View Full Version : The UNOFFICIAL Rome Total War Request Thread
With RTW less than a year from release I think it's high time that we give the developers direct access to our imaginative little minds. Not that the Org has been quiet on the subject of Rome Total War since the official announcement back in January but for the sake of the powers that be and the busy bees at Creative Assembly I think it would be great to put all our ideas and requests into one, well ordered, easy to find thread.
Let's keep this efficient and neat. Please read the official RTW FAQs before posting, itemize your ideas/requests and be realistic. The last thing this thread needs is to be inundated with posts from people asking for things the developers have told us countless times will not be implemented in the game (i.e. tactical naval battles).
Have fun and have at it
- Vastly Improved AI - The absolute tip top of my list. Regardless of how many glorious bells and whistles RTW will pack the AI should not only 'deliver the goods' but be far superior to that of its predecessors. I realize the difficulty in programming a competent AI opponent is great but it is impossible to derive enjoyment from an infinitely replayable strategic game where the greatest challenges are overcoming the administrative difficulties of running an empire and facing the occasional random rebellion or an invasion by a sizeable horde of enemies. MTW is truly a great game but it is also marred by a tactical AI that, while quite impressive, can also be frustratingly indecisive and at times downright idiotic. While RTW's Tactical AI may need some improvement over its predecessors the Strategic AI needs a complete overhaul. I do not expect the AI to embody the collective wisdom of Sun Tzu, Clausewitz and Napoleon but I do expect it to avoid making incredibly and horrifically dumb mistakes... over and over again. I want to see a strategic AI that; a) refrains from initiating multi-front wars; b) builds meaningful treaties & alliances and assigns the appropriate political stance to every faction it comes in contact with; c) properly builds up its provinces; d) adequately defends its high value cities/provinces; e) deploys sensible, well connected trade fleets; f) builds a proper mix of units while consolidating depleted ones and phasing out or upgrading obsolete ones.
- Less headaches for multiplayer gaming. Thanks to Gamespy's asinine limitations I am no longer able to host a MTW game without compromising the safety and integrity of my two systems. My faux pas is of all things, running a software firewall program and horror of horrors, using a Linksysy dsl/cable router for file sharing and to add an extra layer of protection against the nastiness of the net... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif It's bad enough that before installing my router I used to have to turn off my software firewall in order to smoothly battle it out online but disconnecting my gaming rig from the router or disabling certain ports and exposing both my systems simply so I can host a STW/MTW battle online is completely unacceptable. There is simply no excuse for this nonsense, especially with recent 'events' like the MBLASTER.exe worm virus fresh in my memory. I am able to play and host countless other online games with a few clicks of my firewall program and yet in order to enjoy a Total War game online I practically have to turn my system upside down and inside out
- Maintain the integrity of the online TW gaming community - Again we are back to the Gamespy issue. Dividing the TW community into separate online chat rooms simply because everyone is running a different version of TW or its expansion packs is a very bad thing.
- Detailed Post Battle Summary screens. I would love to see a more detailed report for every one of my units that fought in a battle instead of the last 16 or so to see action (if possible, I'd like to see detailed reports for all armies involved if it was a multiplayer game). These detailed report pages should also be added to the end of replay files.
- 'Abridged' Battle Replays- Replays should not include the pre-battle set up sequences. Often in a huge single player or multiplayer battle the pre-battle set ups can take a very, very long time. Maybe even VCR style control buttons so we can fast forward and rewind the replay at will.
These are just off the top of my head. My employer isn't paying me to post in the Org so back to work
I think its a bit too late for this kinda stuff.
to tell you the truth i dont think they bother listening to us anyway.
I'd like the game to keep an obvious running total of what I'm about to spend when I end a turn. It’s too easy to break the bank when a lot is going on. I hate overspending and finding that the building that isn’t started is the one I need the most.
Hurin_Rules
08-19-2003, 22:11
Expanded Diplomacy: You should be able to offer money, resources, rights-of-passage, etc. in order to avoid having to fight everyone at once.
Smaller campaigns: I know CA has mentioned this. I think that you should be able to choose the number of your opponents, or fight smaller campaigns that don't take a month to play (if you so desire-- there should still be a grand campaign for those that want that).
one thing that cant be left out... Horse Archers that can move very fast and shot arrows at the same time...
and i want the unit status to be more "less fixed"... in other word, if you recruit urban militia and fight alot of wars with the same unit, the stats should inprove, slightly.. ex. the moral can increase... that would rule http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif
Brighdaasa
08-20-2003, 00:09
Quote[/b] (Lazul @ Aug. 19 2003,16:34)]and i want the unit status to be more "less fixed"... in other word, if you recruit urban militia and fight alot of wars with the same unit, the stats should inprove, slightly.. ex. the moral can increase... that would rule http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif
that's what they do now, if the average kills per soldier in a unit is high enough, that unit will gain +1 valour (or +2,..), and this has been the case for all previous TW games
when a unite gains valor it adds 1 to attack and 1 to defence, it doesnt effect armor or sheild bonus, and i dont think it effects Morale.
