I've been invited for a Med2 preview event... post questions here.

[Myrddraal]

Froggy's guides have been consistently great over the years, but where does she live?

Soulflame's location reads:

Location: The Abyss - Formerly known as 'The Netherlands'

Which is why I imagine he's been invited to "The Gamesyndicate in The Hague."

I'm sure froggy's great works haven't gone unnoticed.

[The_Doctor]

Will mercenaries change over time? eg, Landsknechts, Condottiere and Swiss appearing later on in the game.

[cannon_fodder]

How customisable is the difficulty level for the campaign and custom battles? i.e., can you set different values for enemy AI and enemy stat bonus?

[hoom]

Is the computer general no longer so stupid?
Is the computer diplomat actually possible to negotiate peace with?
Is pathfinding on the battlemap significantly improved?
Will there be a built in garrison script to make sure that sieges are serious & to prevent the typical "storm undefended walls + plod through streets (with yoyo battles against the same couple of depleted units) to central square where a single full unit awaits"?

Have hard limits been removed or increased? eg max factions/models/units/provinces/<insert personal bugbear hard limit>

[AFM984]

SoulFlame, please ask about:
1) the REBELS and BRIGANDS, will they pop up every turn like in RTW?

2) can an invading army burn and pillage the country side?

3) will the king's Traits have an effect on the kingdom?

thanks...

[Tamur]

1. How in the world are you going to condense all these questions down to a useable list?

[azraeltheFallen]

1: Can you do as the holy roman empire did by making their "own" counter pope, to the real pope.
2: Why they did not choose to make the danes whitch historically were the first known europeans in amerika(1000 leif the happy), not able to go the same way?

[Myrddraal]

1. How in the world are you going to condense all these questions down to a useable list?

What did you expect?

PS, welcome to the .org azrael

1: Can you do as the holy roman empire did by making their "own" counter pope, to the real pope.

I think I can answer that one for you, you can have your own pope (one of your clergy becomes pope), in which case I assume you get full papal ranking and the pope does whatever you ask him too, but only by replacing the pope with your own.

[SpencerH]

I like the idea that SEGA appear to be reaching out to their hardcore fans in this way. My question is not for them though but is instead for Soulflame. In order for us to interpret your review we need some info about how you regard RTW. After all, whether you're a "fanboy" a "whiner" or somewhere in between will effect your judgement.

How do you feel about RTW compared to the previous games?

[highlanddave]

azraeltheFallen

Can you do as the holy roman empire did by making their "own" counter pope, to the real pope

Myrddraal

I think I can answer that one for you, you can have your own pope (one of your clergy becomes pope), in which case I assume you get full papal ranking and the pope does whatever you ask him too, but only by replacing the pope with your own.

i believe azrael is referring the great schism in the church, were there were several popes active at one time. one of the pope was in avignon, france while another was in rome and i believe an actual third pope roamed around for a period of time.

[highlanddave]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avignon_Pope

correcting myself it was called the second great schism, the first one split the church into the orthodox and catholic churches.

[Soulflame]

I like the idea that SEGA appear to be reaching out to their hardcore fans in this way. My question is not for them though but is instead for Soulflame. In order for us to interpret your review we need some info about how you regard RTW. After all, whether you're a "fanboy" a "whiner" or somewhere in between will effect your judgement.

How do you feel about RTW compared to the previous games?

Well I was planning on telling about that in the story I make about the event, but I guess I can do it in now, I'm perhaps making this a bit uninteresting (and it's a bit off-topic). You have been warned ;) ;


I'm an easy going guy when it comes to TW games... I like all the TW's (although because I'm pretty visual, I don't play the first two TW's anymore). There were a few things that I found funny (like screeching women and headhurlers), but I played the game anyway and just ignored the historical (in)accuracy of those. I play the game for what it offers and don't attach as much value to historical accuracy as the people from say the Total Realism mods.
I like control in my games, which is why I made the guides I made.. so I could easily see how to plan how my armies would work, how much it would cost and how effective it would be against other armies. I'm also interested in how the economy worked and once worked here with others to determine how trade routes were calculated.. real fun :). One interesting question I'd like to ask at the preview is how they determine the balance between units, that intrigues me :).
Singleplayer is what I like most, single battles is not something I do a lot. I played as Scipii, Pontus (really nice :) very versatile) and Seleucids (didn't finish it yet). I played all on Hard difficulty on all settings (but not Very Hard).
I usually don't mod my games, except very minor things like some textures I download (I don't create them myself) and changing some minor balancing things (for instance, I think there was one spear unit in Rome which didn't get the spear bonus, so I changed that).

I personally think I like the Rome setting more then the Medieval setting (and I would love a fantasy setting), but we'll just have to see.

So I'm not a total Fanboy, I don't even visit the official forums (they move too fast to my taste), but I really like the game because of it's uniqueness and depth.
I'm not a whiner either, a few out of place units don't bother me much, and I'm not a fanatic when it comes to realism.

So I'm probably your average run of the mill Rome owner :).

[Vuk]

Will there be greek Fire.
Will ballistics be improved.
What will they include as far as unconventional/biological/chemical warfare (FI: will there be poison arrows?)

