FAQ Message from the Shogun

[Mongoose]

Hurray!


Q:Are there any plans for making auto resolve sperate from regular difficulty settings?

[BobTheTerrible]

Q: Will there be any additions to the vanilla campaign? i.e. Viking Invasion introduced new units etc, will there be anything of the sort for RTW?

[YAKOBU]

Great news

Question: Will there be further restrictions on creating troops such as the RTR zone of recruitment. I feel it is very unrealistic to take an enemy capital and then start producing high level troops straight away.

Thanks for any reply.

[Mount Suribachi]

[Montgomery Burns] Excellent! [/Montogomery Burns]

1 (a) Will RTW be coming down in price soon? (can't find it anywhere in the UK for less than £25)

1 (b) Is the quoted price at various online retailers for BI of £25 correct?

[sik1977]

1. Will any of the missing features from RTW, such as the Egyptian and Greek Walls (which are partially there in the data files), will be added back (or activated) in the original campaign?

2. (Related question) What improvements, if any, are planned for RTW main campaign, such as additional features and units, bug fixes (such as fixing the huge list of issues and bugs listed in the Ludus Magna Thread - excepting already released info on save/load issue), which will act as an added insentive for buying BI (e.g. VI added the reinforcements to the original campaign as well and was the main reason, for me, to get VI)?

3. Are there any plans or possibilities for adding a 'Stats Sheet' or something similar which can keep a track of total losses inflicted and incurred during the length of a given campaign, as well as other interesting statistics, such as the most successful General, Most kills by a Unit, Kill-to-loss ratios, etc. (IMO, it is a must for a serious strategy game)?

4. Will diplomacy in RTW and BI be improved, such that there are more diplomacy options, requests, responses, etc., available to factions (also please comment on any general improvement in AI's handling of dipomacy)?

5. I understand that for BI rebel uprisings will be changed to civil-wars like MTW, but what about RTW and its post patch 1.2 rebel brigands nuisance (i.e., too many rebels popping up every turn, which are no more then a nuisance and actually detract from actual and meaningful gameplay, as getting rid of them becomes a chore not a challenge), will it be improved or an option (perhaps a modable option) to exclude/reduce rebel brigands uprisings?

Thank you.

[screwtype]

Are there any plans or possibilities for adding a 'Stats Sheet' or something similar which can keep a track of total losses inflicted and incurred during the length of a given campaign, as well as other interesting statistics, such as the most successful General, Most kills by a Unit, Kill-to-loss ratios, etc.?

I'd like to endorse this suggestion. It shouldn't be that hard to implement and I'm sure that a great many RTW fans would love to have a feature like this - preferably with your statistics versus each faction separately, including number of battles fought and kill-loss ratios against each faction, as well as a grand total against all factions.

[player1]

Q:
Why is this thread not sticked?

[Duke John]

Q: Will AI missile troops use their missiles on full range or at 2/3 range as in R:TW (1.1/1.2)?

Q: Will AI missile troops still charge my lines before their fellow melee infantry as opposed to actually using their missile weapons?

Q: Will AI generals continue to charge suicidely into my lines while the AI infantry tries to catch up?

Q: Are attacking AI infantry capable of launching a single coordinated attack, instead of feeding me units piecemeal?

Q: Are AI cavalry still coded to immediately charge the players missile troops?

If you reduce the above questions to: Has the AI been improved? Then don't bother asking or answering and I won't bother buying BI.

Currently the AI cavalry charges my missile troops but are so outnumbered that they flee immediately after a short melee.
the AI missile troops either charge or shoot at 2/3 range allowing me either easily crush them easily in melee or crush them in a missile war as I start shooting at full range.
Then the AI infantry comes, one unit at a time, which are again outnumbered and thus flee after a short melee.
I am capable of winning battles without doing a single thing, simply because the AI is incapable of attacking coordinated.

[Red Harvest]

Q: Will AI missile troops use their missiles on full range or at 2/3 range as in R:TW (1.1/1.2)?

Q: Will AI missile troops still charge my lines before their fellow melee infantry as opposed to actually using their missile weapons?

Q: Will AI generals continue to charge suicidely into my lines while the AI infantry tries to catch up?

Q: Are attacking AI infantry capable of launching a single coordinated attack, instead of feeding me units piecemeal?

Q: Are AI cavalry still coded to immediately charge the players missile troops?

