Shiro
07-11-2002, 06:16
Here it is from Gamespy. I've tried to weed out the spam.
Seems the top bit got cut off and I lost some of my questions. It wasn't anything really. Anyway here is most of it:
Turns are in years, not seasons. Because the game covers four centuries this makes the length of the game more manageable.
Can you tell us about new formations?
The biggest challenge with the engine is the ai. Displaying thousands of units is relatively easy compared to getting them to fight strategically
how many unitts can be on the screen at once ?
The biggest change with the formations is that we've now added bonuses for units fighting in ranks, so formations of spearman or pikemen are more powerful.
how do u get new potriats
The largest number of units we've had on screen is 8 armies x 200 men in each unit x 16 units per army. That's over 20,000.
will you be able to hire mercenary groups to fight for you?
u guys mustave worked hard on that
How will users be able to control that many units?
There are thousands of portraits in the game, each general or character is assigned a portrait when they are trained.
Are hills & standing in defense changed or does "holding the high ground" have as much effect?
Yes you can hire mercenaries. When units are disbanded they go into a pool of mercenaries and travel to areas where there are wars raging. YOu can hire them from an inn.
[CA]Michael - can you give us a basic overview of the game ... maybe some idea of the guiding story, if any, behind it??
It's actually pretty easy to control thousands of soldiers because they are organised into units of 40-200 men. It's also easy to group them together and organise them into group formations.
What kind of community mod tools will there be if any at all?
It's a bit harder to hold the high ground than it was in Shogun: TW. The main difference is that because you now have artillery it's much easier to attack the enemies defensive positions.
how do u make training that many units time effiecent
fairly similar to TW / Mong Inv TW then except different "european" soldier types? // ok something to damage massed formations
As well as the online play on gamespy we are shipping the map editor with the game. It's also possible to edit the unit stats or to edit new sp campaigns.
After release we are going to make the historical battle editor available for download.
Please do!
I noticed in the demo, that in the two siege maps, the two castles had different types of walls. Will you be able to build additional walls for castles, and upgrade those walls? Example:I builda n extra wood wall, can I replace it with a stone one later?
Great ... it seems player mods are adding depth/longevity to games ... thanks ..
Training of units is done on the campaign map [which is turn based]. You can easily set up training queues to train your units. We've also added a new feature where you can let the computer take care of training or building while you just move your armies and worry about the battles.
You can build different levels of walls, from wooden pallisades up to stone walls. You can also build additional walls and upgrade the defences with arrow towers, gun towers or catapult towers.
nice
Has the the rout bug been eliminated? Didn't notice it in the demo...
There are quite a few improvements to the combat over Shogun: TW. As well as having ten times as many units there are also improvements to the combat system. As well as spearmen getting rank bonuses, units can now push each other back in combat, routing works more effectively, cavalry charges can smash enemy lines and soldiers can disengage from battle. It's a lot more dynamic.
is it nessicary to by your game?
lol
How did developing a game set in West differ from developing a game set in the East? Were there any game play changes you had to make based on different style/tactics used in combat?
Yes the routing has been rebalanced a lot. You now don't get waves of panic spreading through your army as often and it's easier to rally your troops. On the other hand some soldiers, such as knights, will become impetuous and can charge into battle without being ordered to.
heh heh I'm ex-KOEI Nobu .. I like turn/development. Will there be unit type upgrades IE changes over the game timeline allowing old units to modernize ...// oh oh French knights vs Brits
will computer controlled allies ever fight on the same battlefield along with your own troops?
I think that we have been able to make the warfare more historically accurate in Medieval: TW than we could in Shogun: TW. Charges of knights and ordered formations of soldiers were more important on the Medieval battlefield. In historical Japan the battlefield was quite a lot messier than we showed in Shogun. So the setting has helped the gameplay. Adding artillery has also made a big difference.
