First impressions on mp

[RomoR]

Ok guys I played since MTW and this is my first impresion after about 20 games.

For those who still don't know, allies can choose same factions.

I play with Portugal

factions seem balanced to me, played against all though mostly against France, England, Spain, Biz, Egypt ppl like those more so the first 3.

Art -doesn't seem to be overpowered anymore, unless u just stand there all bunched up, can't expect nothing else, I usually loose about 30-60 men (mostly cheap units) to 1-2 units of art, but I also don't stand around for long I admit.
had about 6 games where foe had 2 or more art, fine by me I say.

Eles-I only had 3 games with eles lost the first and won the next 2.
Eles are tough, must play against more to have a better opinion, they arn't that easy to root or run amok. one game took me 4 units of archer fire arrows and 2 of jav to counter them.
If you dont counter them early you toast for they will tear up your ranks with an experienced player, a bit like a gamble if you counter them you win if not you lose.
they cost 2400-2800 each unit and much more after the first.




Cav- well to tell the truth I only played against 1 al cav army, The mongol and got wiped big time has I mention below, my fault though. they dont seem uber to me. My men seem to do ok against cav if not flanked. Pikes wipe them out.
HH armies are a pain, only played one game and got wiped, can't say more because I noobishly went chasing after the mongol army, (I had 4 crappy peasant crossbows) and lost big time.


Archers- again seem to be fine if ure not bunched up for a long time. they arn't pants either, if u let them fire against the flanks they get some good kills. My 4 peasant crossbows units usually kill around 45-40 men each, nice for a 220 florin unit.

You cant ignore Gunpoweder units, they dangerous but not uber. I lost lots of men because at first I didnt target them with my mobile units and later regretted it, you will get shredded if you ignore them, on the other hand they seem fine if paid the right attention.

Inf.-Pikes-- very good when formed and braced. my aventuros stand against anything up front they can stand most of the entire foe's army if deeply ranked (I choose 5-6 units) and don't root straight away if flanked. levies do though.
they will let u fight the entire battle, flank the rest of the army and still beat any enemy up front.

Inf-Heavyinf-- cant say much about them for Portugal doesnt have much choice. played with dismounted portuguese knight and they seem blah. with an 24 attack you would seem they were uber but no, in the 4-5 games I chose them they killed like 10-25 men each, to few for the price.
maybe Im biased for my pikes but I think they pants.

Inf-Light- Great, very good to me, I sometimes play an all Skirmisher army with Portugal and do great. My 330 gold lusitanos kill around 35-40 men each (mostly Heavy troops and cav) and my Almuhgarves 40-45 same thing.
they seem to skirmish well too.

Moral- seem fine, men root when reasonable outnumbered or outclassed, u will get much more flanking time then in rome, (not those 3 sec roots that didnt even give you enough time to click your units card.) Just dont try to use levy or militia has pinners and You will be fine.

Speed -seems ok, walking and running speed could be a bit reduced, but on the other hand I played a lot of games that in the end i was glad the speed was a bit faster.

killing speed is just fine by me.

weather- doesnt seem to do much or enough to me. Rain doesnt seem to cause gunpowder or archer units much disadvantage. Fog is awsome u cant see anything 100m in front of you. never played in desert.

Fatigue- ok again. depends alot on the units stamina. my almogarves can fight a whole battle and be half tired while others get exausted. hills and mountains are evil for your mens stamina, they get pooped after running up one of those.

Game connection- in about 20 games I played 15-16 went through ok, the rest hanged, 1-1 battles never hanged.

Lag- all my 1-1 and 2-2 battles played out with little lag.
Some 3-3 played out with only a little lag, and 2 were lag fests.

WORK U STUPID AI, MOVE.--ok this for me is very bad, when a player drops the AI just stands there, he does'nt move, its like your just lost all your allies help. PLz Fix this CA.

Game options- A bit Gah for my taste, very few maps, no desert option, only winter or summer, maps could be 20% bigger too at lest we could have normal maps and big maps.
normal is ok for me in an 1-1 battle, but for 2-2 and 3-3 its a bit small
so every player teams up and its one big center map fight, doesnt offer any tactical movement options.

Community- mostly nice ppl, havent played against very skilled opponents yet, except for that mongol guy, (he seemed very good) but some are good enough to give a tough challenge, on the other hand I havent got a total noob yet either, Rome had tones of those, maybe because i just play 10K games.
Most ppl still ban ART and ELES, and in 2 games limit gunpowder to 1-2 units.

there arn't much players yet but you dont have to wait long to get a game going, the 3-3 games can take a wee bit longer, but nothing very frustating

I will end by saying it's still too early for a final verdict, like on unit balance, but so far its good, just FIX THE BRAINDEAD AI PLZ.

RomoR out :) its very late, have to go to work in 3 hours must sleeep.