Catiline
08-20-2003, 11:33
i want the option to turn off some of the silly units like the flaming pigs and wardogs, it's one thing not to build them yourself, but that's no good if the AI can still build them...
I also want polybian legions to be rasied as a whole, but with 4 seperate units. IE you can't just build triarii, you have to build the velites, hastati and principes at the same time.
A.Saturnus
08-20-2003, 12:40
Quote[/b] ]I want to see a strategic AI that; a) refrains from initiating multi-front wars; b) builds meaningful treaties & alliances and assigns the appropriate political stance to every faction it comes in contact with; c) properly builds up its provinces; d) adequately defends its high value cities/provinces; e) deploys sensible, well connected trade fleets; f) builds a proper mix of units while consolidating depleted ones and phasing out or upgrading obsolete ones.
Amen
I also would like to see more possebilities for espionage. For example: destroy enemy buildings, steal money, reduce loyalty of enemy generals etc.
In MTW, when you control more than a certain number of provinces, it's difficult to get an overview of what you are producing. Some sort of overview screen showing what is in a province and what is being built there would be nice.
In RTW I guess this will take form as an overview of all cities and their production thingies.
Regards,
Rafiki
Sir Robin
08-20-2003, 14:40
I really can't think of anything not already covered in interviews and previews.
Well... there are two things that would be nice.
Judean People's Front Crack Suicide Squads and a princess named Incontinentia Buttocks
Will there be a Life of Brian mini-campaign with RTW?
Wait, that was three things... aaauuuggghhh
Quote[/b] (Catiline @ Aug. 20 2003,05:33)]i want the option to turn off some of the silly units like the flaming pigs and wardogs, it's one thing not to build them yourself, but that's no good if the AI can still build them...
I also want polybian legions to be rasied as a whole, but with 4 seperate units. IE you can't just build triarii, you have to build the velites, hastati and principes at the same time.
I heartily endorse both suggestions. I wanted to turn off xbows back in Shogun. And the manipular legions ought to be built as an entity at a substantial cost in time and money.
Knight_Yellow
08-20-2003, 18:03
AI that can at least attack with its full force instead of the 1 unit at a time that routs then regroups and rerouts
AI, AI, AI
besides i think it will not take a year.
im willing to discuss my theory on its completion time but its lengthy and complicated.
Sir Robin
08-20-2003, 20:41
Don't see this listed and have not seen it in the interviews or previews.
The ability to build new cities.
The strat map vid seems to show fewer cities than there were provinces in MTW. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif
Having fixed city locations will greatly ease the strain on the AI. However it will be a serious limit on replay value if players go after the same cities in the same locations all the time.
Anyone have official/semi-official word as to whether we can build cities where we want to or if it is limited to predetermined points?
Quote[/b] (Knight_Yellow @ Aug. 20 2003,13:03)]AI that can at least attack with its full force instead of the 1 unit at a time that routs then regroups and rerouts
AI, AI, AI
besides i think it will not take a year.
im willing to discuss my theory on its completion time but its lengthy and complicated.
I have to agree with KY here, This IS Rome after all, and if i play as the Greeks i want the Roman war machine knocking on my doorstep before long. Since Rome isnt unified at the start the AI will need to be updated so it understands that The 4 Factions of rome (including the senate and all) need to work together if they want to survive.
If the AI didnt work together they'd destroy themselves and be easy pickings for the Player or another AI faction. Somthing that comes to mind is a gual invasion of Rome, And i dont know about you but i dont want the main faction of the entire game knocked out before 200 b.c rolls around.
Quote[/b] ]If the AI didnt work together they'd destroy themselves and be easy pickings for the Player or another AI faction. Somthing that comes to mind is a gual invasion of Rome, And i dont know about you but i dont want the main faction of the entire game knocked out before 200 b.c rolls around.
Excellent point. Since we really don't know how these three factions are going to work together I'd be more than interested to hear what the developers have to say about this. I can see the value of having three Roman factions for those last years of the Republic when civil war and internecine political fighting became commonplace but for the first two hundred years or so the Roman Republic should be presented as a unified, focused threat.
In light of this I would like to see an option in RTW which allows all three Roman factions to be played as one, unified faction. This way an experienced human player controlling a non-Roman faction can give the Roman AI faction a serious shot at winning and a novice human player can have the chance to play as the Romans without the hassles of dealing with two other factions.
Sir Robin
08-20-2003, 23:12
I think the roman factions will be very cooperative with each other.
In the Siege vid it shows the blue and red roman factions united in besiegeing a greek/macedonian city.
