RTW Bugs

[Doug-Thompson]

Finally encountered the navy bug last night, and was able to get loose.

I had two fleets in a small inlet in Asia Minor, with too many ships to merge. I tried to attack a small, enemy fleet nearby with one fleet and blockade a port in the inlet with the other.

I wound up with each of my fleets blocking the path of the other. They froze, and still couldn't be moved when the little enemy fleet left.

That's when I noticed that I was clicking on the sail to select the fleet -- and that the mast and sail was no longer connected to the ship's hull. I clicked on the hull, and the ship could move again and operate normally. However, the mast and sail were still separated, even in mid-ocean. I found the hull portion of the other fleet, and observed the same effects.

I merged a few ships from one fleet with the other, but still had the odd graphic effect. However, they suffered some losses after a battle, allowing me to retrain all of them. That did it. The "outrigger" effect was cured.

[Spino]

Finally encountered the navy bug last night, and was able to get loose.

I had two fleets in a small inlet in Asia Minor, with too many ships to merge. I tried to attack a small, enemy fleet nearby with one fleet and blockade a port in the inlet with the other.

I wound up with each of my fleets blocking the path of the other. They froze, and still couldn't be moved when the little enemy fleet left.

That's when I noticed that I was clicking on the sail to select the fleet -- and that the mast and sail was no longer connected to the ship's hull. I clicked on the hull, and the ship could move again and operate normally. However, the mast and sail were still separated, even in mid-ocean. I found the hull portion of the other fleet, and observed the same effects.

I merged a few ships from one fleet with the other, but still had the odd graphic effect. However, they suffered some losses after a battle, allowing me to retrain all of them. That did it. The "outrigger" effect was cured.

I noticed the same bug. Took a screenshot in case CA asks for proof.

[Nelson]

Victoria says that blockading a port will prevent shipbuilding there.

It does not. I often see ports that I am blockading build ships.

[Kraxis]

Victoria says that blockading a port will prevent shipbuilding there.

It does not. I often see ports that I am blockading build ships.

Certain it is not finishing ships?

[Psyco]

I'm not sure if this is a bug, but for some reason, bridge battles are incredibly slow. I normaly play with all settings at the highest possible, and I've done battles with about 4000 men with no slowdown. The problem is that when I do a bridge battle, even with only about 1000 men, becomes agonizingly slow (I'm talking about 1-2 fps), even when I turned all settings on to the lowest possible.

[hoom]

I've seen plenty of those 'outrigger' ships
None of my own though.

[The_Emperor]

By the way is the Squalor issue a bug? I keep on hearing a lot of complaints about it and many people are convinced it isn't working entirely right. (Just need to know in preparation for when I get it)

[DisruptorX]

hmmm, where to start......

Units REFUSE to attack enemies who are in a town square. Instead they slowly walk up to the square usually by going around to a random section and then walk through the flags 1 by 1 or 2 by 2. It's pathetic.

Cavalry who are pursuing will often stop for no reason whenever they get close. They will then start pursuing untill they get close and then stop for no reason. ad infinitum.

Cavalry pursuing units will often start galloping right next to the unit, at the exact same speed. Instead of oh, say KILLING THEM.

I may have pointed this out, but there is a hillarious AI script that isn't really a bug, but is too funny not to mention. If you have a hole in your wall from a previous battle that you did not fix, the enemy will send ALL of its units through the hole REGARDLESS of how much defenses you put behind it. They will drop their seige equipment and charge the hole. Its rather pathetic to watch their entire army kamikaze your pike walls.

[Quietus]

Here's a number of problems/gripes:

1. Ships that lose but NOT sunk disappear!

2. I don't know if CA made this on purpose (just to give the AI a chance, because cavs are powerful flankers), but Cavalry are incredibly difficult to tame. Not to mention uber-slow reaction or walking instead of running. The battle speed is already so fast. By the time I can "flank", the blocker has already routed. Sometimes it runs around in circles. Sometimes they mistake left from right, forward to backward. This is most frustrating in castle sieges.

3. Most of the time my Spies and Diplomats would suddenly disappear. At least inform the player if they are being bribed or being killed. Usually happens in the frontlines.

4. Friendly fire is a pain. Happens in sallying-fort against sieges (your units actually get freaked out by own Tower Arrows and such. Happens all the time.

5. Archers sometimes can't shoot over a low wall during sieging. It gets a red indicator instead of green. It happens when I shoot initially. The AI runs. Upon returning behind the gate, it is now red.

6. When ambushed, I can't manually retreat. I had one unit reinforcement completely ambushed in a special battlemap forest. I managed to escape the AI pincers but I can't move across the red line.

7. Couple of units AI who didn't fight and retreated against my army and it is a "Narrow Victory".

That's all I can think of right now.

[Spino]

...4. Friendly fire is a pain. Happens in sallying-fort against sieges (your units actually get freaked out by own Tower Arrows and such. Happens all the time.

I can deal with friendly fire. I'm sure it happened alot back then (and is still going strong even today) but it would be nice if it wasn't so pronounced in RTW. Anyway as the human player you can effectively deal with cutting down on FF but does the AI know how to deal with it and prevent it from happening with its own forces?

