What is different in 1.3?

[Sheogorath]

Thing is, it only started after the latest Steam update. Seems rather odd.

They do look neat :P

[FactionHeir]

You can always try deleting everything in your steam folder EXCEPT:
Steam.exe
steamapps folder

Afterwards, reboot and then run steam.exe (not the steam link via startmenu)

That clears the entire Steam cache and fixes a wealth of issues usually.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Edit:
Is it just me or is Irish Brigade utterly useless? They have worse stats than Spanish Line Infantry and cost more to recruit and upkeep. And they also have a 1 unit limit (which you can circumvent by rebelling, which randomly managed to spawn 3 of those into the rebel stack).

Their stats are hardly better then militia. I hope that Lusted will re-balance them.

[Husar]

You can always try deleting everything in your steam folder EXCEPT:
Steam.exe
steamapps folder

Afterwards, reboot and then run steam.exe (not the steam link via startmenu)

That clears the entire Steam cache and fixes a wealth of issues usually.

Yeah, I was given that solution by the Steam support a long time ago and it has fixed quite a few problems since then, it's some kind of universal Steam fix.

[al Roumi]

Their stats are hardly better then militia. I hope that Lusted will re-balance them.

Yeah, in v1.2 they had better melee skills but worse accuracy & reload than regular spanish line infantry. I really liked the difference and always placed them in the most sensitive points of my line.

In v1.3, i've been doing rhe same, blithely oblivious until seeing the updated Fusil guide today!

No wonder they've been getting chewed over so much!

Must be a bug/omission, silly for them to cost more for less (unless the claret uniform is worth it...).

[Marquis of Roland]

2. AI armies still retreat away from their own territory and, usually, into yours. This results in some extremely annoying chases where the AI traipses around your territory for years sacking everything in sight and, when it gets lucky on occasion, taking a city you didn't garrison because it was fifteen provinces behind the lines.

I defeated an Austrian stack and it retreated into Venetian territory. Austria and Venice were NOT allies. Venice doesn't do anything about the 3 Austrian units using their region as a base to raid my territory; they'd pop in, raid Graz or Trieste, and they're back in Venice all on the same turn. I have a trade agreement with Venice so I don't want to attack them.

Finally after 5 turns of this, the Venetians finally declare war on Austria and wipe out those 3 units.

Invisible stakes pissed me off to the point where I never attack an army that can fortify. I've played 1 battle vs. Venetians where I literally played it 4 times to map out all the invisible stakes. It took like 2 hours.

WHEN are they going to fix the light infantry bugs? It's gotta be like the easiest frickin' thing to fix yet it managed to slip past 3 major patches and all its hotfixes? Crazy.

PLUS:
Why did they change 1st rate cannon range back to 400?? 1.2 fixed it by changing to 500 like the rest of the ships but now its back to 400 again??? Why would you "unfix" something you already fixed??? LOL

[FactionHeir]

AI seems to also get massive amounts of cash in 1.3. France can field 3 full stacks with just 4 American and 1 European holding (Saxony, producing 1.1k in taxes) without breaking a sweat.
And before you ask, no, they are at war with just about everyone and have 0 trading partners (and no European port either)

In 1.2, it would be bankrupt by now.

[Durallan]

Ironically however those full 3 stacks are most of the time entirely in europe and all if not most of their american holdings have little to NO troops guarding them!

[Mailman653]

US campaign seems to of gotten an extension. I recall it ending in 1810, now it ends in 1825.

[FactionHeir]

It seems that any emerging faction from the destruction of another faction becomes Rebel rather than an actual faction:
Example: Pirates, Quebec, United States.
Seems like CA broke something "fixing" the pirate re-emergence.

Artillery no longer autochanges targets when they have never been given a target on fire at will. Very annoying when you got them on canister and they keep shooting at an enemy way out of range!

When a faction declares war on you, the diplomacy text now reads as if you were the one declaring war on them and they are surprised about it....

Similar thing with selling my military access, they will claim that they don't want to give you access to their land...

Merging units and automatic cancelling of retraining as a result works fine now. Disbanding units undergoing retraining and recouping costs of retrain of a reloaded game and that has since seen battle still not working.

Square formation now ridiculously effective against cavalry even when the infantry has no bayonets at all. Charged my guard cav into a unit of line and lost all of them.

AI will not accept peace under any circumstances it seems (unless you are unreasonable and give them just about everything you have).

The new jag formation for irregulars is rather annoying: When I drag out a position of Frontiersmen or guerilla, they usually overlap quite a bit even though they shouldn't, resulting in a lot of additional FF casualties. Quite tedious having to move them one by one and ensre they don't ever overlap.

[al Roumi]

WHEN are they going to fix the light infantry bugs? It's gotta be like the easiest frickin' thing to fix yet it managed to slip past 3 major patches and all its hotfixes? Crazy.

Don't get me started, what about behaviour of units on fort walls or in cover behind the "garden" walls? That's still broke.

