Suggestions for v0.8

[NeoSpartan]

How about including an additional stategic element as field costs for player armies outside of settlements as a simulation for food, transport, camp... costs?
1000 in homeland; even more expansive in enemy territory: 2000 ?
Only for the player because the AI can't handle it.

.....

I really, really like this idea. An army outside a settlement costs more than the same army inside a settelement, and an army in enemy territory costs even. It bring in a realistic element called: LOGISTICS (currently it only happens when a General leads the army)

BUT IF this is to be implemented, then the player shouldn't have such a crappy economy, OR the AI shouldn't get so much cash bonus.

[scourgeofrome]

Quick question.Will I be able to play BI and Alexander with .08 downloaded?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I was thinking about the "Epic Stone Wall" and how everyone hates it... My suggestion is this: Rather than removing epic walls, the normal stone wall should be changed. If the 'stone wall' was changed to be a smaller, weaker, uglier wall, then the 'large stone wall' was made to be like the current 'stone wall' and 'epic' was made to 'large' ("downgrading" all the walls and putting a new one in). My thinking behind this is that alot of cities had walls made of stone around them, but not all of them had quality stone wall around them. Mud brick wall for example.

The problem is, this would require new battle map and strat map models and building modelers seem to be the one thing every mod is missing.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Quick question.Will I be able to play BI and Alexander with .08 downloaded?

Probably not, as BI is RTW 1.6, and not 1.5 - the RTW version EB 0.8 will be using.

There might be a way around this though (IF it is possible to have both a working version of RTW 1.0 and RTW BI):
first install Vanilla RTW, then make a backup of 1.0;
then install BI over the original RTW 1.0;
make another backup of your 1.0 folder;
patch it that backup to 1.5;
install EB 0.8;
play.

The second backup is just for safety: if something should go all wrong, you still have 1.0. You could therefore skip the second backup, and patch your first to 1.5 on which you then could install EB 0.8 and play it.

As I don't have either BI, or Alexander, I'm not sure though: still you could find out for yourself, by trying to do these steps for EB 0.7.4.

You could even try the same with Alexander, resulting in at least 3 versions of RTW on your computer...

[Foot]

Ah no, BI does not overwrite vanilla files (and neither does EB), it sort of acts as an add-on, whereby a seperate .exe tells the game to access different files (BI files) instead of vanilla files. BI files are 1.6, but vanilla files are still 1.5. This is roughly similar to how EB works at the moment. All its files are installed in a seperate folder in the RTW folder, and we use a shortcut with the command line -mod:eb to tell the RomeTW.exe to look in the EB folder for files rather than the vanilla folder. The great thing about this is that you don't need a seperate install of RTW to play EB and vanilla (though other mods that don't use the -mod: command will need a seperate install as usual).

Foot

[scourgeofrome]

Okay I really don't understand all of what you just said (I'm not really computer literate).So what your saying is I can access vanilla stil with EB installed.1.How and 2. Does that mean I can still add on BI and Alexander after .8 comes out. And for backing up files,how do I do that.I tried it once but nothing worked when I tried to install it to the new copy.

[Lovejoy]

What about giving carth some mercs to hire in there "homeland"? I'm playing a carth game right now, but I cant find any.

From what I've understand carth used mostly mercs and alomst no native carth soldiers.

As it is right now its hard to play historical, because I cant find any mercs and it takes years to transport iberians back and forth. (plus iberia doesnt have that many mercs eighter)

The aim should be to make the historical way the easy way, since I pretty sure carth didnt use, gauls, iberians, numbs and whatever only to make it more of a challange. :P

[Foot]

Okay I really don't understand all of what you just said (I'm not really computer literate).So what your saying is I can access vanilla stil with EB installed.1.How and 2. Does that mean I can still add on BI and Alexander after .8 comes out. And for backing up files,how do I do that.I tried it once but nothing worked when I tried to install it to the new copy.

0.8 works in the same way BI works. You'll notice, with BI installed, that there is a seperate folder for BI within the RTW folder, it is in essence a completey different set of files from vanilla. BI is accessed through a seperate .exe file, not the RomeTW.exe for normal RTW. Because they use different .exe files, they are essentially different games and thus have different version numbers. When BI is 1.6, RTW is 1.5. In just the same way that you can choose to play either RTW or BI from the same install, we have modded EB so that you can choose to play RTW and EB from the same install. We are able to do this because we can add a command line to the RomeTW.exe that tells the game to look in a seperate "EB" folder for the modified game files that we use.

