Out of Character thread

[Lucjan]

Nice posting skills.

By the way, does anybody else feel like shooting whoever's idea it was to allow that immensely irritating "zap the mosquito" banner?

[IvarrWolfsong]

Not only am I a Johnny-come-lately and new to this type of turn based RP text play, but I am new to The Guild Boards to boot.

However, I am not new to RPing or to the TW series. If you will have me, I would happily join you. I would be willing to play an elector from which ever House is currently low, or if those positions are filled, as the German Cardinal if he would be considered an elector.

The Cardinal could be fun considering that you could give him a Bishopric. The HRE and the Papacy have long been at odds over the Investitures of German Bishops (ask Pope Gregory XII...). There wouldn't be too much / any gameplay but the postings could be interesting.

[econ21]

Welcome, Ivarrwolfsong! I'll assign you to a House after the current 24 hour period of voting is complete.

For Electors, vote here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=77306

BTW, interesting to know we are supposed to take Rome, not Jerusalem. However, I still want to go to the Holy Land (provided we are not swamped on in Europe). I've always found crusading one of the most fun things about MTW and M2TW. Plus, didn't the Germans lead the First Crusade?

[Ituralde]

Just noticed that you translated the Military rank of Knight to Graf, while the correct German word would be Ritter. Graf is actually the German word for Count and not a Military title. You may want to change that.

Cheers!

Ituralde

[GeneralHankerchief]

Okay, I'm gearing up to start my turn (thanks for the encouragement, dlain ). Have we fully decided which, if any, mods we're going to use?

Thanks.

[econ21]

I will start a game (not doing anything) with the PBM settings[1] and then upload it to the Org for you GeneralHankerchief.

The only mod I will use initially is Medifix 1.2:

http://files.filefront.com//;6476123;;/

This fixes vices and virtues, as explained here:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...37&postcount=1

I am going to install it now and try it out, then load up the savegame.

I know there has been discussion of us using a mod to handle the 2-handed weapon bug, but I think that will just be a matter of changing the EDU file, so we can do that later if necessary. Note - only units with the 2-handed axe type animation are bugged and I don't think HRE get many (any?) of them. I am holding off on this as there are reports about the 2-H bug mods making the units too powerful. I'd rather CA fix that through a patch than we use a mod.

[1]Hard campaigns, VH battles; timer on; large units.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Thanks econ. This should be fun.

Note - only units with the 2-handed axe type animation are bugged and I don't think HRE get many (any?) of them.

I believe Halberd Militia fall under that category. I would know because they just killed the Moorish Sultan assaulting Jerusalem in a failed jihad.

[econ21]

I'll check it out, but I thought halberds - unlike billmen - were not bugged. They are different from billmen, e.g. they get a funky phalanx type special formation, as I recall from the demo. And if they killed a Sultan, that implies they are not be bugged - unless they did it on the charge - as the bug relates to ineffectiveness against cavalry.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Yeah, there's no "run" option on them. And the fighting was lasting a while before the Sultan bought it. That's the only possible unit, IIRC.

[econ21]

Medifix is really easy to install - you just extract two text files into your data folder and create a one line bat file in your main M2TW directory to run the game. The instructions are in the download I posted above.

Here's the savegame:

http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/kotr1080.zip

Note - we are also playing the default 2 years per turn. In character, we should just overlook the fact that our avatars bath in the blood of virgins or something to stop them aging appropriately. So, we'll say the Chancellor rules for 40 years - and the next Diet session (the mid-term) is in 20 years. I am sorry, I know it's not ideal from a role-playing or character immersion point of view. But at least, we have a decent chance of getting to see gunpowder, the Mongols and maybe even the Aztecs.

