Impresions on the new demo!(Spanish vs Aztecs)

[hoom]

I'm gonna keep you all guessing with them.

But yeah, 3 units of heavy european cav vs lots of sword/missile infantry = much slaughter.
But then, its one small army vs 4 bigger armies so its still a fairly close run thing.

[Ituralde]

The thread containing screenshots (with Aztecs in them) can be found here:

http://p223.ezboard.com/fshoguntotal...cID=5105.topic

I guess many people didn't find it because of the strange topic name referring to Custer an everyting, but Shireknight has fortunately added to the title.

Enjoy!

Ituralde

[PROMETHEUS]

WOOOW , the units of the Aztecs are so perfect .... I have been studing and watching them in Mex for long time and they are just WOOW....

[Incongruous]

Does anyone even know where they are posting?

[hoom]

Agh, gimme a few mins & I'll give you some nice pretty Aztec piccies

Edit: thar ye go hearties!

[Lusted]

wow the Aztec units really do look nice, they're definitely going to add variety to the game.

[Zatoichi]

... and i still dont understand why the yeomen carry hammers...?

The archers carrying hammers is pretty accurate for Agincourt. They used the hammers to knock in the pointy stakes, and then used them to knock off the pointy French during the following mud/blood bath.

My Amazon sponsored download is currently chugging at a rather slow 11.9kb/s, and is saying I need another 13 hours... Seeing as I'm sneakily using my work pc, I'll have to wait until tomorrow evening before I can take any useful part in the demo impressions discussions. Bah.

[KhaderKhan]

What are the Turks (one of my favourate factions) like in the new MTW2 game?

Do the JHI (Jannisarry Heavy Infantry) still pack a nasty punch?

[Furious Mental]

Nobody knows but the answer is probably yes

Can the "Arrow Warriors" throw their darts absurdly far? Historically the Aztecs revived the use of a spear throwing device and flexible darts to impart an insane velocity to the thrown projectile

[TB666]

I noticed that archers will when using fire arrows fire in a different way now.
Now it looks like it rains fire and looks awesome

[TheImp]

Impressive units, thanks for the screenies!

[Bob the Insane]

I noticed that archers will when using fire arrows fire in a different way now.
Now it looks like it rains fire and looks awesome

I particularly like the way the arrows continue to burn for a while after sticking into the ground, nice effect...

[TB666]

Damn battle of Otumba is hard.
There is so much going on in that battle so I didn't notice that a unit of coyote priest snuck up on Cortez and killed him

[PROMETHEUS]

No AtlAtl? Or this should b e represented by the javelinmen with big arrows?

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

didn't even know it came out....lol..

I'll download it now, and check ito utl. The Units Seems really good..

[TB666]

How about some pics

A nice view from a aztec house


A nice view of the city


The jaguar warriors are looking at my army from afar


My pavise crossbowman opens fire


As so does my musketeers


Aztec peasants hits my lines


Regular aztec warriors ready to throw their spears.


The eagle warriors giving my crossbowmen some hell


Yay, reinforcements


I'm pleased with the result

[Zatoichi]

Nice pictures TB666!

Well, having played through all the battles again in the new demo, I have to say I'm impressed!

The graphical improvements over the original demo are subtle but noticeable none the less. I can't really comment on the framerate improvements as I couldn't play the original on my home PC, I only got a crafty few goes at it on my work machine.

That said, I was impressed that my existing Athlon 2700+, 1Gb RAM with 9800Pro could run it with most settings medium/high without it getting too choppy. My new machine should run it like a dream (when it's eventually built)!

I know eye candy isn't everything, and the demo is scripted, but taking into account what Jason posted about the AI, and the various posts where the original demo was played unscripted, the battles are shaping up to be a great part of the game.

Back on topic - I got overwhelmed the first time I played Otumba - it didn't help when I mistook the rear attack for my reinforcements! The second time I played it I managed to shorten my lines a bit before contact, and got my cavalry into better flanking positions. It also helps to stick your muskets into the fire-at-will mode from the get-go.

