RTW multiplayer is dead

[FearZeus]

Well guys,

After 2 years of total war i am now sadly leaving, I have never waited for a game with such anticipation as I had for this game, and yet it absolutly sucks!
the multiplayer laggs, chat is a mess (to use and read) the movement of map is all over the place, moving army in formation is ugly and difficult, graphics os characters from max height is ugly to say the least, I just so unhappy with this games multiplayer side.

As for singler player, well I have not played single player yet but as most friends that know me on MTW know that I am not a single player type person on any game no matter how good, I like to be imvolved with real people, yes I like the arguments and slagging off as well ;)

Anyway I can't see anything being able to fix this game in the form of patches for a long time, besides it just looks like they have not got an interest tbh.

I leave now in search of my next big favourite game and wish all my old friends luck with RTW!

See you guys ~:cheers: ~:grouphug:

[Kongamato]

Hello Zeus, it's Thing

It's too bad this had to happen to Total War games. I can't blame you for having reasonable standards. Keep in touch with us about the games you find! I'm sure the site will be back up soon.

[RTKLamorak]

i played my first.... and last pre-patch RTW MP game yesterday!!

After SEVENTEEN crash to desktops before getting into the lobby (yes i counted), it was worse than i could have ever expected. The foyer interface is FAR WORSE that MTW 1.0 (is that even possible?!?!) , i mean you cant even see pings for crying out loud!?!??! :furious3: .. and i wont even get into the rest. i have NEVER seen a more crappy, thoughtless, unstable, and downright lame multiplayer interface in my entire life, period.

seriously... what a farce. They should be ashamed to release it in that state imo.

Sorry to see you are leaving Zeus, but RTW MP has already been killed imo. Yea their will be a hardcore who will wait for this beta to be brought up to acceptable standards, but all the new players who dont have the patience will be lost for good, so basically the community has been stunted from the word go (i think that is what CA wants tho, why else could it be released before even being tested?), and will eventually die for good (again maybe that is their plan, going by the experience of the last tw titles it wouldnt suprise me).

im so irritated im gonna have to stop there before i get to ....

[UglyandHasty]

As much i enjoy RTW SP, i am quite dispointed too, as in 2 week i manage to log in only once (and couldnt even play as i have felt out of sync).... 1st my game was freezing, now i am plagued with crash to desktop when trying to log in.... :help:

[FearZeus]

Nice to hear from you guys,

I agree totally lammy, it's very annoying indeed... this is not the game i wanted and i am taking mine back for a full refund! hello thing ;) what's up with the forum m8? any ideas?

I will keep to the forums but as for RTW it's the END for me!

[baz]

only 17, i been trying for over an hour.

Its what awaits me that seems to be the scary thing.

EDIT: Hi Zeus

[Orda Khan]

To any CA guys that happen per chance to drop by this thread......

Congratulations!! Does this make you feel good?

Sorry to see you leave Zeus

.....Orda

[FearZeus]

Hi Baz, Order,

I will miss you all on the battlefeild as you will miss my ranting, but i'm gonna hang around the forums for a while, hopefully see if we can get CA to put this game's multiplayer back up there with shogun and medieval ;)
Can you guys beleive that this game is so bad?

[shingenmitch2]

Sux to see good peeps drop out.

[Pitt_Slayer]

hey total agree with your thoughts and other's ~:eek:

to be honest i don't even see this game as another installment of TW game series.

MP is a complete joke :furious3:

the MTW MP forum wasnt brilliant BUT it was easy to understand and gave you the basic infomation ie ping\map\era\florin level and 4VS4
(and it was nice and bright) unlike a dark RTW where its nearly impossible to keep up with the half displayed text chat.

if CA where to totally change the MP gamespy lobby\interface back to something like MTW, i might be interested in learning how to play the game!!!
(in a mp sense)
i find the game speed rather fast and its a nightmare trying to control your units, grouping is a complete joke, and the camara is a pain

with roman factions the foot units all look the same!!!!! :furious3:

hehe and lets not forget you dont need a gamespy account to log-in ~:eek:

[Shahed]

Good luck !

Let us know if you find anything else which has good, stable, playable, inttelligent multiplayer.

[FearZeus]

Good luck !

Let us know if you find anything else which has good, stable, playable, inttelligent multiplayer.

Now that I won't be allocating any free time to RTW I will be dedicating all my time to the best strat game around now that CA clearly don't want this number 1 spot anymore!

Wach this space...

[Shahed]

Roger that !

ohh btw I was out of TW since late MTW:VI, I hoped for the best in RTW MP but now yeah I can assure you (CA) that I won't be buying RTW (unless it's patched to normalcy in MP). I thought I'd buy it for SP, but then again do I really have that much time ? did I not suffer endless hours of crashes with MTW ? Yes I did..... Am I a fool to do it again ? Nope.


I will be around on these forums, since I like them and I like the people here.
See you around !

:charge:

[baz]

Sinan, I just bought it and im put off already.

I have not even been able to play a game yet. I got to the lobby once and was so disgusted by the 1980's geocities style interface i had to leave!

I have heard of beta testing but this takes the P***

[FearZeus]

TBH,

I can only recommend that all of us that have the choice to return our games do so until the patch is out! and if the patch aint done it's job return it again!

There are no excuses from CA to do a bad job on the patch because there are some fantastic topics on here that have already listed the most importatnt bugs, problems, etc

Baz when you do get in a game your gonna be shock at just how ugly is looks there too :(

[d6veteran]

What cracks me up is CAs single response has been that the people in the lobby seem to be having fun.

What most of these players don't realize however is that with the sync issues; they aren't even playing the same game as the other players in their game - LOL!

I'm sure CA will be defensive about the multiplayer and right these complaints off as "can't please the die hards wargamers" or whatever they said in the interview. But make no mistake. These issues with multiplayer aren't rants. The multiplayer right now is a complete failure to deliver even a mediocre online gaming experience.

:(

[Colovion]

This was going to be my first TW game which I would seriously consider being well versed in the MP part of it. I wanted to get good from the beginning and learn new strats along with the rest of the community. Oh wait - what community? This micky mouse developement of the MP experience is driving core members off in droves (as this thread indicates) and forever snubs new recruits who wanted to see what TW MP was all about. Unless a massive patch is released which fixed these MP bugs, the terrible grouping problems and AI deficiencies (to name but a few) - then I can't see myself even being interested in the SP portion or even this forum. There's no need in talking about a game which is hamstringed by problems which should have long been adressed. I've never seen such a lack of polish on a product.

[d6veteran]

TBH,

There are no excuses from CA to do a bad job on the patch because there are some fantastic topics on here that have already listed the most importatnt bugs, problems, etc



I don't know ... I mean the game shipped with 3 showstopper bugs in multiplayer (sync issue, crash to desktop and memory leak). In addition, we've got lots of other things that are steps backwards from MTW. So at this point the most we can expect from a patch is to get a close to MTW multiplayer game with better graphics.

Right?

[FearZeus]

Well,

All we can hope for at the moment is that CA team read these forums and have the decency to let us know what is going on! In the mean time lets just list as much as we can so they can correct everything!

STW and MTW never had any where near as bad a response as this game, and to be honest they need to be working over time to get it right or it will be too late.

[Colovion]

I think Medieval had a lot less hype though - less expectations.

See a paint flaw or scratch on a Porche and it's an outrage - see one on a Celica and it's a lot more "ho-hum"

they know we have missgivings, now they need to do the giving.