If you reduce the above questions to: Has the AI been improved? Then don't bother asking or answering and I won't bother buying BI.

Currently the AI cavalry charges my missile troops but are so outnumbered that they flee immediately after a short melee.
the AI missile troops either charge or shoot at 2/3 range allowing me either easily crush them easily in melee or crush them in a missile war as I start shooting at full range.
Then the AI infantry comes, one unit at a time, which are again outnumbered and thus flee after a short melee.
I am capable of winning battles without doing a single thing, simply because the AI is incapable of attacking coordinated.

Ditto on Duke John's questions! Very important. Adding to the list

Q Will charging make more sense from a stats standpoint? There is currently an issue with charge bonus having a very minor impact, while armour level greatly influences the charge.

Q Will rank depth effect have a strong impact on spear unit performance? (Rank bonus?)

Q Will rank depth effect archery/slingers/etc? Slinging would be tough in anything but the shallowest formation. Rear archers should be ineffective or unable to fire.

Q Will distance attenuation be added (or made noticeable) to archer accuracy/effectiveness? Ditto for non-direct LOS archer fire.

Q Will the AI problem of reassembling its line at ~60 meters be addressed? (Back to cohesion/coordination.)

Q Will pushback figure in combat? As best I can tell pushback is not effecting casualties directly.

Q Will weather effects be amplified, both visual and combat? More reduction in archery in rain/snow/cold. Fire missiles not available (or at least mostly non-useful) in rain. Reduced archer range/effect in fog/heavy fog? Winds?

Q Will naval invasions require proportional numbers of boats?

Q Will weather effects in the sea make naval invasions/maintaining ships at sea historically challenging?

Q Will port blockades be based more on level of the port--such as proportion level of boats to port level, etc?

[screwtype]

Are attacking AI infantry capable of launching a single coordinated attack, instead of feeding me units piecemeal?

IMO, this is the single biggest issue with regard to the game, because it is the main reason for the lack of challenge in battles, and therefore the lack of challenge and interest overall.

Please CA give us co-ordinated attacks, or at least make it so that the AI keeps its troops closer together rather than attacking with them piecemeal because it makes the AI pathetically easy to beat and so the campaigns far too easy to win.

[Revelation]

On the subject of wardogs: how about improving their ability to kill routers? They're useless. They just jump up and miss spectacularly.

Or, on the other hand, is there any plans to remove these sort of "fantasy" units all together?

[ChaosLord]

Q: Will any of the hardcoded modding limits (such as faction limit) be removed in BI or future expansions?

Q: Has granting units titles and that sort of thing been considered again for BI or future expansions(the extra command stars/management could really helpt he AI as well as creating more generals to lead armies)?

Q: Is there any plans for a built-in mod management function with BI or future expansions?(Switching/unistalling mods and the like)

I could probably go on for awhile, so i'll stop now. I also think its great CA is taking an active interest in the .ORG again.

[CMcMahon]

Q: What's the deal with not being to kill wardogs/hounds after their handlers have been killed? Can that be fixed?

[Divinus Arma]

Q: What's the deal with not being to kill wardogs/hounds after their handlers have been killed? Can that be fixed?

This is a feature, not a bug. If someone kills you, does your pet die?

[Mikeus Caesar]

Hurrah! Nice to see CA taking interest in us again! we may be the Unofficial Total War site, but you still care! Anyways:

Q. Will we finally be able to merge Admirals? It is rather annoying, when you can merge all sorts of things together on land, but if an Admiral has just one star and he commands just one ship, and you want to put him in another navy, it's rather annoying.

Q. Will there be fantasy units? I can accpet a few fantasy units, but the amount that were in RTW was ridiculous. And will factions be historically accurate? After all, we've all come to love Egypt for it's wonderful accuracy...

Q. Will there be less rebellions? After all, it is impossible to control a city once it reaches 30000+, which is a tad unrealistic, considering real-life Rome had 1,000,000+ and they didn't decide to start rebelling.

Q. On the subject of rebellions, will they be more realistic? After all, i don't think your wonderful army of Spartan Hoplites and Cretan Archers would be kicked out of a city by a bunch of peasants would they? They'd make a stand in the city center, with all the marauding peasants trying to kill them and sack the Government buildings.

[Red Harvest]

This is a feature, not a bug. If someone kills you, does your pet die?