All in all a great demo! Thanks CA!

[Lusted]

First thing i did when i got it was play Otumba. The graphics for the Aztecs and the city are amazing. Tried the battle only once so far and got beaten, just got overwhelmed by the Aztec numbers.

Next i decided to play Agincourt, see how that felt in the new demo. I suffered a lot more casualties this time despite doing everything like i did in the first demo when i suffered few casualties. Kill rates and movement speeds are definitely improved, and the variety in units is improved as well.

Overall the fps are improved, even though i've got a high spec pc, im playing the Gold demo on even higher settings that the first one. Im still in awe at the graphics, battles just look and feel so much better now.

I cannot wait for the full game. :thumbsup2

[Bob the Insane]

I know this is a Historical battle but I hope those Tlaxcalan Mercenaries make it into the SP campaign.

I've just got to bring an army of those back to europe to see how they do...

[LadyAnn]

I've just got to bring an army of those back to europe to see how they do...

Likewhen I played Egyptians in MTW? The sight of camel going through snow in Northern France province is indeed quite impressive. And Camel + Ghazi are good in snow to boot :D

Annie

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

The demo is quality. I was like a big child waiting for it to load and when i played it it blew me away. The Aztec is great, hard if fought on the small ridge and you use you cavalry against those damn coyote priests. The animations of the pikemen are great and the landscapes are quite gorgeous to look at.

[Comrade Alexeo]

Absolutely. F-word-ing. Awesome.

My Otumba results - pretty proud of it, given that it was on the first try :)

[blahblahblah]

I never expected the Aztecs to be able to put up such a good fight. But man they can sure pack a punch. I also never expected Agincourt to be tenfolds harder than the 1st demo. The animations with the killer moves and just fighting each other in general is very, very impressive. The kill rate is dam slow. It takes a single infantry fighter about 10-20 hits before they are officially down and out.

[ProudNerd]

Gah! I got Cortez killed (suspect friendly fire)

So one of the Spanish units is a unit of Pavise crossbows.
They don't deploy the Pavise per-se, it sits on their backs then they turn back to the enemy & crouch down to reload.

The Aztecs get some guys that chuck some HUGE arrows at you

French & English knights have had a visual upgrade: new helmets & English have a new war hammer.
The Billmen seem to have a new bill but has a bit of a texture glitch.

im glad the hammers and bills looked silly and way too small i cant wait to see what they look like now. What about the AI is it better? Is the gunner reloading glitch fixed? I really hope so.

[Zenicetus]

Otumba is very challenging. Frame rate looks improved from the early demo.

What I want to know is this... are we going to see tactically useful terrain, like that small bluff on the right side of the Spanish lines, in the campaign game? Or the hills in Pavia? Is the auto-generated terrain in campaign battles going to be this interesting, and tactically useful?

Yeah, I know... we need to see the final game to know this. I just didn't want to get too excited from the demo, which is very nice. I remember being disappointed in the RTW auto terrain, after seeing the demo.

[Ituralde]

I have not yet read this entire topic but will start with telling my experiences with the demo anyways:

Overall I was joyed to have this new battle in Otumba and finally see the Aztecs in action, after that I did Agincourt just to compare it with the old one. Well to make it short I lost both battles due to the fact that I lost my generals besides that both battles were going more or less fine. They have really turned up the difficulty setting it seems to me. I was able to beat Agincourt nearly blind-folded in the new demo. This time I had to commit half of my Yeoman Archers to battle to avoid a loss, although I made all preparations against the attack from behind it killed my Heavy Billmen, one unit of Dismounted Knights and reduced King Henrys Bodyguard to zero. When I turned back to the main line I held King Henry back but some Frenchies broke through and tore him apart.
The Otumba battle was going rather well and I had already beat back the first and second wave and also killed some of their leaders when Cortez dies in a frontal charge against some left-over bodyguards. Bad luck, I guess.

