The Will of the Senate PBM - out of character thread IV

[econ21]

Just to say that HRE died early in my first English game - and apparently in Monarch's. The killer seems to have been the Danes. So it does look like we thought that HRE are going to be a challenging faction - which is good.

[Dutch_guy]

Guys, a quick question: If I were to uninstall BI, it wouldn't automatically uninstall Rome, right ?

Not too long ago I uninstalled MTW VI, and it also uninstalled MTW in the process.

[Lucjan]

Wait..econ, you have the game already? O.o And I have to wait until Tuesday... grrrrr

[econ21]

Guys, a quick question: If I were to uninstall BI, it wouldn't automatically uninstall Rome, right ?

I fear it does. I got a warning message of that kind just before I tried to uninstall it.

Wait..econ, you have the game already?

Yup, some initial impression here:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=71819

I've been playing as much as I can since Friday evening and it's growing on me. My English campaign on VH/VH is surprisingly challenging, without either repeated mass AI stacks or +7 type stat bonuses. It reminds me of STW/MTW in that regard. I'm only now about to storm Paris; the Scots have besieged Eginburgh and are about to take it back; the Poles beat my Crusade to Antioch when the shore was just in sight; the Pope hates me and fries my generals; it's all good. (Well, apart from the smell of burnt flesh, I suppose.)

[Dutch_guy]

I've been playing as much as I can since Friday evening and it's growing on me. My English campaign on VH/VH is surprisingly challenging, without either repeated mass AI stacks or +7 type stat bonuses. It reminds me of STW/MTW in that regard. I'm only now about to storm Paris; the Scots have besieged Eginburgh and are about to take it back; the Poles beat my Crusade to Antioch when the shore was just in sight; the Pope hates me and fries my generals; it's all good. (Well, apart from the smell of burnt flesh, I suppose.)

What kind of bonusses does VH give to the AI in M2, have you got any idea ?

[econ21]

No, they are not very apparent. I asked but did not get much joy:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=71739

The VH campaign may help explain why the Pope hates me and I have few friends. The powerful Venetians did approach me with an alliance though.

On the battlefield, the match ups do not feel "unfair" - my units don't fare worse when facing equivalent AI units - so I suspect VH battles may be the default for experienced players.

[Braden]

Just to let you know I have a battle to do tonight. Sorry for the delays here, I'm just all over the place with illness....

Will play this battle tonight AND post my last battle report up tonight as well.

[TinCow]

I've been playing M2 as well on H/VH and I haven't noticed anything that looks like AI cheating. (Before anyone comments on how I have it early, I would like to say that I pre-ordered it 3 weeks ago. They've already taken my money, so I don't feel bad getting the product.) Diplomacy has been very fair towards me and my serious problems with the Pope have been entirely of my own making. I win pretty consistently in battle, but I have had two major defeats.

The first was a combination of the second and third battles of the game, during which I expected to completely eliminate Scotland. They attacked me with two small armies to relieve the siege of Edinburgh. Even combined they were smaller than me and I had a good defensive position on a hilltop so I put my main line facing the army I thought would arrive first and put two spears to hold the other army until the first was done. Unfortunately, the AI coordinated the armies and struck at the exact same moment. On top of that the main army broke half my line in the initial charge. I eventually rallied and won, but lost half my army in the process. Still on the AI turn, Scotland moved a 3/4 stack into the attack. I could have held it off with my full army, but with the huge losses from before it was hopeless. I lost my entire northern army and it took me about 10-15 more turns to finish Scotland.

The second was assaulting rebel held Bruge. I assaulted with 5 siege towers and a ram with about 10-12 units of spears ready to climb the walls. Unfortunately, the rebels had 4-5 very decent infantry units on the walls along with crossbowmen. They burned 2 siege towers and the ram, leaving me with only 3 assault points on the walls. They moved their heavy infantry to those spots and proceeded to assault my units on the walls from both sides. I kept feeding new spears into the fight (siege tower climbing isnt slow anymore) but with heavy infantry on both sides of the assault points, it was a losing battle of attrition. I eventually withdrew with 2/3 of my army dead.

As for HRE, they're still alive and relatively stable in my game. I've been very friendly with them for most of the game. The heir to the throne recently asked me to assassinate his father so he could become King (Reward: 5000 gold and increased relations with HRE). That was easily the most unconventional mission I've been assigned yet, though I've had a few other interesting ones.

Sieges are the most incredible things I have ever seen rendered on a computer screen. There's nothing that even remotely compares to the graphical beauty of a row of trebuchet doing their work. The AI is very good on siege defense too. I've seen the AI sally with cavalry to attack two units of trebuchet I left vulnerable, VERY smart! When defending fortresses and citadels (with multiple rings of walls) they systematically withdraw to the next level of wall after each has fallen. During an assault on a French citadel (ouch those things are tough) the AI even used counter-battery fire with a pair of trebuchet of their own from inside the walls.

Complaints: France and Spain have had problems with Crusades. Both made large Crusade armies, put them on boats, and shipped them to the North Sea. They then proceeded to land and re-embark every single turn until the Crusades were done, at which point they walked back home. Also, I've noticed the passive AI bug several times. They will sometimes sit there getting slaughtered by my longbows (which are VERY decent IMO, not nerfed at all like some say) when the AI logic engine should make them assault all-out.

[Braden]

Ok, just to let everyone know that i have the save file but the Uploader doesnt appear to be working (either that or my net connection is timing out).

I'll upload it from work tomorrow morning

What a pain

[Lucjan]

Why do the forums look all bugged out and weird lately? I don't like it..

[Ignoramus]

I would be willing to do HRE PBeM campaign. The only reason I dropped out of this one was because it wasn't that enjoyable being in the Upper House. I couldn't download all the mods, so I couldn't ever be consul, thus the fun ebbed away after the first 15 years. But it certainly is the best PBeM the Guild has ever had.

[Braden]

Save file uploaded (suspect issues with a slow internet connection last night at home), will post TWO battle reports tomorrow morning (will upload stuff from work as its fast and reliable at least!).

BTW – we suffered zero casualties in that last battle.

http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/251-sum-Manius1.zip

M2:TW campaign – I’d love to take part in it as a member of whatever we use as an equivalent of the Senate Upper House.

My current PC will firmly NOT play M2 in any form; and I am not adding anything to it (seeing as its still physically in “bits” but working since the last problems I had).

New PC is on the cards in about 10 months (i.e. when a loan is paid off).

So, doesn’t really matter to me what faction we play in it but I’m looking forward to it!

20+ years of LARP and RP experience in a Medieval setting means I’ll be well up for playing characters.

[Mount Suribachi]

Just to let you guys know, I will be away from Wednesday to Sunday night

[Braden]

Just to let you know that I am fully up to date on battle reports now. I really must total up my kill ratio…..