Do you ever Replay a battle?

[Agent Miles]

I only recently started using the Replay feature. It’s simple to do. After a battle, click “OK” to save it and give the replay a title that will jar your memory. Then click “View Replays” and you can enjoy a bit of nostalgia. You can view the entire battlefield from the enemy setup to your own. You can really study what you did right (or didn’t do right). A long battle is rather boring, but most of mine were over in less than 30 minutes. The pause works so that you can take your time and focus on where the action is. A lot of things are missed in the heat of battle. If you put the cursor on an enemy unit, you get all the info that you would get for one of your own units. You also get a percentage count on the reload rate of artillery, so micromanagers can actually time it. You can see when the rout started and why. One thing that I noticed was that most of the artillery were over-shooting and that the rounds skipped. Now I target the front row of units, confident that someone is going to catch it. All this helps make an in-depth analysis that is a good learning tool. Give it a try!

[Kaidonni]

Not really...I save each battle, but...never really watched them after. It'll be useful in my AAR for Venice/Hard/GA/Early/XL, though. Haven't taken many screenies, but when I do battle, I'll want to concentrate. I can take the pics after because of the replay feature. So, the feature is still useful to me.

And then there's those epic battles you'd just love to watch to see how it really went. You're sweating blood during battle, but later on, you might want to sit back and relax, and watch what you did for posterity.

[macsen rufus]

I save and watch a few - normally ones where I had a resounding victory I want to gloat over and watch at lesiure, or ones where I really didn't understand why I lost! As Agent Miles said, those extra tool tips come in handy. Normally you don't see the bits about the enemy being frightened by guns, or other factors which affect morale. One I really like is when reinforcements come on the field displaying "Dismayed at destruction of the army"

To help me recall what I've recorded, I've adopted a naming convention for battle replays: MyFaction/TypeOfBattle/EnemyFaction/Battlefield (eg EngDefFrAnjou which would be I played the English defending Anjou from the French - it helps to find the right one once your replay folder gets too full )

Useful tip about watching the artillery missing the target - they do get better with a bit of valour and it's a good idea to target the units in the deepest part of the army so that you plough through more of the enemy units. Another useful tip, if the enemy is just out of range and there are buildings in front of them, you can target the buildings (only works in attacks, not defences, BTW) and when the artillery miss they stand a good chance of hitting the enemy behind the building. It's also the only way to maintain covering fire on an area rather than having to retarget different units when the enemy moves around. That's one thing I really miss in MTW, the ability to bombard an area of ground.

[Odin]

I have saved 1 in all the time I have played. One was I had a full stack of polish retainers I invaded a province with thousands of peasants (this was before I got XL) and it just happened that they were in a valley.... the Retainers came over the ridge and charged down, it was beautiful what a slaughter.

[Jxrc]

After years of playing, I have saved two battles ...

- My first victory against the horde in Khazar (the day I figured a good spear wall and plenty of arbs would do the trick - pretty boring to watch ); and
- The crushing of a late revolt (about 4000 spearmen, peasants, CS, etc) by 15 unit of foot gothic knights and one of foot chivalric knights (9 stars general, natural leader, etc ...)... No challenge at all but those knight look great and are so hard to get ... Lost a few with the initial charge after it was hack and slash all the way .... Did not know that chivalric sergeants could "melt" ....

[Martok]

And then there's those epic battles you'd just love to watch to see how it really went. You're sweating blood during battle, but later on, you might want to sit back and relax, and watch what you did for posterity.

Same here. I like to save those critical battles where I wasn't sure if I was going to win or not, hands sweating the whole time.... I also occasionally save battles for educational purposes (i.e., see what I did right and what I didn't), although not as often.

It is a marvelous feature, and a great tool for us players. It's unfortunate that it's not been included in any Total War title since then.

[Adrian II]

All this helps make an in-depth analysis that is a good learning tool. Give it a try!

Would you believe that in years of playing M:TW I never replayed a single battle? I always thought the replay function merely recorded your own viewing angle during the battle, thus adding little to your insight. How wrong I was. I have replayed some battles after reading your post and it is a great lerning tool indeed.
Thank you, Agent Miles.

[Agent Miles]

You are very welcome!
I have been posting here for more than a year and have never read anything about replays. When I tried one, I was pleasantly surprised. Since you can move the camera around beyond the limits of your units LOS, you can get some great snapshots for AAR’s that would not be available during the battle. I hope that everyone at least gives it a try.

[Kavhan Isbul]

After fighting too many battles just watching can be quite boring, especially since the replay starts with me moving units around in the initial setup (in defensive battles that is). What I really like though is that the replay allows you to see the enemy's morale and fatigue. It helps with future battles, if you know what the enemy's situation is.

[Martok]

After fighting too many battles just watching can be quite boring, especially since the replay starts with me moving units around in the initial setup (in defensive battles that is).

That's why I like to use Ctrl+T to speed things up during the lulls (especially at the beginning when I'm still setting up).

What I really like though is that the replay allows you to see the enemy's morale and fatigue. It helps with future battles, if you know what the enemy's situation is.

I think that's probably what I appreciate the most about replays. Seeing how the ememy's troops are fairing (from the AI's perspective) can be quite enlightening!

[caravel]

That's why I like to use Ctrl+T to speed things up during the lulls (especially at the beginning when I'm still setting up).


I think that's probably what I appreciate the most about replays. Seeing how the ememy's troops are fairing (from the AI's perspective) can be quite enlightening!

I use the speed slider and ctrl+t a lot. I often hold onto the speed slider and give momentary burst of acceleration during uneventful periods, or when deploying. I also use it during fairly predictable battles or when cleaning up routers.

I must admit that I've never used the replay. It's something that doesn't really occur to me at the time, so I forget to save it.