I can not comment on the graphics or perfomance yet because I can only play it on the lowest settings without blood or bloom or reflections anywas. There is one major gripe I have with the new graphical look of the demo though, as I have mentioned in another post:

Who in the world had the idea to put those fancy white hearts beside the Fatigue and that jolly little smiley beside the Morale? Makes me wonder why they haven't turned it pink or something. Also the icons on the unit cards are really ugly now, that stark white without any conture, or hue or anything. It hurts my eyes to look at it really. you have the dark moody atmosphere and something like that poking at your eyes. I bet some guys were play-testing and complaining about the fact that they didn't see what was going on and had to take a closer look. Now the facts are jumping at my face causing me physical pain.
I really don't like those changes. What they have done in colour and mood with the mini-map they have reversed with those battle icons.

Another thing that bothers me, which was also included to some extent in the old demo is the fact that sometimes your Missile or Firearm units would just turn their whole line and suddenly stand there pointing out from your battle line exposing their flanks. I don't really now why they do it and I also don't know how to prevent them from doing it.
Also: What do those numbers in parantheses mean in the battle statistics. Friendly Fire Kills?

Overall I liked the old demo more, I guess. Gotta see how I'm gonna like the full game.

Cheers!

Ituralde

[Bob the Insane]

While I tried it too...

As for settings I had them exactly as before, mostly High, expect I stepped up shadows from None to Lowest and it still played okay so that was cool...

Tried Agincourt twice and lost twice, both times losing Henry (though I can't honestly say I was doing that well )... One of the Gendarm(?) cavalry units charged headfirst into a prepared unit of Billman (in the woods) and proceeded to cut them to pieces!

Tried Pavia and won and actually found it slightly easier than before as the French units appeared to make an effect to stay in a formation of types and thus did not rush my units as before. This gave me time to wheel my formation around to the left after seeing off the cavalry and meet the rest of the French in good order...

The Otumba battle was fun, only tried it once and of course lost. I did not loose Cortes until right at the end so that was not the issue. I though I was doing okay after routing and drivng off the first wave with a combination of musket fire and cavalry charges. Then the second wave came and we where still doing okay... Then the Aztec's simple started beating all my troops in combat, their elite warriors are good fighters and very hard to rout... I guess I do not really know waht happened, but after a period of sustained combat my troops where dying and there were more and more Aztecs turning up...

Have to try again tonight...

One point I did note in the new demo was the speed at which routing units recovered if not chased, thus allowing them to return to the battle.

[Basileus]

Tried the new demo only once and won a close victory, graphics maxed and it looked awesome but one thing that made me abit annoyed was all the aztec routing units that routed behind my line and the came back and hit me on the back, heh i would have won easier but that made it a bit harder. Weekend now so i have time to give the demo a few more tries.

[Ituralde]

Just managed to beat Otumba on my second try. It was close though.
I barely managed to surround the Aztec main general with my reinforcement troops. My Dismounted Conquistadores got torn to pieces by the accompanying army but my Tlaxcalan Mercenaries had the Aztec general surrounded by then.
All the Aztecs were withdrawing to help their main general and my main line was pretty much spent. Finally my Tlaxcalan Mercenaries killed the Aztec main general winning me the battle.

Was real fun, though it lagged as hell on my laptop, although I had set all details to the lowest settings only keeping Shader 2.0. I used the same settings in the first demo but it ran much smoother, well there weren't 2500 Aztecs on the battlefield, so who knows.

I haven't read anybody commenting on the new feature that happens when you click on your faction symbol in the lower right corner. No longer does your camera zoom in on your general, instead they've added a new feature that highlights your troops with green circles on the floor, allies with blue circles and the enemy with red circles. Mhm looks nice but haven't found a situation where it was really useful. Maybe for checking how your battle line's doing when the fight is raging and you just see on big mess with dead people littering the floor.

Cheers!

Ituralde

[hoetje]

Can anyone plz tell me what the best strategy is for the battle of otumba?:(
Cortez always dies