Rome: Total Gameplay (RTG), compatible with vanilla RTW v1.5

[Seasoned Alcoholic]

Extensive changes have now been made to the mercenary recruitment pools / AOR. Basically, the pools have been completely restructured from scratch. Many new pools have been created, and existing pools have been broken down into several sub-pools covering only a handful of regions at the very most.

In vanilla RTW, there were 28 mercenary recruitment pools. In the latest version of RTG, there are 62 mercenary recruitment pools, which is an increase of more than half.

Each of the units available per pool are now more experienced, generally cost more to recruit, are replenished in a shorter period of time, and a wider variety of units are available to recruit.

Additionally, due to the greater number of pools (and now the greater number of mercenaries available to recruit), there is a much more focused AOR approach to mercenary availability. For example, Cretan Archers are now only available to recruit on Crete (2 provinces). This will ensure a player is forced to take control of (or move into) specific areas on the campaign map to be able to recruit these units. Hopefully this should encourage more decision making as to where the next assault should be concentrated.

Also, as a further challenge, since the rebel faction (controlled by the AI) has superior funds, it will certainly snap-up any available mercenaries in the regions it controls and use them against the player. This also applies to the other playable factions (when they're controlled by the AI).

[The Spartan (Returns)]

That's the problem then mate, yeah you need to delete the NightBattleCapable traits from all faction leaders and all faction heirs. Night Battles are included with the latest version, so that's why there are a few incompatabilities with the RTG campaign map at present.

u need to tell people about that then.

[Seasoned Alcoholic]

u need to tell people about that then.

The RTG campaign map download will be more relevant after the next release of RTG, basically because of the modified files will be there in place, and this should prevent CTD / KTM issues.

Hey you did a great job with this mod. I have been playing this for some time now and I like it. But you see, there are several bugs. I dont know if its my Pc or
this mod. One of the mayor ones, is when encountering enemies on a siege assault with siege weapons with lesser fire power that are inmune towards your walls. The officer will do a motion with his arm while holding his gladius to attack, and he will advance a step out two, no other units will move. The officer will continue to do this until he reaches your walls, and continue to do it until battle time ends. ITs hard to describe how he does it, is more like when Arragon in LOTR holds his sword up and screams "FOR ROHAN". Another glitch happens when pursuing routing units. The rounting will run away in zig-zag, circles and other abstracts shapes. The problem is that cavalry will trace those shapes to pursue them while still far away instead of simple run strait forward. Some other things include that barbarians too strong, they helped wipe the roman factions and are fighting Pontus now. Its not a problem but it now so historical acurrate.


Ahh! why arent barbarian village not round anymore??? ahhh....

I have studied closely this officer's "charge". He does not walk or run. He simply jerks his way there. It takes about 30min. for him to arrive to your walls. Onces he is at the walls he continues to do so, but slightly creeps left or right (depends on wall position) I belive that this happens because as you said, they think they can make damage but they cant. If you are unable to fix this, maybe you should make them do some absurd damage, such as scrape-of-the-painting damage. It happens with Ballistas. Im not sure if with Onagers. If there is a way to record the movement tell me, and perhaps I will be able to show with greater detail.

About the Merc. perhaps you could change the display icon, to be able to tell them part. I could help you a bit with photoshop if you wish.

Murfios, I've tried to test these results out myself in custom siege battles, but don't get the same results as yourself. The officer still uses his gladius to instruct the siege crew to move etc, but equipment like scorpions, ballistas & repeating ballistas can't target walls.

Usually, when you move the cursor over the walls, the cursor changes to a bow-and-arrow to indicate that the walls can be attacked. However, the non-onager siege equipment cannot do this, they simply get a cross and a message stating 'this unit cannot attack walls'.

I will test out to see what the AI does with the same siege equipment, and also what the effects are on a standard battlefield map.

If you need to take screenshots of your results, I'd recommend using image / video capturing software such as FRAPS for example. This allows you take screenshots at any point during a game (even in menus), so no more Alt+PrtSc etc.

Once you've taken the screenshots, edit them to your tastes using something like The GIMP (download links). All you need to do is open the image, edit it a bit, then save it as a JPG file.

Then finally, to host your images on the web, use an image hosting site such as ImageShack. Simply copy and paste the provided URL links into your posts here at the forums to display your images.

[The Spartan (Returns)]

actually balistas can attack walls. i dont know about repeating balistas. btw those bugs/glitches never happen to me.