[Slaists]

AI seems to also get massive amounts of cash in 1.3. France can field 3 full stacks with just 4 American and 1 European holding (Saxony, producing 1.1k in taxes) without breaking a sweat.
And before you ask, no, they are at war with just about everyone and have 0 trading partners (and no European port either)

In 1.2, it would be bankrupt by now.

I can second that. At least on VH AI now seems to have HUGE cash injections. Playing as French I was blockading ALL British ports in Europe (zero trade for them), but they still could afford 6 full stacks (many featuring colonial line infantry + artillery) running around North America. They even could afford to replenish those stacks after they were depleted from fighting...

Bottom line: post 1.03, economically, it does not make any sense blockading the AI on VH. You should still blockade though, for it stops the AI from building ships and raiding YOUR trade...

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Actually it does. It provides you with some extra cash providing that you raid their trade and not block it completely. In my current Spanish campaign I am fighting the British in North America. The British had a lot of stacks over there, but have lately difficulties with replenishing and reinforcing their stacks. In Carolinas they had three against my two and when those were defeated they were without units to stop my push to the North.

In Germany I am fighting Prussia and since the initial onslaught is over the only thing that stops my march to the East is the fact that I need a stack to pacify Berlin and that Sweden just declared war on me. All the Prussian lands east of Berlin are without units to defend them.

On a side note.
Just before Sweden declared war on me I saw to small fleets carrying two stacks near the coast of Portugal. I really hoped that Sweden wouldn't DoW me because my six dragoons in Madrid were no match to two stacks. Sweden started a was but forgot to move its ships so was able to destroy them. During Sweden's turn I intercepted a third fleet carrying a stack. If the AI would be able to handle its invasion forces it would have caused enormous problem for me.

[Slaists]

Actually it does. It provides you with some extra cash providing that you raid their trade and not block it completely. In my current Spanish campaign I am fighting the British in North America. The British had a lot of stacks over there, but have lately difficulties with replenishing and reinforcing their stacks. In Carolinas they had three against my two and when those were defeated they were without units to stop my push to the North.

In Germany I am fighting Prussia and since the initial onslaught is over the only thing that stops my march to the East is the fact that I need a stack to pacify Berlin and that Sweden just declared war on me. All the Prussian lands east of Berlin are without units to defend them.

On a side note.
Just before Sweden declared war on me I saw to small fleets carrying two stacks near the coast of Portugal. I really hoped that Sweden wouldn't DoW me because my six dragoons in Madrid were no match to two stacks. Sweden started a was but forgot to move its ships so was able to destroy them. During Sweden's turn I intercepted a third fleet carrying a stack. If the AI would be able to handle its invasion forces it would have caused enormous problem for me.

I do not see any cash injection if I blockade a port. If a port is blockaded (and I had sloops sitting in ALL British European ports), there is zero trade with that port. Raiding a trade route does provide cash injection. But the trade (ports) have to be active for raiding to work.

On a different note:

VH strategy difficulty is definitely different (from 1.02) now... Playing as Britain I am desperately trying to scrap some cash, while the AI seems to have almost unlimited resources. It would appear, the AI does not value trade at all at least on VH. Most of my trade partners are almost constantly blockaded and they do not seem to be eager to do anything about those blockades. Bottom line: trade is very, very unreliable as a source of income post 1.03 at least on VH campaign setting.

[AussieGiant]

I do not see any cash injection if I blockade a port. If a port is blockaded (and I had sloops sitting in ALL British European ports), there is zero trade with that port. Raiding a trade route does provide cash injection. But the trade (ports) have to be active for raiding to work.

On a different note:

VH strategy difficulty is definitely different (from 1.02) now... Playing as Britain I am desperately trying to scrap some cash, while the AI seems to have almost unlimited resources. It would appear, the AI does not value trade at all at least on VH. Most of my trade partners are almost constantly blockaded and they do not seem to be eager to do anything about those blockades. Bottom line: trade is very, very unreliable as a source of income post 1.03 at least on VH campaign setting.

I'm playing GB on H/M and trade is my main source of income. It certainly isn't as bad as your version Slaists, but it's clearly more of an issue than 1.02

[Slaists]

I'm playing GB on H/M and trade is my main source of income. It certainly isn't as bad as your version Slaists, but it's clearly more of an issue than 1.02

Okies, that means CA might have finally differentiated the difficulty settings. VH seems to be playable, but it has become much more of a 'precision' game than before. Battles (including the smallest of skirmishes) really have to be played by the player, because the player faction cannot afford the replenishing costs that result from autoresolve.

I was amazed by the number of galleons that AI Spain could spam on VH... A while later, I realized, they pay about 50% of the upkeep that the player would pay for a ship of the same gun-class...

[Prodigal]

Not sure if this has been touched on but raided trade now displays in flashing red the amount of goods being blocked. Still a pain finding trade partner port blockades but at least its a step in the right direction

[Sheogorath]

Naval autoresolve seems to be strongly biased towards the AI.

I recently, as the UP, had a battle with Spain in Indonesia. Myself (using AUM) with 2 Fluyts, 2 Galleons, 2 xebecs, a sloop and a brig. The AI had two galleons and a fluyt.

