded if you play consecutive games on vikings and non-vikings, or vice versa. you still need -reloadstats if you want them reloaded every time.

those attending were myself, Rob_the_Bastard, TosaInu, Negative, Demon_of_Light, and of course, Giljaysmith.

thanks gil :)

a few things were thrown around and discussed, but didnt seem quite pertinent enough about general info regarding the Vikings expack, so i left them out. any of those attending, feel free to amend or add to anything here.

thus, it sounds like the game is in final testing and getting ready for shipping. gil did say something about us having the game in a month or so now, so, keep watching :)

K.

[FesterShinetop]

Quote[/b] (Kraellin @ April 05 2003,19:17)]29. from Tosa: is a peasant considered flammable? from Gil: Your optimism borders on the unbelievable, Tosa.
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

Good one. But that sounds really cool; choosing stone or flame to shoot with
Can hardly wait for Vikings, been away from the game (and the forum) for a short while, had other games to play. But reading this makes me wanna play it again

[Kraellin]

bump

also, just a note about the .org chat feature. i got all this info from Giljaysmith off the chat feature here at the .org. you might wanna drop in there and ask him your own questions. i dont know when he's there or anything. it's obviously just a hit and miss thing, but that's where i got the info.

K.

[GilJaysmith]

Quote[/b] (Kraellin @ April 14 2003,20:18)]i dont know when he's there or anything. it's obviously just a hit and miss thing, but that's where i got the info.
I drop by for a couple of minutes most nights. And there's never anyone there ;-)

[Stormer]

no ones ever in that chat thinge

[Kraellin]

yes, it isnt used that much by most. the best way to catch someone in there is to log in when you first log into the forums. just sit there and go back to the forums. read whatever, post whatever and when someone comes in, it's normal for the new person to use one of the sound features that are broadcast to all. this will then alert anyone else in there who is afk from the chat that someone came in.

nobody shows up, log out of forums after yer done, log out of chat, and nothing lost; you dont have to just sit there and wait.

and thanks, gil. and yes, that's when i've normally caught him. remember though, he's on U.K. time, so his 'nights' might not be the same as yours. this is prolly your best opportunity to get to talk one on one to one of the dev guys.

K.