The Daily Update at the Com

[Hooahguy]

apparently there is a hotfix today.
steam just finished the update for me.

[ZIM!!]

I have a quick question for Jack or anyone else that can answer this question, When unit routs in my games they often route in an awkward single file straight line all the way to the edge of the map

Does anyone else see this

Will this problem be addressed

[Zenicetus]

If 9 out of 10 players get confused/frustrated when their ships stop moving against the wind then maybe they should do something about it :)

Ships couldn't sail upwind in "Sid Meier's Pirates!", which in most respects was a much simpler and more cartoon-like game than the TW series. And yet... amazingly.... that game sold very well regardless. I think that shoots down the argument that most players can't handle the concept.

The main thing though, is the impact on tactics. Real sailing tactics are interesting and fun, even when simplified to the extent they were in Pirates!. In contrast, look at what one person posted just recently as a winning tactic for sea battles in Empire:

Remember that you have TWO(2) broadsides....always turn to expose the side that haven't fired. So, after that it is usually enough to just turn around and around (on the spot), constantly turning the side that haven't fired side to whatever enemy that happens to be in range.

It works, but it shouldn't work, and it makes a mockery (IMO) of the sea battles. Does circle-in-place firing even sound like that much fun, compared to the tactical depth of the land battles?

If you don't like it thats why there's mod support

It will be interesting to see what can be done, but the real question is whether the hard-coded AI can handle changes in the way ships move. If the AI doesn't know how to tack as part of the battle tactics in realtime, then it's just an automatic "I win" button for the player.

[Quickening]

Has there been a fix yet for the movement and attack lines having to be turned off every time you play a sea battle? It was a bug introduced with a patch, then fixed with a patch, and then reintroduced again in a patch.

[Cheetah]

I tend to agree with the "don't fix it if it ain't broken" crowd. I just do not see why you want to put time and effort into "fixing" something which works fine, when we all know that there are lot more pressing problems with the campaign AI and with the diplomacy.

[nafod]

Of all the things to fix in this title, Naval battle balancing would be in the bottom tier of my list.

The land battle AI is dismal at best.

The strategic Black Knight AI prevents me from playing more than a few turns before quitting in disgust. Continually annihilating opponents with no fear of loss, and no chance at peace is only fun once.

And CA wants to ensure players use more frigates and sloops in Naval MP? Are you kidding?

However as I don't play MP I see this having minimal impact on the SP campaign as I doubt the AI will grasp the concepts.

[Lemur]

Tried it tonight with the hotfix; someone's been twiddling with the AI, most definitely. Didn't play long enough to see the full scope, but things have changed.

[oz_wwjd]

Personally I'd rather they fix the CTD bugs as in my past 3 games, I've had issues where the AI gets "stuck"or something taking it's turn,which makes the game unplayable,as you never get past that point. I'm using a pratically new computer,so it'shouldn't be an issue. also I've just found an annoying new featire,3 times in a row the gamr has crashed in the middle of a naval battle. So far I seem to be spending more time restarting my computer than actually playing the game..

[Sheogorath]

Tried it tonight with the hotfix; someone's been twiddling with the AI, most definitely. Didn't play long enough to see the full scope, but things have changed.

Yup. The campaign AI seems to be back to it's old ways. I started a Russian campaign and the only DoWs I got were from Dagistan and Courland...Courland didn't like my buying Estonia off of Poland, apparently, and Dagistan was just Dagistan.

I do note, however, that once war is declared the AI is still not very willing to accept peace.

Anybody seen if they've fixed the alliance penalty yet?

[Slaists]

Tried it tonight with the hotfix; someone's been twiddling with the AI, most definitely. Didn't play long enough to see the full scope, but things have changed.

Hmm... what hotfix? My steam still says, the latest update is from July 1st. I'm online, btw.

[Fisherking]

Hmm... what hotfix? My steam still says, the latest update is from July 1st. I'm online, btw.

The last time I was on my version of the game was 1.3.1 build 1121.1890

that may or my not have changed, as they don’t document each tweak they do.

Some of these only take a few seconds to install but you may notice some differences while playing.

Steam usually only covers the major changes.

