Two quick questions

[Gazza the Lionheart]

Ok, my first question is in VI is there any way to turn off the pre battle screen where you pick what units you want to deploy and secondly this is for anyone from Australia. Has anyone in Australia used the .unfreeze. cheat because i've tried it a couple of times and it didn't work.

[Brutal DLX]

1) I'm pretty sure you can't turn off that screen.
2) Not from Australia, but the code should be the same, therefore the cheat should work. If it does, you hear the marriage proposal sound and on the NEXT turn you get a message that an heir has been born unto you. It might not work for unmarried kings though, didn't test yet.

[ToranagaSama]

I only WISH

The main negative with the pre-battle screen is that it totally covers the Strat Map. This is BAD. For example, say you attack two provinces, and unexpectedly the AI attacks another provice, now you have to decide whether to, fight, not fight or withdraw to the castle, but you can't see the Map.

The fact that you've been unexpectedly attacked changes everything The outcome of the first battle can change everything. The "situation" that went into the initial decision to battle has changed.

This may not be so important to the "warmongers", but to those of us who plan EVERYTHING, the blocked Map is irritating as H, and can ruin a campaign.

Just another of those things that would have come out with proper Beta-Testing

We need to be able to view the Strat Map at *all* times

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Sorry, not from Down Under and have never tried .unfreeze.. Curious, why do you want to remove the pre-battle screen? Is it because of the above?

[Satyr]

I think if I could still scroll the campaign map around with arrow keys while the pre-battle screen is up (like most popups work) I would be reasonably satisfied. Better yet would be the ability to minimize the pre-battle screen to look around.

[Oaty]

Well heres the best solution I can offer do the battle quick save, auto resovle the battle or abandon the territory and at the end of the turn you can see what you have then load the quick save and decide to retreat or fight the battle

[RisingSun]

Oaty, that seems like an awful lot of extra work for something that was supposed to improve playability

[ToranagaSama]

Quote[/b] (oaty @ July 10 2003,17:21)]Well heres the best solution I can offer do the battle quick save, auto resovle the battle or abandon the territory and at the end of the turn you can see what you have then load the quick save and decide to retreat or fight the battle

I tried that once or twice.

The problem is that there are certain "random" factors involved, the most obvious example is re "weather". If you need a certain type of weather, saving and re-loading can effect that, and some other things as well.

The true concern is why weren't these small, but significant problems identified and addressed in "Testing". Most are quite obvious to the average "seasoned" player after a couple hours of play.

Public Beta-Testing should be the solution.

[Hakonarson]

So you have to make a decision without knowing all the possible information? Gosh...that's sad lol

Just win all the damned battles anyway ya wus

[scsscsfanfan]

hi mate, I'm from Adelaide.
Q1: not sure, but seems not.

Q2: it works ok in mine, regardless whether the king has a ring or not. the only thing is that you have only 6 slots of the heirs - mature or under age. If you have 6 already, the .unfreeze. won't work. otherwise it works everytime for me.
hope it help.

[ToranagaSama]

Quote[/b] ]Just win all the damned battles anyway ya wus

You're a damn "Warmonger" aren't you?

Quote[/b] ]So you have to make a decision without knowing all the possible information? Gosh...that's sad

What kind of Strategy game player are you?

BTW, you do realize that I am Toranaga, Lord of the Kwanto.

I win MOST of my battles BEFORE they are fought. If I had my copy of Sun Tzu, I'd present you the applicable quote.

Sigh...Sun Tzu...just makes one realize how far, Total War has moved from the original precepts of Shogun...sigh.

[Brutal DLX]

Um,... Sun Tzu's doctrine wasn't known in Europe at that time. The basic motto was like "Gah, let's go cut some heads off" and "Oh, they are stronger than us, run"

But really, it's quite realistic to not have all info on everything all the time. That's why surprise attacks work in the first place.

[ToranagaSama]

I here what you're saying, but let me explain further.

You attack in Province A, if you're like me, you also attack Province B, as well.

Pre-Battle screen pops up, and covers the entire Map. At some moment along the way you get a pop-up advising that Faction C is attacking you in Provice X.

I don't know about you, but 9 out of 10 times, I have NO clue where the heck Province X is located and what are the possible Strat Map ramifications.

Outside of a few key provinces I never recall the names of most provinces. Flanders, no problem. North Umbria, Venice, Poland, Kiev, no problem. BUT, what are their bordering provinces,

So you see, I don't know where Province X is, nor do I know what the bordering provinces are. That's the gist of the problem.

Warmongers might not appreciate the issue. As long as they've got a good fight, I guess they're happy. Personally, I fing the greatest challenge in the Strategizing.

The pre-battle screen taketh away more than it giveth....

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Sun Tzu might have been known to Medieval Europeans, but is was to the Euros in Littlehampton, and it is what the promotions said Shogun: Total War is based upon. MTW is the same game.

[Brutal DLX]

I understand your dilemma, but isn't it odd that you still can't recall a few names after having played countless campaigns, being the hardcore player that you are?
I for my part know where all provinces are and usually know the situation there. I try to prepare for any likely enemy move before hitting the end turn button. Then, if there is a surprise attack in some remote area (naval invasion etc) I decide by judging the forces. If I have only a small garrison force, I enter the castle, the rest (if any) retreat to another province. If I have a reasonably sized force there, I'll fight, either for attrition purposes or to repulse the attack right away.
One should always know where one's main forces are and if it's better to retreat and wait for them to mount a counter attack or to stand and fight right there, slowing the advance of the enemy.
And call me crazy, but I think the AI still goes by the same Sun Tzu principles that it went by in STW. It attacks if it sees an opening and stays put if it doesn't. It retreats if outnumbered, perhaps too often so.
The main problem is that the human player usually is more capable in the actual battles, and that can't be foreseen or calculated by the AI when it evaluates its options. If you watch the faction AIs fight among themselves, you rarely see a stupid attack, 90% of the time they capture the province once they invade. Maybe it can be balanced a little more by changing some factions tag in the startfiles, like "crusader, naval trader, defensive" etc..