Quote Originally Posted by player1
New FAQ update from Shogun:
I'm sorry, some of Richie's responses just seem to fall short. [TS has filled his PC quotient for the day!]

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

A: Not in the expansion pack. This may happen in future products, but we have to consider how confusing it would be to the average player to have too many difficulty setting toggles and switches. It may be possible that we'll add in difficulty sub-settings as advanced options in future products. It can be argued that auto-resolving battles makes the campaign game harder because you are likely to lose more troops in an auto-battle than if you fight it out under manual control, and losing troops unnecessarily is tantamount to burning resources for no payoff.
Am I the only one who feels somewhat insulted by this response? What sort of intelligence argues that auto-resolve makes the campaign harder?? This is preposterous! Using this strain of logic, a player could just sit back and NOT fight a couple of significant battles, allowing the AI to decimate a couple of Armies. That'll make things "harder" too! It'll also be STUPID!

[Want to make things *harder*? Change back the Unit stats BACK to MTW levels!!!! Wanna make things more harder? Figure a way to incorporate 'Hardcore Rules' into option settings universal to everyone. More harder? Let us have Campaign Multiplay---then go away.]

Please STOP the hype! RTW's Auto-resolve isn't better or an improvement over STW/MTW's auto-resolve. In fact, RTW's first incarnation was clearly broken; and, the second is (arguably) not as good as STW/MTW's version. I paid for something better, I didn't get it.

Q: Will there be further restrictions on creating troops such as a zone of recruitment?

A: [snip]

However, as to setting up 'zones of recruitment' for all troop types, that isn't how the game handles the troop restrictions. Actually, limiting troop training too closely would probably become very annoying for players very quickly. You can always recruit the basic troop types in any settlement after all, and the more exotic types are a nice bonus for a given training building constructed in the right region.
For what player?

It worked beautifully in the MedMod!! Doesn't it work for RTR? I know the first incarnation was broken, but the RTR modders fixed it didn't they?

The person asking the question, as well as players of the MedMod, RTR, as well as the upcoming EB mod, are interested in a more challenging game. Aren't you folks at CA getting this? Vanilla versions of TW are NOT challenging, for most ***experienced*** players.

Difficulty settings need more than just simply tweakings of Unit stats and AI cheats. This method is OLD! Unexciting and unimaginative.

What's needed is a series of interelated *game-setting* options, that would effectively turn a Vanilla version of TW into a MedModded version; or, a RTR version; or a EB version. I'm not talking about the historical changes these and other modes have made, BUT the **Gameplay** adjustments.

Yes, RTW and MTW have to an extent some *mild* sort of ZOR, but that's just it, what's needed is a Difficulty beyond *mild*, several Difficulty settings.

Note, RTW has the least replayability of any TW game. How many times do you have to hear the word Boring and RTW used in the same sentence?


Firstly, you'll be able to recruit generals in the same way as other units: by building the right building in a settlement and then training them. A recruited general will come with a cavalry bodyguard, but he won't be part of the ruling family and won't be eligible to become faction heir or leader. They will age and die, so this is a temporary addition to your leadership.
Smells like Cheese to me. *Buy-a-General*.

Battle looming. Don't have General and/or existing General SUCKS! Have mucho dollars? No problem!! Just buy a General. No need to preserve your General and his bodyguard. None at all. Long as you have the money, just use and throw em away.

Disposable Generals. Just what the world needs.

QUESTION: Will a Player be capable of purchasing a General's rank too? Need 6 Star General? Got the money? No problem, click....

Dear CA: Making the game easier is NOT, the same as making the game *better*.

A: There will be a command line -mod function that allows you to redirect the game to use a different set of data without having to replace the original files and - with multiple shortcuts on your desktop all using different -mod redirects - have more than one mod on your PC at once *without* having multiple installations of the game. This will be fully explained in the readme documentation that will ship with the expansion pack. Overall, you'll find that modding support has been substantially improved, especially in the way that factions can be modded.
Hellejulauh (sp?) Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

A: MikeB was very naughty to mention that and will shortly be fighting the company bear to pay for his mistake. :) This is a feature we use internally for debugging. Autorun is not something that we've openly advertised for released versions, and it's not normally something that a player would want to do, simply because they are *playing* the game rather than *watching* stuff happen. However, there's a -ai command line option that turns autorun on in release builds after the 1.2 patch. This doesn't work with earlier versions of the game.
Again, another call for a Logic Check.

So, the game is *supposed* to be designed for modability, yet, the one indisputably necessary feature needed to *test* modded changes was/is withheld? This should be given to us right out of the box. Without such a feature, the MedMod would not have been what it was.

Check, Check, Logic.... Check, Check, Logic, Check....

[TS speaks to the powers that be at CA:]
Let the chips fall where they may. Withholding it didn't alter the uproar, did it? Nope, there still was a near mutiny in the ranks. Soooo, what's the point?

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

A: Many aspects of the AI for battles has been worked on since RTW was published, and we think you'll find it gives you a better game. Then again, the cynics out there would expect us to say that, but short of making this an essay there's not a lot more to say other than it ahs been worked on.
First, please realize that these questions are coming from the Org! We, here, have no difficulty with complicated responses in the form of an Essay. Please type away.

Second, stop Hyping us, and perhaps we'd be less cynical.

As far as we cynics, the ball is in YOUR court. Richie in specific and CA in general. You all lost, at least a measure of our confidence, it's up to you all to gain it back.

One manner in which you lost our confidence is by being OVERLY secretive. STOP IT!

It is far, far, far, better to discuss and gain feedback regarding proposed GAMEPLAY changes. Far, far, far, far, better to have our tacit, or, consensed approval BEFORE dropping the ball. NO?

Really, who purchased RTW with the expectation of *Fundamental* alterations to Gameplay? I sure as H didn't!!!!

It doesn't take much to know that any changes which may "give[s] you a better game", will have to be comprehensive in nature; otherwise it won't give a "better game", however subjective that may be.

It is being implied that this is unworthy of discussion, community/developer interaction, or, as it was put, an Essay.

Check, Check, Logic, Check, Check....

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

A: The battlefields in BI will look much like those in RTW, as you might expect. However, given that some units can now swim you'll find that river crossings are not quite the same as they once were, as simply waiting for the enemy to cross in one or two places may no longer work as a defensive tactic.
We desire and request battle maps as detailed, atmospheric and, above all, as tactically challenging as those of the original Shogun: Total War!

Nothing less will suffice.

Random generating maps is a nice technology/feature, but until such time as the technology can generate maps of equal quality as those of Shogun: Total War, this feature s/b held in abeyance. Thank you.

The auto-resolve comments are a BIG disappointment. This really shouldn't be that hard to do, and the explanation given is weak in the extreme. The extra toggle would be confusing? Come on!?! The whole blasted difficulty level system is confusing as it is AND WE LACK DOCUMENTATION. Want to help with player confusion? Provide documentation about what the heck the difficulty levels actually do. We've been able to "reverse engineer" some of the aspects of what difficulty levels do.
Some of the things being said are just plain silly.

Re "DOCUMENTATION", so true, so true. Richie, CA, how do you expect us to take what you say seriously?

Atention Must be Paid!
Willy Loman, Death of a Salesman
Author Arthur Miller