Battle Timer [Archive]

Hosakawa Tito

09-25-2004, 00:25

Any way to ditch the stinking timer. When attacking you have very limited time to manuever or use your ballistae,sappers, etc. to pound a defender or breach a wall before having to rush in, usually from a disadvantageous spot. I should be able to move my forces for a better angle of attack without some stopwatch telling me too late times up. I even lost a seige because I waited for my sapper to destroy a wall, instead of rushing a broken gate defended by boiling oil that decimated any unit going through. I routed all opposition, but before I could hold the town square long enough... sorry times up you lose. I don't need no stinking timer.

Sir Robin

09-25-2004, 13:15

This is driving me nuts to.

Have not found a command anywhere or an option in single-player.

Have not looked at multi-player yet.

CA or anyone else know how to turn this off?

Praylak

09-25-2004, 16:29

Yes there is but CA doesn't want you to use it.

There is a command line that you can insert into preference text file. But once you start a new campaign the game does a one time check and erases the command from the file. So what you do is....

1)start your new campaign then alt-tab out to your desktop.
2)enter this line in your preference file NO_CAMPAIGN_BATTLE_TIME_LIMIT:TRUE
3) go back to your game and continue to play as normal.

Credit must be given to Silencer for this info found at the .com.

EDIT: Just want to add, you'll have to do this once for every new campaign because the game does the command check at the beginning each time you start anew.

Jeanne d'arc

09-25-2004, 16:44

A bit dissapointing for not letting us choose this in options or something but if it only takes to edit a text file i am ok with that.Perhaps it will be implemented in future patches.

Praylak

09-25-2004, 17:06

A bit dissapointing for not letting us choose this in options or something but if it only takes to edit a text file i am ok with that.Perhaps it will be implemented in future patches.

I never used the timer in MTW, so it takes some getting use to I suppose. I think there must be a good reason for it. I can recall instances where I would wait forever while defending. Like Spain's Jinette hordes doing the skirmish repeat, or the Mongols horse archers trying to soften my troops up while their heavy horse camped on the other side of the map. Standing in a forest, the archers were doing hardly any damage. Instances like those I would have appreciated a timer. Maybe thats what that they are trying to avoid this time around.

Bob the Insane

09-25-2004, 18:22

Really odd that... Are you sure it is not in the options???

In another thread a Dev said the only way to get night battles in the SP Campaign was to switch off the timer and make the battle last until it got dark...

In MTW, as everyone is probably already aware, there is a little checkbox for switching off the timer in campaign battles.. Nothing like this in RTW???

oblivious maximus

09-25-2004, 18:28

Yes there is but CA doesn't want you to use it.

Thanks for passing this on. Why would they not want us to use is? I always turn mine off.

Jeanne d'arc

09-25-2004, 18:59

Bob the Insane

09-25-2004, 19:04

Just to add a little more evidence to my statement:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=36412&page=2&pp=30

Page 2

3. How is it determined whether you fight during the day or at night?

Night battles can’t be fought from the campaign game, and normally campaign battles end at nightfall. But it is possible to switch off the battle time limit, and then battles will last into the night and even into another day. There is also an option to select a night battle for custom battles and online battles.

Soulflame

09-25-2004, 20:13

Well, other people have already said that night offers almost no real advantage, as the ground is still illuminated. But it would add some realism/roleplaying if you were able to battle at night if you wanted to, in the campaign mode.
On topic: so not only did they remove the timer, they put in a safety feature to prevent us from putting IN??
Now that's just absurd. They didn't "accidentally" remove an option, rather, they purposefully DENIED us a choice we would have been very happy to make (and already did in the past). If they purposefully did this, what other lacking features have they willingly removed or even blocked from us??

This issue weighs very heavily in my opinion about the game and CA and/or Activision...

At least one thing is true: "the game is very moddable", but this is NOT what I had in mind when they made this statement...

bhutavarna

09-25-2004, 20:18

i play very hard/very hard campaign. there is no battle timer.