[Mount Suribachi]

Froggy's guides have been consistently great over the years, but where does she live?

Britain

[SpencerH]

Well I was planning on telling about that in the story I make about the event, but I guess I can do it in now, I'm perhaps making this a bit uninteresting (and it's a bit off-topic). You have been warned ;) ;


I'm an easy going guy when it comes to TW games... I like all the TW's ...............................................


So I'm probably your average run of the mill Rome owner :).

Thanks. Based on what you've said here, you seem like a micromanager and someone who would've disliked the (lack of) feeling of the tactical battles in RTW compared to the previous versions. OTOH, perhaps you prefer the strategic portion of the game more than the tactical side.

[Dinsel]

Ask them this....

Can we please have the rebellions inside the city, fight inside the city.

What we had in RTW, was that when a city rebelled, the army would be taken outside city walls, and the rebels would control the city.

Why cant we have like the rebels fight there and then. Just like in ambushes. When there was an ambush you had no choice, you had fight.

When taken to the battle inside the city fighting the revolt, your troops should be positioned in the town square, and the rebels will try and take it over.

Thats more fun to play, and adds excitement to the game. It gives you that feeling that you dont get often playing RTW, that feeling of being caught with your pants down. .

So the question would be, can we have this included please?

Other then that, I would repeat the question... about the deserting troops not fighting for themselves... and how shit is that.

So the question would be can we please have the deserting troops actually attempt to fight.

I have noticed from the pictures taken of MTW2, that "squalor" is included int he city. This was a huge fuck up by the CA. You you squalor go as high as 125%. Which meant that even if your city was full of troops and could not take anymore, and even if you had all the buildings that give you loyalty and happines bonuses. You still had no chance, there would still be a rebellion.

So the question would be, could we please not have that anymore, Can you please balance it?

[hoetje]

Welcome at the org dinsel

[Dinsel]

why, thank you my hommie

[Myrddraal]

Hey welcome Dinsel!

I don't think thats really the kind of questions they can answer. They're more like requests. I think Soulflame is in a position to ask questions about the game as it is.

[The Spartan (Returns)]

will you CA make patches until if possible there are no more bugs in M2TW?
can you make a new culture and religion?

i also second that Froggie should be able to go. why even her great guide is a sticky at the RTW forum at the com.

i believe Froggy lives at the pond.

[Myrddraal]

i also second that Froggie should be able to go. why even her great guide is a sticky at the RTW forum at the com.

Let's leave that between froggy and CA no? What if she cant/doesn't want to go?

[Vuk]

When will they release the system requirements?!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kraxis]

Of course I want the obvious:

Battlespeed: Does it really feel slower and more balanced than RTW?
Killspeed: Has it been toned down?
AI: Both strategic and battlefield, but the battlefield is the most important. How does it feel compared to RTW (even MTW if you can remember that enough)?
Cavalry: Less overpowered compared to RTW?

But I also want something else:

Recruitment pools: Do they really make a difference, or can you still crank out masses of elite units? How many tiers are there (peasants, militia, professionals, elite, cavalry, elite cavalry, ect)?
Stacking penalty: Has it returned? Is there a penalty for stacking units on top of each other on the battlefield like in MTW and STW?

[Spino]

Moddability - How moddable is MTW2 compared to RTW? If possible try to get one of the developers to cite a specific example of what modders can do with MTW2 that they couldn't do with RTW.

[sunsmountain]

Campaign map AI, stacks grouped with leaders?
Battle Map AI, coordinated attacks?

Movement speeds, have they gone down?
Kill rates, have they gone down?

What is and isn't moddable, in particular:
- Fatigue
- Probability to hit (for a normal melee attack) and
- Movement speeds per unit type.

Can you choose between mission or is every mission given randomly?
Can you win by completing missions and getting glory points or is the only way to win to capture 15 (short) / 45 (large) settlements?

@Soulflame: Veel plezier gewenst!

[Vuk]

Of course I want the obvious:

Battlespeed: Does it really feel slower and more balanced than RTW?
Killspeed: Has it been toned down?
AI: Both strategic and battlefield, but the battlefield is the most important. How does it feel compared to RTW (even MTW if you can remember that enough)?
Cavalry: Less overpowered compared to RTW?

But I also want something else:

Recruitment pools: Do they really make a difference, or can you still crank out masses of elite units? How many tiers are there (peasants, militia, professionals, elite, cavalry, elite cavalry, ect)?
Stacking penalty: Has it returned? Is there a penalty for stacking units on top of each other on the battlefield like in MTW and STW?

Killspeed was fine, sometimes unrealistically slow. If the do that and take away the speed control the # of battles you can fight in a given amount of time will be seriously decreased.

Battlespeed is fine: If you don't want it high, don't turn it high.


Cavalry: Less overpowered compared to RTW????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Are you out of your mind, it was excellent. You are asking them to do away with all the ground they just made!

UP Cavalry charge bonus!!!! UP ballistic damage!!!!!!!!!!!


