Caesar in Gaul DLC

[BroskiDerpman]

Once upon a time there was this thing called dry humor. (I attempted )

Even then CA essentially ditched ETW. CA could have patched before Napoleon but they of course didn't. Hence why you're taking it too literally but think of it; Empire was released several years ago yet there's still numerous major bugs and glitches that need to be resolved. It's a joke and statement poking fun at CA never wrapping up ETW.

[Mhantra]

Most Americans aren't good with dry humor lol.

Watch them watch some of the English comedies sometime. Blank faces...lol

[Hooahguy]

Dont get me wrong, I love dry humor, much prefer it over other types, but that form isnt very well communicated over the internet.

[Myth]

Well I suppose there is the matter of what price it is. I don't think they can realistically charge more than 5 euro for this.

[Hooahguy]

You might be disappointed then, its just a bit over $13, or around 9-10 euros.

[Slaists]

Once upon a time there was this thing called dry humor. (I attempted )

Even then CA essentially ditched ETW. CA could have patched before Napoleon but they of course didn't. Hence why you're taking it too literally but think of it; Empire was released several years ago yet there's still numerous major bugs and glitches that need to be resolved. It's a joke and statement poking fun at CA never wrapping up ETW.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the last ETW patch AFTER the release of Napoleon. If I remember correctly, the best campaign AI came out with that very last patch. Too bad it came just about when everybody was already utterly bored with the game.

[Lemur]

Wait, seriously? Its not going to happen, We are four games past ETW, patching time for the game is long gone.

I think it's safe to assume he was kidding.

Although I still get real enjoyment out of ETW now and then. Something about the time period and the stupidly large ambition of the game really gets me in the groats.

[Mhantra]

So, to get back on track. I have been checking out the factions and started thinking about the starting locations of the Galacians. Ouch! The cultural differences in the area are going to be a killer. Is there any other Celtic faction in the area without passing across the straights into Thracia? I mean, moving south or east is going to take forever to stabilize with the complete lack of Celtic culture.

Is it possible to make good with the Hellenic factions (they get a bonus), including Selucids and Pontus, to cover your east/south side, the Greek states on your west, then cross into Thracia/Dacia, then blow across that strip of Celtic factions in a lateral strip across the north of Italia. It would be easier to remain stable and move your armies forward, but man, your nothern border across that strip would be a huge front to protect.

[Sp4]

Just be nice to everyone and the AI will ignore you.

[Mhantra]

Just be nice to everyone and the AI will ignore you.

That is not in my nature. If I want the land, I take it. I will let them know, too, declaring war on anyone I consider enemy.

Makes for fun games.

And man, I have gotten some stiff retribution from the AI playing this way.

[Sp4]

Not having people coming down on your fronts seems like a good way to keep them secure. You can almost safely conquer stuff you want without starting wars with everyone in the area. Then the AI will ignore you.

[Slaists]

So, to get back on track. I have been checking out the factions and started thinking about the starting locations of the Galacians. Ouch! The cultural differences in the area are going to be a killer. Is there any other Celtic faction in the area without passing across the straights into Thracia? I mean, moving south or east is going to take forever to stabilize with the complete lack of Celtic culture.

Is it possible to make good with the Hellenic factions (they get a bonus), including Selucids and Pontus, to cover your east/south side, the Greek states on your west, then cross into Thracia/Dacia, then blow across that strip of Celtic factions in a lateral strip across the north of Italia. It would be easier to remain stable and move your armies forward, but man, your nothern border across that strip would be a huge front to protect.

I suppose, rushing Bithynia (and Pontus) makes sense for Galatia. Pontus is at war with Cappadocia from the game start and does not field much more than slingers and eastern spearmen. Bithynia won't have much in the city at the start either: so, rush it with mercenaries and such and go from there. In a sense, Galatia is in a better position than Pontus at the game start. Pontus has to deal with the alliance they have with Bithinya before they can unite the province. Galatia, however, does not have to concern itself with such nuisances.

Probably, CA will slap Galatia with some pre-existing truce to limit this rush.