You can upgrade your soldiers weapons, armour, experience and discipline by upgrading your training facilities. You can also retrain your troops.
cool retraining
On the campaign map your computer allies will often send in armies to help you fight in battle, of course they will also do this to help your enemies if they are allied against you. Or a neutral army may just jump into the battle to try and conquer the territory for themselves.
Will we ever see a multiplayer campaign?
In any totalwar game?
I don't think that we'll do one for Medieval.
We'
ok .. that sounds like
TW/MI TW ... I was meaning could I change my mix/style over 400 years by "retraining" to different weapons?
Sorry, hit enter
accidentally. What I was trying to say is that we are looking at it for the future Total War games.
Has the honor system changed much? Was honor as important in the West as the East?
I look forward to the day when there is a multiplayer campaign in a total war game, Michael.
With retraining you can't change earlier troop types into later troop types, but there is a much stronger progresson of technology through the game, for example from archers, to crossbows and longbows, to handguns or from early catapults throuhg to cannons.
will gunpowder make other weapons useless, or will it be possible to win a battle where you command archers and trebuchets but your opponent has gunmen and connons?
Rather than honour we have 'valour', which is a combination of the units experience and their morale. As valour increases units become more effective in combat, more disciplined in obeying orders and their morale is improved.
cool beans.
What faction is your favorite to play and why?
Archers can still beat gunpowder, in fact longbowmen are probably more powerful than early guns, they have a range of up to 200 meters and can fire up to 4 shots per minute. The advantage of guns is that it's much easier to train the gunners.
My favourite faction is probably the Polish, just because they got such a hard time being squeezed between Russia and Germany and also it's wehre my family come from originally so it's fun to be able to rewrite history and conquer the world.
The game is out in late August, the demo is out now. We're at Beta now which means that we are just polishing and balancing the gameplay and sorting out stuff like localisation and the manual.
k, how important are the new weapons/formations ... ie going from pike to musket/halberd? // my mom's side were your german neighbors ...ok
i tried dling the demo and couldnt install it said it wasnt a valid win32 app. why was that?
Yes, information on formations please.
The game really divides into three main ages. The first era is the Early Middle Ages, where there aren't any super powerful units. In the second age, the High Middle Ages the knights are the dominant units. In the third age, the Late Middle Ages gunpowder is decisive and it's guns and cannons that come to dominate.
will certain countries have exclusive troops? or will they just get a cost reduction or bonus to the unit like in shogun?
Pikemen are also very powerful as they cancel out the knights if they are used correctly. In the late age using gunpowder and pikes effectively is a very effective tactic.
so turn-by-turn development will allow you to get an edge ... or can you push your "tech" ?
Most the nations have at least some exclusive troops, the English get longbowmen, the Germans get Teutonic Knights, the Turks get Janissaries, the Byzantines get Kataphract Cavalry etc. Also some regions give bonuses for training certain unit types.
How many building can be created in a province? What's the max?
I've got to think about that. There are 5 levels of castle, and each level has around a dozen buildings, but some buildings upgrade earlier ones. There are close to a hundred buildings on the tech tree and you can have more than 20 in a region.
ok .. what are the significant economic engine changes? ... ie how do I make my rice money now?
You can't push the tech too far ahead as you need to wait for the invention of gunpowder before any of the factions can start building gunpowder units. This is a historical event and isn't done in the tech tree.
The main change in the economics is the trade system. You can now build merchants and create trade links with allies. You can also set your tax rate per region. Income is related to population so things which kill lots of people such as the Black Death or Inquisitions will reduce youre income.
k
didn't know the plauge would be in it, but if you are suffering from it, will your citizens be more likely to revolt?
The plague reduces the happiness of your population and the can revolt. You can also have civil wars which split your kingdom apart as your heirs or generals can try to take the crown from you.
Have any of you guys played the demo?
yea
I liked it
Of course! Just wish it was bigger!
downloading it now
no ...