[Seasoned Alcoholic]

I'll have to take a look at the projectiles file again. Do you think it'll be worth allowing ballistas, scorpions, repeating ballistas to do a tiny fraction of damage to walls Spartan? As Murfios says, then they may look as though they're scratching the surface rather than bringing down an entire section of wall.

Btw, I've recently modded campaign map movement points and battle map movement modifiers, can you beta-test them out for me please Spartan? I'll PM you the bits of code you need to change, its only a small amount of code and will take 2 mins to replace.

Thanks.

[The Spartan (Returns)]

about the balistas etc. doing damage on the walls im not sure.

[Murfios]

Thanks Season Al. Ill have it ready in a hour or two.

[Murfios]

[The Spartan (Returns)]

hello, are some news! it was quite easy. although this new modified campaign movement doesnt show much of a difference. here is the new one:

and the old one (unmodified campaign movements) from my current Selucid campaign:

not much of a difference as you can see.
i didnt make any pics for the modified battle map movements cause you wouldnt be able to tell. but it works. one example: is a principe movement in the grassy flatland. he moved very slow. it was like he in the matrix. so its evident that the rest work (like in desert or in the snow) i will test that later.

[Murfios]

Do This:
Go on, and select a faction of your own, then select a ballista for our enemy. Try that your enemy is the house of Scippi. It has to be AI to ocurre.
(you most defend) Hope this helps you both...

[Murfios]

Hey Spartan. There will be a mayor problem with slow movement on grasy areas.
You see, people that have lower details will not be able to see the grass, so this will look as if this units are simple tired or something. It can cause confussion among folks that don't know.

Another thing. Can the senate have less units that all other Roman Factions? Like a army of its own, they would have less men to choose from. But the one they do have, would be higly trained and expensive. Something like:
Basic Roman Units
And Heavy Equites
It would be more realistic.

[Seasoned Alcoholic]

Thank you both again for illustrating these areas

Good to know its the AI who have this problem with their commanding officers on the artillery crews. I'll have to tweak the projectiles file again so that these siege weapons (ballistas, repeating ballistas, scorpions) do a small fraction of damage to walls. Hopefully this should fix the problem, I may post some screens to illustrate if it worked or not.

Have you tried the battlefield movement modifiers Spartan? Did you notice any changes over different terrain types? Did you experience any CTDs after a few turns on the campaign map?

I'd used a very brief test campaign with Scythia on the steppes, and you really notice the added movement points because of the terrain type. Now armies, agents, admirals, family members etc can move further each turn, it may improve the gameplay because reinforcements may come into play more during siege battles. Also, there may be larger incursions into your territories by the AI.

I like the idea of restricted recruitment for SPQR Murfios, this would allow them to only train more powerful units. However, rather than make these extensive changes, I could take a shortcut, and give them a powerful starting army of say, Triarii, Princepes, Roman Archers & Equites. How does this sound?

[The Spartan (Returns)]

also why not let SPQR can only recruit Praetorians? when you take control of Rome you can then recruit them? now i will go and test the modifiers. I think playing a historical battle will give me a better way of testing it. after you mentioning CTD i will test the campaign imediately.

[The Spartan (Returns)]

i am back with testing news! Murfios you were right about the grassy flatland, i tested somewhere else and it was faster. ok so on regular terrain and snowy its almost the same as the unmodified one but on deserts they go really slow which i dont like. perhps we should use the old one, or mod the desert. as for the campaign there was no crashes after a while of playing so thats safe.

[Murfios]

It would be good to be able to recruit Roman units onces you have taken over rome.
And about the phalanx? will it be left that way?

[Seasoned Alcoholic]

At present, you can recruit Praetorians in only a handful of provinces - these are the original starting Roman provinces, think there's about 9 in total. The reason I left it at around 9 provinces was to allow the player to be able to retrain anywhere in Italia, as opposed to just the capital. It was a bit of a nightmare training / retraining units in just one province; Early & Legionary First Cohorts and also Spartans come to mind straight away, as was the case in vanilla.

I'm probably going to leave SPQR as they are in terms of recruitment capability, but they can be given powerful starting armies to compensate. How many do you think are necessary - perhaps 2 stacks of powerful, veteran, pre-Marian units?

I'm tempted to remove the secondaries from the phalanx capable units, as well as the other units such as Nubian Spearmen and German Spear Warband. Phalangites use the original vanilla underarm animations.

