Time commanders new series success or faliure?

[Kaldhore]

"Time" again to ressurect this thread.

Today as with all in this series was an incompetant win. BUT it was sooo funny to see the generals nearly punching it out in the studio.

A classic moment too from Nus getting on his kness and begging one general to "Please please tell him what to do!!"

[Divine Wind]

Today was a great example of how theyve made this series far too easy for the contestants.

They did nothing right at all, apart from the planning side, which they did not stick with as the battle started. If it wasnt for the vanilla units they had then it would of been a rout.

But the show was entertaining. As the previous poster said, a very hot headed affair. Perhaps if we gave the contestants weapons they could recreate some battle scenes in the studio

[Wishazu]

i was utterly convinced they were going to lose right up untill it said "Victory Imminent" i was dumbstruck, as you said they did absolutley nothing right, btw what preofession were they, i only saw the show from the start of the skirmish.

[Divine Wind]

They were described as "computer gamers", who played strategy games.

Didnt see much strategy though!

[Khorak]

I think the problem is the lack of degrees of loss and victory. There should be more emphasis placed on the actual result. In the case of this weeks battle, the team should have been informed that although they technically won the battle, it was entirely pyrrhic. They did not humiliate the Trojan forces at all (themselves maybe), and their own army was devastated to such an extent they're likely to have to sit outside the bloody city for ten years.

There's no strategic emphasis, these guys can have but a single man left on the field who has one arm left but it's still a 'victory' even if they're the invaders or something.

[Duke John]

In the case of this weeks battle, the team should have been informed that although they technically won the battle, it was entirely pyrrhic.

Well, they were being told exactly that. An expert said that even if they knocked politely on the Trojan gate there would be little chance that they would get their princess back. (Did you pass out after the shock of the "You are victorious" message appearing?)

The gamers had a pretty sound tactic, but it was a camping tactic. If they kept moving along the river and went straight for the right flank of the Trojan army then they would have won decisively. Now they just got distracted and weren't able to cope with more than 2 events.

And what was with the lang haired dude constantly watching the monitor of the left captain? We've seen generals standing in the front ignoring the nice overhead map, but this is the first time that a general was forgetting entirely that he was a general. At the end he got better, but in the beginning it was like a coach trying to score on the field.

[Khorak]

Well, they were being told exactly that. An expert said that even if they knocked politely on the Trojan gate there would be little chance that they would get their princess back. (Did you pass out after the shock of the "You are victorious" message appearing?).

Uh....actually I was kind of....um....squishing a bunch of Celts in Civ III. *runs from hordes of Orgers with pitchforks and fire*

[Epistolary Richard]

Perhaps this was their attempt to show us 'strategy gamers' having our heads handed to us and that perhaps it isn't as easy as it looked... nah, we could still thrash them. Bunch of headless chickens.

And what was with the lang haired dude constantly watching the monitor of the left captain? We've seen generals standing in the front ignoring the nice overhead map, but this is the first time that a general was forgetting entirely that he was a general. At the end he got better, but in the beginning it was like a coach trying to score on the field.

Phht, I've yet to see a general worthy of the name. Perhaps the mother in the Battle of Stamford Bridge?

Nus was very funny though. Couldn't really go wrong with them though, virtually every move they made was a mistake. The 'AI' player must have gone very easy on them. I thought when all those spearmen were charging the rear of the Greek units that it was game over. Only the heroic close quarters ability of their archers and slingers brought it back for them.


But continuing on in the 'WTF game are they playing anyway?' thread it was nice to see a phalanx that actually worked properly and didn't shuffle or rotate or stood there and got butchered.

And *gasp* their chariots were actually effective at running down fleeing troops . From my experience the chariots should have wheeled in crazy circles around the archer unit, knocking them down by the bushel just to have them get up again and start running.


With this and the appalling spin-doctors at Dara looks like the only way a team is going to lose this season is if they auto-resolve. :biggrin:

[Kaldhore]

Aye I was a bit miffed at how good those chariots were.

Its the reason I get fed up with the Brits and I havent even played the egyptians yet.

[RJV]

Total, utter Numpties this week. The Captains wanted to be Generals and the Generals wanted to be Captains. Didn't stick to the plan, turned the ENTIRE army to have one big-ass exposed flank - which any decent player, and even, please God, the AI - would surely have ploughed headlong into with anything and everything, got totally enveloped in the centre, and STILL won.

It's still an entertaining show - Nus is worth the price of admission alone - but it would be nice if once, just once, they had a challenging battle on there.

Cheers,

Rob.

[Templar Knight]

I still want to see Nus and three other military experts to be in command, now that would be good

[MacBeth]

I can't believe Nus lectures at Sandhurst any more. The more he hams it up on this show the less credible he becomes.

Dumbed down TC just like RTW.

[Feanor]

I liked the very enthusiastic medieval weapons expert who was on the one with the viking huscarles. He was also on Weapons that made Britain. He should have a five minute slot every episode.

[lanky316]

^^^^

Mike Loades, he was on channel 4 on Saturday trying to recreate a realistic jousting tournament, don't know how accurate it was but it wasn't terribly tacky viewing.

