How would you do it?

[Lacker]

What would you do / add? This game has so many great things for me that it's like just sitting on the brink of perfection. This almost makes the things that are missing all the more obvious. If I could do do anything I think I'd

1.) Try to do somthing about the combat graphics. The landscapes are INCREDIBLE, the units, above average. It would be grand to have units whose detail blended better with the maps.

2.) Make diplomacy a little complex. Make it less perdictable and more realistic (for example, when whooping up on an enemy, I've NEVER seen them accept a cease fire. 13000 troops ready to invade Champagne, and the French turn ME down?...do you hear that rumble in the distance? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-surprised.gif )

3.) I'm kinda a stickler for history, so I think it would be neat if the game kept kind of a running log of events for your empire. Beginnings and endings of wars, family trees that date back to the beginning of your game, who married who etc. I do this with an accountants notebook I have but it does take awhile)

4.) enable you to design your own castles while in the game, and make the sieges more interesting. Ladders, hot oil, fire etc. I've seen bits of V I and I do believe those are flamming arrows http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-2thumbsup.gif nothing helps a good steel and iron slug fest like lighting the whole area on fire

just some thoughts I'm sure I'll think of more once I hit the Post New Topic button http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-yes.gif

A

[Mysterium]

1) Castles. Absolutely. I want to be able to design my own, but failing that, I'd accept a much better seige engine. My 600 archers are actually useless in a castle? What?

2) Diplomcay. Vassals, getting tribute, feifdoms. Medieval politics were some complex stuff. There should be more that just "Friends, not friends, enemies."

3) Geneaology I don't think there's enough about titles moving around by marriage.

I think that if MTW and Europa Universalis II had a lovechild, with maybe a bit of Stronghold in there, that game would rule the world.

[Ludens]

1) Castles and provinces come with their own garrisons and militia's. This would be a cheap way of defending provinces, but they can't be used to attack. They can of course be reinforced with professional soldiers. This is realistic, makes attacking more difficult and defending more easy.

2) Diplomacy ought to be somewhat more extensive and a lot more intelligent.

3) A better campaign tutorial and a better manual. I don't mind that I need to find out what works, but I do mind that I have to find what to work with.

I don't know whether 'castle design' is good idea. It would be fun, but how would you implement it? I don't mean the building phase, but the calculation of costs, time, strength of specific spots, etc.

[Mysterium]

Yah, the difficulty of implementing castle design would be prohibitive. *sigh*. I'll just have to go back to "Castles" or "Lords of the Realm" for my architecture fix. But even if I can't design my own castles, I still want an improvement in seiges. The useless-ranged-troops-in-castles thing really bugs me.

Garrisons would be a huge improvement, though. And much more realistic. Hordes of troops that could be called up for defense, but because of farming/cost could never be taken on offensive forays.

[NewJeffCT]

1) Make some of the agent lists a little more user friendly – midway through the game when you have a bishop or alim in every province on the map, as well as emissaries, spies and assassins and you are looking for your 4 star inquisitor after you have not played for a week, it can take a very long time to scroll through your agent list. Maybe make it sortable by agent type?

2) Groupings of reinforcements. Rather than a specific order like VI supposedly brings (I do not have VI), I would like to be able to specify – bring on a sword unit, or a spear unit, or cavalry or missile unit. If you are defending against 13,000 horse archers and the like from the Golden Horde, it would be nice to be able to send off an arrowless unit of archers and replace them with another unit of archers.

3) A little better manning of the homelands from the AI. I hate to see the AI empty out provinces of any garrison whatsoever and see the province rebel almost immediately. Why not keep at least 100 men in the province if at all possible? Also, I hate to see the AI move around huge stacks – back and forth – over a period of several years.

4) A little bit more complex diplomacy and coordination by the AI. By the 1220s, nobody will ever ally with me, or listen to my offer of a ceasefire, even if my king has a 9 influence.