I'm still on dial up ... demo's tend to be too big
If anyone wants to grab the demo now, you can snag it here: http://www.fileplanet.com/files/80000/89692.shtml
... and download while you chat
I was surprised how well I did on the last level
Good. It's not the same as the finished game, but it hopefully gives some idea of what it's about.
only lost 120
it looks pretty good
and killed at least six times that
I wish we could've gotten a look at the campaign...perhaps another demo could be released before the game?
ok ... well TW sold me on the system .. but I had some questions ..
We had to keep the size of the battles pretty small so that it was relatively easy to control for new players.
We have got a tutorial for the campaign now, but we're not planning to release it as a seperate demo.
The other thing with the demo is that we hadn't 100% finished optimising the game yet so it doesn't run as fast or as smooth as the finished game.
I assume things like invisible arrows are being all fixed up.
One more question, is a replay battle feature being made easier to use?
I had to turn down some settings for the last level to run well
but I don't have that good a graphics card
We're making the arrows easier to see. The catapult balls actually bounce on the ground.
The replay battle feature is much easier to use, you get an option to 'save replay' at the end of the battle and then you can load them from the front end.
ok ... you'll just have one play disk like TW MI right? ..// BTW what are the graphic limits now? new system here ..
The best thing to make the last level run well is to turn off hardware acceleration on your soundcard - especially if it's a soundblaster live. But we've fixed this for the final release.
That wraps it up folks! We'd like to thank [CA]Michael for being here answering all these questions. Make sure you download the demo!
later
ah ok ... support for 5.1 & other than SB ... my MoBo has it's own 5.1?
Thanks Michael! Can you drop a hint about total war 3?
Thanks a lot. Hopefully I'll get to play against some of you guys online.
If anyone wants to grab the demo now, you can snag it here: http://www.fileplanet.com/files/80000/89692.shtml
THANKS Michael !!!!!!!!
I think I forgot a million questions. Oh well. Still I think I was the only .orger there. What's up with you guys?
------------------
“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
—Samuel Johnson
[This message has been edited by Shiro (edited 07-11-2002).]
Seems the top bit got cut off and I lost some of my questions. It wasn't anything really. Anyway here is most of it:
Turns are in years, not seasons. Because the game covers four centuries this makes the length of the game more manageable.
Can you tell us about new formations?
The biggest challenge with the engine is the ai. Displaying thousands of units is relatively easy compared to getting them to fight strategically
how many unitts can be on the screen at once ?
The biggest change with the formations is that we've now added bonuses for units fighting in ranks, so formations of spearman or pikemen are more powerful.
how do u get new potriats
The largest number of units we've had on screen is 8 armies x 200 men in each unit x 16 units per army. That's over 20,000.
will you be able to hire mercenary groups to fight for you?
u guys mustave worked hard on that
How will users be able to control that many units?
There are thousands of portraits in the game, each general or character is assigned a portrait when they are trained.
Are hills & standing in defense changed or does "holding the high ground" have as much effect?
Yes you can hire mercenaries. When units are disbanded they go into a pool of mercenaries and travel to areas where there are wars raging. YOu can hire them from an inn.
[CA]Michael - can you give us a basic overview of the game ... maybe some idea of the guiding story, if any, behind it??
It's actually pretty easy to control thousands of soldiers because they are organised into units of 40-200 men. It's also easy to group them together and organise them into group formations.
What kind of community mod tools will there be if any at all?
It's a bit harder to hold the high ground than it was in Shogun: TW. The main difference is that because you now have artillery it's much easier to attack the enemies defensive positions.
how do u make training that many units time effiecent
fairly similar to TW / Mong Inv TW then except different "european" soldier types? // ok something to damage massed formations
As well as the online play on gamespy we are shipping the map editor with the game. It's also possible to edit the unit stats or to edit new sp campaigns.
After release we are going to make the historical battle editor available for download.
Please do!