[Fisherking]

Yes this is a double post but I just wanted to bring you attention to the fact that we do have a new build.

The new information on the start screen is:

v1.3.1 Build 1139.2308

[FactionHeir]

Steam tends to cover every change I think. At least for Valve games.

[Slaists]

I think they (Steam) cover all changes. Since the release, my Steam account displays 8 ETW update messages in total, the last one being for the hotfix released on July 1st.

[Lemur]

Well, I logged onto Steam last night and saw a download and an update to ETW. Checking the update screen, I too saw the note that the last update was July 1. Maybe CA is only releasing notes for major updates? Nevertheless, a patch was applied yesterday, and the AI is behaving quite differently. Fire up a new game and see for yourself.

[Discoman]

When I was on Steam last it said "ETW has just finished downloading", which means that the game was updated. Valve usually gives reports with their updates, but this is CA and they can approach it anyway they want.

[Hosakawa Tito]

My game updated last night, but I really can't tell what has changed, if anything significant. I've been playing a Prussian campaign refusing all alliances and protectorates. I'm pretty much the Hermit Kingdom and though I've eliminated Austria, Saxony, Bavaria, and taken Warsaw from the Poles I'm about stretched to my limit. The dang Russians are being pretty frisky and break every peace deal I broker after a few turns. As soon as I make a move toward Wurttemberg the Venicians get upset and threaten Bavaria, Croatia, Vienna. Sure would be nice to be able to ally with the Ottomans and/or Sweden to force Russia into a 2-3 front war, but I know if I do I'll just completely screw myself. sigh....

[Slaists]

Some clandestine patch... If CA has decided not to say anything about it.

[Hooahguy]

it was a hotfix to fix a small crash that some people were getting while ungrouping/grouping. ill try to find a link.

[Slaists]

it was a hotfix to fix a small crash that some people were getting while ungrouping/grouping. ill try to find a link.

That's the one of July 1st and it does appear in the Steam update list. People are speaking about an update that happened a day ago. I personally did not notice anything downloading or changed in the game. Steam does not show anything having been changed since July 1st either.

[Snite]

I noticed that suddenly the Barbary Pirates got a flag color change that happened well after July 1st. I've noticed other small things like that have changed in the past witjhout an update.


Snite

[Hooahguy]

tsk tsk
http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic...ing-soon-.html

look through here.

[Lemur]

Well, whatever jiggering they did with the AI, it didn't cure Black Knight Diplomacy. Sigh.

[Hooahguy]

can the diplomacy standards that were set with v1.00 even be changed?

[Fisherking]

Well if Steam does not list 10 July as the last change it is obvious they don’t list every one.

In fact the change of 1 July was the 1.3, wasn‘t it? Now we are on 1.3.1 and the build number has also changed at least once.

I have noticed it for months now. There are frequent changes and most are undocumented.

The changes to the game are indeed on going and they don’t feel the need to tell us about every change they make. If Steam takes more than 3 seconds to load the game you are getting something new.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

The fix from 1 July brought the game up to 1.3.1. The only thing that apparently changed after 1 July is the build number. At the moment it is v1.3.1 Build 1139.2308 and once that changes without some info from CA we know that CA does updates without notification.

[Boohugh]

The game definitely did update a day or two ago. How do I know this? Because on my rubbish connection it took several minutes to actually download the update despite it being tiny! Haven't had time to play it much since so no idea what may have changed though.

[Slaists]

In fact the change of 1 July was the 1.3, wasn‘t it? Now we are on 1.3.1 and the build number has also changed at least once.

Nope, the one of July 1st was the hotfix that fixed the game crashing when someone selected/deselected the whole army on the battlefield. 1.3 was the patch that took place in June. I cannot check right now since I'm not at home.

[AussieGiant]

I can confirm that I was away from home and my PC was off from Friday the 10th of July until tonight Sunday the 12th.

I read this thread first, then fired up Steam, which immediately informed me that Steam was updating and then I checked Empire and it was definitely updating the game.

If I check the update history then the 1st of July is the more recent documented change.

I'd say they did something, confirmed it worked through Q&A then simply deployed it.

[Tora]

My copy updated on Friday, don't think the download was even 1mb.