This means that on the same install, ie in the same RTW directory, you can have vanilla RTW, BI, Alexander and EB all working seperately and correctly.

the data files for vanilla RTW are found here:
Rome - Total War/data

the BI data files are found here:
Rome - Total War/BI/data

The EB data files are found here:
Rome - Total War/EB/data

Because they are all in seperate data folders the files don't affect each other and thus the all the different games can be played without fear of messing the others up.

Foot

[scourgeofrome]

0.8 works in the same way BI works. You'll notice, with BI installed, that there is a seperate folder for BI within the RTW folder, it is in essence a completey different set of files from vanilla. BI is accessed through a seperate .exe file, not the RomeTW.exe for normal RTW. Because they use different .exe files, they are essentially different games and thus have different version numbers. When BI is 1.6, RTW is 1.5. In just the same way that you can choose to play either RTW or BI from the same install, we have modded EB so that you can choose to play RTW and EB from the same install. We are able to do this because we can add a command line to the RomeTW.exe that tells the game to look in a seperate "EB" folder for the modified game files that we use.

This means that on the same install, ie in the same RTW directory, you can have vanilla RTW, BI, Alexander and EB all working seperately and correctly.

the data files for vanilla RTW are found here:
Rome - Total War/data

the BI data files are found here:
Rome - Total War/BI/data

The EB data files are found here:
Rome - Total War/EB/data

Because they are all in seperate data folders the files don't affect each other and thus the all the different games can be played without fear of messing the others up.

Foot

Does that mean right now I can install Bi with the .74 version of EB?

[Foot]

No, for two reasons. EB 0.74 does not use the - mod: build and so overwrites the vanilla data files. Only if the mod uses the -mod: build can you use BI and vanilla RTW with it. The second reason is that EB 0.74 must have RTW 1.2, but BI must have RTW 1.3 to work (and automatically upgrades RTW when installed).

Foot

[Geoffrey S]

I don't know if it's hardcoded, but is it possible to set the amount of mnai gained for destroying a building? If so, perhaps a building can be created representing a money stockpile for times of need; it takes a while to build, but when completed it can be destroyed when money is running low for instant cash to build much-needed units/buildings.

[Foot]

I don't know if it's hardcoded, but is it possible to set the amount of mnai gained for destroying a building? If so, perhaps a building can be created representing a money stockpile for times of need; it takes a while to build, but when completed it can be destroyed when money is running low for instant cash to build much-needed units/buildings.

Impossible, its a set amount that cannot be changed per building.

Foot

[Dram]

it would be good if you could enable cheats in the next version.

auto win attacker/defender is really useful for players who are sick of fighting 'easy win' battles all the time. once youve done it 1000 times before it just eats away at your enjoyment of the game and theres nothing new to learn from them. autocalc on VH difficulty tends to result in obscene casualties so its not really an option.

i know in the next version that rebel rates will be adjustable, which i certaintly take advantage of, but this would still be useful against those inumerable swarms of tiny stacks factions send out to decorate the landscape.

besides which i think cheating is something people should be able to do if they want, theres no reason to impose that restriction on people. if you dont want to cheat then you simply dont enter the codes.

[Dumbass]

I think those cheats require a script to be made, or something.
Since they don't work in vanilla either.

[MSB]

There IS a reason to ban it. For example in AoE III I now can't resist typing "tuck tuck tuck" to get myself a huge evil monster truck that kills everything nearby. Banning cheats helps people resist cheating.

[Markus_Aurelius]

cheating DOES work, i use that auto win cheat only on VH Campain difficulty and only to win those sea battles were you know you should win but you never do..

[Tellos Athenaios]

Impossible, its a set amount that cannot be changed per building.

Foot

Thus, perhaps, if the cost to build it would equal the returned mnai when it's destroyed... or has it to do something with a fixed part of what the construction cost?

[Tellos Athenaios]

it would be good if you could enable cheats in the next version.

auto win attacker/defender is really useful for players who are sick of fighting 'easy win' battles all the time. once youve done it 1000 times before it just eats away at your enjoyment of the game and theres nothing new to learn from them. autocalc on VH difficulty tends to result in obscene casualties so its not really an option.