Yes, but if the owner's dog is in my yard chasing my cat, I target the dog and make short work of it. In RTW I don't have that option. There is the rub.

[Divinus Arma]

Yes, but if the owner's dog is in my yard chasing my cat, I target the dog and make short work of it. In RTW I don't have that option. There is the rub.

I see your point.

[professorspatula]

On the subject of wardogs: how about improving their ability to kill routers? They're useless. They just jump up and miss spectacularly. I've had peasants flee half the map with dogs biting at their heels, but always missing. Plain silliness. They don't jump far enough forward when chasing to ever kill any but the most tired of routers. I've seen worms on the battlefield trip up more fleeing troops than those dogs.

[Divinus Arma]

Will CA do a TW on the imperial gunpowder era? Please. Colonisation. Please. World map. Please.

[player1]

Hurray!


Q:Are there any plans for making auto resolve sperate from regular difficulty settings?

To expand on this question:

Or better yet, why is currently autoresolve difficult tied to campaign difficuty?

It gives weird results. For example good Civ3 player wants to play RTW, and gets VH campaign (so AI is more developed) and Easy battles (since he doesn't play RTS).

Then to his horror, every autoresolved battles is losed badly, while doing same battle manaly gives easy wins, effectively inreasing micromanagemnt, since such player is forced to play every battle manualy, even against small patch of barbarians.

Using Battle Diff for autocalc instead seems more resonable, since if AI gets bonus in battle, it should in autoresolve too.
Doesn't it?

Althouhg having it as seperate slider could be good option too if you ask me (BI request).

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Q: Will BI allow mods to add more factions to vanilla RTW or just another campaign similar to what RTR did?

Q: How will religion and loyalty be represented in BI? It has been mentioned that they will be included, but will they be included a la MTW or in a new way?

[Little Legioner]

Yay! That's it What a great news! Those are my questions!

They have discussed (133 replies 3,253 views - 06-24-05- PM 21.44) on my own created "Bad news from CA about Battles" topic.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...t=49485&page=1

- - -

Q. Will there be any improvement for battlespeed? Do you think lowering the speed of kill rate?

Q. Will there be an option for battlefields? Big / huge or or your preferred term for usage? or simply you'll make them big? (please do not dig my question)

Q. What do you think about to do for tightening the tactical deepness of the R: TW BI besides swimmable units and night battles?

Q. Will there be any improvement on geography in the game? River crossings, cliffs or valleys?

Q. Vanilla R: TW and BI will use the same 3D campaign map? or Will you create another map for the expansion... ( I preferred the same because any improvemets on map directly affects vanilla R: TW too)

Te Salutare
LL

[Conqueror]

Q: In RTW 1.2, attacking a faction that is allied to your protectorate will cause the protectorate to renounce it's status as a protectorate. Is this intentional? Could it be changed?

[Epistolary Richard]

Yes, we've already got answers to some of these, I'll try and dig them out. If these are satisfactory or you want further clarification then please ask your question again.

ChaosLord
Q: Will any of the hardcoded modding limits (such as faction limit) be removed in BI or future expansions?

Q. Which things that are currently hardcoded do you plan on changing (e.g. number of men per unit, faction limit, number of factions that are controlled by the Senate?)
A.None. The way factions are managed is more flexible now, but that's something that most people won't notice. Actually, the Senate is gone in BI; by the late 300s they were no longer a significant force in Roman politics, so they won't be 'controlling' anyone.

Q: Is there any plans for a built-in mod management function with BI or future expansions?(Switching/unistalling mods and the like)

I'll handle this one, this already exists in vanilla RTW by using the -mymod command line, alternatively if you don't like that there's Vercingetorix's RMOD ModSwitcher which will switch between and combine compatible mods

BobTheTerrible, sik1977 & Uesugi Kenshin
Q: Will there be any additions to the vanilla campaign? i.e. Viking Invasion introduced new units etc, will there be anything of the sort for RTW?

1. Will any of the missing features from RTW, such as the Egyptian and Greek Walls (which are partially there in the data files), will be added back (or activated) in the original campaign?

2. (Related question) What improvements, if any, are planned for RTW main campaign, such as additional features and units, bug fixes (such as fixing the huge list of issues and bugs listed in the Ludus Magna Thread), which will act as an added insentive for buying BI (e.g. VI added the reinforcements to the original campaign as well and was the main reason, for me, to get VI)?