Also some more good news. Here are brand new banners to use in your signatures, the other ones are looking somewhat dated now:

[The Spartan (Returns)]

very nice looking sigs! can you make a spartan one though? in the same angle you took the hoplites?(it would fit with my name) note people note all sigs are usable as some have too mank bytes or the are too big dimensions

[Seasoned Alcoholic]

Ah OK, I'll resize those sigs and create a Spartan one for you, thanks.

[EDIT:]Resized selected sigs in above post and added Spartan one.

[The Spartan (Returns)]

thanks alot! btw elephants need to be stronger as i am experincing in my Selucid campaign. by hp and attack def. why, on one battle the elephants killed 31 and 4 died. not very impressive. (for all elepants war elephants armoured etc.)

[Seasoned Alcoholic]

Yeah, this is one of the key areas of the EDU file that needs addressing before the next release. I've just been browsing through the changes that have already been implemented, yet there is just so much more to get through

[Murfios]

Those units have officers with torches?
How did you do that????
btw, yeah, elefants are super weak. They get mauled by any heavy unit. Maybe they should have more def. and hp.
Omg, the red glow on the units face looks so cool.
You should sent this mod to gamespot. Once it´s finished.
About the senates strong starting army, sounds good. Perhaps remove gladiators and peseants.

[Seasoned Alcoholic]

Pinarius' Realistic Horse Mod Project

Pinarius' has been generous once again to allow me to use the fine work in his Realistic Horse Mod Project. This mod features new horse models, displaying visible noseguards / decorations, realistic saddles, and reins. The depth of the reskins improve the visuals significantly from how they were in vanilla, here are a few sample screens to illustrate:



































My thanks to Pinarius' for his dedicated work on this somewhat neglected area in vanilla RTW.

[The Spartan (Returns)]

very impressive. i always wanted reins!

[Murfios]

Hey Seasoned Alcaholic, you should place a ancielity dedicated to you. "Seasoned Alcaholic"
A man that claims the bar is his second home, and knows everyone who enters and leaves it.
+4 Influence
+6 Personal Security

[The Spartan (Returns)]

Hey Seasoned Alcaholic, you should place a ancielity dedicated to you. "Seasoned Alcaholic"
A man that claims the bar is his second home, and knows everyone who enters and leaves it.
+4 Influence
+6 Personal Security

lol! seriously you should do that! ill have that ancillary next to Leonidas of Sparta! btw Spartans can be defeated by Royal Pikemen.Imo they should be stronger. they Imo should be the strongest greek culture unit.

[Murfios]

"The Spartan"
Not a spartan, but The Spartan, a veteran local hero, knowed for his bravery on the battle field.
+6 Command
+7 Moral on troops on the battle field

[Murfios]

Can i use a Sig?

[Seasoned Alcoholic]

Hehe, that's a good one

Of course you can use one of the sigs. Simply right-click the one you'd like to use and select Properties. Now copy the sig's location into your signature (from Control Panel, User CP, menu) and wrap the location in the image [IMG][/IMG] tags.

I've included a few suprises in the scripts already, here's the 'Raiders' unit description:

Regular drinkers at local Taverns and Bardic Circles alike, Raiders stand out from the crowd with their frequent and in-depth tales of war. They prefer nothing more than to discuss past battles, and how many men they’ve slain in due course! This in turn earns them respect amongst friend and foe alike.

Armed with sturdy swords and shields, Raiders are best employed as shock troops on the battlefield. They wear little or no armour, but are extremely ferocious fighters once a battle has commenced. Personal glory and a quest for post-battle loot give these men a desire to enter battle as soon as possible, sometimes without orders! After all, there are many more tales of war to be told back in the nearby settlement, especially where the local ale flows freely!

That may be slightly different to what already exists, think I've tweaked it since v0.2.

Don't worry, I'm going to overhaul as many units (EG models, skins, sprites etc) in the game as possible, and then recode the stats afterwards. Otherwise I may find myself constantly recoding and tweaking every now and then. Its best to recode the EDU in a few sessions, testing as you go. I'd rather spend serious time on this next version of the mod and ensure that its superior to previous versions, rather than release it piece-by-piece.

[The Spartan (Returns)]

"The Spartan"
Not a spartan, but The Spartan, a veteran local hero, knowed for his bravery on the battle field.
+6 Command
+7 Moral on troops on the battle field

(and the last known living Spartan in the world)
Murfios
A man who comes from the future who brings video games.
Management+7
Brings Ninjas To Defend You. Personal Security +15

[The Spartan (Returns)]

hmm.. i wonder if SA favorite units are Raiders. (cause they like to drink)
yea cant wait for next versions.

now if only somebody can add strings to bows...