Evading battle needs fixing.

[Didz]

CA really need to sort out the issue of evading battle in ETW.

The current arrangement is unpredictable and inappropriate to the game, especially in the case of naval warfare. It really annoys me when the AI as a result of some internal mystery of coding decides arbitarily to elminate one of my armies or fleets especially if I have just spent over an hour extracting it untouched from a one sided naval battle or military skirmish.

It also annoys me that I even have to go through the battle process in order to extract them in the first place, when quite obviously there is no way that the enemy can force them to fight. e.g. Spanish (6 heavy plodding ships of the line) v Dutch (1 nippy little sloop with a shallow draft and ability to sail much closer to the wind) No contest...the sloop can and did run rings round the liners and escaped without a shot being fired only to be sunk by the AI on the campaign map. NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!

I want to play this game, not be played for a sucker by it.

When two forces meet either should have to option to evade action and the game should allow 'The Player' (you know that person who paid for the game, and sort of expects to be in control of the gameplay ) to decide which direction their forces take to try and avoid the enemy. This random 'I know lets walk into the side of the map' concept is rubbish.

Likewise, if the AI is going to force 'The Player' (see above) to fight an unavoidable battle, then lets see some evidence that the battle is unavoidable.

It annoys the hell out of me 'The Player' (see above) that I have to sit and play through the extraction of my units from a battle, even though the AI has actually done nothing to force them into fighting in the first place.

If your going to chase me across the map jump on my army/fleet and give me no option to evade, then ffs, when the battle screen opens don't give me the option to place my units of the back edge of the map and run for the touch line.

If you army/fleet can't catch me and force me to fight then don't waste an hour of my life (The Player) watching me prove that your AI is stupid. Ok! I just go and make a cup of tea now, but the principle still remains. If the AI has the ability to force a battle then lets see the evidence of how and why on the battle screen, if it can't force an action then just let me evade and move my units away again.

And DON'T arbitarily kill them just because your AI is too dumb to catch them. [/rant]

[Dayve]

...What?

[Khorak]

...What?

A bunch of slow, heavy ships attack a sloop, sloop gets forced into battle screen, sloop simply turns around and leaves the battle because those ships have absolutely no chance at all, ever, of catching that sloop if it doesn't want to be, game declares battle a victory for enemy and sinks sloop anyway. Big load of balls.

[Dayve]

A bunch of slow, heavy ships attack a sloop, sloop gets forced into battle screen, sloop simply turns around and leaves the battle because those ships have absolutely no chance at all, ever, of catching that sloop if it doesn't want to be, game declares battle a victory for enemy and sinks sloop anyway. Big load of balls.

Gotcha. It's unrealistic, certainly... but so is transporting armies or blockading ports with a single sloop.

[hoom]

Its a fundamental design flaw in the RTW & later style campaign map.

In earlier games the human & the AI nations all told the units where to go to but they didn't actually move until the End Turn button was hit.

Actually I think the AI at least partly reacted to the humans moves but its mostly the same & it let the AI do some cool things like an army built up over several turns sent on an invasion may find that the opposing army withdrew or evaded & went on counter attack into the just vacated province.

Outnumbered armies tended to fall back province by province absorbing garrisons & reinforcements until eventually gaining enough strength to stand their ground or spreading the attacking forces too thin, forcing a halt for reinforcement & consolidation, ripe for counter-attack.

I was really hoping for ETW to bring back the 'all moving at the end of turn' thing.

[Quillan]

Here's what happened to me once: I had a small fleet sitting right next to a port, basically to protect it somewhat from a possible blockade. This fleet had not moved in 6+ turns. Another faction declared war on me. They sallied forth from their own port (which was about 1/3 of their movement allotment away) and came to attack my fleet. Since they outnumbered me 4:1 as well as outclassed me, I elected to run away. Even though my "fleet" was 3 sloops, the game didn't even have me move 1/4 my allowance away. The enemy fleet continued on, caught me, and this time fleeing wasn't an option for me.

If I have more movement remaining than you, how the hell can you possibly catch me?!?!?!?

[Megas Methuselah]

Gotcha. It's unrealistic, certainly... but so is transporting armies or blockading ports with a single sloop.

Yeah, I agree, nag. Some random kid's ranting won't change my opinion.

[hoom]

so is transporting armies or blockading ports with a single sloop

Since there are now dedicated naval ships, it should be 1 unit per Indiaman & in the bigger naval ships too which would make invasions a significant logistical feat.

[Slaists]

CA really need to sort out the issue of evading battle in ETW.

The current arrangement is unpredictable and inappropriate to the game, especially in the case of naval warfare. It really annoys me when the AI as a result of some internal mystery of coding decides arbitarily to elminate one of my armies or fleets especially if I have just spent over an hour extracting it untouched from a one sided naval battle or military skirmish.

It also annoys me that I even have to go through the battle process in order to extract them in the first place, when quite obviously there is no way that the enemy can force them to fight. e.g. Spanish (6 heavy plodding ships of the line) v Dutch (1 nippy little sloop with a shallow draft and ability to sail much closer to the wind) No contest...the sloop can and did run rings round the liners and escaped without a shot being fired only to be sunk by the AI on the campaign map. NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!

I want to play this game, not be played for a sucker by it.

When two forces meet either should have to option to evade action and the game should allow 'The Player' (you know that person who paid for the game, and sort of expects to be in control of the gameplay ) to decide which direction their forces take to try and avoid the enemy. This random 'I know lets walk into the side of the map' concept is rubbish.

Likewise, if the AI is going to force 'The Player' (see above) to fight an unavoidable battle, then lets see some evidence that the battle is unavoidable.

It annoys the hell out of me 'The Player' (see above) that I have to sit and play through the extraction of my units from a battle, even though the AI has actually done nothing to force them into fighting in the first place.

If your going to chase me across the map jump on my army/fleet and give me no option to evade, then ffs, when the battle screen opens don't give me the option to place my units of the back edge of the map and run for the touch line.

If you army/fleet can't catch me and force me to fight then don't waste an hour of my life (The Player) watching me prove that your AI is stupid. Ok! I just go and make a cup of tea now, but the principle still remains. If the AI has the ability to force a battle then lets see the evidence of how and why on the battle screen, if it can't force an action then just let me evade and move my units away again.

And DON'T arbitarily kill them just because your AI is too dumb to catch them. [/rant]

I agree, it's borked as it stands now: especially the part where the AI NEVER retreats, no matter what odds. As to that speedy Dutch Gonzales of yours: maybe "no campaign map movement points remaining" came into play? In ETW, the game actually allows one to 'decline' a sea battle on the campaign map and escape safe and sound as long as there are movement points remaining. The trick with a weak fleet is to end the turn with sufficient movement points to be able to escape a stronger fleet's attack sufficiently far so it cannot reach your fleet for the second attack.

Well, that's game. In real life, of course, 'no movement points remaining' does not make any sense in the age of sailing. What? They ran out of fuel?