We now feel confident enough to state...

[dedmoroz]

Shogun, CA staff: "We now feel confident enough to state that the patch will be out no later than the middle of January".

This was said more than a month ago.

I guess they don't have much time left to keep their promise

[Ar7]

I bet they release it on the 30th of January and say that its still the middle, 31th is the end

They always seem to do so, any company that says the game will be out in say year 2006 will probably release it somewhere in december....really a pain sometimes.

[Mikeus Caesar]

I think they mean mid-january 2006. They are keeping their promise by doing that. It still counts as mid-january, lol.

[SpencerH]

I was going to start a thread about the status of the patch (I havent been here too often since I stopped playing the game), but I guess I dont have to.

[Red Harvest]

Anything before the final week of the month would qualify as mid-January in typical business parlance.

[Spino]

Easy now boys. Technically we are three business days from it being 'mid-January'. I daresay there will be some kind of annoucement this Friday or the following Monday.

[Proletariat]

What can we expect from CA's track record as far as how much this patch will improve the game overall?

This is my first TW game and I am curious. Some expectations for the new patch that I have read are downright ludicrous to me, (get rid of wardogs, add Illyria as a faction, add sea battles) but I'm not sure since I have no frame of reference. Can we expect at least the obvious stuff like phalanx shuffle issues, testudo bug, heat/endurance issues to be fixed?

I hope this doesn't just fix multiplayer issues.


I'm just curious what you veterans have seen from CA patchwise to get an idea of how much will be cured.

[dismal]

(get rid of wardogs, add Illyria as a faction, add sea battles)

You're right. Those won't happen. It'll likely focus on getting things working as intended. Some of these fixes are pretty easy, but others (e.g. pathing and formation issues in cities) may not be.

Beyond that, perhaps addressing a few gameplay issues that are consistent sources of complaint and relatively easy to fix (e.g., a rebel frequency slider, maybe a bump in cav maintenance cost).

Beyond that, my hope is they address some of the more egregious AI issues, such as the tendency to calmly stand in hails of arrows, build huge navies, fight piecmeal, etc.

[aw89]

They get 5 days before i get pissed.

[Spino]

What can we expect from CA's track record as far as how much this patch will improve the game overall?

This is my first TW game and I am curious. Some expectations for the new patch that I have read are downright ludicrous to me, (get rid of wardogs, add Illyria as a faction, add sea battles) but I'm not sure since I have no frame of reference. Can we expect at least the obvious stuff like phalanx shuffle issues, testudo bug, heat/endurance issues to be fixed?

I hope this doesn't just fix multiplayer issues.


I'm just curious what you veterans have seen from CA patchwise to get an idea of how much will be cured.

All signs point towards the upcoming 1.2 patch as being quite substantial. Substantial as in 10-20+ megs worth of fixes, features and improvements and then some.

You're correct in your assumption that Wardog units are here to stay, Illryia will NOT be made into a faction (who knows, maybe in the expansion?) and I think it's safe to say that sea battles will definitely NOT be incorporated into a TW game until after the sequel to Rome.

However the patch is supposed to address most, if not virtually all of the bugs (i.e. heat/fatigue issues, missing Epic walls for Greeks & Egyptians, etc.), most of the balance issues (i.e. out of control Squalor) and, thank the gods, the AI. CA's patch track record with previous TW games is good but not without it's problems. They were rather good about patching Medieval and its expansion to the satisfaction of most of the fans (I found their incorporation of fan suggested features really refreshing). However they did little to improve the AI for MTW other than really minor tweaks and making general units less suicidal. The good news is apparently CA has put addressing our concerns regarding RTW's AI high on their list. I don't recall them ever making the same kind of AI related statement with previous TW patches.

CA has also intimated that the upcoming patch may sport a custom battle editor, a campaign map editor and will make RTW even more moddable than it is right now. Definitely good news.

The best you can do is cross your fingers, cross your toes, spin three times and blow your nose.

But verily I say only the gods know what miracles and curses await us in this patch. Ordinarily I'd sacrifice a ram to gain favor with the gaming gods but I ate mine last week...

[drone]

Knowing that Activision is only giving them one chance at this, I am more than willing to take a great patch a few weeks late than a mediocre one now.

If they fix the AI and make campaigns more challenging (and therefore longer), a couple of weeks will be very worthwhile. In the US, going to a movie is about $9, buying a DVD is about $15-20, for 2 hours of entertainment. M:TW made a gazillion hours of my time enjoyable, for the low, low price of about $60 (VI included). I am hoping the same is true for Rome.

[Mikeus Caesar]

Rome Total War - £30
Hours of calls to tech support - £20
Buying a new version because the other broke - £30
Slagging off the company that made it - Priceless

There are some things money can buy. For others, there's RTW.

[Locklear]

Yeah, it's pathetic, but I find myself coming here twice a day to check for news on the patch, ever since it's been January (I've forbid myself to play more RTW until it's patched).

[tai4ji2x]

i wish CA would at least clarify ONE thing - this statement about "we only get one chance". does this really mean only one patch and then wait for the expansion? i'm not complaining if indeed that is the case - as long as the patch is decent enough. i just wish CA would keep us from having to guess the meaning of their language.

[GFX707]

I really hope they fix the moronic suicidal strategy map AI. I mean attacking you when you are 20 times their size with 1 ship or attacking your full stack army with 4 warbands or something like that, when it's clearly going to end in their destruction, and then not accepting a ceasefire when they are down to their last completely smashed to bits city or not accepting protectorate short of 100,000 denarii and 5 provinces rather than destruction

[Ar7]

The things I am waiting for the most in no particular order.

Various bugs fixed, that seriously limit the game and make it unplayable, the phalanz shuffle being on top of the list here, and others that have been already mentioned.

Better AI, on the strategical map ( better units, less ships, a more challenging AI overall ) and on the battle field ( generals that wish to stay alive, more different manouvers etc )

Diplomacy tweaked, ceasefire and protectorate mostly.

Egypt: New, historical units.

Also, I dont know how to explain it, but a world with more ways of development. In MTW every game was different, every faction could become a super power and they did. In RTW it's always the endless egypt and a huge Rome ( this is fine actually ), the Selucid always die, Pontus always gets slaughtered etc. So basically more variety would be nice.

If these things are incorporated into the patch I will be a happy man

[Mikeus Caesar]

In MTW every game was different, every faction could become a super power and they did. In RTW it's always the endless egypt and a huge Rome

Why don't they incorporate MTW's strategic map AI into RTW? It would lead to quite a bit of variation. Btw, if you act quickly enough early in the game to help a small country, like Armenia, then egypt doesn't become a superpower. Right now on my game, Armenia is kicking the sh*t out of egypt.

[Ar7]

Help with giving them hoards of gold?

[Mikeus Caesar]

Nope. You have fun reaping havoc in what is now modern day turkey. The civs that usually attack armenia end up getting distracted, until they exhaust themselves and you can defeat them and save armenia. Thanks to that startegy i had what became known as the 'Pontic Wars'. The world around there is scattered with heroic victory markers.

[Proletariat]

Nope. You have fun reaping havoc in what is now modern day turkey.

I don't understand. I'm in my fourth campaign as the Seleucids and have kicked the living Christ out of everything but the Armenians in Turkey and they're staying put.

Do you mean just having a roving stack or two to crush Armenia's enemies but without taking any provinces...? I don't think I could afford that with Seleucids early-game finances.

I love the idea. Can you clarify?