By the way, those pre-existing truces are broken at the moment. Seleucids have a truce with Cyprus, but declaring a war on Cyprus on the first turn does not incur any diplomatic penalties. There is also a pre-existing truce in place for Carthage (with Syracuse). However, declaring a war on Syracuse on turn one does not incur any diplomatic reputation penalties either.

[Wilbo]

This is out already, so is anyone playing? While I do quite fancy it, I'll wait a few months as I've still got plenty of campaigning to do! It's worth noting that I'm really pleased CA have gone this new route with the DLC, as it's so much more interesting than the existing 'new clans' DLC.

The game really is solid for me now - though it does need a few enhancements, it's nothing like the game that the magazine's reviewed.

[Slaists]

This is out already, so is anyone playing? While I do quite fancy it, I'll wait a few months as I've still got plenty of campaigning to do! It's worth noting that I'm really pleased CA have gone this new route with the DLC, as it's so much more interesting than the existing 'new clans' DLC.

The game really is solid for me now - though it does need a few enhancements, it's nothing like the game that the magazine's reviewed.

Um, what is the biggest AI opponent you have had to contend with in mid-game? :)

[easytarget]

At 180 hours and about 3 or 4 campaigns so far I doubt I've ever encountered any other faction larger than maybe about 10 settlements tops. Not that it matters, the AI has no clue how manage development or defense in this province system. And with no time limit, I can leisurely go about developing for as long as I want should the need arise.

Net result: there are fewer consequences (read none) to my decisions in an entire campaign of Rome 2 than there are in 5 minutes of any xcom mission on classic/ironman.

[Hooahguy]

Might I suggest a CAI mod? The Radious AI mod for the campaign has enhanced it quite a lot.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...4#post13221084

Although I still get real enjoyment out of ETW now and then. Something about the time period and the stupidly large ambition of the game really gets me in the groats.

Dammit, now Im reinstalling ETW/Darthmod again...

[Myth]

The DLC costs 15 euro. Not that I don't have them but I could have gotten (and did) complete full games from the Autumn Sale for that kind of money! Since my GF is coming over for a few days I won't be able to play anyway, so I'll wait until the christmas sale which should be starting around mid December.

Edit: everyone is saying it's already available but it isn't. It's out there for pre-purchasing. It will be out on Dec 12, ie. 2-3 days before the Christmas sale.

[BroskiDerpman]

Might I suggest a CAI mod? The Radious AI mod for the campaign has enhanced it quite a lot.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...4#post13221084



Dammit, now Im reinstalling ETW/Darthmod again...

If you still use Darthmod like the majority of people who search for mods (To be honest all they did was read Thomas' claims and immediately chewed it in ) them I highly suggest Bran Mc born's sub mods, preferably the one that disables fire by rank as it's notorious for being bugged out, unresponsive, etc. Instead he (And many people before him) enable skirmish for line infantry then use tighter spacing to give 2-3 ranks fire at will which works really well. (Lines never skirmished with this tweak so it's good).

If you are interested in discovering other mods there's some good ones: WIP Victorian mod, Imperial Splendor which makes much better units than CA (Wait for upcoming version), APE:TI which has many ai tweaks (Well all the mods do) and tons of gameplay change notably manpower and supply, Empire Realism; enough said, most realistic battles for TW, The Blue and the Gray ACW mod, and some more I forgot.

JaM told me that he's going to release Rome 2 Realism pretty soon, the main problem for him is that it's much harder to make battles realistic compared to Empire and Rome 1. (He was working on an EB1 edu sub mod)

[BroskiDerpman]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the last ETW patch AFTER the release of Napoleon. If I remember correctly, the best campaign AI came out with that very last patch. Too bad it came just about when everybody was already utterly bored with the game.

Yes, it was right after NTW's release. I myself never played Empire until the last few months. (I just bought it with all dlcs few months ago for lulz)

[Kamakazi]

just to clarify... the extra faction(s) added with this dlc will add to the main campaign or no?

[Hooahguy]

Heres a Lets play that CA did:

[Slaists]

Recruiting from client states: that's a nice add to the main campaign.

[Hooahguy]

Plus it would give another incentive to create client states.