[Voigtkampf]

I am so disappointed. :no:

I never played M:TW, not to mention the S:TW online; bad connections. When I got access to faster connections, the golden age of M:TW was at the end and I decided to wait for the Rome; after all, where is the sense in playing Medieval only to shift to Rome - just when I start to be good at M:TW - and be blown away by Rome’s graphics, possibilities and features. I have begun organizing my own clan for Rome, for crying out loud!

And what now? Well, I see all those veterans I was hoping to encounter online in honorable fights cursing the game and wowing not to touch it at all or only to touch it after the patch has come out. By the time I get my clan settled, no one respectable will be playing the damn game, and I can only hope for some “raving fanboys” to fight with!

Oh, yes, I will buy the game. I won’t say otherwise, I know I will buy the game. I have never waited for any game as long and hopeful as I have waited this one (except for Fallout 3, that is, after 5 years been bought off from Interplay by another company and set to status zero: fresh beginning!) and I will buy it and I will play it! And I will hope that the patch will fix the issues at hand very soon.

I will buy the game because I am a stubborn mule. Not because I am an optimist, I have long learned that such a way of thinking is most dangerous one, but I still hope that things will be better.

I will buy the game and play it because I cannot admit to myself that it is (MP part) bad as most of the people say here. In my heart, I know it probably is, but I will buy it anyway.

But I am soooo disappointed and disgruntled and disillusioned… :no:

[shingenmitch2]

Hi voigtkampf

Sorry to hear u never played on-line before. I'm gonna try sticking around the MTW server and hopefully many of the old vets will stick around there too. You might get some good games yet :). Many are still willing to help new peeps.

As for the campaign, I'm seriously getting more enjoyment from HellenicTW than Rome right now. If you get annoyed with RTW, I encourage you to DL that mod, its very well done.

[Pitt_Slayer]

hi voigtkampf

i understand totally with wot your saying :bow:

the problem with RTW is its more like Age of Empires then STW\Mi\We\MTW\VI
most of the Vet's have battled online at one time or another with these tw versions and probably expected a better game that kept the good stuff and improved on the not so good stuff!!!!

well for some reason CA have deciced to aim the new product at 12 year's or peeps with limited abilitys!!

play for 2 week's and be the best,ie 50% win 50% lose but no skill needed
(then start playing doom3)
rather then needing to play for many months before "becoming a ok player"

in all honesty i think this is a end of a era!!!

i could have download rtw from the internet BUT having so much respect for CA work and enjoying MP "i would never do so", BUT i feel cheated
and i suspect many other vet's feel the same

maybe CA should give someone else the opportuinty to run with this game engine, someone more hungary and creative then theirselfs!!!
then they can go and join Eidos ~:handball:

[FearZeus]

hi voigtkampf

i understand totally with wot your saying :bow:

the problem with RTW is its more like Age of Empires then STW\Mi\We\MTW\VI
most of the Vet's have battled online at one time or another with these tw versions and probably expected a better game that kept the good stuff and improved on the not so good stuff!!!!

well for some reason CA have deciced to aim the new product at 12 year's or peeps with limited abilitys!!

play for 2 week's and be the best,ie 50% win 50% lose but no skill needed
(then start playing doom3)
rather then needing to play for many months before "becoming a ok player"

in all honesty i think this is a end of a era!!!

i could have download rtw from the internet BUT having so much respect for CA work and enjoying MP "i would never do so", BUT i feel cheated
and i suspect many other vet's feel the same

maybe CA should give someone else the opportuinty to run with this game engine, someone more hungary and creative then theirselfs!!!
then they can go and join Eidos ~:handball:

Someone like blizzard ;)

[Colovion]

or Ensemble Studios.

They have a good online Matchmaking system - ESO

[ichi]

Zeus:

I want you to know that I truly enjoyed each of our battles.

You earned my respect on the field, and hopefully things will improve to the point that we can meet again. I look forward to that day.

:bow:

ichi

[RTKLamorak]

this is a sad thread :'(

[[PL].Quake]

Did you notice that with each next Total war game the controls are more and more shitty ? I mean the RTW is totally unreadable. After playing an hour my eyes hurt. Colors have no contrast everything looks like washed out. In the battle mode - Oh my fu..in GOD total suckiness. Sweet were the days of Shogun - nicely colored troops and map, very good control cards in 3d mode.. What the hell is this, I cant believe it :/

[Colovion]

this is a sad thread :'(

EmoRome: Total War

[FearZeus]

Ichi,

I watched you improve no end on the battlefield to a point where I myself would have to use every scrap of skill and knowledge to defeat you, and still struggle to do so! Gone are those days now that RTW is here, I would go back to MTW but after 2 years of the same game and no patches to refresh my senses that sadly won't be happening.

As I said in an earlier post, my time will now be spent on reviewing new strat games that even I must admit, may be guilty of ignoring as I was so smitten by the total war series until now!

Lammy, this is equally a sad time for me too, I will miss each and everyone of you, you all tought me so much in terms of skill on the battlefeild to my attitude in life ;) I see myself as a better person for it, and I thank you guys!

Now watch this space I'm gonna hunt down the best strat games out there and report them back here... My mission starts today eheh ;)

[FearZeus]

Oh,

I almost forgot, here is the url for my full list of bugs etc, thx to must of us vets on here.... If we missed anything please let us know!

http://p223.ezboard.com/fshoguntotalwarfrm11.showMessage?topicID=305.topic

[Degtyarev14.5]

Hi voigtkampf

Sorry to hear u never played on-line before. I'm gonna try sticking around the MTW server and hopefully many of the old vets will stick around there too. You might get some good games yet :). Many are still willing to help new peeps.
Hmmm... Might do that now...

Make way guys, I'm a-comin'! :mad:

A.

[Voigtkampf]

Thank you all for your kind words.

We sound like TW anonymous, don't we; “Hi, I am Voigtkampf, and I am devastated for reasons all too obvious”

Chorus: “Hi, Voigtkampf!”

And then we all cry together.

Funny, I never thought I’d be one of those to complain about certain game [i]before[/b] they’ve actually played it! Alas, I am not complaining. I don’t give a jota about whether Bull Warrior is historically correct or not, I never did and I never will. I am just so very much displeased by the way people react to MP opposite to the people that react so positively about the SP part of the game. But when even people like d6veteran (greetings from yet another CoD clan fanatic!) who were, at the beginning, trying to remain optimistic, after all the hardships say “damn, its no good and I can’t keep fooling myself that it is!”, then the darkest hour for all TW fans has come. Woe unto us!

Shingenmitch2, do you remember our slight disputes over the issues of historical accuracies? They were always civilized, yet somewhat hot-tempered… Lol…. I wish that it was the only issue we would have about Rome… Now, sadly, we agree upon the same issue…

Now, I will play MP games and will try to stick to them, but… I am very disheartened now…

And I will build great temples in every province to honor CA if they bring out a patch that will improve Rome MP and the old guard returns to play this game and honor me with great, epic encounters! :bow:

[FearZeus]

Let us all pray with you voigtkampf!!!

CA bring out a patch that sorts out all our issues and you will remain our gods in the multiplayer world of total war!!!

[FearZeus]

Here is a copy of the email sent to activision this morning, I trust someone already contacted CA?

Hi,

Thankyou to yourselves and CA for 5 years of fantastic gaming of which I have thoroughly enjoyed and met in excess of 400 people of those 5 years.

