Camping

[ZIM!!]

I was playing a battle last night and the other teams 24 lbers on a hill kind of way on his side. reached clear across the map to my sidewith grape shot while my 24 lbers also on a hill actually higher and a clear line of fire only made it about 2/3's of the way across this seems odd to me has this happened to anyone? Besides mortars what canons have the best range?

[Prussian to the Iron]

as of now, any foot or horse arty but howitzers have 400 range with roundshot, 150 with canister, and 350 with shrapnel.

howitzers are 350 for all of theirs, and rockets are 750.

in 1 battle on MP, i got so bored i decided i would rather lose and see some action than sit there while our cannons shot at eachother, across a field too long for either. i think the farthest shot either of us had before i advanced was like 50-90 feet in front of my cannons.

[Yun Dog]

Its the schapnel shot exploit

You can tell your arty to fire beyond their range with the shapnel shot and inflict casualties

they were using a game glitch exploit to win

one of the many reasons MP TW is doomed, if it isnt already dead

I got better things to do than spend an hour to boost some campers stats

And if it wasnt that, it'd be armies of fergusons - basically because there is only one type of game - the game lends itself to be exploited by people desparate for virtual ego boosting.

[thurjack_mahr]

I guess the way I look at it is this - an "exploit" is something that gives one side an unfair advantage over the other.

So if 24lb cannons can overshoot thier range - both sides can use that.

If it were something that only one side can use, I would agree that it is an exploit, and should be banned, but since both sides can use it, what's the issue?

I've been in some truly Great Games where both sides open up by peppering each other's line with shrapnel shot for a few minutes before advancing the troops.

[ZIM!!]

You know the more I play this game MP the more frustrating it is. I'm still having trouble getting into games although not as much as before.

Joinable games to begin with are usually too few

Of those games that are joinable and unlocked some of the games listed are corrupt like the games been listed there for like 5 hours with 3/4 people.

Then if you get into a game it sometimes takes forever for people to join

And then you finally get enough people everybody hits ready(cross your fingers) you drop into the game and people lag out this happens in too many games

Then there's always somebody that either didn’t listen or just wasn’t told the rules and in a game that was 1 ship only somebody brought 7 heavy first rates, and he just steamrolls everyone despite calls to have the extra units withdraw.

Of course there's the mid game lag outs( I hate this) or the host quits and the game crashes so others cant continue.

And the quiters due to excessive and unsportsman like taunting.

Ive spent hours before Ive actually had 1 game that was actually smooth running and went from beginning to end with all players present.

It just takes way too much time trying to find and get into a good game.

[Prussian to the Iron]

i agree. almost no games available, even fewer you can join, even fewer without passwords, and even fewer i actually want to do.

at the end, i end up narrowing it down to either 0-3.

[al Roumi]

gah. This is exactly why i stopped playing ETW multiplayer after a few rounds.

Some maps (provence?) are especially prone to promoting stale gameplay where the side with the geographic advantage camps ina game of "chicken", with it's rifles, arty and stakes. I absolutely abhor it.

I've tried storming their positions a few times but I'm probably not good enough to unlock their defenses. The main tactical problems I had were that:

• Cannon (esp horse arty) can't maneuvre or deploy fast enough on entering counter battery range to suppress or otherwise sufficiently distract enemy batteries or even bombard enemy infantry lines.
• Infantry formations are not easy (or quick) to reform into column or line formations -essential to proper/effective maneuvres & engagement
• Over-use of stakes means that you can't really use shock cavalry much
• General requriement for intensive micro-ing of almost every detail (arty targetting, infantry formations, use of special abilities e.g. grenades, all unit maneuvring) means that you don't have time to adequately control any aspect of your forces sufficiently

Or at least those were my main problems, although I can't discount that I might just be a rubbish general with insufficient tactical nous.

My opponents may also have well practiced their static defensive positions.

[A1_Unit]

Don't forget that the lag is horrible and makes giving orders hard.