Help! Problem with my game!

[Veresov]

Hello,

The Germany computer player had a good attack with two big armies on one my cities. It breaks off its attack and now just sits there for already several turns doing nothing. The Gaul computer player is just sitting by doing nothing with a big army (i spyed it) while I conquer a city.

Is my game corrupt? Should I reinstall it? I used the 1.2 patch.

Thank you,

John

[Wishazu]

did it break off its attack after you saved and reloaded your game? if so thats just a bug that currently cannot be fixed :( well, some people call it a bug, CA calls it a feature, the AI re-evaluates its position everytime you save and reload so often it can be laying siege to a city but then wierdly change its mind after a save etc.

[SpencerH]

Sounds like "the feature" in action. If you can, leave the game running all the time. Its not much of an answer but it's pretty much all we've got.

[tibilicus]

Just the dumbness of the A.I mate. I have 3 egyptian armies at my door doing nothing as parthia.........

[Veresov]

So this is either a bug or how the AI normally plays? Thats not good. Are there plans to fix this?

Thanks,

John

[Veresov]

I don't understand why I need to keep the game running and can't save the game. Why is this a problem?

[Rapidly]

I don't understand why I need to keep the game running and can't save the game. Why is this a problem?

Tons of info/rants available about this bug/feature, just look back for anything on the save/load/siege bug. Loading a saved game, including "continue campaign," activates it, therefore if you never quit/shut down it won't be a problem. Another workaround is to play at least 5 turns per session so the AI has a chance to finish any sieges it's started. The main problem with it is it cuts your computer opponent off at the knees because they can't expand, which makes for a pretty boring game.

[drone]

If you want a non-venting, rational research thread about the load/seige bug, the Ludus Magna has it here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=45860

It's a lot of reading, the gist of it is: play long sessions without loading any saved games, especially early in the game. If you can get through the first 20 turns in one sitting, it helps a lot. Later in a campaign, it is difficult to get through a lot of turns in one go, but try for as many as you can.

[Veresov]

The link is pretty technical and I don't understand enough about the game.

It sounds like this game uses checkpoints that have to be a least 20 turns. Smaller turn save checkpoints cause problems. This stinks. Not everyone can play this long in one stretch. What a stupid thing!

[drone]

It's not quite that bad. From the CA official announcement on this, the AI will reassess what it wants to do every X turns, with X still being unknown. However, it will do this reassessment always on a game load. The reassessment will cause sieges to be broken, and sometimes it will look like a enemy stack found a brewery in the countryside and decided to stay for a while.

At the start of a game, most of the factions will try to take over the rebel towns to expand. Reloading during this time can cause sieges on these towns to be broken, armies to be recalled, and the important expansion postponed, meaning it's easier to beat the factions later on. Since during the early game the turns go by quickly (not as much city management or fighting), if you can go the first 20 turns without reloading, it will make for a better game later.

Once past the initial expansion, people are still uncertain about the best way to proceed. If you can leave the game running all the time (minimized), that seems to be the best approach. Otherwise, try to go at least 5 turns in one sitting. This will give the AI a chance to start and hopefully finish a city assualt.

The posters from the Ludus Magna thread could tell you a lot more (and probably pick apart my poor explanation ~:) ), they did a lot of research on this.

EDIT - You mention save checkpoints. Just to clarify, I don't think there is a problem with saving the game, this problem only occurs when you load a saved game.

[Old Celt]

Diplomacy is hurt by the save / load bug too. A consequence of the load reassessment is the AI factions become completely vulnerable to becoming Protectorates automatically regardless of faction strengths if they are asked to become Protectorates on the turn following the load. This can lead to factions with only a few provinces having much larger ones as Protectorates. The best you can do is avoid reloading as much as possible. I have seen no statement anywhere that indicates CA will change this.

[Viking]

Diplomacy is hurt by the save / load bug too. A consequence of the load reassessment is the AI factions become completely vulnerable to becoming Protectorates automatically regardless of faction strengths if they are asked to become Protectorates on the turn following the load. This can lead to factions with only a few provinces having much larger ones as Protectorates. The best you can do is avoid reloading as much as possible. I have seen no statement anywhere that indicates CA will change this.

Before 1.2 the romans expanded and became a huge empire.
But when CA fixed the bug where a roman faction could attack another roman factions protectorate, they hardly expand anymore.
`Cause (almost) all the neighbours of the roman factions are protectorates!

I have never seen a non-roman faction with a protectorate though.

[SpencerH]

I have never seen a non-roman faction with a protectorate though.

I've seen them.