However we (all multiplayers of Rome total war) have encountered serious flaws/bugs in the new Rome total war series which have promptly stopped multiplayers from playing this game, here is the list of problems that all Rome total war players are encountering, some however are things we hate and others are bugs.

1. sort out the join multiplayer drop to desktop issues
2. Copy chat for warhammer 40,000 or go back to MTW that was fine
3. the camera control in a nightmare but i hear you can chage that back to MTW style (yet to try so i will leave this here as a fix)
4. when at max height, can't make the units out and the game looks really bad from max height too (it's ugly)
5. the chat has gona backwards (just one key for allies and all)
6. multiplayer needs 4 v 4 or even 5 v 5 so why go backwards again to 3 v 3 plus it laggs, get this right first
7. flaming arrows seems to add fire to the lagg problem (pun intended)
8. overall the game just looks tacky and unfinished the units look small the yellow arrows you get from a height just look bad etc
9. How on earth did you make the game look so bad when MTW game play etc was spot on you seem to have changed all the best bits and made them worse???
10. can you please keep us frustrated souls updated on what your plans are, or do we all have to take our games back and demand refunds to get the message across?
11. make available denarri flexible
12. make all factions available to all players in the game
13. allow multiple units upgrading in unit selection screen
14. add relog files, how the hell could we ever held tourneys?
15. solve replay issue not showing real battle
16. Syncronicity -- Ensure game state is not diverging during the game
17. Replays-- ensure they are syncronized with game (currently they are NOT--we can't run tourneys without replays).
18. Unit/Army control is flawed--No way to move army and retain facing (in MTW this was alt-left click), no way to have groups within groups (as in MTW). Formation/orientation is destroyed when dragging a line of units: Say you have AAAABBBB units in a group. When you set them like this AABBBBAA and draw a line the result is AAAABBBB again. Units turn back to their original state and your setting/formation is ignored.
19. Grouped units often refuse to take orders (most commonly the run order). Some report un-grouped units are responding to orders directed at a group.
20. When in testudo, if a single unit walks into the formation, you lose control of that unit of the legionaries in testudo formation for the rest of the game.
21. allow Withdrawal/Rout in MP ("W"ithdraw doesn't work in MP!)
22. game info available from lobby
23. allow faction to be selected by more than one player
24. proprietary player names (so some jerk can’t steal your name and ruin your reputation) [linked to CD Key like MTW]).
25. allow “quick chat” (t/y) like in MTW, chat should not fade/scroll so quickly
26. Fatigue bars on units/exhausted units should not be able to run (but they can)
27. allow for custom denari amounts
28. #ignore/#ban commands for gamespy lobby
29. fade-out names for “in game” players in gamespy lobby
30. allow selection of faction color
31. show who is deployed and who isn’t deployed on the battle map.
32. Bring back F1 to view unit stats and players/factions/teams list (and grey out names of dropped/routed players like in MTW)
33. Unit tax for more than 4 units of same type
34. We need 2 keys to toggle run– if you have a group in which half the units are already running, pressing “R” makes them walk. So “R” becomes useless in groups where some units are walking and others are running. We need a “Run” button and a “Walk” button please.
35. Trying to order an engaged non-cav unit to fall back should result in a major morale penalty when they turn their backs. This doesn’t seem to be occuring.
36. Once routed, “restricted camera” mode should not apply to you. Please fix.
38. Look into reports of server lag.
39. Look into reports of host-drop crashing all players computers.
40. Brighter highlighting for selected units (some say it is difficult to tell selected units from non-selected units)
41. Being able to use general’s rally ability without having to select his unit.
41. Kill rate/game speed
43. Balance (cav/elephant) [more testing needed]

I speak for all Rome total war players and here is a few internet forums that may open your eyes to the problem we are all facing, I will report back to the forums as soon as I receive your reply.

http://p223.ezboard.com/fshoguntotalwarfrm11.showMessage?topicID=305.topic

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=31

http://www.totalwars.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4244

Thankyou
John Robinson also known as FearZeus in the total war community.

P.S A patch is surely needed to prevent many vets and long time players leaving the total war series in search of a new game! I eagerly await your reply!

[shingenmitch2]

Voigt,

Lol.

"Hi Voigtkampf. My name is Shingenmitch2. I've been in therapy for two weeks now and off TW and clean for seven days. I'm making progress. I take it day by day, knowing I'll never be totally free of my illness. Sadly, last night I had a relapse. I started hanging around one of my 'old friends' and we got hooked up with another MTW game. I only did it once, but now I have that need for MP adrenaline again..." ~:grouphug:

Actually I feel like an idiot now worrying about Bullsh*t warriors or the improper use of a spear in a phalanx. How minor that stuff seems with the issues this game is facing. I just never dreamed that we'd see the changes/bugs to the game that have occured.

[Puzz3D]

Mitch,

I took shock treatments in the form of the RTW demo. I was physically ill for abour 2 weeks, but then it passed. I haven't touched Total War multiplayer for 2 months, and it's great! I have less frustration, and I'm more productive now with the free time I gained.

[Dionysus9]

Hello my name is |Prophet|Bachus and I have been addicted to Total War for over three years now. I know I have a problem but I am too far gone to bother trying to recover. The most devastating aspect of my addiction is that I have begun taking a new form of total war called "Rome". This version looks clean and potent at first, but after using it for a very short time it becomes clear that it is cut with something awful--probably strycnine or rat poison. I'm getting these awful headaches from the lobby chat, I can't move my troops like I used to (they are scattered everywhere), and I'm starting to have problems in my nervous system. I know the end is near for me and I just want to tell you all that if you don't deal with your TW addiction soon it may be too late for you also.

[UglyandHasty]

heheheh Bachus

The 1st day i played Shogun it was already too late for me.

[Sp00n]

Its not dead its hiding under a giant bug with pointy horns, its actually growing on me although the bugs and missing stuff does suck 2 patches later it may be perfect, doubtfull though, the lack of 4v4 games is a real shame and 3v3 is virtually unplayable and I have cable.

Sorry to see you go Zeus ill miss our appallingly coordinated English World cup games (how bad were we).

Sp00n

[d6veteran]

FearZeus ... that list seems prioritized weird. For example #36 should be close to the top, since outside of the connectivity bug, it really is a game killer.

I would sort out the control issues from any multiplayer specific request.

Also ... #4 ... I like the distance. Not ugly on my machine anyway.

Anyway I just think we should prioritize the issues and then speak together. Laundry lists usually don't get taken seriously in my development experience.

[Voigtkampf]

Our prayers have been heard… I hope so, at least! I still don't have Rome and can’t tell!!! But for those that have it, go over to the .COM, download THE PATCH and tell me if we have the winner. :charge:

OMG, I hate my local game distributor! “When you will get Rome?” “Ugh, sometimes this month…We think…” :dizzy2:

Plague upon thee!

[FearZeus]

Well the patch is out but it's made very little fifference...

I keep getting failed to connect to host? I still have no idea how to setup my napt router so i can host

Bacchus the game characters look absolutley terrible from max height, It looks like they changed the max height in the patch though (it's slightly lower now)

I just hate the way the characters look from max height, you can't make the character differences out without zooming in ( this is way too slow in the heat of battle)

[SouthwaterPanda]

Some advice if I might be so bold...