5) Better ship combat. Right now, no matter the difficulty level, it almost always pays to be the attacker when you are fighting for control of the seas.

[Seven.the.Hun]

1. better AI, no brainer...

2. letting AI makes moves AFTER you do, this ruins stuff and makes alliances difficult...this should at least be random...

3. the alliance system in general, if allied to everyone and just one of them attacks you, and then u'd be lucky if one of your allies remains allied to u in following year, that's messed up...also having the pope crack down on YOU, when u were not attacked...

4. sending armies into allied lands for aid, or sending funds...or having allies aid you as such...would be excellent

[Seven.the.Hun]

oops, for 3. i meant when u are attacked by like say a fellow christian...and pope sticks his nose in when it wasnt your call...sorry i screwed that up... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

[kiwitt]

I would like the agent lists to be better arranged. Maybe, a different icon for spys/assassins/emmissaries and one for priests/bishops/inquistors/cardinals/etc.

[Cebei]

There are many things that can be ameliorated, but two things just came to my mind;

1- In the history of Islam, Sunnite and Shiite muslims are fierce rivals; even more so than the catholic and orthodox christianity. Game does not distinguish between these two, and accepts them as single = islam. This is not realistic at all. There has to be 2 sects of Islam (there are many minor sects, but at least these two major has to be there) and for example Nizaris and Hashishins (historical units of the Ismailiyah sect - Shiite) shouldnt be in the same army with the Sunnite units..

2- The "Turks" thing altogether. The green fellas are not the only Turks in the game (most of the grey area on the Asia, Golden Horde and Mamluks of Egypt are Turks too) and green turks are either called Seljuk Empire or Ottoman khanate (state later, empire later later http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wacko.gif ) according to the respective year.

[Knight_Yellow]

Make the Ai not whore hills

Make it charge with a large line of infantry and try to flank with cavarly or light infantry.

make it not be so retarded.

Stop the Ai from sending 1 unit at a time against my defences.

[katank]

yeah diplomacy definately needs reworking. When I decide to give a crippled faction a last chance at survival by offering an alliance, they reject me. Do ya hear dat rumble in the distance of my overwhelming force?

There also needs to be at least a mandatory period of peace before an ally can back stab you. Rise of Nations has a good concept in enforcing that.

The AI also needs to conserve cash and micromanage. watching them being piss poor and not being able to afford ships to trade is just pathetic.

The AI also needs to not do blatant things like senting 4 or more strategic pieces into your provinces to scout for impending attacks. Can't they use the darn watch towers? Although I guess that counts as warning for back stab.

I would also wish more guts from the AI and more charges rather than some times just marching off the field for no reason. They also try stupid "ambushes" that leaves their king/general out in the open to serve as target practice for your missiles.

BTW, I wish there was a way to designate a second in command so that my forces don't all just melt away if I have a only slightly inferior commander available.

[Tepes]

The diplomacy really should have been more complex, as in the game the difference between having an alliance with a country or being neutral is almost non-existent. I have been attacked by long term allies in almost all my games.
Your idea about historical details is nice, too.

[Phatose]

Crusades/Jihads shouldn't be movable on the turn they're built.

Crusades/Jihads should use allied shipping from the neareast place with a port and the connections - the french shouldn't have the right to march into Spain to get on my boats to go to Khazar. Cause we all know they just want to steal my border garrison. Make them ask to get on the boats, without entering my area.

Crusades should only be allowed to suck up soldiers from a garrison once per crusade - no camping crusades to drain off garrisons.

If a crusade/Jihad hasn't made progress in 5 years, it should disband and fail automatically.

Fleets shouldn't be able to blockade a sea area on the turn they move into it.

Fleets shouldn't be able to blockade a sea area if the other side has a larger fleet in the area.

Refer to the opponent by their faction name in naval battle results, not just 'enemy'

Catholic factions who've conquered the pope should be able to crusade under their puppet pope.