[The Outsider]

Heres a Lets play that CA did:

Wow. That was desperate...

[Sp4]

I was kind of expecting the campaign map in the vanilla game to be that big and detailed when they went all blargh whaaargaa!!!! Biggest campaign map evaaaarrr!

It looks a little like the one in FotS though... all boring and empty but so does the one in the vanilla game.

[BroskiDerpman]

I'll chime in my opinion on map scale.

I was thinking of around 15-20 provinces for Gaul in grand campaign. Then 60-80 provinces for the mini campaigns.

If done right taking over a large amount of provinces would not be snore fest but it would be much funner; note on the "if".

[Hooahguy]

15-20 for Gaul in the main campaign? If Gaul has that many, that would mean doubling the number of provinces in general for the whole campaign map. Thats a lot of provinces to take. Though thats assuming we are working with the current system. It would be even worse if it was the older TW system where every province had a walled city. Then it would really be Siege Total War.

So why do you think that more provinces mean a more enjoyable campaign, or as you put it, "it would be much funner"?

[BroskiDerpman]

Yeah, so what if it doubles the amount of provinces to take. If you include some extra diplomatic functions or from what some twcers suggested something like a warscore or public opinion on wars then taking those settlements won't be a snore fest. Then add in decent BAI for sieges then sieges would be much more enjoyable. (M2TW had the most satisfying sieges with RBAI or XAI added in with the multi layer defenses, ai attacking from multiple angles, using siege equipment, etc) Having more provinces also acan allow for more accuracy in the map, more precision in AoR recruitment, more local region stuff, and if CA implements having several provinces being tied under one governor with management based on region level (Several provinces tied to one tab with a governor or some sort of council, etc) that would lessen the amount of micromanagement.

If you're arguing about Siege Total War: In Europe wars revolved around non decisive actions around strongholds such as castles, months-years long sieges, etc. What I suggest isn't even close to that. (Though it would be cool if CA even bothers to think of that idea)

Also please read the statement carefully:

" If done right taking over a large amount of provinces would not be snore fest but it would be much funner; note on the "if". "

It's not like Pre Warscape with the 199 settlements wasn't fun, it was fun too with the large amounts of battles near settlements, attacking settlements, back and forth, reflected by 1648 mod, Broken Crescent, etc. It's just that it was too simple, nothing fancy like what I suggested above.

Also if you think it's really hard and time consuming for CA to make balancing, or minor mechanic changes I got a little story:

The MP community after the release of Rome 2 essentially died save for a few major tournaments with cash prize, mostly because of the same old replay bugs, insane balance issues, poor map design, bugs in mechanics, etc.
Some people like Wicked Pirate and Aggony Duck, decided to create balance mods, and fix some bugs and quirks of Rome 2.

Guess what:

In one day Aggony Duck managed to create a more balanced and less annoying MP experience compared to CA's 3 months of work.

So I think CA is capable of implementing at least some minor changes if I use something like this as a comparison.

[Sp4]

15-20 for Gaul in the main campaign? If Gaul has that many, that would mean doubling the number of provinces in general for the whole campaign map. Thats a lot of provinces to take. Though thats assuming we are working with the current system. It would be even worse if it was the older TW system where every province had a walled city. Then it would really be Siege Total War.

So why do you think that more provinces mean a more enjoyable campaign, or as you put it, "it would be much funner"?

On second thought, I think you are right. The game might do better with a map this small, maybe even smaller, given that they managed to make 9575896579586 generic factions and if the map was larger, there would be 579565769685789^10 generic factions with an equal number of settlements to conquer in boring siege battles that the AI can't handle.

I think I figured out where their 40% bigger budget they had for this game went to... they hired people to do research on little generic mini factions to put into the most epic and huge TW game ever and then paid some more money to hype it up.

[Kamakazi]

If done right taking over a large amount of provinces would not be snore fest but it would be much funner; note on the "if".

Sorry to correct your grammar but its more fun... funner isn't a word...

but as I asked before does this apply the new faction to the grand campaign? And this aforementioned levy from client states, does that only apply with the purchase of this dlc?