You need to do some serious work on that list if you want people to take any notice of it. Sending a big list of demands to the publisher or the developer and saying, "Fix all of these or the entire multiplayer community will give up," won't get you anywhere.

That list contains:
- unarguable bug reports
- requests for working features to be changed so they work like the previous game
- requests for working features to be changed for some reason
- requests for new features to be added
- balancing issues
- personal opinion

If you mix them all up as you've done, you get what looks like a long and tiresome rant. I know it's *not* a long and tiresome rant and it's not *meant* to be a long and tiresome rant, but that's what it *looks* like - especially since things like points 8, 9, and 10 are so early in the list and are a combination of personal opinion and hyperbole. (And a bit of a rant ;-)

Play the game with the patch, and draw up a shorter and less melodramatic list, and you'll have more chance of making an impact.

[Morindin]

Well I must say, im having an absolutely blast playing RTW LAN (especially those historical battles! They're great).

Much more fun than I ever had playing MTW by a long way, so I'm figuring most of the problems are the pre-game state, i.e. the lobby, gamespy, etc.

Last night I played a 1v1 Romans vs Carthagians using Pre-Marius armies, I used the classic checkerboard formation (huge units, 8 deep formations) and we had a very long engaging melee of about 30 minutes.
I pulled my histari back when they were getting exhausted and sent in my Principes, and did the same with my Triarii, and it worked effectively.

If the pre-marius Romans wernt so strong the battle would have lasted a much longer time, as I mananged to keep reinforcing my front battleline, whereas the Carthagian general didnt support his frontline units quick enough due to the weaker early Carthagian infantry.

Anyway, in terms of the actual game itself (past gamespy and the lobby) these are my issues, I havnt tried post patch (so these may have been fixed).

Bugs:
Game sometimes slips out of sync
90% of Replays are different from the actual game.
Various other bugs that plague single player (group bugs, movement bugs, etc) plague multiplayer as well. Im sure CA is well aware of these by now.

Personal Issues:
Would love the ability to group a single unit into a control group of its own.
I.E. If I only have two units of cavalry + general, ctrl-5 for left group of cav, ctrl-7 for right wing of cav, and ctrl-0 for general. Right now you cant group a single unit into its own group
Camera needs to be a little bit less restricted, i.e. so you can move to a unit on the other side of a castle wall away from your main group more easily.
It would be nice to have different Denarii ratings for attacker/defender.
You need the ability to withdraw units from battle, so you dont get stuck with a small bedraggled unit on the edge of the map and you cant resign.

Balance Issues:
None so far, apart from the Barbarian races tend to get wasted. Perhaps they need more units per group, I dont know.
Some of the stronger races matchups, Romans vs Carthagians, Egyptians vs Numidians, Seculoids vs Greeks, have all been very close so far.
I didnt think Elephants were overpowered personally, but having said that Id wouldnt want to face them as the Gauls. :)

Specs:
GF4 5800 FX Ultra + GF4 Ti 4200 (game runs fine on max settings on both cards, well done I must say).
WindowsXP Professional SP2
Intel P4 3.0GHZ not overclocked
512MB Kingston 433MHZ Ram
ASUS P4-800 Delux Motherboard + Crappy Onboard sound provider.
256k Up/Down ADSL (Yet to try online play however).

Im sure the online multiplayer community will be able to add to this list in a structured and mature manner yes?

I also think you should post your system specs, so the devs can tell wether your problems of 'laggy gameplay' 'continual crashes' are due to your crappy computer/33.6k modem/outdated video card with 1980s drivers/66% overclocked CPU running at 70 Degrees C, etc

[FearZeus]

Some advice if I might be so bold...

You need to do some serious work on that list if you want people to take any notice of it. Sending a big list of demands to the publisher or the developer and saying, "Fix all of these or the entire multiplayer community will give up," won't get you anywhere.

That list contains:
- unarguable bug reports
- requests for working features to be changed so they work like the previous game
- requests for working features to be changed for some reason
- requests for new features to be added
- balancing issues
- personal opinion

If you mix them all up as you've done, you get what looks like a long and tiresome rant. I know it's *not* a long and tiresome rant and it's not *meant* to be a long and tiresome rant, but that's what it *looks* like - especially since things like points 8, 9, and 10 are so early in the list and are a combination of personal opinion and hyperbole. (And a bit of a rant ;-)

Play the game with the patch, and draw up a shorter and less melodramatic list, and you'll have more chance of making an impact.

I assure you none of this is ranting and I speak for all Rome total war players, I will work on the list as you requested and trust that you will do your best to rectify the problems, bugs, and hopefully yes some of the working issues as they seem to have gone backwards. As for personal opinion yes you right! it's the personal opinion of 300 RTW players ;)

Anyway as you say it needs putting in order and catagorizing, consider it done, and thank you for sitting up and taking notice, I really appreciate it ~:cheers:

[FearZeus]

OK guys,

Read the post above, I need help sorting out this list bacchus your name springs to mind as you already advised me... If you guys can help me with a comprehensive list email me fearzeus@hotmail.com or pm me.

Thx guys...

[SouthwaterPanda]

You cannot seriously tell me that none of the list is ranting. Just at a quick pass, here's what I think of your list:

Bug/issue reports:
1. sort out the join multiplayer drop to desktop issues
7. flaming arrows seems to add fire to the lagg problem (pun intended)
15. solve replay issue not showing real battle
16. Syncronicity -- Ensure game state is not diverging during the game
17. duplicate of 15
19. Grouped units often refuse to take orders (most commonly the run order). Some report un-grouped units are responding to orders directed at a group.
20. When in testudo, if a single unit walks into the formation, you lose control of that unit of the legionaries in testudo formation for the rest of the game.
38. Look into reports of server lag.
39. Look into reports of host-drop crashing all players computers.

Those could be bugs or they could be facts - e.g. "flaming arrows cause lag" may have the answer "yes, they do - tough". Servers may lag - yes, quite true. Some are worth investigating. OK, next:

Change requests:

2. Copy chat for warhammer 40,000 or go back to MTW that was fine
11. make available denarri flexible
12. make all factions available to all players in the game
13. allow multiple units upgrading in unit selection screen
14. add relog files, how the hell could we ever held tourneys?
21. allow Withdrawal/Rout in MP ("W"ithdraw doesn't work in MP!)
22. game info available from lobby
23. allow faction to be selected by more than one player
24. proprietary player names (so some jerk can’t steal your name and ruin your reputation) [linked to CD Key like MTW]).
26. Fatigue bars on units/exhausted units should not be able to run (but they can)
(27. duplicate of 11)
28. #ignore/#ban commands for gamespy lobby
29. fade-out names for “in game” players in gamespy lobby
30. allow selection of faction color
31. show who is deployed and who isn’t deployed on the battle map.
32. Bring back F1 to view unit stats and players/factions/teams list (and grey out names of dropped/routed players like in MTW)
33. Unit tax for more than 4 units of same type
34. We need 2 keys to toggle run– if you have a group in which half the units are already running, pressing “R” makes them walk. So “R” becomes useless in groups where some units are walking and others are running. We need a “Run” button and a “Walk” button please.
36. Once routed, “restricted camera” mode should not apply to you. Please fix.
41. Being able to use general’s rally ability without having to select his unit.

None of those are bugs. The game works fine without them.