Bob the Insane

09-25-2004, 21:27

i play very hard/very hard campaign. there is no battle timer.

oh....

So it's tied to difficult level now?!?! :inquisitive:

Quietus

09-26-2004, 00:34

oh....

So it's tied to difficult level now?!?! :inquisitive:
No, I also play very hard/very hard. The timer is a watchglass/hourglass to the right of the minimap. ~:). Don't know if it varies per battle but when I noticed it's presence and checked it was set to about 20 minutes.

Nelson

09-26-2004, 00:45

I am astounded that the battle timer is not a menu option. Shogun shipped without it but it was added in the patch after much garment rending and gnashing of teeth. Medieval always had it.

The timer has both its' fans and its' foes. That's why it needs to be where people can toggle it as they see fit.

I always turn it OFF.

Praylak

09-26-2004, 00:49

Thanks for passing this on. Why would they not want us to use is? I always turn mine off.

I'm still trying to figure that one out myself. It's easy to set, but the question remains, why does the game do this apparent one time check each time a campaign is initialized and delete the line if present? Keep in mind I'm only repeating what others have said, I have yet to personally verify any of this and for what reasons. Just can't seem to stop playing long enough to do some looking around.

Cruelsader

09-26-2004, 00:53

I think there must be a good reason for it. I can recall instances where I would wait forever while defending. Like Spain's Jinette hordes doing the skirmish repeat, or the Mongols horse archers trying to soften my troops up while their heavy horse camped on the other side of the map. Standing in a forest, the archers were doing hardly any damage. Instances like those I would have appreciated a timer. Maybe thats what that they are trying to avoid this time around.

Maybe. And maybe just trying to make it easier to defend/more difficult to assult a city. In MTW it definitely worked for AI favour because it rarely assulted advanced fortifications. And yes, turning it off causes some problems, at least in MTW. There were battles in MTW when I had to, as a defending palyer, attack AI because the AI did not bother to attack me.

Praylak

09-26-2004, 01:09

Maybe. And maybe just trying to make it easier to defend/more difficult to assult a city. In MTW it definitely worked for AI favour because it rarely assulted advanced fortifications. And yes, turning it off causes some problems, at least in MTW. There were battles in MTW when I had to, as a defending palyer, attack AI because the AI did not bother to attack me.

Yeah, when put into this perspective, it just makes gameplay sense.

The problem of course is allot of us, myself included, are having difficulty in adjusting. The whole battlemap experience just feels accelerated. Timer, kill rates, running speeds, missile accuracy, etc. I'm starting to see a pattern. I think they've geared battlemaps to swift and exciting, while the campagin map has more depth, more stuff to do, more things to watch for. It's their new version of an equalibirum.

bhutavarna

09-26-2004, 06:56

No, I also play very hard/very hard. The timer is a watchglass/hourglass to the right of the minimap. ~:). Don't know if it varies per battle but when I noticed it's presence and checked it was set to about 20 minutes.

honestly, the hourglass is there, but it's always empty. when i move my cursor over it, it says that no time limit is set for this battle. i didn't mess with the preference file at all.

Spino

09-26-2004, 07:35

I haven't noticed any time limits in battles either. Thank the gods! Maybe it's because I set the difficulty level for tactical battles to Hard for my current campaign?

If I'm experiencing a bug that will be fixed in a future patch then CA simply MUST include a toggle feature for time limits! I can't remember the last time I fought a battle with the timer on in a Total War game.

biguth dickuth

09-26-2004, 12:01

I didn't have a problem with the timer and i usually had it switched on in the campaign battles in the previous games. It actually played a significant role only twice in so many battles, one victory and one defeat for me due to time limit, both in bridge battles. Therefore i didn't care much about it in the campaign and i never had this problem in a siege.

However, as you are describing it, there must be a serious problem with battle-time limit at sieges in Rome so i agree that an option to turn it off should have been included, just for the sake of our freedom of choice.
I don't like it that CA cuts down the available choices.

Hamburglar

09-26-2004, 16:43

I was playing a campaign and I didn't even notice the timer until it bit me int he ass.

