OOC Thread and Chatroom 2

[TheFlax]

Looks like things went smoothly.

Honestly, no it didn't go smoothly. No one is too blame save the inherent instability of this game in multiplayer. I took YLC and I about 4h to finally get to play the battle in full, quite frustration.

Next time though, it would be nice if we could download the replay without having to skim past the results of the battle. It'd be pretty cool to watch one of these and not know the results until you see them.

I'll keep that in mind. If I had remembered how spoilers work I would have placed the pics in those.

[TinCow]

Very well done to both. That's one for the record books: the first MP battle in any Throne Room game, ever. Watching the replay was very exciting, I loved it!

Honestly, no it didn't go smoothly. No one is too blame save the inherent instability of this game in multiplayer. I took YLC and I about 4h to finally get to play the battle in full, quite frustration.

If you can give me details about what problems you had, I'd be grateful. I want to encourage MP battles like this, as they are the fastest and most accurate method of resolving PvP. You have my since apologies for the chevron limit issue. Having never played MP myself, I did not realize that existed. I should have tested the setup in the MP rather than just via a custom battle.

[Ramses II CP]

As someone who has never played MP either (Though I tried to arrange a battle for a hotseat once!) you guys have my sympathies. MTWII MP is, at best, unpolished. The battle still looked like fun though, and as an old computer gamer all I can say is that the fortunes of war often include lag. Hopefully we will have more of these, even if they're akward, because even under these circumstances at least you aren't relying on a third party to implement your orders.

I won't analyze the battle as I've never fought anything but the AI, and the AI would've been crushed by either of you guys in that fight.

[TheFlax]

Ok, I'll go through a few of the basic problems we encountered. TinCow, the chevron thing was honestly not a major time waster, we quickly agreed on how to work it out and if that was the only problem we had encountered I would have said that things went smoothly.

First off, playing through gamespy was impossible for us. When either of us hosted the game, the other got "NAT negotiation failed" preventing us to connect. So then I got YLC to download Hamachi (its a software program that creates a virtual LAN over the internet.) and we met up in the LAN lobby. The first try went pretty well, considering, and I actually won the battle. I'll admit to my noobish mistake here, we had to restart since I had taken the wrong General unit (I took the late era one.) For the next two hours or so, we had a series of problem getting a game started. YLC got disconnected a couple of times before I could actually start the game. A few other time he got the message "No response from Host" and there were also at least two times when he got disconnected during the battle itself. We also realized after the first battle that it was impossible to retreat in MP. We decided to houserule that any units getting to the red line was to be considered having retreated.

I want to have a chat with whoever coded the MP part of the game...

[GeneralHankerchief]

You guys don't think anything having to do with the mod itself caused your problems then?

[TheFlax]

It seemed pretty much only connection issues, so I don't think the mod had any impact on our problems.

[Northnovas]

That is the first time I have watched a replay, that was neat. It would seem to be a nice way to resolve a PvP. Though I have never done any MP. It is unfortunate the technical issue had to interfere with the process.
Overall nice job by YLC and TheFlax the story is not over yet!

I have read TC's pm about the rules in place and I will pick up the save to advance the turn in a couple hours I just have somethings to finish up before getting into the game.

[Cecil XIX]

This is a shameless plug, but I'm starting a game to test some new ideas for WOTS-style PBEMs here. I only have room for to start with 2-4 other people, so act fast!

[KnightnDay]

I did the replay a couple times and made a few notes.

This was the basic formation with which The Flax started his advance

GB(23) Slav(90) Slav(90) Slav(90)

---------------------------------------PrSpear(112) PRSpear(112

---------Mace(90) Mace(90)


--------------Crossbow(90)

--------------------------------------------------FeudalKnight(60)
______________________________________________________________

I agree with CecilXIX that I would have kept the cavalry together for more impact. A strategic reserve can save the day and the lack of one can have the opposite effect.

What I also would note here is that the crossbows were a non-factor throughout the battle. They are primarily a direct fire weapon, not indirect like archers. I would have had them at the very front, ready to run back behind a spear wall in the event of a cavalry charge

The battle was essentially decided early at time index 1770 when the militia cavalry slammed into the two left most Slav Levies. Together those formations lost 110 men at the cost of a single militia cavalry. The left most SL formation was almost instantaneously rendered ineffective for the rest of the battle with only 11 men surviving the charge.

The casualty percentage at that point was 15/2 and that 13% gap, although fluctuating throughout, meant the difference by the time The Flax's tired troops finally enered the melee stage and eventually broke from exhaustion.

Another point I noted that at time index 2614, there were 50 feudal knights sweeping forward with a gradual move left. By time index 4300, they were down to 18 knights with little real contact. The reason was that after they advanced forward and chased off their quary, they faced themselves rearward and for considerable time showed their backs to the enemy. The skythions made their opponents dearly for that as a large number of feudal knights were hit in the hind quarters.

At time index 4557, YLC sends his bodyguard after a Slav Levy with 24 men. Shortly thereafter the melee begins and it's a matter of fresh troops vs a tired and depleted set from the uphill climb. With no reserves to counter, the repeated charges including YLCs cav militia break the spirit of The Flax's troops and the routing begins.

So, from of all this a couple things. Using the ALT key and right clicking will keep all your grouped formations in order. It seems that in an MP setting this can be very helpful where you won't get separated.

If you are worried about arrows, consider going to loose formation.

Crossbows front where possible. At time index 1647, YLCs Cav did a rather casual march across the front of The Flax's lines, and those crossbows could have had a field day, much as the skythions did with the feudal knights.

Definitely entertaining overall. I'd be curious to know one thing. The Flax is in Montreal from what I understand. Is YLC half a world away or on the same continent?

[ULC]

New York

[TheFlax]

So, from of all this a couple things. Using the ALT key and right clicking will keep all your grouped formations in order. It seems that in an MP setting this can be very helpful where you won't get separated.

If you are worried about arrows, consider going to loose formation.

Crossbows front where possible. At time index 1647, YLCs Cav did a rather casual march across the front of The Flax's lines, and those crossbows could have had a field day, much as the skythions did with the feudal knights.

The things you learn!

Honestly, I'm a bit clueless about many aspects of this game, thanks for the advice.

Also, on an unrelated note. I had a mercenary captain?

[Zim]

Did the patch for LotR eliminate some of the supply traits? I just noticed a lack of "your army has x turns worth of food left" traits that were common at the start of LotR.

[Cecil XIX]

Crossbows front where possible. At time index 1647, YLCs Cav did a rather casual march across the front of The Flax's lines, and those crossbows could have had a field day, much as the skythions did with the feudal knights.

So keep the crossbows in front, and stop the whole army for them to fire? I suppose that could be advisable in certain situations, using archers offensively isn't my strong suit. I suppose ideally you'd keep the crossbowmen to the side so they could stand still and be able to hit targets of opportunity without blocking the advance of the rest of the army.

[ULC]

Actually, that's how some armies used them, with some form of Cavalry support right next to them.