LONG LIVE ROME TW GAMEPLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MUHHHAAA

[Zatoichi]

I fear a can of worms has been opened...

I personally didn't like the movement or kill speeds in RTW compared to MTW, as Kraxis stated. I also understand that these increased speeds were not a problem for others.
Maybe if this was controllable by the individual player via the GUI as part of the options (i.e. without the need to mod text files) we could all be happy?
Alternatively, giving the ability to mod individual unit speeds would be a good compromise (yes, I know that doesn't work for MP, but I don't play MP...)

[cannon_fodder]

Why cant we have like the rebels fight there and then. Just like in ambushes. When there was an ambush you had no choice, you had fight.

That's a really good idea. More fun, more sense, and it would help to bring down the number of sieges the player has to fight.

[Martinaz]

ok ok, i think evryone agrees that we want to see lots of AI samples.

[Soulflame]

So here is the compiled list of questions. It's obviously very long, I tried to combine questions so that they can tell a story about a single subject and don't answer just with yes or no. I can probably skip the 'large questions', as I think those will probably get some coverage time by the developers as they are big changes that are a large part of Med2.
I hope I can get some stuff answered without asking as well, just by playing (mostly the campaign and battle stuff)
It's all very abbreviated since I don't like making set questions in advance. So most are just keywords so I know in what direction to ask.
==================
Modding:
1. Harcoded Limits. Which removed, altered etc.
2. Faction Limits (21? 30?)
3. In-game map/campaign/battle editor?
4. AI moddable? In which fashion?
5. Any mod tools planned? (editors, import/export etc)
6. Playermade cutscenes? Tools?
7. 3d format same as RTW? How about the individuality of soldiers?
8. Fatigue moddable?
9. Movement speed per unit moddable? Chance to hit? (killrate)
10. Example(s) of something that wasn’t moddable in RTW, but is in Med2

Battle:
1. AI improved?
2. Siege AI improved? Sieges, Town squares and low garrisons
3. Artillery on walls? Artillery fortifications? Tower range + Rate of fire
4. Unit speeds & Kill ratios
5. ‘squeezed to tight’ penalty?
6. Fatigue, easier to see in battle?
7. Ship battles? Ship AI?
8. Heat/armor penalty?
9. Siege weapons? Still sap/ladders etc?
10. Pathfinding

Campaign & Mechanics:
1. Generals promoted with titles at will like MTW?
2. Which (21?) factions are playable? Which after modding and which after unlocking? (Aztecs only ones in America? How many mongol factions?)
3. Faction unlocking mechanism the same as RTW? First 5 playable factions ‘more enjoyable’ (more work done), or ‘intro’?
4. Supply/Food system that was once slated for RTW?
5. Recruitment Pools; how does the AI cope and how much does it impact the game?
6. Transition of late game units? (Gunpowder event?). Techtree from American factions like barbarians in RTW? Balanced against the rest?
7. Nationwide economy policy settings?
8. Possible to instigate a coup and kill the king for a new royal line like MTW?
9. Repetition/balance concerning factions; some factions always lose?
10. Re-emerging factions?
11. Civil war, how does it work?
12. Land-bridges? Where are all of them? Always usable?
13. Weather
14. Turn/no more years?
15. How much of America is accessible?
16. Era’s in the game? (like MTW, early, late, high)
17. Different mercenaries over time?
18. Crusading armies, what happens upon failing? And what on winning? Control?
19. Pathfinding
20. Rebels/Brigands. Rebellion still puts army outside city?
21. Invading Army; Pillage & Burn?
22. King’s Trait affects Kingdom?
23. Ballistics changed?
24. Unconventional weapons? (Poison + Greek fire) Elephant cannons? Which faction?
25. Squalor still in, how much impact?
26. Deserting troops?
27. Missions, which, can you choose between multiple? Alternate win possible with mission points?
28. Characters; Russia has ‘dread’, England ‘chivalry’, no more management & influence.. why? Retinue’s exchangeable like RTW?
29. City view altered?
30. Feudalism in?


Religion:
1. Protestantism in the game?
2. Orthodox religion overshadowed? (no Jihad or Crusades)
3. What can you do as Pope? Examples. Multiple popes possible?
4. Can the Paupacy be captures/destroyed/become proctorate?
5. Heretics, Inquisitors, Priests etc. Inquisitors not buildable?

Other:
1. Which Historical Battles?
2. More custom battle maps?
3. Online ranking?
4. Battle replays like in MTW?
5. Interface changes?

System:
1. Game Requirements; minimum, recommended and 4vs4 multiplayer
2. Demo release? Store release?
3. Dual Core support? 64 bit support? SLI, Crossfire, multiple monitors?
4. Map with the game like RTW?
5. Expansions small and fast like Alexander, or bigger and store like BI?

Large questions;
1. Diplomacy? AI, changes, interface.
2. What changed in trade/economics?
3. Castles vs cities. Small towns? Role of fortifications increased? (tower/forts)
4. Improved Assassination & Espionage?
5. New agents? Roles?

==================

I hope I can get it all done and also still play the game a bit :p.

Cheers,

Harm - aka Soulflame