Battles-- Will we be able to watch?

[Martok]

Allow me to clarify:

In Shogun and Medieval, you of course either have the choice of letting the computer auto-calculate battles, or fighting them yourself. I am wondering if Rome will have a third option, which is to let the computer run the battle while we watch. That way you can just sit back and enjoy the eye candy without being distracted by having to take command of your army.

So has anyone heard if this feature might be in the game? And what does everyone else think of this idea? (Yes, I know CA isn't going to add anything at this point, but I'm curious as to what other peoples' opinions are.)

[Ser Clegane]

Haven't heard anything whether CA wants to include such an option - I would love to have it, though (for the eye-candy, and also it would be nice to save before battle and then fight it once yourself and see how the AI would handle it afterwards)

[MiniKiller]

Cant see why it wouldnt be out of the question.

you already have an ai ally commanding jalf of your army if its big enough and if their army is super small can essentially watch a battle like that as is.

[RisingSun]

That sounds like a pretty good idea. Maybe in the expansion.

[ah_dut]

Quote[/b] (Martok @ June 22 2004,09:46)]Allow me to clarify:

In Shogun and Medieval, you of course either have the choice of letting the computer auto-calculate battles, or fighting them yourself. I am wondering if Rome will have a third option, which is to let the computer run the battle while we watch. That way you can just sit back and enjoy the eye candy without being distracted by having to take command of your army.

So has anyone heard if this feature might be in the game? And what does everyone else think of this idea? (Yes, I know CA isn't going to add anything at this point, but I'm curious as to what other peoples' opinions are.)
sounds like a stress inducing option, watching the computer possibly screwing up your bling army http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/angry.gif

[Lil' Timmy]

one thing i'd like to do, sometimes, is watch a battle when two computer-controlled factions are fighting (for instance if i have a spy/emissary/whatever in the same province of the battle). it'd be a welcome break from the game, and, in some cases, it'd be valuable scouting of enemy strengths/tactics.

[MiniKiller]

Quote[/b] (Lil' Timmy @ June 22 2004,11:49)]one thing i'd like to do, sometimes, is watch a battle when two computer-controlled factions are fighting (for instance if i have a spy/emissary/whatever in the same province of the battle). it'd be a welcome break from the game, and, in some cases, it'd be valuable scouting of enemy strengths/tactics.
That wouldbe cool, actually pretty sweet, would also give you a break from always seen your colors out in the field of battle somewhere.

Erm as far as watching your own, I wouldnt be able to or I'd need plenty of backup monitors. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-oops.gif

[Martok]

Quote[/b] (ah_dut @ June 22 2004,11:09)]

In Shogun and Medieval, you of course either have the choice of letting the computer auto-calculate battles, or fighting them yourself. I am wondering if Rome will have a third option, which is to let the computer run the battle while we watch. That way you can just sit back and enjoy the eye candy without being distracted by having to take command of your army. quote]

sounds like a stress inducing option, watching the computer possibly screwing up your bling army http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/angry.gif
That's a valid point, although as Ser Clegane pointed out, you could simply save your game before the battle begins and refight it yourself if you don't like how the computer did. It's not like the majority of us don't already do that in Shogun and Medieval..... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

I would probably use this feature mostly for battles where I was pretty sure of victory anyway, and I suspect a lot of other players would do the same. So I doubt that it would be that big a deal for most people.

[Spino]

I agree with the opinion expressed by others that watching the AI control your own forces would be a true test of one's cardiovascular fitness. Having the option to do so would be nice but I don't think I would get much use out of it.

On the other hand there have been countless times when I desperately wanted to watch an epic and/or critical battle being fought between AI controlled factions in Medieval. If given the option I would find it hard to resist the urge to watch an epic battle fought by major superpowers or a particularly critical battle that involved an ally and some hostile or neutral faction.