Looking at the starting situation, we have a rather interesting sounding Cardinal, "Peter the Warmonger". Sounds ideal for a really characterful bit of role-playing. I'll give him to Ivarwolfsong as requested. I'm inclined to put him in the House of Bavaria, as he starts within their boundary. And I have a feeling Strappy Horse has dropped out the PBM, depleting the Bavarian ranks. I will reassign the avatar of Otto to dlain if Strappy Horse has not voted by the time the poll closes.

BTW: In terms of keeping up to date with your character's traits and the campaign, the best thing - as Lucjan said - is periodically to download the latest savegame and take a look for yourself. Savegames will be posted whenever someone other than the Chancellor gets into a fight (and at each Diet session), so they should become fairly frequent. We also should have periodic Chancellor reports. I have not specified an interval, but at least every 5 turns, I think. And more often if something fun happens, like we get attacked. We should use the Diet thread to comment on current events in character.

If someone writes a nice story, PM me and I'll open an in-character story thread (I'm reluctant to open one until it has some content). Ditto a battle report thread. I'm not sure we need a Diet library type thread, given everyone can check up on their characters via savegames. But if anyone wants to maintain one, they are welcome.

EDIT: On 2-handed weapons, I haven't found the definitive list of which are bugged yet, but I have come across several references to the halberd_militia animation being used as a solution to the bug, not as exemplifying it. For example, katank's post in this thread:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=75714

[pevergreen]

We are using tower fix? I would like to have those 7k towers actually work

Time to vote!

[TinCow]

BTW: In terms of keeping up to date with your character's traits and the campaign, the best thing - as Lucjan said - is periodically to download the latest savegame and take a look for yourself. Savegames will be posted whenever someone other than the Chancellor gets into a fight (and at each Diet session), so they should become fairly frequent. We also should have periodic Chancellor reports. I have not specified an interval, but at least every 5 turns, I think. And more often if something fun happens, like we get attacked. We should use the Diet thread to comment on current events in character.

I'll work on a new Library tonight and tomorrow. Unless there are other suggestions, I will organize it as follows:

1st Post - General Bulletin Area - Regularly updated with legislation, manifestos, etc.
2nd Post - List of links to various PBM threads for organizational purposes and to help newcomers find old stuff that has dropped off.
3rd Post - Map Room - world overview map
4th Post - Family tree info
5th & Onwards - Bios

[pevergreen]

Sounds....so...glorious...

[GeneralHankerchief]

Savegame works fine.

Also, I need building queues from the governors (Lucjan, TinCow, Braden and probably dlain), even though many of you will soon be plunked from the cities to do some fighting. Thanks.

[TinCow]

What's the deal with the time scale? Are we doing the default 2 years per turn or are we switching to 2 turns per year to keep the avatar ages consistent?

[flyd]

I've spotted an error in the library. For the characters that have zero kills and zero losses, the kill/loss ratio is listed as being 1. 0/0 is not 1, but is, in fact, an undefined quantity.

[Ituralde]

Note - we are also playing the default 2 years per turn. In character, we should just overlook the fact that our avatars bath in the blood of virgins or something to stop them aging appropriately. So, we'll say the Chancellor rules for 40 years - and the next Diet session (the mid-term) is in 20 years. I am sorry, I know it's not ideal from a role-playing or character immersion point of view. But at least, we have a decent chance of getting to see gunpowder, the Mongols and maybe even the Aztecs.

Actually I would prefer our role-playing to go the other way around and focus on our character aging. I think letting technology advance very fast, while just not paying too much attention is easier, at least for me, than playing some guy who just had his 170th birthday.
For me it would work better this way around, with one Chancellor rule lasting 10 years. I don't think the Diet would give instructions for the next 40 years, that's just too long a timeframe.

What do the others think about this?

[econ21]

I've set the game to display years, not turns, so I think it would be easier to anchor things on that meter, rather than on character age. Most characters will age very slowly - in WotS, very few died of old age.

