Something missing from the game

[Red Harvest]

Are you all forgetting the 'Clear' weather report in MTW and then 5 mins later you are in a heavy downpour? Do we want a return to the 'it rains in every battle' type weather?

This annoyance is still in there! Let me illustrate.: They have a detailed strategic map with climates. Weather still cycles through, it only seems to depend on what climate tile you are on. Some areas have no precipitation/windstorms.

1. In the south half of the map there is almost NO weather for some reason. If you do get onto the right tiles you can get sandstorms. If you "wait" for it to be clear, some dust starts to kick up in about 3 to 5 minutes. It will get worse, reach a max, then cycle back down. All of this in the short battle time.

2. Ditto for rainy climates. In most of Gaul and Briton it rains in every battle. Starts clear, then starts cycling through the weather. It is exactly the same as MTW, you can even detect the same micropause as new weather loads.

The main difference between weather in RTW and MTW? It is so muted in RTW as to be nearly inconsequential. Fog doesn't even impact archery ability! I played a lot in light rain before I ever realized it was supposed to be rain. Heavy rain looks like light rain and it effects archery only moderately. The weather effects in MTW and STW were much better both in appearance and in combat.

According to CA the poor weather rendering is part of the engine that they could not duplicate from STW/MTW. I doubt there is any modding we could do to make it different. And we don't have any access to combat factors related weather at the moment. I would love to modify the missile stats for light rain, heavy rain, heavy snow, fog, heavy fog, and sandstorms. But like fire arrows, war cry and many other things we don't have access to some hardcoded effects.

[Spino]

I don't mind the lack of bad weather in RTW. Sure it's not as 'exciting' as it was in MTW but then again it's not nearly as frustrating either. I've fought some battles in rain, snow and sandstorms in RTW so it's not as if it bad weather never happens. Anyway throughout history most armies deliberately avoided fighting in adverse weather conditions because of the lack of vision, the potential effects it could have on terrain and the crippling effect it could have on command and control. It is only with improvements in organization and command and control that commanders have become more tolerant of and able to work around mother nature's fickle ways.

In RTW the only situation where weather should be forced down the gamer's throat is during ambushes and when the player is defending and the AI chooses to fight in bad weather.

I guess I like it the way it is. When it comes down to it there are countless other issues I would rather CA fix and/or tweak than the weather system.

[Red Harvest]

Mud and marsh would be a welcome addition. That would slow movement to a crawl, disorder units, chariots would get "stuck." Combat would be amusing in the muck... You could anchor a flank with such terrain.