[Martok]

Quote[/b] (Spino @ June 22 2004,22:09)]On the other hand there have been countless times when I desperately wanted to watch an epic and/or critical battle being fought between AI controlled factions in Medieval. If given the option I would find it hard to resist the urge to watch an epic battle fought by major superpowers or a particularly critical battle that involved an ally and some hostile or neutral faction.
Oh yes, that would definitely be cool too, I agree. I suppose really, as long as I could watch someone's battles (without worrying about having to fight them myself), I would probably be pretty happy. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-2thumbsup.gif Still, I do like the idea of being able to watch my own battles. On the other hand, I've discovered I'm not exactly the most brilliant field commander (I will never equal El Cid or Oda Nabunaga as a general ), so watching the AI fight my battles for me maybe wouldn't bother me nearly as much as some people.

[The_678]

Oh man this would be an awesome feature. I doubt it would be impleted but I'd love it.

[Martok]

Quote[/b] (The_678 @ June 24 2004,02:09)]Oh man this would be an awesome feature. I doubt it would be implemented but I'd love it.
Actually, now that I think of it, CA may have already implemented this feature--in a way.

I recall several articles/previews stating that during battles you can place AI "Captains" in charge of mulitple units, who will then direct those troops under their control without you having to hover over their shoulders. I believe the main purpose of this feature is for battles where you have a particularly large army, and you don't feel like trying to micromanage so many units at once. (Goodness know I'll certainly be using that feature)

Anyway, I'm thinking we could also use this feature to simply put a Captain (or Captains) in charge of the entire army, who would then fight the battle for us while we sat back and watched. From what little I remember about the Captains feature, I don't know of any reason offhand why that wouldn't work.

If someone remembers more information about that than I do, though, please feel free to correct me. I'd hate to get my hopes up over nothing.... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-inquisitive.gif

[MiniKiller]

Quote[/b] (MiniKiller @ June 22 2004,02:14)]you already have an ai ally commanding jalf of your army if its big enough and if their army is super small can essentially watch a battle like that as is.
while not stated as clearly as urs i beat ya to that statement hehe j/k http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-jester.gif

[Martok]

Quote[/b] (MiniKiller @ June 24 2004,20:17)]
Quote[/b] (MiniKiller @ June 22 2004,02:14)]you already have an ai ally commanding jalf of your army if its big enough and if their army is super small can essentially watch a battle like that as is.
while not stated as clearly as urs i beat ya to that statement hehe j/k http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-jester.gif
Yeah, I remember that too. You can control up to 20 units yourself, and if you have more than that on the field, an AI General will take command of them, up to a maximum of another 20 units. Thus, you can have up to 40 units on the battlefield at any given time. I'm pretty sure, though, that you can still assign AI Captains to your army in addition to the AI General commanding your "extra" units.

For example: Let's say you take the field with 30 units. The AI General will take command of 10 units (I believe you designate which 10 you want him to control), leaving you with 20 units under your direct command. You can then choose a Captain to take control of say, 5 units; and you can choose a second Captain to command another 5 units if you wish, leaving you with just 10 units that you have to command yourself.

So what I'm saying is, why couldn't we go one step further and designate a third Captain to take command of the remaining 10 units? That way the AI would essentially run our whole army for us while we sat back and watched.

[MiniKiller]

true true but ur people wont like the fact that their leader isnt fighting along side them.

I can already smell the bad vice's such as gluttony from just watching battles and the like http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/barrel.gif

[spmetla]

I'd love to be able to assign my whole army except myself the emperor to a "captain" so I could just focus on personal heroics while the army wins me the battle. I'd be like Alexander charging in with the cavalry while the infantry and all his commanders scramble to save his pompous ass.

[MiniKiller]

I see ur point there, have control of ur unit if uwant it but nothing else, that sounds pretty cool.

[Chimpyang]

In a recorded interview the seargent thing was revealed, also they said they were still uming and arring over the forced roman campaign. If anyone can get PC Format i reccoment it in the DVD edition as it has a interview with Ian Roxburg (spelt differently i think) about RTW as well as the videos that are already released.