First autoresolve I lost, with all ships destroyed. Second autoresolve, I won, but one of the AI's galleons survived and I lost all the xebecs, the sloop, the brig and a fluyt. A similar encounter, between equivalent fleets (In this case, a fifth rate, a sixth rate and a couple of brigs on both sides) produced an initial loss with all ships destroyed, and a second battle gave me a rather pyyrhic victory.

[FactionHeir]

Yeah, I lost several autoresolves with a Spanish xp3 galleon against 2 Austrian sloops xp0.

[Cultured Drizzt fan]

a few little things I have noticed

1. the trade screen no longer shows if the price of a commodity ( Like Ivory or spices) is going up or down as it used to (no more red or green arrow) the price will just change turn to turn, with no indicator.

2. trade theaters seem deathly empty...... I have a complete monopoly on the indies and Ivory coast, and have had to put not a single war ship there since initially cleaning the theaters of pirates. Normal nations seem to have completely forgotten about the trade spots....

3. penalty for breaking treaties is ridiculous, and as has been said it seems to value regular alliances over Protectorates.

4. I have had a few problems during naval battles, the battle will simply pause (I can move around the map, but cant touch any units or give orders) I have to exit the game to get it working again.

[Slaists]

One thing I noticed, despite overall performance having been improved the opening/setup part of sea battles (not the battles themselves) seem very choppy now. It almost seems as if the CPU is stuttering trying to 'say something'... I did not notice anything like that in 1.02.

Yeah, I lost several autoresolves with a Spanish xp3 galleon against 2 Austrian sloops xp0.

Doesn't autoresolve bias differ across difficulty settings. What difficulty were you playing on?

[Zenicetus]

Naval autoresolve seems to be strongly biased towards the AI.

What difficulty setting are you using? I haven't had a chance to play much since the patch, and haven't had a naval battle yet. The autoresolve seemed fairly balanced before the patch at a "H" combat difficulty setting. I hope they haven't tilted autoresolve too far towards the AI, because being able to skip naval battles is about the only way I can enjoy playing this game.

[FactionHeir]

VH camp, M battle

[AussieGiant]

Okies, that means CA might have finally differentiated the difficulty settings. VH seems to be playable, but it has become much more of a 'precision' game than before. Battles (including the smallest of skirmishes) really have to be played by the player, because the player faction cannot afford the replenishing costs that result from autoresolve.

I was amazed by the number of galleons that AI Spain could spam on VH... A while later, I realized, they pay about 50% of the upkeep that the player would pay for a ship of the same gun-class...

Yes that's the feeling I get too.

And the AI is rolling in money on even H/M.

As Cultured Drizzt fan said in his point 2. The trade theatres are now devoid of action and I can get all the trade spots I need. I get the feeling that this is because CA has gone back to simply handing money to the AI nations based on the difficulty setting. As a response they don't seem to want to fight for trade nodes after the initial 10 to 20 year slug fest is resolved.

It was a hell of a slug fest but it seems a little artificial now.

[FactionHeir]

I think just giving the AI money is a bad idea unless there is no other way around it. That means modders probably have to do it, but CA certainly has more tools at their disposal.

With the Ai getting some crazy amounts of money, completely blockading them and raiding all their buildings does little to impact their troop production and building capabilities, and that essentially breaks the campaign game completely.

[AussieGiant]

I think just giving the AI money is a bad idea unless there is no other way around it. That means modders probably have to do it, but CA certainly has more tools at their disposal.

With the Ai getting some crazy amounts of money, completely blockading them and raiding all their buildings does little to impact their troop production and building capabilities, and that essentially breaks the campaign game completely.

I certainly don't advocate it as a solution. It a very blunt tool which CA shouldn't need to use after so many games and experience on the topic.

Still, it scares the bejesus out of me to see stacks of French and Spanish troops swanning about.

[FactionHeir]

Those stacks do nothing against a well planned blitz naval invasion that can take out a faction in 1 turn (2 max)

Example: Me Spain control most of Western Europe, allied with Brits. Brits declare war on me for no good reason and I just use the 3 sloops in France and Flanders to land my garrisons of France, Flanders and Netherlands in Ireland, Scotland and London and take the Brits out in the same turn.

Rather than giving the AI huge field armies and no reason to builds its economy and research properly, it should be able to just keep a good size garrison for their cities and not stack up its units in the middle of nowehere where they do no good to anyone.

[FactionHeir]

I was rather surprised that the pirates on turn 5 managed to build a rocket ship....looks like they are more advanced than evryone else.

[Fisherking]

I was rather surprised that the pirates on turn 5 managed to build a rocket ship....looks like they are more advanced than evryone else.

Speaking of such things, has anyone ever reported gaining techs by capturing these things?

I know I never have. In the early game just capturing any British ship should give you a tech or two.

[Slaists]

Another 1.3 change: damaged universities still cause unrest. Before 1.3, if the university was damaged, it did not cause any clamor.