No more PAUSING !!

[YAKOBU]

Hi everyone

After over a year of playing MTW I have now come to the decision that I will no longer use the pause button in battles with the AI

Since I have started playing MP with a fellow Noob I realise how I am handicapping myself by playing using the pause button in SP. I found things were just happening too fast for my liking but realised I was not utilising my troops very efficiently. After a couple of custom battles against the AI without pausing I found a little practice just on effective grouping as well as using the Alt-Right Mouse and Alt-Left Mouse paid dividends. I had not concentrated on this too much in SP as I could always pause and direct/re-arrange troops to my hearts content, obviously this luxury is not available in MP.

Now this may mean my victories in SP may not be as decisive but it will enrich my SP game as well as improving my skills for the MP field of battle.

Let's hope I can keep up my resolution when RTW hits my PC

[Tamur]

Well decided! I decided this about two months ago, and it's made a big difference --- instead of having the luxury of thinking about things, the tactical maneuvers have to become a reflex. What I've ended up with is about a dozen or so configurations and strategies that I use... of course the "end game" after all my forces are committed gets messy, but that's the way it goes.

Good luck to you!

[ROCKHAMMER]

Nothing like the reality of "No pause". Wise decision and your tactics will improve because of it. Good luck and hopefully your forces will not suffer during your transition..

[Tricky Lady]

Good luck!
I am sure your MP abilities and reflexes will steadily increase if you keep on applying this rule rigourously.

Can't do without the pause button vs. the ai yet, but I don't play that much human vs. ai games anymore lately, due to lack of time.

I made myself promise to learn tactics and battlefield strategies more strictly with the release of RTW. Not that I'll ever manage to get somewhere, but I'll try anyhow

[DisruptorX]

I'm lucky, I still don't even know what the pause button is, and I'm going to keep it that way. I find the pace is just right anyway, slow enough to be deliberate, but fast enough to keep me on my toes.

[afrit]

Good move Yakobu,
I also weaned myself off the Pause button a while back. I read the guide post on MP and changed all the camera settings and adopted some of the recommended techniques on grouping and such ; but I haven't jumped to MP yet...

The only times I use the Pause nowadays are for "legitimate" reasons (phone calls, pages, food etc). And the occasional absolutely crucial battle where I feel a bit behind, and then only use it once or twice at most. I find that it kills the tempo of the game and actually interrupts the thought process.

@Tricky Lady,
one way I improved my game (not that I am a master or anything; still too fearful to play MP) was to play the QuickBattles over and over. I would play one game, lose, play again, lose -but put up a better fight-, and so on until I won. Eventually I got to the point where I almost always won any QuickBattle I played. Now I am doing the same with the RTW demo mods

[DisruptorX]

Good move Yakobu,
The only times I use the Pause nowadays are for "legitimate" reasons (phone calls, pages, food etc). And the occasional absolutely crucial battle where I feel a bit behind, and then only use it once or twice at most. I find that it kills the tempo of the game and actually interrupts the thought process.

I use "esc" for that.

I'm going to go off on a small tangent here and compare pausing in TW with cheating in GTA. I got in the habbit of cheating in GTA 3 and would instinctively enter the cheats without even thinking. It kind of spoiled the fun after a while. So when Vice City came out, I didn't look up the cheats, and enjoyed the game that much more for not having used them. I find pausing to be the same, although I have only started pausing after playing the Rome: Total War demo. I find it really interrupts the battle. In Medieval, I feel better off for not bothering to know the pause key.

[Tricky Lady]

@Tricky Lady,
one way I improved my game (not that I am a master or anything; still too fearful to play MP) was to play the QuickBattles over and over. I would play one game, lose, play again, lose -but put up a better fight-, and so on until I won. Eventually I got to the point where I almost always won any QuickBattle I played. Now I am doing the same with the RTW demo mods

I am most sure that you are right but unfortunately MTW is fading away from my PC, apart from the occasional MP play. I just can't spend my time "learning" a game that will almost surely be replaced by its successor in only a few weeks.
But I suppose that i'll end up playing MTW still, even with RTW installed on my hard disk. Only just not in the near future.

[Spartiate]

I can honestly say that i only ever used pause once in a battle.It was when i was blitzing through France with and Egyptian army and i accidentally left them sitting in a province for one turn.I was invaded by the French..............with a little help from large German,Italian and English armies.I didn't notice it on the pre-battle screen and i had to pause to get over the shock of the enemy having 4 times my number on the field ALL AT ONCE.I had to keep pausing in that battle just to make sure i could give orders to prevent flanking.I'll never forget that one battle.