And finally, personal opinion and hearsay:

3. the camera control in a nightmare but i hear you can chage that back to MTW style (yet to try so i will leave this here as a fix)
4. when at max height, can't make the units out and the game looks really bad from max height too (it's ugly)
5. the chat has gona backwards (just one key for allies and all)
6. multiplayer needs 4 v 4 or even 5 v 5 so why go backwards again to 3 v 3 plus it laggs, get this right first
8. overall the game just looks tacky and unfinished the units look small the yellow arrows you get from a height just look bad etc
9. How on earth did you make the game look so bad when MTW game play etc was spot on you seem to have changed all the best bits and made them worse???
10. can you please keep us frustrated souls updated on what your plans are, or do we all have to take our games back and demand refunds to get the message across?
18. Unit/Army control is flawed--No way to move army and retain facing (in MTW this was alt-left click), no way to have groups within groups (as in MTW). Formation/orientation is destroyed when dragging a line of units: Say you have AAAABBBB units in a group. When you set them like this AABBBBAA and draw a line the result is AAAABBBB again. Units turn back to their original state and your setting/formation is ignored.
(25. duplicate of 5)
35. Trying to order an engaged non-cav unit to fall back should result in a major morale penalty when they turn their backs. This doesn’t seem to be occuring.
40. Brighter highlighting for selected units (some say it is difficult to tell selected units from non-selected units)
41. Kill rate/game speed
43. Balance (cav/elephant) [more testing needed]

None of that bunch are provably right or wrong, and some are just ranting.

So: there are duplicates, there are points which would make no sense to a casual reader, and there's a general unsorted mishmash of bug reports, personal views, complaints that you want it to be just like Medieval, or another game. And in one case, you're saying "I'm just repeating what someone else has told me about this feature, but you should change it anyway".

I've noted the interesting parts of this list for internal consumption, but you need to see that the tone of the list and its disorganised content is why emails like this only get a pro forma response, or no response at all, when you send them to Activision or CA.

I can believe that the Total War MP community as represented on this site has issues with the game, but if this is the personal opinion of three hundred Rome MP players - name them. Seriously: show me three hundred posts from three hundred different MP players, all of whom back every point on that list, and it'll be a lot more impressive than any one person *saying* he speaks for three hundred.

[FearZeus]

You have noted your issues regarding the list and I have assured you I will work on it asap, I also thanked you for sitting up and noticing and gave you my appreciation.

Now give me a chance to organize it, in the mean time I will also get a list of players name that support the list.

Again I stress, I appreciate your concern and hope you can help us, the MP community.

Thank you SouthwaterPanda

[Tera]

Panda,

I can assure you that most of the multiplayer community perfectly agrees on most of the points mentioned by Zeus. In fact, these points were not listed by Zeus himself - a large chunk of the multiplayer community (found at .COM/.NET/.ORG mostly) contributed to this list. We don't want to present this as a personal effort - it's the collective effort of the loyal multiplayer community.

I agree with you that the aformentioned list contains entries which shouldn't be there, and that the list should be more orderly and explanatory. We will work on this.

But let us be clear on two points:

- if you want proof that tens/hundreds of us agree with the list, then you shall have it.
- It's true - the game "works" without many of the features removed from previous games. However, does that mean that the game can't be bettered? Flexible denari and detailed logfiles, for example - would they hamper the playability of the game or actually improve it? These are not bugs, in fact we do not wish only bugs to be resolved, but we mostly wish additions and improvements to the game. I don't think our arguments are stupid. We fought for most of the aformentioned features over the years, and now we get a new game that trashed most of them altogether. Please bear with us.

Tera.

[CelticFalcon]

I for one would sign that petition anyday!

[FearZeus]

Thx tera,

Basically said eveything I would have liked to say! I only want the best for the MP community and I think we vets know best, please see post above, titled petition.

[CBR]

Well I dont agree with the unit max 4 tax. People can make rules or just dont play with huge amounts of denarii.


CBR

[LRossaRikimaru]

Panda,

I can assure you that most of the multiplayer community perfectly agrees on most of the points mentioned by Zeus. In fact, these points were not listed by Zeus himself - a large chunk of the multiplayer community (found at .COM/.NET/.ORG mostly) contributed to this list. We don't want to present this as a personal effort - it's the collective effort of the loyal multiplayer community.

Tera.

and not only .com/net/org , also all the italian MP community (you can found in the links of this site) agree with the lists of bugs write by Zeus!
if u want we can storm this tread with a hundred of crying italian people ~D asking for patch and bugfixes!!!

please :help: the community!

[FearZeus]

thx for you opinion CBR I might just agree with you, we are currently working over time on a new list please bare with us..

Riki can you put your name down on the list above that say petition please and if your clan is in favour, get those to post there too...

Many thx to lrossa for thier support ;)

[ElmarkOFear]

How about this breakdown for organzing the MP issues:

1. MP Lobby Post-Patch bugs - List the technical problems found: Ex. Trying to log-on and the de-synching problem (if still there).

2. In-Game bugs: - List the mechanical problems with the game such as: Units when grouped often ignoring commands (give examples of this), Units getting stuck in castle gates during seiges, Any pathfinding problems (list units and situations), etc . . . Try to offer up replays or example situations so CA can try to repeat these and view first-hand what the problems are. Will speed up the process a lot.

2. MP Lobby features from STW/MTW which have been left out and which the MP community has found useful: - List the items you miss: Ex. Ignore feature, private chat windows feature, ping listing, more detailed game settings for hosted games, etc . . even requests for changes to the look of the MP lobby (The moving pictures in the background give this old man a headache! hehe)

3. In-Game features from STW/MTW which have been left out/changed and which the MP community has found useful: - This would be for items such as: Logfiles, better replay feature with unit info, status shown like in MTW, more MP maps or a map editor, the "rout" and "withdraw" commands which help shorten length of wasted time in games killing last unit, A classic MTW control/camera view system, simple chat like in MTW (less clicks), 1 player/1 faction limit in the MP games, 4v4 MP games, More host options/abilities (like changing denarii to allow any level to be set by host, etc . .

4. Miscellaneous items which cannot be easily placed in above sections.

5. A wishlist of things which the MP community would like to see added: Ex. A ladder/ranking system, Voice command (like TeamSpeak) included, etc . .


All of these areas need to be sorted 1 thru ?, by importance to the community. Remember to provide hard evidence in the way of Replays, or details of the units, game type, map, and any other details of when/where/how the problems occured. Screenshots would even help. The more info. the better.

If this is done in a non-critical (non-ranting) manner, it will help speed the patching process along considerably and maybe give CA a bit of time to add features they might normally not have time to. It will also possibly give CA some ideas for future development.

I know everyone on both sides is very unhappy and unsettled by recent events. If CA is willing to work with the MP community and forge a working relationship and openly communicate (when problems arise that will not allow changes to be made), I am positive the MP community will stand behind them and give them the benefit of the doubt and possibly offer up some alternatives which would at least improve the problem spots. I think the lack of communication for over a year by CA, has created a bigger problem than if they had just come out and said: "We are changing RTW to be more friendly to new players, but want to keep the MP community satisfied as well." Then run a few ideas by the community (without giving away details which competitors might use) and see what the MP community can come up with.

For example:

CA: We are considering changing the camera views to be more RTS-like, to attract RTS players (who may never have considered this game before). What kind of camera views are important to MP play and how could we change them to help attract this new market?"