Remove the 60% conquered vice penalty. Leave in the loyalty penalty if you must, but the bad vices roadblock does little but cause players a micromanagement nightmare.

Allow a MOO2 style province summary, complete with info on the governor, loyalty, income, expenses - and what they're building, with the ability to directly issue build orders.

Sort options for the agents list. By location, in alphabetical order, with units on missions first doesn't help me much, and scrolling through 250 spies to figure out where my inquisitor got to is not fun. Ideally, a sort priority list - Ie, Sort by mission/no mission, then sort into agent types, then sort agent types into valor, then finally sort by location.

Review panel for what happened that year - IE, press the button and it shows the year begginging summary again.

"Do not follow into enemy territory" setting for agents. Too many times, I've ordered a hit on a princess spying on my border provinces in France, only to learn of a dead Assasin in Pango-Pango the next year.

If you take a province without a battle, buildings in the province shouldn't be destroyed. So, if you bribe the only army in a province, you should get it intact.

If your king dies, and the prince that replaces his is a 50 year old man who's been married since his 20's, he should have some heirs. Nothings worse then having a king who lives to 80 die, then having all his sons die of old age in short order because only the king is allowed to have sex with his wife.

[kawligia]

Get ready for a long post...

1)You should have the option to allow allied victory. As in if you and your allies are the only ones left you can choose to end the game with a "minor" victory...kind of like the 60% thing.

2)Also the longer you are allied with a country, the more "friend points" or whatever you should receive. They will be more likely to stay your friends and more likely to help you out. You should also get brownie points of this sort with the pope as you become a "good catholic".

3)I don't think you should be able to crusade against the orthodox....but you should not get a warning for fighting them either.

4)The agent screen does eeds a revamp.

5)FOR GOD'S SAKE REWORK THE SEA BATTLES They are an important part of the game, and yet they are the most arbitrary, stupid, and rediculous thing of all....that includes one galley "blockading" 8 fleets of gun galleys, and especially when the lone galley simultaneously sinks powerful ship after ship. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/angry.gif

6)Also I think it would be cool if there were a way to build units to add to a "reinforcement pool". These units would automatically refill units for you from ones in the pool without having to keep track of all these units going all ove the map and back. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-lost.gif Its an hassle. They could also be required to follow the rules of troop movement. Unbroken line of ships to the capital (which you should have by the way) to the army and maybe an extra turn for armies that aren't next to the sea. Also if your army is cut off from reinforcement somehow there should be a little symbol like the one that tells you how many stacks are in a crusade. It would be really cool if the reiforcements acted like an agent as it moved around the map until it met up with your army. Then you could see how long the wait will be. Better still, there could be a button on the general's screen to "call for reinforcements" and then the process would start.

I really think that would go a long way to help organize and keep track of your armies.

7)next you should be able to drag and drop to move multiple units or agents across the map at once. There should also be a "go to" button with a list of provences in alphabetical order.

8)Back to the friend/enemy points idea, things like having bishops to increase the faith should gain points for them and for the pope, and using inquisitors and spies/assassins should loose a lot of points. Also If you get a failed/or successful assassination on you and it tells you that they are certain it was so and so who is your ally, you should have the option to break the alliance and possibly declare war.

Next, if you do not have any male heirs, you should be able to marry your daughter to your favorite general and have him become king. This shuold of course come with lower influence for the new king and reduced loyalty for his people.

9)As for v+v's they should be administered in a more intelligent manner. No more conflicting v+v's, no more spontaneously becoming a "chinless wonder" when you're in your 30's. Also on the v+v summary screen, there should be a mark next to generals that are important...those in command of more than their own unit, or those who hold titles....I really really really dont care about the rest. Also there are WAY too many drunken blackmailing perverts out there in command. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-no.gif Also many if the v+vs you never see like "Tyrant" ans a bunch of others I can't hink of right now..probably cause I never see 'em http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif . Finally the good virtues never seem to come around. My generals are all to quick to become hedonists and perverts, but they never seem to get "good attacker" even though they win often by incredible margins. Jeez what's it take guys?