I experienced a major case of friendly fire last night, the kind of friendly fire which defies logic. This bug has already been documented except it was originally seen with pilae throwing legionaries, not archers. I had two units of Auxilia Archers killing men in their own unit! I was assaulting a Gaulish city and had their last few units surrounded in the town square. I brought in my archers to finish them off but put them on the incline leading up to the top plateau where the platform was (because of the tight space I had them in 4 rank deep rows). Pretty soon I notice two of my archer units are suffering casualties while they were firing. Turns out the guys in back were using their comrades in front for target practice, what the hell? In the very least units should not be able to inflict FF casualties on their own unit!!!

[Shorty]

Playing on a LAN with another guy, it was a close battle and eventually the soldiers got to the point were they weren't killing each other (it was mostly my Seleucid phalanx vs. Julii cohorts I think). At first I thought that they were just so exhausted that they could barely move or attack, but then my friend comes over asking how my entire army had collapsed so quickly!

It turns out that on his pc the game had already ended in a clear victory for him, while on mine the battle continued as a complete stalemate with almost nothing happening at all. I quit and it said that the battle was inconclusive. We tried it again with different factions and map and everything worked fine though.

Keeps happening. Tried reinstalling, and it doesn't help. I could go into more detail about what's happening if that helps...

[hoom]

Yup, had that last night.
Two rounds of 2 player lan custom battle resulted in completely different results on the two computers.
However, two rounds of 2 player historical battles (different scenarios) both resulted in the same result on each computer (I won :D )

[Kraxis]

Ok guys... It seems it is a good idea to inform CA about all the issues.
Over at the com there is a patch request thread. If you could read the list and add your problems or bugs (if they are not listed yet) it would be great for all. I believe a combined effort is the strongest.
Request thread at the .com

[Quietus]

Turns out the guys in back were using their comrades in front for target practice, what the hell? In the very least units should not be able to inflict FF casualties on their own unit!!!

It happens all the time, everywhere I was shooting some desert infantry last night - the ones with cloak and whicker shields - and they are blocking every shot by my libyan mercenaries. So in essence, our units are the main casualties of our own missiles. So wrong.

[bhutavarna]

Here's a number of problems/gripes:
3. Most of the time my Spies and Diplomats would suddenly disappear. At least inform the player if they are being bribed or being killed. Usually happens in the frontlines.

your agents probably died naturally at the end of the turn. the faction announcement at the beginning of new turn will show that.

[Spino]

Ok guys... It seems it is a good idea to inform CA about all the issues.
Over at the com there is a patch request thread. If you could read the list and add your problems or bugs (if they are not listed yet) it would be great for all. I believe a combined effort is the strongest.
Request thread at the .com

Post at the Com?

Surely you jest!

I agree about a unified front and that patch request thread at the Com is pretty substantial. But there's a new patch request thread here, that should suffice. I say hit both threads and hope for the best. Keep in mind the Org is far from being neglected and/or ignored by CA. Giljaysmith, JeromeGrasdyke & Capt. Fishpants post pretty regularly here in the Org. I'll bet Capt. Fishpants posts more messages here in a week than he does at the Com in a month.

[hoom]

A big thanks to the Org, all the moderators on the official forums, and all the fans that have helped make the online community as great as it is!

Org rates, com doesn't

[Kraxis]

I just argued that doing the work twice doesn't really help us... And if you can't get off your high horses and post a measly post at the .com... well then I don't know what to think.
And given the patch wishlist popped up here while my post was the last in this thread, one could get the idea that some people just can't get over it that people at the .com are actually ahead on this matter.

And trust me Gil, Dutch and Mike most certainly keep a lookout at the com. But since most matters there doesn't involve matters they have to get involved in, it matters little if they post or not. They look at both communities.

[econ21]

I agree with Kraxis, the .com are doing a great job on patch suggestions. But here's a strange bug I learnt of over there - Macedonian Royal pikemen don't get pikes, they only get spears. I'm tempted just to mod the units text file myself to correct this.

[Spino]

I just argued that doing the work twice doesn't really help us... And if you can't get off your high horses and post a measly post at the .com... well then I don't know what to think.
And given the patch wishlist popped up here while my post was the last in this thread, one could get the idea that some people just can't get over it that people at the .com are actually ahead on this matter.

And trust me Gil, Dutch and Mike most certainly keep a lookout at the com. But since most matters there doesn't involve matters they have to get involved in, it matters little if they post or not. They look at both communities.

I took your advice to heart and posted a meaty message in the patch thread over at the Com. I'll repost it here in the Org... just because.

[LittleRaven]

Ok, had my first game-killing bug last night.

I'm not sure what happened. I was busy kicking tail as the Brits, and was just about to put the pain on the Gauls. I quicksaved, then pressed end turn.

At first I thought it had locked up, because everything just froze. Then, a long time later, the AI turns started. But something was definately wrong, because normally AI turns fly by on my machine, and this time, they were taking a minute or so each. Finally, on the Senate turn, the game went into hard lock.