I was assaulting a big city and the enemy had FOUR troops left. YES, four little Warband guys huddled around the flag. I had a full strength cavalry running straight at them.

OOPS!

The timer ran out. We lose. I guess all my 700 troops should just turn around and march home since the timer said we didn't kill those four guys fast enough.

I realize the timer makes you move fast but sometimes its ridiculous how little time it gives you. In one map the AI set themselves up on a MOUNTAIN. a BIG mountain. It took my troops 18 minutes to march to them. They got EXHAUSTED just walking up the mountain. So I let them chill out for a few minutes once they got near the AI to rest up for the charge.

BAM!

Time's up. Gotta go home. We lose.

I started a new campaign with the timer OFF. I just wish there was an option. I don't see why they'd bother to remove an OPTION that existed in the other games.

desdichado

09-27-2004, 04:42

I have no timer either - normal difficulty camp/battles and have not turned it off manually afaik so not tied too difficulty level I guess??

Red Harvest

09-27-2004, 16:26

The battle timer seems to be ON for some campaigns but not others. I had no timer for Scipii, but as Carthage the flippin' timer is on. Both were "very hard/very hard." Great! 20 minutes for a battle, WTF????????????? 20 minutes to dig underneath a wall and end a siege... ~:confused: :no: That isn't even enough time to deploy...unless your army is all cavalry. Oh that's right, cav rules in RTW. ~:mecry:

Blodrast

09-27-2004, 18:30

I'm also annoyed by the short times given by the battle timer. It's silly, how can you deploy any tactics when by the time the two armies are within reach you have less than 10 minutes left ? Not to mention camping on the far side... And for sieges, it's outright ridiculous. So far I've always whipped the AI in sieges, and barley made it on time, but all my sieges were laid against crappy (small) cities with crappy defenses... and I didn't have to use siege eq. But when you HAVE to use siege eq, 20 minutes or such won't cut it. That's for sure.

Psyco

09-27-2004, 21:37

Bump

So no one has found out how to fix this yet?

Red Harvest

09-27-2004, 21:53

Bump

So no one has found out how to fix this yet?

There is a fix, but you will have to do it for each campaign, it was posted earlier in the thread:

"There is a command line that you can insert into preference text file. But once you start a new campaign the game does a one time check and erases the command from the file. So what you do is....

1)start your new campaign then alt-tab out to your desktop.
2)enter this line in your preference file NO_CAMPAIGN_BATTLE_TIME_LIMIT:TRUE
3) go back to your game and continue to play as normal."

mp84

09-27-2004, 22:24

Hey Everyone,

Thought I'd give my troubles on this as well.

I've posted in 2 different forums, and while all of them talk about using that same exact command line, and putting it into your perferences file after you start a new game.

I cannot, for the life of me, lol, get this command to work.

Everytime I start a battle, the time limit is still there. And the thing is, I was wondering if maybe that command line needs to be put in a specific place in the preferences.txt file? (If so, then where exactly)

I was also wondering, if maybe, a conflict of versions is occuring here (That is if it has been released in the UK already) Meaning , the people who have gotten this command to work have the UK verison, while the people who have the US version cannot get this to work. (Naturally, this will be negated, if it hasn't come out in the UK yet, or people with the US version of the game have gotten this command line to work or naturally there's only one version.)..

Hopefully, I hear some feedback soon.

thanks everyone, and btw, even with a time lmiit (Although it has been very annoying for some people, but not for me just yet, lol) It's a fantastic game ;)

later,

MP

Praylak

09-28-2004, 04:58

I'm wondering if maybe there's a bug with this or something. There are times I got 15 minutes for a battle, sometimes 20 minutes, I've even seen 30 minutes. Check the hourglass before each battle, and you'll see what I mean.

So either..
A) It's a bug
B) Winter day battles are shorter?
C) Timer has a script that factors in unknown elements and sets the timer depedning on these factors. Siege(length in turns before assault), City defence, wall level, etc.

