problem with families, problem with auto resolve

**The Storyteller** · 01-15-2005, 03:39

2 problems I'm seeing in RTW... probably too late to change anything, but could be borne in mind for an expansion or whatever.

The first is with family members. They keep appearing in the capital, which is a very long way from the borders! Yet, the borders are precisely where you need manpower. Would it be possible to allocate each region a "region centre" where your family members pop? So if you've taken over the Italian peninsula as well as Macedon and the Greek Cities, then your family members could pop randomly in either Rome, Thessalonica and Rhodos, for instance. That will make micro management a lot less troublesome. Alternatively, maybe we could choose what city the family members appear in without shifting the capital?

The second is with the way the computer calculates odds for sieges and sallies. I'm not so much concerned with how auto resolve turns out as how the computer decides whether it's worth sallying/assaulting.

There are times when the computer assaults a castle and dies horribly. Nothing to do with archers being overpowered or the bad AI, just that the odds seem to have been calculated in the AI's favour, and so the computer decides to assault. However, the calculations don't seem to take into account that in an assault, you lose a lot more men than on an open battlefield, the killing power of archers is increased, flanking is difficult, your men will be crammed into a tiny area etc.

Same thing with sallies. If the surrounding army has enoug archers, it can do a lot of damage because everyone's trying to squeeze out through that little gate. But if you divert too many people to another gate for a flank attack, then the sieging army can just batter its way through.

So I'm wondering... is the computer calculating its chances of winning in an assault or sally properly?

**Delwack** · 01-15-2005, 03:48

just a note, it seems that the computer's calculations seriously underestimate the power and time it takes to scale/take/get inside of stone+ fortifications and losses incured due to stone+ walls. Whatever modifer the computer uses to calculate the odds for this is ridicious. I find the same true for autobattling in stone+, the casualties/kills are very poorly reflected.

**soibean** · 01-15-2005, 05:17

well as far as I know, only changing the capitol will make your family members appear elsewhere... if you took over greece and want them there then switch it somewhere in that area
with auto resolve for sallies and whatnot... the computer's way of sallying forth is to send one unit at a time and send him to attack you, atleast for me
so I never auto calculate a sally forth on my own terms

**Proletariat** · 01-15-2005, 07:14

I'd be happy if family members were born in the capitol but married and adopted family members simply appeared randomly throughout the empire.

**KiOwA** · 01-15-2005, 07:44

Could be more realistic if family members appeared in the same or nearest settlement that daddy is currently in.

**Delwack** · 01-15-2005, 07:46

well "man of the hour" adoptions always appear where the stack who just won the battle is... although I usually get those fighting rebels, and not on a critical front, where I would be sure to have generals already. I think the autocalculate algorthim needs to be reworked, if for nothing else, for special-case situations like castle defense comes to mind (ie calculations based on amt of siege equipment, if you have artillery, if not, infantry comparison to find the % chance of actually even being able to get to a gatehouse, etc.). Perhaps it's asking for too much, and of course it's definitely not going to make it for this coming patch, but it's something to think about for the future. I know that autobattle is mostly used when you have overwhelming odds in your favor and can't possibly lose, but I still think the autobattle stats should be more realistic with respect to game mechanics.

**Blitz** · 01-15-2005, 08:08

Well i prefer it to be born in your capitol coz i believe that if they just appear randomly it will be a pain to look for them

**Ar7** · 01-15-2005, 12:10

The auto-calc is seriously weird. Just for fun I played with Carthage, after some interesting running around and a couple of fights one roman general and a unit of hastati met with a full carthage army ( the one that is given to them at the beginning, 1 phants, 1 nubian, 1 long shield etc ) So the Romans were heavily outnumbered and I decided to auto calculate....I lost all of my infantry, half of my cavalry, all elephants and all slingers...eerm how was it possible?!

The second example is a bit in my favour. I assaulted Syracusa with around 1600 troops, it was defended by a unit of hoplites and a general. So I decide to auto calculate and only loose 25 men, wow! If I would have fought this by myself, the stone wall towers would have taken out a lot more men.

This was made on M/M, so it is quite interesting how the auto calculate can act so differently.

**Kraxis** · 01-15-2005, 12:19

Originally Posted by Blitz

Well i prefer it to be born in your capitol coz i believe that if they just appear randomly it will be a pain to look for them

Indeed, and coupled with the problem of transporting them around from new point all th time, I think I prefer the capital to my point as well.

**breakfastsausages** · 01-15-2005, 14:33

Sure the computer uses bad tactics and bad odds calculations against stone walls, but its kind of fun and cinematic watching the guys fight at the top of ladders.