MP Community: "Being able to easily identify one's units and the ability and the ability to quickly move around the map are two of the most important things concerning the camera view. The MP community is not as worried about the graphics as they are about gameplay. The camera view should allow easy identification and also be close enough to the action to make selecting units easy, while also being far enough away to allow for an overall view of the battlefield. These two critical views could be set by hotkeys or by a mouse scroll button. It is a delicate balance, but views found in MTW combined with a view such as the -ian command provided would be excellent for MP play. The up-close view could be offered as an option to be turned off by the MP community as well."


Civil discussions such as these would have limited the problems you are seeing today. To also help keep things more organized and simple, the community could elect representatives from each of the main forums: .com, .org., .net. TWC etc . . to be the contact points for the whole community. These elected representatives could offer up ideas which CA would like to discuss, and then lead the community discussions, sort, organize the most important points and then offer them back to CA for them to look at. It would save time from CA employees' busy schedules, yet would offer them a glimpse of how changes would impact the MP community.

If CA's market strategy is to open up the game to the RTS and eventually to the console crowd, then they must also realize that these two markets LIVE for the multiplayer experience. RTS is nothing unless you are beating human opponents: No AI, no matter how good, can stand up to hundreds of humans who analyze its every move. Console games all offer up a multiplayer experience, whether it is a LAN type one with many Consoles being networked, or an XBox LIVE! type of setup. Multiplayer is extremely important to these two groups.

Sorry to have been long-winded, but I felt these items needed to be addressed if the TW series is to have a long and prosperous shelf-life like its first 2 games STW and MTW did.

UglyElmo

[FearZeus]

Elmo add me to your msn messenger, we are currently working on an improved list in that sort of order, can you help out pls i am currently buzzing from forum to forum at the mo so don't have time to read lengthy topics at the mo but will i assure you m8 ;)

[FearZeus]

sorry here is my hotmail address fearzeus@hotmail.com

[Morindin]

Has CA actually stated they aim to take RTS to console gaming or is this just a bitter assumption by many people here?
The logic seems to be "RTW = RTS, RTS = Kids, Consoles = kids, my god, CA is trying to make TW console games!"

RTS games have never really been successful on console platforms, and the best PC RTS games are definately not available on consoles, so this move would really surprize me.

I own a PS2 / Xbox and a PC, and by far RTS games are far more enjoyable on PC and would be extremely tedious on a console machine due to the limited controls (two mini joysticks).
The only RTS game Ive ever really played on a console was Age of Kings, and it was pretty piss poor compared to the PC version.

Im also quite surprized by the comments on how multiplayer and console is everything.
A lot of console games are actually pretty crap in the multiplayer department with a few rare exceptions, the heavy majority of them being ONE PLAYER. The other online RTS games are plagued with pretty much the same problems as RTW - gamespy.

The rare exception is Blizzard games due to the ease and success of their battle.net system they can ignore gamespy completely.

Despite the harping on in this forum, single player is hardly dead.
There was a period a while ago where most FPS games would not even really have a single player part, but Doom3 single player is the only good thing about it - HL2 will definately be single player orientated, and while a few console games are moving to multiplayer enviroments they are sorely lacking compared to their singleplayer counterparts (mostly just being a "deathmatch" only version of what they are in single player).

[Colovion]

Elmo if only the gaming community was organized in such a way where the devs and the community are so interconnected as that....

Unfortunately it's not - yet.

[ElmarkOFear]

Morindin: It was stated in the flash program that came with the RTW Demo download: CA is working on a TW game for the XBox and other consoles. That is where I got my thought on that. The RTS view camera mode, The speed of the battles, The interface, are all typical RTS fare, so I am not far off with my assumptions there.

As for RTS and Console games having a lousy MP experience. That is partly true of the console crowd, but the RTS genre's success has always been its MP side. There are not many RTS games which had a good SP and bad MP that are still around. The successful ones all have a great MP side.

Console games are increasingly offering up MP. Look at XBox LIVE! It has some great MP titles. Most of the successful console games have some sort of MP side to them. Even Pokemon, Mario Brothers, Mario Cart racing for the GameCube, Crimson Skies, BurnOut 3, Ghost Recon for the XBox, and I am not sure of the Playstation 2. This is a huge profitable market. Console game publishers and makers make more money than their top PC game counterparts. I can see why TW would want to join that market. Also, Activision is heavily invested in and involved in the console market. TW would be a gem among gems if it is ported to console in anything like its current form.

The PC has a lot more to offer for the TW series than console, but console is where the money is at. Gotta hope the changes made do not ruin it for us PC types. :)

[ElmarkOFear]

Sorry Zeus I am at work and will have to wait until I get home before I can chat with you. Firewall and all won't let me. :)

[Morindin]

Morindin: It was stated in the flash program that came with the RTW Demo download: CA is working on a TW game for the XBox and other consoles. That is where I got my thought on that. The RTS view camera mode, The speed of the battles, The interface, are all typical RTS fare, so I am not far off with my assumptions there.

As for RTS and Console games having a lousy MP experience. That is partly true of the console crowd, but the RTS genre's success has always been its MP side. There are not many RTS games which had a good SP and bad MP that are still around. The successful ones all have a great MP side.

Console games are increasingly offering up MP. Look at XBox LIVE! It has some great MP titles. Most of the successful console games have some sort of MP side to them. Even Pokemon, Mario Brothers, Mario Cart racing for the GameCube, Crimson Skies, BurnOut 3, Ghost Recon for the XBox, and I am not sure of the Playstation 2. This is a huge profitable market. Console game publishers and makers make more money than their top PC game counterparts. I can see why TW would want to join that market. Also, Activision is heavily invested in and involved in the console market. TW would be a gem among gems if it is ported to console in anything like its current form.

The PC has a lot more to offer for the TW series than console, but console is where the money is at. Gotta hope the changes made do not ruin it for us PC types. :)

Well good luck to CA with that. If they manage to compress RTW down to 7 hours gameplay 12 stages, and extremely limited controls then it might work. ;)

I guess the reason the console market is where 'the money is at' is because you need only make a game worth 7 hours and sell it for the same price.
However computers are becoming increasingly popular with youngsters now, I know a lot of kids from various families and neighbourhoods aged 8-14 who pretty much let their playstations rott away while all playing PC games.
Computers are also so damn cheap these days they're quite affordable.

The longest games Ive ever played on any console in recent times have been Dark Alliance : Baldurs Gate. That's because they're made from Bioware, and RPG games are also very fitting on a console system. Having said that BG:DA is a far cry from the PC version - especially NWN.

I really have my doubts about a 100+ hour RTS game with quite difficult controls to ever be appealing on the console market.

Also, my point about RTS PC games was that yes they have good multiplayer, but they also have very good single player. Infact Rise of Nations recent expansion pack was pretty much totally aimed at single player (and that game has extradionary AI btw).

[FearZeus]

NP thx elmo,

I will be here m8...

[ElmarkOFear]

I agree with all that you said there Morindin. ~:) There are a few RTS games out there that have lousy single player, but the MP is fun.

The new Code Name Panzer game I have heard is not very much fun SP wise, but its MP is great!

I haven't heard of many RTS games on the console that are any good, but RTW had concentrated more on the strategic portion of the game, which I think would translate very well to the console market.

Have Empire Earth, Civilization or any of those been made to work well on the Console? If not, I am wondering why? I think they could work fine and would offer that market something a bit more "filling".

