Credit where its due

**Didz** · 10-14-2004, 12:51

Having scanned down the list of threads in this forum I have to say it gives the impression to someone who does not know the Totalwar series that RTW must be a totally useless game.

Thats certainly not the case, in fact, as with STW and MTW before it RTW is breaking new ground in the quality and presentation of historical computer wargaming.

There are issues which need to be addressed, some of which are clearly programming bugs, others are related to the ongoing problem of producing a challenging AI.

But these issues a minor compared to CA's acheivement in actually producing a game that recreates a historical setting in a playable and enjoyable manner.

Compare this game to some produced by other wargame publishers and be grateful that someone out there actually understands what we want.

Then lets have some constructive feedback instead of all this childish whining.

**Noong** · 10-14-2004, 13:10

Personally I think R:TW is awesome, even better than M:TW. I certainly don't see myself going back to M:TW anytime soon, and if/when I do it won't be for a long period of time I'm sure.

Graphics are amazing, especially on a good machine.

The interface is great. More options than M:TW, and the same options as M:TW appear in one form or another. (I see a lot of complaints about this but for the life of me I can't understand why)

Diplomacy is an awesome new feature. Its a lot more involved than many people think and I think this is where a lot of the complaints come from but as people learn it more they'll see it for what it is.

Generals are better. More traits, and more manageable. You won't suddenly get the incest type vices on your 9 star general for no reason other than he hasn't seen battle for a few years. Retinues are a nice new feature. Pre-battle speeches are gold, I really like that addition.

Bit more variety in factions than just Catholic, Orthodoc, Muslim.

And finally SIEGES! I have a great time attacking a city with a nice number of defenders but even more fun when I am the defender against huge odds. M:TW just didn't have this. You either starved them out, or if your army outnumbered them 10 to 1 then you might attack but that was very rare.

Possibly the only thing M:TW has in its favour is the time frame. Medieval is just a cooler time period. But then again as I play it more I find myself more interested in the Roman era. Hasn't quite got me hooked yet but every now and again I find myself fighting urges to go get some books about the Roman Empire.

**Orvis Tertia** · 10-14-2004, 13:15

LOL looks like I started a thread just like this at the same time you were starting this one. Sorry about the dupe!

**Emren** · 10-14-2004, 14:54

Well, I am one of those unlucky souls who have not yet installed RTW. I have played the demo and watched/played for a little at a friends house, but only for a couple of hours. I have been waiting for a computer upgrade, because my old machine had no chance in h*ll to run RTW. The game LOOKS absolute amazing, but as we all know, looks isn't everything.

And now I'm patiently reading the boards, here and the official ones, waiting for my upgrade process to be complete and find the time to actually play. Next week, I think. But I see a lot of threads filled with complaints and whinges and cries of bugs - and it makes me think - should I wait? I know that one patch has been released, which mainly addressed MP issues. Is there a patch in the works for the SP campaign?

It's nice to read a thread which does not give off the impression that RTW is unplayable. I also find comfort in the reviews, which all-round are positive, and I look forward to trying it out at home next week!

**jeffreyLebowski** · 10-14-2004, 14:57

yeah, the game has it's share of problems, but the thought of going back to medieval after playing rome is a joke. this game needs some ai fixes, the ability to save replays in campaign battles, and the ability to choose which army you control in a battle. give me those three things, and i'll probably never leave my room again because rtw would be damn near perfect.

**Orvis Tertia** · 10-14-2004, 15:45

If anyone is waiting to get RTW to see if it's worth it, my advice is: Don't wait. This game rocks. None of the bugs are game-breaking. There's a lot of nitpicking on this forum, as there should be. But overall this game is the best strategy game I have ever played and it will only get better with the patches.

**TinCow** · 10-14-2004, 16:31

RTW kicks butt. After only a few weeks it is already one of my favotite games of all time. The few bugs that do occur are FAR from game-breaking and I am confident they will be addressed quickly.

BUY THIS GAME.