I noticed in the demo, that in the two siege maps, the two castles had different types of walls. Will you be able to build additional walls for castles, and upgrade those walls? Example:I builda n extra wood wall, can I replace it with a stone one later?
Great ... it seems player mods are adding depth/longevity to games ... thanks ..
Training of units is done on the campaign map [which is turn based]. You can easily set up training queues to train your units. We've also added a new feature where you can let the computer take care of training or building while you just move your armies and worry about the battles.
You can build different levels of walls, from wooden pallisades up to stone walls. You can also build additional walls and upgrade the defences with arrow towers, gun towers or catapult towers.
nice
Has the the rout bug been eliminated? Didn't notice it in the demo...
There are quite a few improvements to the combat over Shogun: TW. As well as having ten times as many units there are also improvements to the combat system. As well as spearmen getting rank bonuses, units can now push each other back in combat, routing works more effectively, cavalry charges can smash enemy lines and soldiers can disengage from battle. It's a lot more dynamic.
is it nessicary to by your game?
lol
How did developing a game set in West differ from developing a game set in the East? Were there any game play changes you had to make based on different style/tactics used in combat?
Yes the routing has been rebalanced a lot. You now don't get waves of panic spreading through your army as often and it's easier to rally your troops. On the other hand some soldiers, such as knights, will become impetuous and can charge into battle without being ordered to.
heh heh I'm ex-KOEI Nobu .. I like turn/development. Will there be unit type upgrades IE changes over the game timeline allowing old units to modernize ...// oh oh French knights vs Brits
will computer controlled allies ever fight on the same battlefield along with your own troops?
I think that we have been able to make the warfare more historically accurate in Medieval: TW than we could in Shogun: TW. Charges of knights and ordered formations of soldiers were more important on the Medieval battlefield. In historical Japan the battlefield was quite a lot messier than we showed in Shogun. So the setting has helped the gameplay. Adding artillery has also made a big difference.
You can upgrade your soldiers weapons, armour, experience and discipline by upgrading your training facilities. You can also retrain your troops.
cool retraining
On the campaign map your computer allies will often send in armies to help you fight in battle, of course they will also do this to help your enemies if they are allied against you. Or a neutral army may just jump into the battle to try and conquer the territory for themselves.
Will we ever see a multiplayer campaign?
In any totalwar game?
I don't think that we'll do one for Medieval.
We'
ok .. that sounds like
TW/MI TW ... I was meaning could I change my mix/style over 400 years by "retraining" to different weapons?
Sorry, hit enter
accidentally. What I was trying to say is that we are looking at it for the future Total War games.
Has the honor system changed much? Was honor as important in the West as the East?
I look forward to the day when there is a multiplayer campaign in a total war game, Michael.
With retraining you can't change earlier troop types into later troop types, but there is a much stronger progresson of technology through the game, for example from archers, to crossbows and longbows, to handguns or from early catapults throuhg to cannons.
will gunpowder make other weapons useless, or will it be possible to win a battle where you command archers and trebuchets but your opponent has gunmen and connons?
Rather than honour we have 'valour', which is a combination of the units experience and their morale. As valour increases units become more effective in combat, more disciplined in obeying orders and their morale is improved.
cool beans.
What faction is your favorite to play and why?
Archers can still beat gunpowder, in fact longbowmen are probably more powerful than early guns, they have a range of up to 200 meters and can fire up to 4 shots per minute. The advantage of guns is that it's much easier to train the gunners.
My favourite faction is probably the Polish, just because they got such a hard time being squeezed between Russia and Germany and also it's wehre my family come from originally so it's fun to be able to rewrite history and conquer the world.
The game is out in late August, the demo is out now. We're at Beta now which means that we are just polishing and balancing the gameplay and sorting out stuff like localisation and the manual.
k, how important are the new weapons/formations ... ie going from pike to musket/halberd? // my mom's side were your german neighbors ...ok
i tried dling the demo and couldnt install it said it wasnt a valid win32 app. why was that?
Yes, information on formations please.