10) Cavalry should have a trample option.

11) You should be able to form right of passage agreements

12) Skirmishing units should skirmish to ALL enemy troops, not just the ones they are firing at.

13) Archers should have more ammo. I refuse to believe that they would march into battle with that little ammo.

14) There should be a box you can check to make a provence continually produve a unit or agent until you tell it to stop...or at least have more than 5 boxes.

15) Last but not least, the more influence you have the LESS likely people should be to cross you...not the other way around. And also factions and the end of their rope should be begging you for permission to live, not spitting in your face.

[solypsist]

I'd like to see a little summation of events at the end of a game (SP campaign), like in Civilization 3. You get the map, and then animation showing over time who conquers what, and comparisons with other empires at the bottom (power, etc.)

[ichi]

A lot of the ideas have been mentioned, like improved AI, sea battles, sortable agent lists, better V&V assignment.

I should be able to right click on an agent and get a popup menu with a list of provinces, so that I can select a province on the other side of the map, thus greatly reducing the amount of time dragging agents around the world.

Maybe be able to do the same thing with armies, like setting a rally point so they would take the quickest route, so that I could return those Knights to the correct province for retraining - just send em and forget.

In a battle units should be a little smarter; right now they will just walk past an enemy unit or let themselves get smashed without much independent reaction.

ichi

[Aurelius1]

Quote[/b] ]There should also be a "go to" button with a list of prov(i)nces in alphabetical order.


I love that one. There's a lot of good ideas on this thread

The only one that hasn't been touched on is an ingame notepad. I know, I know, I can just alt-tab to the notepad outside the game, but somehow seeing a small horse in the backseat of a Trabant while making notes on which scraps of troops from which provinces I want to unite to form a cohesive, high valour force to invade Toulouse with really poops in my immersion pool, not to mention I can't survey my provinces while I'm writing. What kind of king can't make notes? Even Charlemagne had Nottker The Stammerer's ancestor to let him in on the literacy trick.

Not to mention that I'm not really a poster boy for temperance...

[R'as al Ghul]

I think the AI needs the most improvement.
In every single way.
A rant:
The AI is an economic idiot. Not able to build up decent forces. I'm tired of fighting feudal units plus UM and Peasants (with armour bonus Muhahaha..) in Late
Remember Age of Empires? If you suppose for a second that the AoE AI would play MTW (silly I know) you would be rushed by Gothic units of the most ferocious kind as soon as the clock would hit Late. Of course he would have an unbelievable trade empire in an impossible time....
Now honestly, how can it be that the French are training peasants in High when they own the Holy Land, Flanders and several other rich provinces. He should disband, retrain or just produce some good units. Gah
What am I producing Chivalric Knights for if Mounted Seargeants can do the job?
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-furious3.gif

[kawligia]

medmod seems to help with that R'as. I've been using it for a while now and I always see a good collection of troops. There are still some early militia units around, but there are also some much stronger units too. And the troops are varied...you won't see an army of nothing but archers...except in re-emergences. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

If I could have only 3 wishes, it would be

1)better AI in matters of economy AND troop producement

2)My idea about the reinforcements be implemented. It would take ALL of the micromanagement out of retraining and keeping your army ready.

3)Better sea battles/blockades

In that order.

[Auxilia]

1 Sieges - totally agree - one of the VERY few features that has the word 'afterthought' written all over it.

2 Naval battles - they could've done this really well but didn't bother - a real shame. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/angry.gif I'd make it harder and riskier to transport armies by sea.

3 Better AI - make it impossible to empire build just by grabbing up rebellious provinces (OK so it's my favourite tactic). The original owners never seem to want them back http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif . Also I'd make alliances more realistic by allowing players to co-operate properly with allies.

4 More historical accuracy - yep agree with this one too
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif