Didz's Dumb Question Thread

[Didz]

Ok! I've been playing the game for a while now (including one alnighter) but I'm still confused on a number of points so I thought I'd start thread where I can ask all the dumb questions you lot probably think are obvious but I'm still trying to work out.

1. Where do the screenshots go?

I took a few of my last battle, but try as I might I can't find a screenshot folder anywhere.

2. Is there a manual?

Obviously, I can't find it if there is, so, a supplementary question is, where is it?

I mean I've gotten used to game companies skimping on 'in the box manuals' to same paper and distribution costs, but usually I find a .pdf manual tucked away somewhere in the game folder. Can't see one with ETW, so does it exist, and if so where have they hidden it.

3. Do I have to do anything to get scholars to schol?

I've been stuffing them in schools, but not really noticed any difference. Do you actually have to tell them to study something to get the benefit or do they do it naturally. Also, do they stack? e.g. if you stick two in the same school do they learn faster, or ignore each other?

4. Where's the school list?

Sort of supplementary to the above is that a way to obtain a list of schools, and preferably what knowledge the possess. I sort of assumed it would be an option in the list menu but coudln't find it. At the minute I have to resort to manually scanning the world map looking for 'school like' building icons, which seems a bit silly, and the only way to determine if the school has any knowledge worth stealing is to open a diplomatic negotiation and offer to trade knowledge, then note down whats on offer. Which seems a bit long-winded and fiddly, so I'm sure I'm missing a trick somehwere.

5. Wherez the blockage?

Ok! you get a very helpful message telling you that your lucrative trade route with the Umpalumpa's has been blockaded and the Trade Route List clearly shows that your losing a fortune as a result. But where does it tell you where its being blocked and by whom?

It most frustrating when you've launched a major naval expedition destroyed the enemy fleet and then check the list to find there's still a blockage somewhere you haven't flush out.

6. What Do Trade Ships do?

I have one, it has a funny little yellow dot on the unit counter saying '1', which none of my other ships have. But I have no idea what to do with it. I seem to be getting trade without using it so I'm a bit confused. Is it just a poor quality warship?

Right thats the immediate head scratchers posted, if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated, and if anyone know where the manual is it might avoid further dumb questions being posted.

[Merak]

1. as far as i know there is no folder were they are put but you must paste it in paint or use fraps

2. manual
if you have downloaded it the manual (i think) must be downloaded. if you purchaste it, it´s on the dvd folder were the game is
but a better manual is here:
http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic...Total-War.html

3. move them to a school and they will start by them self (a green icon will show it)

4. in the techlist you have a bunch of buildings with heads over them that trepresent how many is in that school and help with the reaserch

5 when you get that message you can click on the magnifying glass to see were it is.

6. move it to a trade theater and it will make money for you.

but as i said the manual i crappy read the one that i have linked in the first post you have a pdf that is very goot to print.
if there is something unclear pleace state so and i will try to explain better

[Didz]

1. as far as i know there is no folder were they are put but you must paste it in paint or use fraps

Really?

Thats a bit dumb...I couldn't do that anyway as when I have the game running ALT-TAB doesn't work. I'd have to close the game down to save the screenshot. Nah! it must be saved somewhere, all the other TW games had a .tga folder they went in.

2. manual
if you have downloaded it the manual (i think) must be downloaded. if you purchaste it, it´s on the dvd folder were the game is
but a better manual is here:
http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic...Total-War.html

Thanks I'll take a look. I have the disks too, so I'll check those out as well.

4. in the techlist you have a bunch of buildings with heads over them that trepresent how many is in that school and help with the reaserch

4. school list is on u research screen at the top u will se an icon for each school. thats where u tell which school to research which tech. so if u have 5 schools u can be researching 5 different techs simultaneously. two scholls cannot research the same tech. as far i have seen changing techs half researched does not reset research time

Didn't explain that very well, I want to know not just where my schools are but where other peoples are, so I can send my sholars to steal their books. At the minute the only way I know of finding one is to scanning the map screen by screen until I spot one, then I have to try and remember where I saw it, whilst I got and check using the diplomacy tab that it knows something I need to know.

5 when you get that message you can click on the magnifying glass to see were it is.

5. i've been confused by this too. possible reasons port if under blockade by trade partner's enemy. no port for the partner, land route has hostile army on it. maybe not hostile to you but your trade partner.

Not always...I have two trade routes currently blockaded and clicking on the 'show me button' does nothing. One of them is Sweden for example which means the blockage could be anywhere from the Med to the Baltic. I might not be able to do anything about it but I'd like to know where it was if possible.

6. move it to a trade theater and it will make money for you.

6. just leave them on the trade spot they increase the amount of trade goods u have. the more ships u have the more goods u will have. u can stack ships on the same spot as well. u get more goods from stacked ships but at a dimishing rate

Trade theatre?

Are those the shaded sea zones I sometimes see when watching the computer moves?

So, they work a bit like merchants in MTW2, do they get taken out by anything. Presumbly you can sink them?

[A Very Super Market]

LOL

Okay, those boxes are transport zones that you put ships into to travel around the world. The three major theatres are linked by this.

In between, are trade theatres. They do not hold any land territories, but have slots that you can send trade ships into to gather resources.

[Merak]

Really?

Thats a bit dumb...I couldn't do that anyway as when I have the game running ALT-TAB doesn't work. I'd have to close the game down to save the screenshot. Nah! it must be saved somewhere, all the other TW games had a .tga folder they went in.

i think there was a config file you needed to edit to make that work in the old version but i am not sure

Didn't explain that very well, I want to know not just where my schools are but where other peopls are, so I can send my sholars to steal their books.

do not think it is a list from were you can see it

Not always...I have two trade routes currently blockaded and clicking on the MG does nothing.

have not seen that but you must be right could be a annoying bug then.

Trade theatre?

Are those the shaded sea zones I sometimes see when watching the computer moves?

i mean the ones you see when you zoom out with the minimap and you have too travel to it.
for example brazill madagascar and africa

[Didz]

Ok! just did a complete scan of my hardrive listing every image file and the screenshots I took this morning weren't saved anywhere. In fact there were no images created today at all.

So, obviously the 'Print Screen' button isn't working, or perhaps you have to press something else in this version of the game. Previous games have always used 'Print Screen' and saved to a the tga folder.

[Merak]

i just think no one has found the right config file to change for taking screens in the mean time i have heard FRAPS do the same thing

[MikeV]

RI want to know not just where my schools are but where other peoples are, so I can send my sholars to steal their books. At the minute the only way I know of finding one is to scanning the map screen by screen until I spot one, then I have to try and remember where I saw it, whilst I got and check using the diplomacy tab that it knows something I need to know.

It's not really that easy, but you don't need to go to all that much trouble.
At the start of the campaign, each faction's home region has one of each building type (well, regions that have enough towns ...): Religious, Research, Entertainment, and Economic (either metal or weaver, some have both). Even though a faction can build a school anywhere, these starting ones will be the most advanced.

I haven't found a way to tell what they're researching, just as I never found a way to examine another faction's family tree in M(2)|R:TW.

As far as scanning the map, about the only thing I've noticed are the little icons floating above a settlement/army/fleet that has a (visible) agent "in residence." There's a green circle with black mask overlay for Rakes, a pair of yellow praying hands for Missionaries, and a yellow mason symbol for Gentlemen. If you can spot them, you can see where the buggers are hanging out. Generally, they'll be in the home region's building of the appropriate type.

As others pointed out already, to steal a tech you have to move your Gentleman agent into their college/university. You'll get a dialog asking whether you want to perform the steal tech mission, or just visit. Your agent won't succeed at stealing any tech if they don't have any you haven't already researched -- to find out if they do, you can use the Diplomacy screen as you described. If there are one or more Gentlemen there, you'll have a 3rd option, which is to challenge one to a duel.

Also, you can duel vs. an opposing Gentleman anywhere on the map (they generally have a higher % of success than Rakes of the same rank). You're likely to encounter them coming to your college/university, especially if you have the tech lead. Left alone, they tend to steal your tech (you'll notice this as them wandering to your college/university, then popping out some distance away).

[MikeV]

.I have two trade routes currently blockaded and clicking on the 'show me button' does nothing. One of them is Sweden for example which means the blockage could be anywhere from the Med to the Baltic. I might not be able to do anything about it but I'd like to know where it was if possible.

At the start of your turn (after hitting the end turn button and letting it run through the other factions, but not when you load/continue from a saved game file), among the info droppings on the left will be one or more with an anchor symbol stating "Trade route raided." Bring up the full dialog and click the magnifying lens: it will take you to the fleet that's sitting on your trade route.

[MikeV]

Trade theatre?

Are those the shaded sea zones I sometimes see when watching the computer moves?

So, they work a bit like merchants in MTW2, do they get taken out by anything. Presumbly you can sink them?

Check out http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic...Total-War.html Section VI covers trade and trade theaters.

The shaded rectangular areas at the edges of the three main theater maps are teleporters to the "adjacent" theater/zone. When you zoom the campaign minimap all the way out, or use the globe icon, you get the overview of the whole (abstract) E:TW world. It shows the three main theaters (America, Europe, India) as rectangles, and the four trade zones as circles, with links among them. When you sail a fleet into one of the teleport rectangles, it asks you to select a destination (or stay in the current theater/zone).

And yes, you can attack trade ships (even those on a trade spot) like others. Beware the larger ones, like Spanish galleons or Dutch fluyts: they're a lot tougher than Indiamen.

[crpcarrot]

1. no idea

2.dont kow i am looking for one too :P

3. you can place your different shols in different schools they get traits depending on what technologies the school researches. so one a schollar gets say +1 one to military research i use the school he is at exclusively for military research. as far i know scholars benefots do stack but at a diminshing rate

4. school list is on u research screen at the top u will se an icon for each school. thats where u tell which school to research which tech. so if u have 5 schools u can be researching 5 different techs simultaneously. two scholls cannot research the same tech. as far i have seen changing techs half researched does not reset research time

5. i've been confused by this too. possible reasons port if under blockade by trade partner's enemy. no port for the partner, land route has hostile army on it. maybe not hostile to you but your trade partner.

6. just leave them on the trade spot they increase the amount of trade goods u have. the more ships u have the more goods u will have. u can stack ships on the same spot as well. u get more goods from stacked ships but at a dimishing rate

[MikeV]

1. Where do the screenshots go?

The preferences.empire_script.txt file has this entry, by default:

gfx_screenshot_folder ./screenshots; # gfx_screenshot_folder <folder>, Folder to where save screenshots relative to Empire directory #

Two things to note:

1. The directory has to exist (this software is too dumb to create it).
2. You can change it to someplace else by editing the file and re-starting the app.

Also, the Alt-PrtScrn key combination copies the current screen to the Windoze clipboard. You should be able to fire up your favorite picture editor and use Paste to grab it.

[Melvish]

A good way to get a clue of what the upgrades and experience do to units stats is to check them in battle mode by right clicking on the unit card.


my

[Jason X]

i forgot to mention that you can check which techs someone has that you don't (and therefore could be stolen) by going to the diplomacy screen and picking the technology option.

the ones that appear on their side satisfy the potentially nickable ones. then just cancel out of diplomacy.

[Didz]

i forgot to mention that you can check which techs someone has that you don't (and therefore could be stolen) by going to the diplomacy screen and picking the technology option.

the ones that appear on their side satisfy the potentially nickable ones. then just cancel out of diplomacy.

Yes, thats actually what I've been doing, but its a bit long winded.

I was hoping the same information might appear as a list somewhere. It would save a lot of time when seeking Technology Exchanges through diplomacy too.

[HKDDJulker]

1. Does "visiting" an enemy university actually do anything for your gentlemen? I've done this several times and the only thing i've seen happen is that my gentlemen tries to steal technology, even though that is not what I told him to do... So what if anything does clicking on the "visit" button do, besides move carl linnaeus into denmarks school to steal a tech?