Q: Will BI allow mods to add more factions to vanilla RTW or just another campaign similar to what RTR did?

Again, I'll handle this one, this expansion pack isn't just adding a few things onto the vanilla campaign - it's changing the time period to the late Roman Empire. You can find more details about it here.

The Shogun _has_ however announced that there may be another patch for RTW in the works that may be released some time after the expansion pack.

A. Much I want to say this is now sorted and carved in stone, I can't. Please remember that expansion pack is in development and there is still much going on at the moment that I can't talk about for various reasons. I am prepared to say that it is certainly our intention to address the load/save issue in the expansion pack. "And what about a patch?" I hear you ask. Again I can't say this is set in stone but we hope to bring out a patch at roughly the same time as the expansion pack (in reality it will probably be few weeks later).
That's the state of play at the moment. When I know more, I'll make sure that you know more.

mfberg
Will there be battle replays/campaign reviews?

Q. Will we be able to save the replays for campaign battles again?
A. No. The underlying game code will not support this feature.

Uesugi Kenshin
Q: How will religion and loyalty be represented in BI? It has been mentioned that they will be included, but will they be included a la MTW or in a new way?

Q. . Is religion going to change at all? Since it will be a Christian Rome now, will they get new religious agents/ buildings?
A. Yes. Religion will be an important factor in BI. In 363 when the game starts Rome is techincally not Christian, by the way, as Julian the Apostate spent his reign suppressing the Christians and returning to pagan ways. His successors did re-establish Christianity as an official religion, but there's no absolute requirement for a player to do so. The technology tree alllows for pagan and Christian structures to be built, and even allows for different religious policies in different parts of your empire, if you wish.

Q. Will there be civil wars?
A. Yes. The rebellion mechanisms have changed to allow for rebellions to spread, and to allow for disloyal generals making a stab for ultimate power themselves.

Q. In addition to barbarian invasions, will we see signs of internal strife in the western empire with break-away empires such as the Imperium Galliarum.
A. Yes. And no. There are mechanisms in place to allow for rebellions to flare up into civil wars. We also have taken account of the rival Emperors that appeared from time to time, so a Roman faction may split and have more than one Emperor in being. The Gallic Empire is 100 years before the period of BI, so you won't see that happening. You might find that there is a breakaway faction in that area, though, if you don't keep an eye on the internal order of Rome as well as defending the borders.

Little Legioner
Q. Do you plan on having an option of making the battlefields bigger for campaign battles? Will there be an option for it? Big / huge or or your preferred term for usage?

Q. Will the battle model be :Fast battles, flat grounds, high kill rates, close armies, small map(with red line-Current RTW style) or: Long battles, non-flat grounds, slow kill rates, far armies, bigger map (without red line-old TW series style).
A.The basic battle game won't change that much; this is an expansion, not a re-imagining of RTW.

Myrddraal
1. Will we be able to add more factions (as in VI)?

Q. Which things that are currently hardcoded do you plan on changing (e.g. number of men per unit, faction limit, number of factions that are controlled by the Senate?)
A.None. The way factions are managed is more flexible now, but that's something that most people won't notice. Actually, the Senate is gone in BI; by the late 300s they were no longer a significant force in Roman politics, so they won't be 'controlling' anyone.

2. Will you be releasing your campaign map editor? (We know you have one)

Q. Will CA include Campaign Map Editor in expansion?
A. No. According to the bloke who wrote the campaign map editor, there are tools out there already that are actually jolly good.

[InsaneApache]

great news indeed..

now will you marry me and bear my children?

well you get nowhere by not asking...as this thread has revealed.

cheers guys

[BobTheTerrible]

[i]Again, I'll handle this one, this expansion pack isn't just adding a few things onto the vanilla campaign - it's changing the time period to the late Roman Empire. You can find more details about it here.

I know that BI is adding a completely new campaign, that's obviously the point. In VI for MTW, they added not only the entirely new campaign, but also added a few new units to the regular, full European campaign. I'm going to assume the expansion pack lets us choose to play either the new expansion campaign or the 'old' vanilla campaign, much like MTW let us choose either the old MTW or the new VI. So my question is, will there be any additions to the vanilla campaign for the expansion, ie new units etc?

[sik1977]

Yes, we've already got answers to some of these, I'll try and dig them out. If these are satisfactory or you want further clarification then please ask your question again.