ZEUS: You may want to get in touch with Bachus and you two can help to organize everything and present it in a post here for all to look at and discuss. Once the discussions settle down, then you can pretty it up and offer it to CA in a formal post or listing. I think the community has to look at and agree on the specifics and prioritizing of the issues if you want CA to take a serious look at things.

[Morindin]

I agree with all that you said there Morindin. ~:) There are a few RTS games out there that have lousy single player, but the MP is fun.

The new Code Name Panzer game I have heard is not very much fun SP wise, but its MP is great!

I haven't heard of many RTS games on the console that are any good, but RTW had concentrated more on the strategic portion of the game, which I think would translate very well to the console market.

Have Empire Earth, Civilization or any of those been made to work well on the Console? If not, I am wondering why? I think they could work fine and would offer that market something a bit more "filling".

ZEUS: You may want to get in touch with Bachus and you two can help to organize everything and present it in a post here for all to look at and discuss. Once the discussions settle down, then you can pretty it up and offer it to CA in a formal post or listing. I think the community has to look at and agree on the specifics and prioritizing of the issues if you want CA to take a serious look at things.

Civ like games would work on the console, but I havnt played any good such console versions since the days of megadrive to be honest.
There are a few turn based games floating around on consoles now, such Heros of Might and magic or something, which are midly fun and I got bored of them fairly quickly.

RTW would work well if you removed the battles completely, but the battles are one of the major reasons the game is what it is, otherwise its pretty much an inferior but prettier version of civ games.

[Surprise]

I am totally on CA's side for this argument.
If someone would make a reasonable list that follows CA's Guidelines I would be very happy to support it, and I would expect CA to fix the problems as soon as they could. ~:cheers:

[Surprise]

When you have useless input from many different sources it's a form of hyperpluralism... and it SLOWS things down, so your unreasonable request just make the process longer.

[FearZeus]

Well thanks for your opinion surprise, although not in favour it is still welcome m8 ;)

Thx

[ElmarkOFear]

ELMO LOOKS FOR HIS BAN BUTTON

"OH WAIT!"

I'M NOT AN ADMIN! hehe ~:)

I also agree with what you say Surprise, though I wonder if you read my long-winded post from earlier stating as much, but in many, many more words! I blame it on the drugs . . . if I had any that is . . . and if I could actually get up enough nerve to take them . . . . and if my wife let me . . . . and if I wasn't at work . . . and if it wasn't against the law . . . Oh well, it was a nice thought though!

woooo!

[Morindin]

ELMO LOOKS FOR HIS BAN BUTTON

"OH WAIT!"

I'M NOT AN ADMIN! hehe ~:)

I also agree with what you say Surprise, though I wonder if you read my long-winded post from earlier stating as much, but in many, many more words! I blame it on the drugs . . . if I had any that is . . . and if I could actually get up enough nerve to take them . . . . and if my wife let me . . . . and if I wasn't at work . . . and if it wasn't against the law . . . Oh well, it was a nice thought though!

woooo!

Well structured level headed posts tend to get ignored around here, its more a case of a the vocal whipping each other up into an enraged frency, blowing everything out of proportion.

I think thats more what Surprise is talking about.

[Voigtkampf]

Uh, people… Sorry for off topic, but what connection is the minimum for the Rome? I am stuck with ISDN at the moment, so I’m wondering… Anxiously I’m wondering, in matter a fact. The benefits of living outside of city are the fresh air, lovely nature and a lot of tranquility, yet I still have to struggle to get the DSL connection!

So, please let me know, am I smeared even before I start? Am I sentenced to 1vs1 games? How fast connections do I and my friends need to have in order to play a decent 3vs3 online?



Back on topic: I think it would be a rather good move from all the respective members to state what issues have been truly fixed with the patch and what issues remain. I would dare say that ElmarkOFear-sama has been very consolidate and most perceptive with his constructive post, and that our issues should be directed within the frames and definitions of his proposal. If you require my assistance, I am more then willing to help in any way possible and as much as possible.

Disclaimer (once more!): I don’t have the game yet, I hope to get it within the next week, so my MP experience is virtually none-existent, yet the grievances other respective members have, and surprisingly unanimous, for the time being, have made me worry seriously about the quality of the MP games. Also, hence I have already stepped far in organizing my own clan, it matters to me a lot that the MP part is as good as possible!

[FearZeus]

M8,

Here is the spc's needed as straight of the box ;)

1 gig cpu
256 mb ram
8x cd rom
2.9 gig hd space (plus 500mb for windows swap file
direct x 9b compatible sound card with lastest drivers
windows compatible mouse, keyboard and latest drivers
directx 9b included
1024x768 monitor resolution
3d hardware accelerator card

AS for multiplayer

Broadband

Sorry m8, but CBR has been testing and says he has lagg even on 2v2's and it still testing to find the cause, thx CBR for that m8

[LittleGrizzly]

voigtkampf as of the moment it does seem to be to laggy on 56k i hope this can be sorted though!

grizzy the eternal optimist

[Voigtkampf]

:voigtkampf stares at his monitor:

:intensive amount of most profane coursing:

:calms down, straightens his suit and manners:

:mutters a last, resigning course while he slowly drifts into depression:

Oh, well, this doesn’t surprise me much. I’ll engage both channels and go for 128 connection and pray that I will get a DSL some time soon.

Funny, there is the quote that fits my current state of mind concerning the Rome: Total War.

“It was the best of all times, and it was the worse of all times…”

[FearZeus]

ROFL,

I feel your aggony thier m8, but as of now your missing nothing m8!

[monkey kid]

game killer the CA have has kill a dream 4 can say:"look we can do a new game only for $$$$ not 4 the player" :help: :furious3: :furious3: :furious3: :furious3:

[Shurikenjitsu]

Hello everybody.

Zeus I signed the petition, anyway I want people knows that I don't agree on point 5 of the list and that point 18 is incorrect/not relevant to me.

About point 5 I personally like the way the chat in game is, once u get used to it there is a GREAT innovation: when you use the presetted messages, everyone of the addressed people can read it in is own language!! This helps a lot with people not used to english!
If you select T for chat, then select allies only, then select one of the message (under support for example), if your team m8 have the Italian version of the game will receive the message in Italian, if he has the French version will receive the message in French!!

About point 18, if you select the units u wanna group, you setup them in position AABBBBAA, THEN (only after!!) you make the group you will have what u look for, a group in the position you want! They will stay as AABBBBAA. If you drain a line with them after, they will always keep the order you gived them in the beginning, even better then Med/Vik (in Med/Vik doing this while troops were moving was resulting in different positions then desidered).

All the other points were mainly correct, there is a lot to be done.
Let's have CA working on it.
I thanks all of of you for the efforts and support giving to have this game great as we all expect.

XXI_RAPAX_Brutus

[CBR]

I dont think anyone wants to remove the advanced chat options. Its how you are forced to press several keys just to type in normal chat that is akward. Other games use t and y like we had in STW/MTW and one other key for the advanced options.


CBR

[AMP]

I dont think anyone wants to remove the advanced chat options. Its how you are forced to press several keys just to type in normal chat that is akward. Other games use t and y like we had in STW/MTW and one other key for the advanced options.
- i agree t for all and y for allies was simple and fast. they should have just left that alone and added an extra letter to press that brings up the list for chatting to just one player.

i'm ok with the camera controls, i've changed it to the way i like. still can't figure out how to keep the same facing when moving a distance with the whole army, is it possible? also gets annoying when a general dies it dose that scene of him getting killed close up... no need for that. you could be in the middle of giving orders or preparing for a charge.. and every secound counts, is there a way to disable this?

also miss the private chat box and 8player battles...

so many changes.. why why why?