I restarted the computer and tried again. I could tell something was odd because when I tried to load either savegame, the loading was very slow, and normally it isn't. Pressing end turn always got the same result.

Unfortunately, both the Quicksave and the Autosave were corrupted, so the campaign is lost. Too bad, too. I was enjoying it.

But at least the damage was limited to the saves. I've since restarted a campaign as the Germans, and everything is working great. SCREECHING WOMEN!!!

I have both save games tucked away in case anyone would like a look.

[Kraxis]

I might have come off a bit pissed, and I guess I was, but it is good to know you are still a good guy Spino. I seem to be jumping at shadows lately.

[Turbo]

Here are a bunch more bugs --

Ladder bug - I have built them but they don't appear as available EVER!

Siege Tower bug - There is a random bug that causes units to fall through the wall and die!

Wall Bug - Trying to break out of an AI siege causes the AI to move all its units right up to the walls. If you have stone walls, the missile towers decimate the AI and the AI just stands there until all its units rout from losses.

Siege Bug - You can break a siege by having one unit step outside then jump back in. The battle result is a draw -- breaking the siege.

GEForce Mouse Bug - Reported on the official forums. Jerky laggy mouse performance.

[Spino]

I might have come off a bit pissed, and I guess I was, but it is good to know you are still a good guy Spino. I seem to be jumping at shadows lately.

Don't worry about it. I never took it that way. It's nice to see someone so passionate about this topic. I also want this game to be as good as it can be.

[Quietus]

your agents probably died naturally at the end of the turn. the faction announcement at the beginning of new turn will show that.

I get the announcement when they die or they change allegiance. I'm speaking of newly trained spies and diplomats I just sent out that disappears in the field after a turn. I have already lost 6-7 spies diplomats to this. I just want an announcement whether they were bribed (by my enemy) or killed (by an assasin). This happens in the frontlines where I can't build watchtowers so they double as scouts.

[Spino]

On the pre-battle scroll where the particpating armies and their reinforcements are listed you can left-click on any general's portrait and move it around anywhere on the scroll as if it was a unit card!

[Colovion]

Don't know if this has been covered:

there should be a "Gate LocK' feature like AoK had - so that your troops don't wander out into the enemy and invite them through the gates

[RedKnight]

For folks who are having problems keeping groups grouped nicely in battles, here's a couple of tips:

1) One or twice I've had the strangest bug where, no matter what I did, particular units or groups insisted that they were selected, no matter how much I selected other ones - even if I ungrouped and regrouped the group that insisted it was selected, or the other group that I actually wanted to be selecting/moving.

It was solved by selecting All groups (Control-A), grouping everybody together with G into one big group (which abolished all previous groupings), and then ungrouping everybody (G again). THEN making the groups you had before. Now everybody will work as expected.

This workaround solves the very annoying "stuck-on-you" bug.

2) Another consistent bug - or just functionality, whatever - is how a given group will often insist on keeping its current "formation" which is actually a snapshot of some previous moment when they are haphazardly placed relative to each other. Orda and others have complained that they have to place each individual member again, etc. (and of course, this is often only a rough approximation of what you wanted).

The easy solution for this is to select the group in question, then give it a formation command, such as Single Line (Shift-1). Use F1 to see all the formation commands. Issuing a formation command immediately turns a group back into an "easy elastic band", like they were in MTW. Whether you can actually want one of these new formations is up to you - but Shift-1 easily solves all my problems with "will you morons just line up!"

A couple of other things that might trip newbies up, but aren't bugs:

1) If you select a group, you will not see special function buttons light up unless EVERYBODY in the group is able to do it. For example if you have a bunch of Principe units but ONE of them has used all their spears, the "fire at will" button will be grayed out and it's status can't be seen or changed (unlike in MTW). The solution is to individually select units that (still) have the ability in order to see and/or change its status.

2) If you use Pause a lot, you'll notice that e.g. the Run button will be incorrect, if you wanted to e.g. issue a new move command, then hit Run, to make then Run there. (This is if it took careful placement and you weren't able to just double-click.) You have to take Pause off for just an instant, for their Run button to light up (i.e., for them to accept the run command).

Likewise if you wanted to move your whole army up in formation, you will not see the placeholders for anybody if you do it while in Pause - which makes it hard to keep them near each other. So move, say, the frontline troops first, un-Pause then Pause again, now you'll see their placeholders, and can place others near them.

[CrackedAxe]

EXTREMELY annoying bug that causes the game to bomb out to desktop almost every time I start MP. Patch please!

[andrewt]

Three bugs:

1. Javelin cavalry always skirmish until they have run out of ammo. I turned off skirmish mode, turned off fire at will mode and used alt-attack (force charge) and they would still veer off some distance away from their opponents. They're even veering off routing units.

2. Pathfinding in sieges are really bad. A lot of times I have units inside the town and I'm telling them to go somewhere, usually the town square. They would head out the town, mill around before going back in again.

3. Sometimes, units in different groups would follow orders I issued to a different group. For example, I just press 1 and right-click but both group 1 and 2 would follow my orders. I'm not pressing Ctrl or anything so I don't think I selected both at the same time.