The weather.

I hope they include all the different weather conditions and the effect it has on the troops. In STW the weather actually had a bearing on how your troops fared in battle. In cold weather I seem to remember it reducing the range of arrows, likewise when it was raining. Muskets couldn't fire in heavy rain. That thick fog was a brilliant concept, especially when you played on limited view. I once had a unit of two Yaris run down the side of the map, whilst the AI looked for me in vain, eventually giving up and going home. I won with two men against an army of hundreds. :laugh4:

Snow caused your men to get tired really quickly, giving the advantage to the defender.

In STW the weather really mattered.

Thoughts?

In two words: Yes please. It's a great shame ETW's weather was only visualy important. IF it did have an effect on the performance of troops, I haven't noticed.

Yari Ashigaru gunmen unable to fire in rain = interesting challenge

Edit:
Late self-correction on troop name... oh the shame.

I couldn’t agree more about the weather. It has never been implemented so well as in the original Shogun.

I hope the game returns to seasonal turns. Four per year with koku every autumn (maybe!).

Weather had basically just become a way to improve the atmosphere of the game. I do recall the effect of cold, snow, rain and the the like on the units in a battle; fatigue, morale, weapon proficiency, and I guess I really missed it. A brilliant sense of realism that provided a need to adjust battle tactic. Four season turns added to this well, such that one could plan invasion somewhat expecting the weather depending on what time of year it was on the strat map. Way better than the randomly generated stuff of later titles. I will never forget that mid summer (violent) thunderstorm battle I fought in Dewa to cap one of my Shimazu campaigns while playing STW!

Regarding weather and the seasons, I think we will be getting our wish. Here is the part of the IGN.com preview that talked about seasons and the weather (the bolding is mine for emphasis):

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Originally Posted by IGN.com

The art team has been inspired by all of the conventional icons of the land and the wide range of seasons and weather will help add variety to the battles. You may, for instance, find yourself fighting in the same province during the spring as cherry blossoms drift by, and then come back for a battle as layers of snow sit on the land in winter. The team is reintroducing nighttime battles to the game, and we saw a spectacular example of a castle assault during a thunderstorm at night. The way the lightning cracked in the distance and lit up the trees and soldiers as rain collected in puddles around them was phenomenal.

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The only small leap of faith (i.e., assumption) is that weather/season will actually influence combat instead of just being eye candy. You may commence celebrating this in your own personal way.

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Originally Posted by Gregoshi

The only small leap of faith (i.e., assumption) is that weather/season will actually influence combat instead of just being eye candy. You may commence celebrating this in your own personal way.

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For me that might mean complaining. I like to compain. Especially on the internet.

Personaly, that IGN line is unfortunately not enough at all to indicate the battle effects we remember from STW.

/anticipatory winge

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For me that might mean complaining. I like to compain. Especially on the internet.

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Everyone does, it provides for passion and confidence in opinion. Structured, realistic, affecting (on troops) weather patterns would give the game a more 'alive' (life-like) feel that would cause the game to breath and behave very involuntarially. Couple this with a 'thinking' AI on the battle field (if possible) and this provides the player with alot of pleasure as he has to out maneuver both the weather and the AI. Gone would be the days of a visually stunning game where it's crappy mechanics are made more obvious due to the polar differences between the visuals and the game play.:idea2:

The effect of weather is what got me hooked on STW in the first place. Playing my first battle as Oda in the 'historical' battle of Okehazama in a blinding rainstorm........the flashes of lightning illuminating my Nodachi as they rushed down through the woods....the crashing peals of thunder to match those of my heavy cavalry rolling down off the hilltop.......it was quite the rush. One of the many things about STW that made it immersive........

The weather was great in the first game, I'm also glad they are adding night time battles. Bring Back the fog.

PS can we have the battlefield birds back.

Battle field birds?

Do you mean seeing birds scatter which meant that an unseen unit was marching there like in MTW?

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Originally Posted by Peasant Phill

Battle field birds?

Do you mean seeing birds scatter which meant that an unseen unit was marching there like in MTW?

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STW had them first. One of Sun Tzu's nuggets: basically, looking for a group of birds over a woods indicates an ambush (something is disturbing them).

I had forgotten about the disturbed birds. Little things like that were great and is what has been lacking in the newer titles.

Yeah, would really love to see weather making a significant difference to battles, especially want to see serious fog making a comeback. One of the things i always missed from shogun was the fact that you didnt know where the enemy was at the beginning of the battle - often you stumbled upon them at an inopportune moment.

Also want to see a return to the 4 turns per year of the original STW.

Weather effects on combat (movement, fatigue, visibility, weapon effectiveness) added soo much to S1TW. I hope they are able to bring this all back, and even expand on it. Some of the most exciting games I've ever played, both in SP and MP, were in heavy fog. No other game to date has matched that experience for me.

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Originally Posted by Daveybaby

Yeah, would really love to see weather making a significant difference to battles, especially want to see serious fog making a comeback. One of the things i always missed from shogun was the fact that you didnt know where the enemy was at the beginning of the battle - often you stumbled upon them at an inopportune moment.

Also want to see a return to the 4 turns per year of the original STW.

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4 turns is back according to a PC Gamer interview.

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Some of the most exciting games I've ever played, both in SP and MP, were in heavy fog.

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I most whole-heartedly agree. Setting traps was exciting and fraught with uncertainty in heavy fog. Sometimes, instead of being the one to spring the trap, you became the ensnared instead.........

Heavy fog was eerie, but heavy snow I think was worse, especially for an attacker. In addition to being blind, there was the sound of the gusting wind and your men tired easily. Heavy rain was cool when you'd get lightning. I once got a screen shot just as lightning struck. No lightning bolts but everything lit up real bright. The sound of the thunder was incredible too as I recall.

With the announcement of S2TW, I started up a Mori campaign the other day. My first battle was in fog. :2thumbsup: Man, I really love the weather in the original - something I missed in MTW.

Yes, weather is a great feature, and certainly made one wince when a musket heavy army got to defend in the rain.

I do like the reduced visibility, BUT I do think that there is a fault with the game where the attacker can "loose" as it can not find a small remnant of the army. The most memorable one I remember in the series was hiding in the forest on a bridge defence when the attackers could swim. Long story short I "won", and about 500 or so enemy soldiers drowned. Exactly how this should be addressed I am not sure, but I feel that there are better methods than have been used.

~:smoking:

Yes, weather is a great feature, and certainly made one wince when a musket heavy army got to defend in the rain.

I do like the reduced visibility, BUT I do think that there is a fault with the game where the attacker can "loose" as it can not find a small remnant of the army. The most memorable one I remember in the series was hiding in the forest on a bridge defence when the attackers could swim. Long story short I "won", and about 500 or so enemy soldiers drowned. Exactly how this should be addressed I am not sure, but I feel that there are better methods than have been used.

~:smoking:

I found that frustrating too, and hence turned off the battle timer. Now, I never play with it on.

When the attackers could swim? I don't remember this being possible with STW, except on a custom map called River Crossing, which didn't have a bridge as I recall, you could just wade through the water at the junction of two rivers near the center of the map. It didn't seem to affect combat any, but was a nice visual. Kudos to that map-maker, who also made Horselands iirc, another excellent custom map. We (47Ronin) enjoyed many a late night MP battle on those.

Edit: diction fix

Apologies, bust have been a later version of the series.