Is there any way to order troops to conduct a fighting withdrawal rather than merely rout or ctrl.W which usually turns into the same thing? I can't find one but I've learned never to take anything for granted with this game. If there's not there oughta be. It's a pretty universal/basic manuever which anything other than an armed mob should be able to perform.
I've been playing a lot and have enjoyed and admired this game more than any that I can think of. It's potential for expansion is remarkable IMHO but Diplomacy is it's Chinless Wonder It's the 1 aspect of the game that the developers should be ashamed of and the more one plays the more oppressive it becomes.It's decisions are not based upon history or any type of logic as human beings understand the term. I've tried every way of retaining allies but it's impossible. You can beat a fellow Catholic Faction down to 1 Province after being attacked by THEM and rarely if ever will they accept a ceasefire even if being attacked by a Muslim faction.If there were a V/V of Suicidal Maniac possesed by a faction leader I could accept this otherwise it's just bushleague.
Another delightful feature which results in useless and endless effort is that whenever you begin to do well ALL of your friends and neighbors hate your guts, will not marry your ugly daughters, leaving them mopeing around the castle and being catty, and refuse to let theirs marry you. This effectively takes the most important V/V aspect out of the players hands and leads innevitably to drooling, chinless, webfooted heirs.
The game is so well done in other respects that I can't help thinking that the devs were up against a release deadline (something with which I'm familiar)and just said to hell with it just release it as is.
CA, if you read this, all of the above seems easy to fix. The following would be enough for me-
1\ A way to cultivate and retain allies especially natural allies.
2\More diplomatic interaction between factions, ie sending funds, joint attacks, being able to pass through allied territory unmolested without Crusading etc.Both AOE & AOK have you beat hands down in this respect and neither game approaches MTW.
3\Certain events such as a Muslim invasion that would increase the probability of Christian factions putting aside their squabbles and banding together.The same would go for Muslims. There is no way that Western Europe would have allowed the Turks for example to overun Christendom without drawing a line somewhere.
I know none of this is new but I think that it's such a glaring and unnecessary weakness that it can't be stated often enough.
Rant over
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