BobTheTerrible, sik1977 & Uesugi Kenshin
Q: Will there be any additions to the vanilla campaign? i.e. Viking Invasion introduced new units etc, will there be anything of the sort for RTW?

1. Will any of the missing features from RTW, such as the Egyptian and Greek Walls (which are partially there in the data files), will be added back (or activated) in the original campaign?

2. (Related question) What improvements, if any, are planned for RTW main campaign, such as additional features and units, bug fixes (such as fixing the huge list of issues and bugs listed in the Ludus Magna Thread), which will act as an added insentive for buying BI (e.g. VI added the reinforcements to the original campaign as well and was the main reason, for me, to get VI)?

Q: Will BI allow mods to add more factions to vanilla RTW or just another campaign similar to what RTR did?

Again, I'll handle this one, this expansion pack isn't just adding a few things onto the vanilla campaign - it's changing the time period to the late Roman Empire. You can find more details about it here.

The Shogun _has_ however announced that there may be another patch for RTW in the works that may be released some time after the expansion pack.

Thanks for trying to answer our questions from already released info in the FAQ. Unfortunatley, I feel whats already stated in the FAQ doesn't quite answer the question regarding any direct improvements to the original campaign, and if any, what. We already know about the possible fix to save/load ofcourse, but apart from that my question stands.

In case you manage to find appropriate answers for our questions, I will remove those questions from my post (maybe replace them with others).

Thank you once again for your great efforts and time in trying to identify answers to our questions.

[Little Legioner]

Little Legioner
Q. Do you plan on having an option of making the battlefields bigger for campaign battles? Will there be an option for it? Big / huge or or your preferred term for usage?

I knew that same question asked before mate. I opened CA's answers to discussion to fans and result was impressive. Many of them have disappointed from this situation and they wrote their opposing opinions. I don't want to bore you but just read examples:

Quite true. The kill rates are ludicrous and I spend 80% of my time on the battle map hunting routers. They really oughta fix infantry run speed too.

TW games are all about the 3D battles. (for me anyways) But a typical battle in RTW goes something like this. Setup, click start, enemy right in front, 30 seconds later it's all over.

Well even the kids don't like tiny featureless battlemaps.
And battles where the load and setup time takes longer,(well almost)
than the actual battle.

The Shogun said, "The basic battle game won't change that much; this is an expansion, not a re-imagining of RTW. " I would say that BI's 80 new units is a "re-imaging" of RTW. What's needed is a "re-balancing" which apparently isn't going to be done.

CA said that the Total War tactical features were intentionally diminished in RTW to cater to the younger market of players who they felt wouldn't grasp them. CA sought and got a T (teen) rating for RTW rather than the M (mature) rating of the previous games.

I could understand it if STW and MTW were critical successes but commercial failures so you felt you had to make the game more "accessible" but thats not the case, I know they both went to the top of the charts in the UK when they were released. Obviously I don't have the sales figures to compare for STW, MTW and RTW, but STW and MTW proved that there is a market for realistic strategy games. I can only echo what dgb said about exploiting your niche in the market.

I'll make the point again that I did earlier: RTW is much easier to like once you realize it is NOT an in depth strategy game. I think the deep strategy elements were removed by design not accident. The vast majority of casual gamers will be satisfied with eye candy and funky units like Head Hurlers and Incendiary Pigs.

I understand the point that "there's millions of threads on this already" but some people just started playing the game last month, last week, yesterday and are pointing out what THEY see as flaws for the very first time.

Interesting how 90% of the players point the same issues out...

Sorry i don't want to push so much but fans gave too much attention about "battles&battlefields" problem. I've picked up directly or in directly comments. I think that battlefield questions should ask again to CA. They should have to re-think about them. Just look at the given attention from fans to "Bad news from CA about Battles" topic.

If you find it not enough i promise i don't speak or ask anymore if you find enough they have really deserve to ask or clarify again.

Regards,

[Myrddraal]

My first question (and my second actually), not surprisingly, is based around modding and is quite important to me and a hell of a lot of modders:

1. Will we be able to add more factions (as in VI)?

2. Will you be releasing your campaign map editor? (We know you have one)

[Lord Adherbal]

quite some questions I see here have already been answered. I hope the person who will eventualy send them to the Shogun is well informed ? It would be silly to ask a lot of questions that we already know (don't want to look like we aren't paying attention, now do we ;))