On the other hand, if one used a little more strategy, one would simply raise an army that drives those pesky rebels from your lands by attacking them only once each turn - and thus doesn't actually have to fight them, because the rebels flee from it.

[Zalmoxis]

In my game, I took over a city which had farms already built. I built a granary, but the farm is still there. Is this supposed to happen?

[Tuuvi]

granaries are a separate building from farms, not an upgrade.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Just me, or isn't it a bit odd that, playing as AS, I can't recruit Iudaioi taxeis in my Homeland (that is in Antiocheia, and Damaskos - where the prerequired substantial Jewish populations exist)?

I was wondering about the Haravautish rebels (Alexandreiapolis - if I'm not mistaken), and the Harauvatish Asabara units, are the latter not part of the former 'tribe'? Or am I simply misled by the similarity in both names?

However, if I haven't fooled myself, then maybe that's something to fix in 0.8.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Another thing about descriptions.

I've noticed that in various descriptions (e.g. those of the larger ships), the reader is called basileus. Nothing wrong with that at first, but if you look more closely you can see that you're called 'ho basileos' or 'ho basileus', or just 'basileus' when in fact you should be called '(o) basileu'. This is because the vocativus form of 'basileus' is not 'basileus' as you might suspect from the fact that the word doesn't have an -os prefix in the nominativus, but 'basileu' instead.

Secondly, even if you're playing as KH you're still called a basileus, when in fact that title only goes for a Spartan faction leader. Although even when your faction leader is a Spartan, he isn't actually the basileus of the whole faction itself. (He is only the basileus of the city state of Sparte.)

Now to advoid confusion, and make life much more easy, I suggest you scrap all basileus bits in the descriptions and replace those with the single word 'anax'. Although a very ancient word, even in those days, dating as far back as the 'glory' days the Greeks loved to refer to (the Troian war for example), it was still commonly used by writers such as Euripides. This word is to be translated with either 'Sir', or 'mylord' depending on the occasion, and the vocativus form is the same as the nominativus form.

EDIT: If you're not convinced, or consider the word a bit outdated for some reason, here is another possibility. Nominativus: 'Kurios'. Vocativus: 'Kurie'. It's the word used to refer to God in the Bible. And, as you'll know, it means: 'Lord'.

[Corinthian Hoplite]

Hmmm, I think african, mediterranean and northern units should have different skin colours. I simply don't like to see some Ptolemaic units with the right skin colour and others looking like those whitey Makedonians. Just make some body skins darker according to the faction. Note: mercenaries should obviously have the skin colour apropriate to the region they come from.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Most Ptolemaic soldiers were Macedonians.

[Corinthian Hoplite]

Your skin tone doesn't exactly keep the same after decades, even generations, living in north Africa, and the Makies surelly had children with the natives...

[MSB]

Your skin tone doesn't exactly keep the same after decades, even generations, living in north Africa, and the Makies surelly had children with the natives...

Egypt was taken by Alexander in 331BC. By 272BC there would still have been a large amount of "pure blooded" Macedonians. If you look carefully at the Egyptian set of units you will see some that look very native Egyptian. These are the units that have either had children with the natives or are natives themselves. It is also important to note that only pure blooded Macedonians would probably have been allowed to join the ranks of Ptolemy's elite units.

[Corinthian Hoplite]

Ok, thanks. I still think mediterraneans should have a darker skin than Casse and Swèboz (sp?)

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Ok, thanks. I still think mediterraneans should have a darker skin than Casse and Swèboz (sp?)

I recall a thread about six months ago about differing skin colors, but the team didn't want to do it because it is hard to know the true skin colors of people that don't exsist or have been breading with germanic invaders for 1500 years. Also there is the part about redoing all the work and the racism issues.

[Kierkegaard]

perhaps 0.8 could have Navigable Rivers like Ancient Empires 2.0 minimod for RTRPE 1.6, that would be interesting.

[CountArach]

Jus a quesiton about Gaesatae. I was reading Polybius today, and in Book 2, Part 22, he mentions that they are hired and that the Gaesatae are essentially mercenaries, so I was wondering if there are any plans on making them Mercenaries? Also I was wondering why they are recruitable to the Aedui?

Thanks guys!