A.Saturnus
08-21-2003, 13:29
Quote[/b] ]i want the option to turn off some of the silly units like the flaming pigs and wardogs, it's one thing not to build them yourself, but that's no good if the AI can still build them...
Well, I guess that will be so easy to mod that it doesn`t have to be a feature.
RisingSun
08-21-2003, 18:53
Ugh... You guys DO know that I made a topic abut the roman factions working together,and it was never used, right? UGH
Knight_Yellow
08-21-2003, 20:28
i dont think any video we have seen from rome has featured the AI.
they will all be LAN games.
Parmenio
08-23-2003, 03:58
I'd like to see:
Fieldworks and Fortifed Camps on the battlefield.
Legionaires were builders as well as soliders, and they excelled at siegecraft. I want to see everything from caltrops, emplaced stakes and ditches to palasades, seige towers, ramps and bridges.
Additionally I want to be able to loot the enemy camp and take into account the defense and positioning on my own camp. Loot and booty was a big factor in recruitment, and losing your own supplies meant trouble.
Horsearchers who skirmish without micromanagement.
Shooting on the gallop, on the turn, and evading and avoiding connact.
More Units
16 units just about covers a single legion tactically, in terms of legion cohorts plus auxillaries, but the typical Roman field army was 4 legions strong or more. Besides it just feels more 'epic' with bigger armies, while the reinforcement mechanic in MTW feels wrong.
Better terrain factors
Dense woods and steep rocky slopes should be light infantry only. I sure as hell hate seeing cavalry galloping through woodland in MTW. Close order Phalanx formations should have all kinds of problems crossing or fighting on anything except open ground.
Emp. Conralius
08-24-2003, 18:45
I have a few generalized suggestions:
1) Projectiles (arrows, ballista bolts, javelins, etc) stick in the ground. This would bring tons more realism. And from the looks of the graphics in RTW, it would be somewhat dissapointing to see arrows that have missed their target dissapear into the soil.
2) I'm not sure whether this was promised or not, but I'de like to see more 1 on 1 fights during battle sequences. It would make the battles seem a lot more "knock-down, drag-out." I remember reading about during a battle in RTW, a gladiator knocks another to the ground and kills him.
3) Real "Hit-and-run." By this I mean that mounted archers should be able to shoot arrows on the gallop , and perform the "Parthian shot", if you know what I mean.
4) This is a smaller suggestion: if a unit get wiped out totally, i think their banner should be left sticking in the ground in a heap of dead troops.
one very inportant thing... if e only get 16 units in a battle and the rest is reinforcment then they most change the way routing works, or leave battlefield.
If one of my units rout and starts running, not allways can i rally them. So if a unit is "totaly routed", then they shouldnt count as a unit anymore and i should be able to send in some new units and not having to wait for he routed ones to leave the battlefield.
And PLEASE no more "inmortal riding super generals" that you have to send half your army to kill.
And if a gruop of archers is very close to an enemy that isnt attackin them but fighting somethign else, then the archers should be able to "AIM" and shot an arrow wihtout waiting for hes friends. In other words, "free fireing" . http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif
Parmenio
08-25-2003, 22:39
Splines
A three (mouse)click curved group formation for deploying units to conform to terrain features such as hill tops, the edges of woodland (Ideally forest edges would have built in splines edges for unit AI to recognise.), and for addition tactical reasons (Hannibals use of a bowed line, encirclement, etc.)
Rob The Bastard
08-26-2003, 05:01
Were caltrops used back then???
As a defending army you would have time to place caltrops to hinder the attacking army... to divert them into the range of your archers or onto unfavourable terrain etc.
I was thinking of 4 or 5 preset groups of 20 - 30 caltrops or stakes that you place before the battle. Ie. point and click on the location and a key to orientate them.
Parmenio
08-26-2003, 18:49
The Romans were known to use caltrops when sometimes facing elephants. They were easy and quick to deploy, but a bitch to pick up again afterwards. Stakes could also be used to this end but took longer to deploy/redeploy.
In a defensive battle or siege, ditches, palisades, towers, pit-traps and stakes could be prepared beforehand with gaps to funnel the enemy hordes into a killing zone for a massed counter attack.
- Controlling Two or More Armies at the Same Time?- There has been some spotty information here and there which hinted that a single faction will be able to have more than one army on the battlefield at the same time. If this is true and the human player cannot directly control the units of his faction's second army then there should be some way to give general orders to the commanding general of these AI controlled armies. In the very least give us the ability to tell this AI general when and where to move his units and give us the ability to modify his behavior to suit our needs. Examples: Attack freely, Support my Left/Right flank, Hold xyz position, etc...
crushinator
09-08-2003, 19:42
^^ agreed. if i didn't have some control over the ai controlled army i am fighting with i would be very reluctent to bring two armies to a fight ---- i mean, we have all seen the computer ai do some stupid things --- would your trust your troops in its hands??
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