**Jambo** · 10-14-2004, 16:33

RTW was released in better shape than its predecessors that's for sure! The bugs in STW and MTW were far worse and more game destroying; remember the 57 year old bug and the downgrading of infrastructure in provinces which led to the AI armies being filled with peasants in the late game? Then there was the AI going bankrupt or self-capitulating in MTW, not to mention the wonky crusades...

All this lead to the AI being a walk over in the late game and was far worse than anything in RTW.

Nevertheless, I feel that the majority of posts commenting on the AI or the bugs present in the game have been done constructively. The fact the game is able to be modded to a far greater extent than the previous TW titles has probably helped to reduce the annoyance of the faults...

**Orda Khan** · 10-14-2004, 17:33

Try MP then see if RTW rocks

......Orda

**Zatoichi** · 10-14-2004, 17:51

Well, I'm happy with the state of the single player game - it's given me hours of fun, and will continue to do so for at least as long as STW & MTW have I'm sure (4 years and counting). Yes there are minor quibbles etc, but nothing that has made me think any less highly of the game. I don't play MP, so I can't comment on any of that, but overall, yes, I'm one extremely happy camper. So many thanks and cudos to CA (although I believe my wife wants a word with you - something about RTW causing spousal neglect I think, I'm not entirely sure, I was too busy playing to listen to what she was saying...)

**Servius** · 10-14-2004, 18:14

Constructive critcism, here we go...

I think it's badass that cavalry now automatically tries to line up and hit nme units from the rear. I also think it's cool how cavalry actually PLOWS THROUGH infantry formations. With that ability you can actually impliment things like trample damage and such. That's definitely an improvement.

As constructive criticism I would say that there is some kind of pathing bug that will often lead cavalry units to jaunt next to, or even partly within, nme infantry units, not killing any of them. There are also issues where, unless your cavalry is coming from either directly in front or directly behind an nme unit, it will not charge or attack but try to maneuver to the rear. That can be a bad thing, especially with big units and tight surroundings, or when there are nme spear units on the way to the nme's rear. I think these are associated with the predisposition of cav to always try and charge at the rear. I want a way to force cavalry to charge from wherever they are, no matter what degree on the compass. I want them to do what I say and not try to think for me. Perhaps single-clicking on an nme unit should prompt my cav to try and get behind that unit before charging, while double-clicking should force the cav to charge straight from where they are. I have no idea how to fix the 'jogging along side' problem.

For the Julii at least, I think it's cool that the infantry get some javs to throw before charging. Just one more smart Roman idea. There are some problems associated with order response delays, pausing to throw pila when you don't have any, and the pila having too short a range or taking too long to through that only one volley gets off before your unit gets charged. That may be on purpose, so that the Roman unit can use the pila on two seperate targets throughout the battle, I'm not sure. There's also a problem with Roman infantry, not on Guard/Hold, not forgoing the pila an charging when an nme unit comes within skirmish range. This bug causes Romans to go through a futile attempt to throw the second pila while they get charged by the nme. At some range the Romans should see there's no time to through the 2nd one and instead they should charge the nme too. That would be a cool adjustment to unit behavior.

For the trifecta (all rights reserved) I think the buildings look really nice in the battle map, and their descriptions in the build menus are cool too. As constructive criticism, I would like to see more tangible effect information provided on the description cards (like in MTW) that gave you hard numbers about the economic affect a particular building would provide. Farms, for instance, currently say something like +4 Farm output, but I don't know how many dinari more +4 provides over +3. In MTW the farm and mine upgrades would tell you, flat out, how much money you'd get each turn if you built that upgrade (though the MTW merchant buildings didn't). In RTW none of the farm, mine, merchant, road, or port buildings give you any hard economic data. It would be really cool if they did.

**GFX707** · 10-14-2004, 18:17

I agree with the original poster, but anyone who is not completely naive realises that the content majority are always silent. It's only the people who are upset about something that are vocal. Everyone else is away playing the game!