I know it's clunky - personally, I am trying to avoid talking about years at all. For things like governor build queues, I find it easier to anchor things by turns. For policy discussions in the Diet, I think it is useful to divide time into mid-terms (every 10 turns) and full terms (every 20 turns until we have a large Empire). However, we're controlling medieval nobles through an internet forum - some suspension of disbelief is required.

[pevergreen]

*agrees with econ*

[Ituralde]

I guess it's a matter of personal preference. While I'm inclined towards my approach I'm fine with playing either way. Just wanted to throw that in.

On another note, I just installed the patch and loaded up the savegame to see if everything is working. I did everything like it was mentioned by the patch readme, however in my game the Bishop is just named Peter Scherer, nothing about him being a Warmonger. A sign that I failed in installing the Mod properly?

[TinCow]

I will remove the Born entries from the Bios. At 2 years per turn, that info will only accentuate our vampire-like longevity.

I've spotted an error in the library. For the characters that have zero kills and zero losses, the kill/loss ratio is listed as being 1. 0/0 is not 1, but is, in fact, an undefined quantity.

The error has been corrected. My high school math teachers say thanks.

[OverKnight]

Wow, ok.

I'd be happy to cover for Strappy Horse. I've downloaded the saved game, it does load, and I will look over Innsbruck to come up with a provisional build queue.

Econ, I've installed medifix, I followed the instructions, and the bat file does boot the game, but I'm not sure if it's working. You mentioned the cardinal "Peter the Warmonger" in your game, after loading the save, all I have is "Peter Scherer" with no war-like attributes. Is there anyway I can tell if the medifix mod is working? I downloaded the game from direct2drive, I know people who've gotten it off of Steam and have had problems installing mods, but I haven't heard about any issues with d2d.

I'll look around and see if I can find anything, but I'm not the most tech proficient guy in the world. I had to look up how to make a bat file. *hangs head in shame*

Edit: Ituralde types faster than I do. I was writing this as he posted about the same issue with the Cardinal.

[Ituralde]

If you look at my post, I have the same problem with Peter the Warmonger.
Either we're both not capable of installing the Mod or something else is going on here.

[IvarrWolfsong]

Well "Peter Scherer" isn't as good as "Peter the Warmonger"... but its better than "Peter the Fishmonger" :-)

[pevergreen]

He'll grow to be a warmongerer one day, dont you worry son

(adaptation of Heinz Big Red tomatoes ad)

What happens with the build orders when we run out of money?

[econ21]

Curious about the warmonger - I'll try to investigate tonight.

What happens with the build orders when we run out of money?

Buildings are optional - the Chancellor does not have to build any of them; it's just if he does build something in a settlement you govern, it must be the first item on your queue.

[pevergreen]

Thank you much for that.

[Ituralde]

Glad to have you onboard IvarrWolfsong! With posts like the recent one from the Diet I'm already looking forward to hearing more from you!

[Lucjan]

Well, I seem to have gotten myself into quite an issue regarding my computer.

Desktop, after issueing a series of rather odd error messages on start up over the last few days, refuses to turn on at all, not even going to the windows start up screen. So I'm stuck playing on the laptop until I can figure this out or have it fixed.

This in no way affects my involvement in the game, just keeping everybody up to date with the local weather so to speak.

[econ21]

I've had a look at the issue with the Cardinal. It is strange. He is just Peter Scherer if I load the savegame up in M2TW or Medifixed M2TW. He was also Peter Scherer that when I started a new campaign in M2TW. However, when I started a new campaign in Medifixed M2TW, he was "Peter the Righteous" and had an extra virtue (an extra +3 peity being incidentally not reflected in his piety).

I conjecture that characters may randomly spawn extra traits when you start up a campaign. The warmonger title was probably something he got when I started a new game last night (note: I did absolutely nothing in game, so it must have been spawned on start up), but did not save.

It also seems that Medifix may not be a perfect fix (the extra virtue not being reflected in his total piety).

However, I think we just press on with Medifix and our kinder, gentler Peter.