[Aelwyn]

If you group your whole army together, then redraw them on the field with the whole army selected, it will draw them in their current position (thus keeping the army in its formation). So you can basically draw the army wherever and with whichever facing you want.

[7bear7yogi]

I agree with Panda that the "list" is a bit disorganised but maybe thats because of the sheer weight of bugs glitches and things that could do with patching. Perhaps Panda has lost sight of the fact that many many Rome players have graduated from Shogun and expect certain features to remain as standard simply because they enable effective MP and tournaments or allow us to talk honourably without flaming or name misuse. Many of the key features of Shogun were hard to improve upon and were carried over to MTW and VI. To ditch them or ignore someone who has spent much time putting together a list of suggested improvements (even if a bit muddled and in one or two places personal opinion) is doing great dishonour to the TW community..... I will be signing the petition... :charge:

[d6veteran]

Regarding TW for the console. I don't know how old this crowd is but anyone played the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series on the Nintendo consoles? Or what about Nobunaga's Ambition?

It isn't unlikely that TW could succeed on a console.

There is a history of successful historical strategy games on the console platform in japan.

[AMP]

If you group your whole army together, then redraw them on the field with the whole army selected, it will draw them in their current position (thus keeping the army in its formation). So you can basically draw the army wherever and with whichever facing you want.
- ok thanks Aelwyn. i'll have to try that out, i've been trying to just use the alt and shift and it would always be out of place.


I don't know how old this crowd is but anyone played the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series on the Nintendo consoles? Or what about Nobunaga's Ambition?
- i've played shigen the ruler and all of the romance of the three kingdoms for nintendo and sega consoles. played them for yrs by myself and with friends, they were great times and great games at the time. oh and i would always crushed my friends to the point where they hit me or throw and break a controler.. i loved it. ~:)

[ElmarkOFear]

There have been many a times on the battlefield against you AMP, I would have loved to hit you too!! :duel: ~:)

[Sp00n]

There have been many a times on the battlefield against you AMP, I would have loved to hit you too!! :duel: ~:)


LoL

MizuSp00n

[hellenes]

The ONLY thing that i have to add is that the games with weak multiplayer loose money from PIRACY...Single player games cant fight it since the CD key is not worth anything if the MP is weak...If you can read russian and visit some ru tw sites you will see how much of the RTW has been downloaded via emule/bought illegal copies...In greece the piracy is being fought but its still a MAIJOR part of the PC games...The common thought of any south/eastern european gamer is:well what i want to play MP or SP? SP? then ill pay 5 euros for the illegal copy and play it...You just have to see what happened with Blizzards WarCraft III ANY internet Cafe in greece that has it has the 100% LEGAL copy NOT because they cant have the illegal BUT because they CANT provide Battlenet feature without the legal copy...And as long as the CA/Activision dont provide a MP campaign no matter how good/stable the current BIZZARE (yes it is because all that player want to build armies in mp) for the common RTS players MP gets they will see themselves behind Blizzard,EA etc(note The battle for Middle earth)...

PS An older post of mine at the .COM
the whole hosting-quitting-dropping etc etc is a NO for a MP campaign wich will have to be a single grand campaign going online with commanders and subcommanders taking their place if one drops-quits-disconnects also its a TURN BASED campaign so one leaving on the camp map wont cause many probs since the option of the replacements could be relieving...
Second the MP campaign isnt vital FOR the "staggering numbers" of the users online its inorther TO HAVE stagerring numbers....The present online part of the game looks bizzare and awkward to the other (note:majority) RTS ers the whole bre battle selection and lack of strategy (yes the TW series are TBS-Turn Based Strategy+RTT-Real Time Tactical games) with only the RTT part online has only a small potential to draw the other Strategy gamers off the resources gathering-click-fiestas RTSes....The low level of the Programmed Oponnent makes the boredom unbearable in the later stages of the game as the lack of the diplomacy (there is NO diplomacy with a PO)....
My feeling of the present MP is that the sterilised and artificial battles drew away all the feeling that i had from the first contact with the game in sp.
The "mirror" like laboratory flat battles with ideal "non benefiting/giving advantage" sterile enviroments made the all thing pointless in a way.
Although remarcable the exeptions of the above majority fought in hilly desert and other enviroments battles couldnt take away the tasteless feeling and smell of drugstore of the whole process.
However as it goes if you dont have smthing u are forced to live with what you have so the sterile enviroment keeps its existance and the community after the disdain of the CA to the idea of creation of an MP campaign remains IMHO prisoner of the sterilised encounters...

Hellenes

[Shurikenjitsu]

THIS ISSUE MUST BE ADDRESSED IMMEDIATLY!!!!

Anyone can modify the stats of the game and play online!!!!
It works!! Potentially we can modify troups and cheats, in order to have unbeatable army!?!?!?!?!

This should addressed urgently, otherwise will be impossible to play Online....No way to make tournament or even in a friendly battle to control if your enemy plaied correctly.

UNBELIEVABLE.... :furious3:
What kind of programmers created this game????
In Shogun we had a great room, was also possible to create personal rooms for chatting and hosting game, Med/Vik was improved on most things (but this one), now Rome seems coming from noobs programmers!!!

Brutus

[CBR]

Yes its known by some and CA has been informed about it. We just wanted to keep it down so it wouldnt ruin MP for everyone..


CBR

[Oswald]

[QUOTE=Shurikenjitsu]Hello everybody.


About point 18, if you select the units u wanna group, you setup them in position AABBBBAA, THEN (only after!!) you make the group you will have what u look for, a group in the position you want! They will stay as AABBBBAA. If you drain a line with them after, they will always keep the order you gived them in the beginning, even better then Med/Vik (in Med/Vik doing this while troops were moving was resulting in different positions then desidered).


XXI_RAPAX_Brutus


Shurikenjitsu are u sure? Can you give me the control key sequence, I would like to replicate this. And I am sure others would too.. If necessary we will alter the point.

[PaolinoPaperino]

Oswald:
what Shuri means is this(I think):
-Select with CTRL hold several units, then press G to group them.
-now try to drag the group, the sequence selection is kept, and u can choose how to orient the group as well.

[Puzz3D]

You'll see some little green triangles and an arrow when you are dragging and pressing the right mouse button. You can then point that arrow in the direction you want by moving the cursor around. Once you release the right mouse button, you can use the space bar to see the yellow triangles where the units will end up.

[Shurikenjitsu]

Cya Oswald M8 (guess you are HM),

What I do is this:

I put on the field the infantry (as example) in place, each unit one by one.
For example I put a anticav unit at left, dragging it to have exactly the formation/lines I want, then I put the other units doing the same in the position I want. At the end I select all of them (with CNTRL button pushed) and then press G to make a group.
Doing this I have a group of Infantry in the desired order, and with the desired depth of anyone. From now on, any time you try to position/move the group on the Battlefield, they will keep the same order and depth, anticav will always stay on the left...
The only problem is that at end of battle, your units have many losses, and in this way they will keep always the same position/depth, resulting in a big distance between them (if for example I have 10 units left on one and 7 on another). The easy workaround is to select the group, press G to dismount it, then redrag the units on battlefield (at this point you will have all your previous group selected) and then press G again, to have a reasonable group for the end of the battle.

XXI_RAPAX_Brutus