I'd like to just grab one of them CA guys just for 5 minutes, and ask him 100 questions about this game.

Hey Everyone,
I cannot, for the life of me, lol, get this command to work.
MP

As for the command line not working, maybe try this.
- Start new campaign, press end turn.
- Then swap back out to desktop, add the line to the pref file, save it, swap back into game.
- Save your game, quit.
- Start back up, load your game.

Let us know if that works please.

Colt374

09-28-2004, 05:28

Could it be possible that campaign games have a timer only if you are doing a "Short campaign", but the full campaigns don't have the timer? Can't check this for sure as I'm at work...

My full campaign i'm playing at home doesn't have a timer.

Colt.

Morindin

09-28-2004, 05:36

I have a timer on my full imperial campaign.

Hardly needed it against the Gauls, but I definately need it against the Macedonians.

The time on the timer is in relation to numbers of troops fighting, etc.

khelvan

09-28-2004, 05:39

Every campaign that is played SHOULD have the timer. If you have not taken it out this is probably an undocumented "feature." (i.e. bug) In fact, manually editting the preferences works for exactly ONE (1) instance of the GAME. So if you start a campaign, alt-tab out, change the preferences, get no timer, quit to go eat dinner an hour later, when you return and start the game again you have to edit the preferences AGAIN.

I am getting really tired of doing this. Especially when I forget to do it after I've come back and I run out of time while maneuvering.

Edit: Or perhaps my game is the one with the "feature." :no:

Spino

09-28-2004, 05:46

WhiteSkull

09-28-2004, 19:07

This does not work for me :( started a new game saved it quit loaded then alt-tabed added the line saved the file went back in game ended my turn next turn did a battle timer still on, checked file my line was gone, added line again saved closed, reopen line was there.

went back in game, then alt-tabed back out, checked for line it was gone.

Basicly no matter what i do the lines gone.

And cant play to good right now with a timer, since i am useing the changed speeds i run out of time alot :(

Spino

09-28-2004, 20:15

MarkP over at totalwarcenter.net created this brilliant little utility that lets you turn off the battle timer while in the campaign game!

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9993

Colovion

09-28-2004, 20:47

wow, first ROdeo, now this - wooot markP

Shaitan

09-29-2004, 07:12

I read in another forum (twcenter) if you go in to the historic battle menu exit and start the imperial campaign the battle timer is disabled.

read for yourself

***Solution*** - - Enter the historical battles screen immediatly before you intend to start a new campaign, dont start a battle, instead exit the historical battle screen and immedialty go in and configure your imperial campaign and begin , voila - no battle timer, and it lasts the entire campaign and no preferences editing

Big thanks to Nhiem!

It must have something to do with the game editing the rules for the historical battle and then not changing them back to default for the imperial...

Maybe this could explain that some have the timer while others not.

Hope this helps. I couldn't verify this because I only got the game yesterday and didn't get the chance to play it.

Shaitan

Bob the Insane

09-29-2004, 10:06

Mods for kill speed and unit speeds and a sinple work around for the battle timer... And I don't get the game unit Friday!! Things are looking up... ~D

Colt374

09-29-2004, 10:22

I read in another forum (twcenter) if you go in to the historic battle menu exit and start the imperial campaign the battle timer is disabled.

.....................

Maybe this could explain that some have the timer while others not.

Hope this helps. I couldn't verify this because I only got the game yesterday and didn't get the chance to play it.

Well I NEVER went into the historic battle menu before starting my first full campaign, (I still don't know what historic battles are available), yet I still had the battle timer disabled.
It would be nice if it was this simple, but it does not appear to be so.

Colt.

Shaitan

09-29-2004, 10:27

Well I NEVER went into the historic battle menu before starting my first full campaign, (I still don't know what historic battles are available), yet I still had the battle timer disabled.
It would be nice if it was this simple, but it does not appear to be so.

Colt.

At least we the possibility to disable the timer. Maybe CA will implement the "official option" to turn off the battle timer with the next patch.

Shaitan