The game really divides into three main ages. The first era is the Early Middle Ages, where there aren't any super powerful units. In the second age, the High Middle Ages the knights are the dominant units. In the third age, the Late Middle Ages gunpowder is decisive and it's guns and cannons that come to dominate.
will certain countries have exclusive troops? or will they just get a cost reduction or bonus to the unit like in shogun?
Pikemen are also very powerful as they cancel out the knights if they are used correctly. In the late age using gunpowder and pikes effectively is a very effective tactic.
so turn-by-turn development will allow you to get an edge ... or can you push your "tech" ?
Most the nations have at least some exclusive troops, the English get longbowmen, the Germans get Teutonic Knights, the Turks get Janissaries, the Byzantines get Kataphract Cavalry etc. Also some regions give bonuses for training certain unit types.
How many building can be created in a province? What's the max?
I've got to think about that. There are 5 levels of castle, and each level has around a dozen buildings, but some buildings upgrade earlier ones. There are close to a hundred buildings on the tech tree and you can have more than 20 in a region.
ok .. what are the significant economic engine changes? ... ie how do I make my rice money now?
You can't push the tech too far ahead as you need to wait for the invention of gunpowder before any of the factions can start building gunpowder units. This is a historical event and isn't done in the tech tree.
The main change in the economics is the trade system. You can now build merchants and create trade links with allies. You can also set your tax rate per region. Income is related to population so things which kill lots of people such as the Black Death or Inquisitions will reduce youre income.
k
didn't know the plauge would be in it, but if you are suffering from it, will your citizens be more likely to revolt?
The plague reduces the happiness of your population and the can revolt. You can also have civil wars which split your kingdom apart as your heirs or generals can try to take the crown from you.
Have any of you guys played the demo?
yea
I liked it
Of course! Just wish it was bigger!
downloading it now
no ...
I'm still on dial up ... demo's tend to be too big
If anyone wants to grab the demo now, you can snag it here: http://www.fileplanet.com/files/80000/89692.shtml
... and download while you chat
I was surprised how well I did on the last level
Good. It's not the same as the finished game, but it hopefully gives some idea of what it's about.
only lost 120
it looks pretty good
and killed at least six times that
I wish we could've gotten a look at the campaign...perhaps another demo could be released before the game?
ok ... well TW sold me on the system .. but I had some questions ..
We had to keep the size of the battles pretty small so that it was relatively easy to control for new players.
We have got a tutorial for the campaign now, but we're not planning to release it as a seperate demo.
The other thing with the demo is that we hadn't 100% finished optimising the game yet so it doesn't run as fast or as smooth as the finished game.
I assume things like invisible arrows are being all fixed up.
One more question, is a replay battle feature being made easier to use?
I had to turn down some settings for the last level to run well
but I don't have that good a graphics card
We're making the arrows easier to see. The catapult balls actually bounce on the ground.
The replay battle feature is much easier to use, you get an option to 'save replay' at the end of the battle and then you can load them from the front end.
ok ... you'll just have one play disk like TW MI right? ..// BTW what are the graphic limits now? new system here ..
The best thing to make the last level run well is to turn off hardware acceleration on your soundcard - especially if it's a soundblaster live. But we've fixed this for the final release.
That wraps it up folks! We'd like to thank [CA]Michael for being here answering all these questions. Make sure you download the demo!
later
ah ok ... support for 5.1 & other than SB ... my MoBo has it's own 5.1?
Thanks Michael! Can you drop a hint about total war 3?
Thanks a lot. Hopefully I'll get to play against some of you guys online.
If anyone wants to grab the demo now, you can snag it here: http://www.fileplanet.com/files/80000/89692.shtml
THANKS Michael !!!!!!!!
I think I forgot a million questions. Oh well. Still I think I was the only .orger there. What's up with you guys?
------------------
“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
—Samuel Johnson
[This message has been edited by Shiro (edited 07-11-2002).]