Plenty time to have tested mp

[Megas Methuselah]

compared to all other versions... etw is the best.
(i have played every version of tw online since shogun including all expansions.. except for mtw2)


starting from the beginning..

ca tries to rip you off with a special forces version.. a new twist in the series.. the standard version of etw is crippleware in the sense thats is a full version with a very small amount of game material locked. "upgrading" to the unlocked version is a waste of money.

Agreed.

steam is required to play online.. which is free.. there are no tacky in game logos or ads.. a vast improvement over gamespy or the ca servers stw ran on.. good features are an easy to use friend list and the "overlay".. for vets of the series this will be one of the biggest new improvements.. this overlay is a semi transparent layer that can be accessed while online with shift+tab.... on this layer you can manage multiple chat boxes similar to popular instant message programs.. but it lacks the ability to send and receive files... you can also browse the steam network for player groups and profiles, even cruise the web with the steam browser... account settings such as alert settings and display name are here as well. the downside of steam is that there is no chat foyer.. a huge drawback and something i really miss.. all chat is conducted in army set up mode or in the battle, or via chat boxes with people on your friends list... i never thought i would miss the sight of "1 more plz" ... but i do.

Agreed on everything except the in-game chat. How can you not know this? When in-battle, move your mouse cursor in the top left corner of the screen, a little option thing will open up. Click on the little figure. Once someone says something, the chat box pops up for everyone in the battle.

this is the most restrictive version in terms of mp game set up options yet and i find this an area where improvements can and should be made. there are 4 land battle settings in total.. early era with low funds or high funds... and late era with low funds or high funds. the major difference is the arty has explosive shells and the factions are better balanced in late era... funds are 10,000 for low and 14,000 for high.. this does make it easy to create standard armies that can be saved or loaded in the battle set up.. unit size has 4 choices.. small, med, large, ultra.. ... weather, time of day, battle time limits all have selectable options.. missing are any options to control types of units allowed, limits on same troop type, number of units in total, any controls on fatigue... the map selection is horrible.. there is only one 4v4 map.. there are only two 2v2 maps.. and a handfull of 1v1 maps.. so far i have no idea how to even go about making or modding any of the maps.. without a map editor i think we are stuck with what they give us. the good news is the maps are good.. but i cant imagine playing on the same 4v4 for ever, it will lose its appeal soon..

Agreed. Apparently, there's new maps coming in with the next patch, so thank God. I wish there was a way to restrict certain units from being recruited (i.e. mortars).

patching the game is easy... steam does it for you.. but for the moment we are dealing with some players who have changed some files and can still play online.. cracked version of the game dont work online.. at least none ive seen or heard of.. but you can mod files with a real copy and get online.. this is fixable and i expect it will be part of an upgrade soon..

Yes, you can mod your files. It's possible to unlock the unplayable factions (I particularly enjoy Wurttemberg and the Powhatan Confederacy) but, for whatever God knows reason, it's also possible to change unit costs. I'm all fine with the unplayable factions, but not the unit costs. The unit costs cheating-thing is supposed to be fixed in the next patch.

the ranking system is basic and confusing.. if you win you will get some stars.. there is no ladder and no way to look up anyone stats besides yourself... the first 9 star i played was also the first ranked battle i played.. he got really mad i beat him because he dropped a retarded amount of levels.. the average no clan named i dont know you from adam player will drop me more than half the time in 1v1.. as pulling your internet connection will not result in a loss for the host.. this is insane.. i cant even keep a list of them to remind me later.. no way to ban someone from your games either.. (u can boot from the battle set up but u cant create a preset list of banned players) ...

Yeah, I really hate it when I'm just about the win a ranked battle, but host is able to pull the plug and crashes the game without a loss. That really pisses me off. Also, I want a ban option. More than once, I've gotten these little waste of flesh kids who kept re-joining my game immediately after I would boot him out. Mostly they're people I know who have cheated in games by spamming mortars when the rules would be "no mortars."