[Epistolary Richard]

I rented a video about the Crusades over the weekend, written and narrated by Terry Jones (he of Monty Python fame) and who should turn up but lo and behold Mike Loades!

Bearded and becoiffed he was demonstrating what it was like to be a Turkish horse archer on a mare in heat when you've got a randy Crusader stallion barrelling down on you.

[Fridge]

Bearded and becoiffed he was demonstrating what it was like to be a Turkish horse archer on a mare in heat when you've got a randy Crusader stallion barrelling down on you.

I'm sorry Mr Richard, you can't leave it like that... What was it like?

[Kaldhore]

^^^^

Mike Loades, he was on channel 4 on Saturday trying to recreate a realistic jousting tournament, don't know how accurate it was but it wasn't terribly tacky viewing.

I watched all but the last 10 mins of that - I thought it was cool.

But who won? the scot?

[lanky316]

I watched all but the last 10 mins of that - I thought it was cool.

But who won? the scot?

Nah, surprisingly it was the American cop who kept injuring himself.

As for last nights TC. The team had some right moves but didn't capitalise, they managed to get the English to break formation but didn't take advantage. I blame the woman who argued over every decision the generals made.

[Khorak]

Yeah, I started off thinking they'd stand no chance. Then they did those feigned retreats and I thought damn, these guys really know their stuff. Finally I watched them not capitalise upon that at all, and instead just hammer the cavalry into the front of the shieldwall constantly, slowly murdering themselves by attrition. At that point I knew they'd lose horribly.

[professorspatula]

That battle of Hastings battle looked great. I want those units in RTW! Come on CA, be generous!

I found it amusing how the 'historical experts' always go into such explicit detail of how the armies at the time fought, looking like complete idiots at the same time. But they mention stuff that is far beyond the scope of the game. Norman Knights on horses throwing their spears and then closing in with swords? No, just spears doing not much at all. Although even the American sounding expert seems to be a bit disillusioned these days.

As to the battle, I thought it was a pretty good display overall, certainly better than the previous contestants I'd seen. One general shouted out some orders regularly, another general didn't know what he was doing (although got a bit better towards the end), and the captains seemed to get on with the task in hand. One of the women was incredibly vocal and I feel sorry for the computer operator who's ears must have ached after her shrieks battered his eardrums constantly, but at least she was in continous communication and giving out orders and actually sounded pretty knowledgeable.

Everything went wrong, but it's hard to be critical of the team. What can they see? Hardly a thing. Without the luxury of controlling the camera and the battlefield for yourself, it must be a nightmare to work out what is going on. It doesn't help there are 3 levels of communication before anything gets done: General > Captain > Computer operator/geek > computer. I'm pretty sure those chaps on the computers aren't without blame. Tell the cavalry to go wide and clear of the enemy and the idiot has them bash into the sides of the enemy spearmen. Happens in every battle. The cretinous presenter doesn't help with his incessant 'come on just get stuck in, this is boring' type comments. I'm hoping one of the contestants will take one of those replica spears the historical experts prance around with, go up to the presenter, and shove it where the sun don't shine.

All in all, a bit of a rubbish TV show. I wonder if the primary/secondary weapon stat bug is in that show and the stamina bug? And I'm pretty sure the morale is considerably higher on the show than we get too.

[Lord of the Isles]

The bit I liked in this week's show was one of the two "questions to the experts" that they are allowed every week. "Can the archers and crossbowmen fire over the heads of friendly troops or must they have a direct line of sight" asked one of the contestants. He was told they could both fire either way and I thought: the RTW engine I know is going to kill a lot of your own troops if you try to fire over them. But I can't remember if that happened in the battle: anyone else notice?

[Kaldhore]

Missed it this week :/ *sigh*

[Epistolary Richard]

I have a few comments on this week's show but my first one is:

HAROLD GODWINSON FIGHTING ON HORSEBACK??????

AAAAAARGH!!!!!!!


Thanks I just needed to get that off my chest.

[lanky316]

I have a few comments on this week's show but my first one is:

HAROLD GODWINSON FIGHTING ON HORSEBACK??????

AAAAAARGH!!!!!!!


Thanks I just needed to get that off my chest.

#On a related subject I found it hilarious when the team charged that unit of cavalry and celebrated killing Harold before later seeing William hacked to death at his own personal hands.

[Dude_uk]

The bit I liked in this week's show was one of the two "questions to the experts" that they are allowed every week. "Can the archers and crossbowmen fire over the heads of friendly troops or must they have a direct line of sight" asked one of the contestants. He was told they could both fire either way and I thought: the RTW engine I know is going to kill a lot of your own troops if you try to fire over them. But I can't remember if that happened in the battle: anyone else notice?

Well they didn't show any "blue on blue", but it looked like thier archers were miles away from the rest of their troops anyway!

Since 1.2 you can place your missile troops behind the rest of your army and they work quite well (slingers aren't as good, but then they tend to shoot slowly and generally be rubbish anyway!). In fact it makes the game that bit easier as you can sting a unit with arrows and it will then charge straight into your waiting infantry. Particularly useful when playing as a Greek faction.