
Originally Posted by
Servius1234
On speed of battles, both games have a base speed at which units move and kill each other. MTW had a super-simple .txt file which contained all the unit variables (attack value, defense value, walk speed, run speed, charge speed, turn speed, etc.) In MTW, those variables were easily moddable. In RTW, many were hard-coded in with the 3D animations, so they couldn't be easily changed by modders.
RTW battles are, on average, much faster than MTW battles. Two RTW units can collide and one can wipe the other out in like 2 seconds (depending on units). RTW units break (morale) a lot quicker than MTW units did, which makes the battles even shorter. RTW infantry move at lightening speed, almost as fast as cavalry, whereas MTW units move at more realistic relative speeds. For an easy comparison, you can generally think of RTW units as having much lower morale and armor compared to MTW. They run away quicker and they die quicker.
Also on speed, MTW had this very simple but very cool and handy speed bar. You just slid this little bar to the right and the battle speed accelerated. You had complete control between the standard and max speed. In RTW, that was simplified to like two pre-set speed acceleration rates. So, like in many things, at least in my opinion, RTW was dumbed down and options were taken away from players.
As to maps, the MTW map was very Risk-like. As I said above, you either controlled a province or you didn't. In RTW, there mind as well not even be provinces, since you only 'control' cities and whatever part of the country-side you have a dominant army in. There were no roaving bands of annoying skirmisher rebels in MTW. There were your armies, allied armies, enemy armies, and occasionally rebel units would spawn if the province was pissed off/disloyal.
In RTW, if your army was in a forest tile and a fight ensued, the game used a forest map that roughly approximated the surrounding area. In MTW, you either fought a battle in Flanders or in Normady. The game randomly selected maps from a set (like lush_european_flat_river or desert_hills). While I like the ability in RTW to have a bit more control over the kind of battlefield you'll fight in, I think the actual battle maps in RTW were crappy, because there were hardly any significant terrain features besides rivers and their bridges. In MTW, hills and forests had a much more significant impact on the outcome of a battle than they do in RTW. So, given the choice, I prefer MTW battle maps.
Last thing about maps, if I attacked Flanders from Normady, there's a variable that says whether there are rivers between Normandy and Flanders. If there are rivers, the game pulled up a river map with the appropriate climate. If not, no river. The terrain (lush, arid, hilly, flat, etc.) was determined by the terrain in the defending province.
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