Unofficial MTW 1.02: Positive Impressions

[Slaists]

After playing for a few hours, here are mine:

1. Many of the trait acquiring issues present in the vanilla version appear to have been fixed.

2. Diplomacy appears to be working even on Hard campaign setting. Power blocks are forming on the campaign map. Nothing like that was seen in the vanilla, except in some players' mods.

3. 6x battle map speed option instead of 3x speed... I like it!

4. Shield bug fixed.

5. 2 handed weapons fixed: but I still have to witness that.

[Dracula(Romanian Vlad Tepes)]

There are many bugs left.

[Durallan]

care to list these many bugs? bugs as in game breaking things, not historical inaccuracies or balancing issues please.

[Quickening]

Man I don't give a toss about any number of temporary tiny bugs. As long as the two-handed bug, the passive AI and the shield bug are fixed then Im a happy man. And Im so thankful that this 1.2 was leaked because now as far as Im concerned CA can take their time on the official release. Med 2 is a joy to play and with 1.2 it gets as close to its potential as its ever been. That potential being the best strategy game ever natch.

[Daveybaby]

care to list these many bugs? bugs as in game breaking things, not historical inaccuracies or balancing issues please

He's trolling pretty much every thread in the forum - ignore him.

[Ser Clegane]

He's trolling pretty much every thread in the forum - ignore him.

At least I guess it becomes more clear now what Caliban was referring to when mentioneing "trolls" (as opposed to a lot of criticism that is brought forward here and that is indeed constructive)

[Slaists]

care to list these many bugs? bugs as in game breaking things, not historical inaccuracies or balancing issues please.

Well, the bugs are listed here:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=82991

I was hoping to see more input on the positive things people have noticed in the unofficial patch.

[Quickening]

Well the diplomacy is definately a highlight for me. It has been vastly improved. Of course on Very Hard the AI are still warlike buggers but I expect nothing less. It's just that the AIs' response to offers make more sense and they seem more diplomatically active altogether.

[HoreTore]

Well, my best impression, was that I couldn't beat a rag-tag(a bunch of milita, some archers and a few good units + 2 generals) full stack of scots with my 10 mailed knights + general stack.

Pre-patch, and I think post shield fix, the scots would have been smacked. This time, only 40 knights(of the original 630) survived...

[frogbeastegg]

I've played a few hours with the patch, and I do find it to be a definite improvement. (NB: I haven't played much of 1.1. My PC started to die when it was released, making the game unplayable. I decided to wait until 1.2 before reinstalling, as the patch was only supposed to be a couple of weeks away by the time I got my new machine). Playing English medium camp map/V hard battles, a slow and leisurely short campaign game to reacquaint myself with M2TW.

Diplomacy: much better. I've had alliances last for 50 turns, and they are still on-going. Only one nation has declared war on me. The AI nations aren't declaring war willy-nilly; wars are rarer and more focused, and more significant when they do occur. Overall I would say nations act in a more logical manner.

Campaign map AI: Seems a little better. I think the AI may be putting together slightly better armies in terms of numbers and unit quality. Don't quote me on that though; it's been a very long time since I last played.

Traits: it's too early to hand in a verdict, so I'll give a few comments only. No more hordes of crap governors, and the religious trait families are appearing with a satisfying frequency. My governors are even getting :gasp: good governor traits!! They only begin to get bad traits if I do something dumb, like forget to raise taxes to very high when a town is happy. There's more variety in attained traits too.

Ancillaries: Mixed bag. On the one hand I'm not getting so many of them now, on the other I am seeing a larger variety of types and they are more suited to the roles my characters are performing. I can now build brothels in my towns without the certain knowledge that I'll be gaining disreputable ladies faster than the spies I want. Hurrah for the lack of pagan magicians!

Agents: I like the spy reforms. They are no longer so uber, yet still good enough to be worthwhile. You have to put in some work training them up now before sending them into settlements and on more complicated missions. This makes good spies more valuable.

Inquisitors: I had a minor problem with some heretics flooding into my French holdings (Normandy, Brittany) from other areas. I did my best but my clergy weren't able to dispose of them all. So the hatted-ones appeared - they burned the heretics and left everyone else in peace, leaving my lands when the job was done. Well, I say everyone; they did burn one of my priests, a right fruitcake of a fellow with 0 piety and loads of orthodoxy reducing traits. I was quite glad they rid me of him, TBH.

Two-handers: my billmen cut some knights into horseburgers. I'm finding them to be very efficient in dealing with cavalry; they key is in using them on already engaged units, not in standing to take a charge with them. I've no objections to that ... so far.

Battlefield AI: Er ... hmm, nothing positive to say here, I'm afraid, so in the spirit of the thread I'll say nothing.

I might actually finish this campaign. If so, it would be the first …

[Monarch]

There are many bugs left.

Small bugs, TBH in single player the major bugs really don't matter much, I really don't see why people care too much about the shield bug, the sp is all about the campaign map as lets face it the battle AI is terrible. MP however they do matter, but this is the sp section so thats not relevant.

[detroitmechworks]

Just got it.

1st impression starting a new campaign. Galloglaich are DANGEROUS now...

[RickooClan]

1. Better diplomacy, the bond between ally are stronger and longer now.

2. Better Strategy AI, better defending and allocating their troops on campaign map.

3. Better VnV system, traits and such make more sense now.

[Slaists]

Spear-units appear to perform much better against cavalry charges after the 1.02 shield bug fix. They appear to perform even better than the pre-patch shield-bug fixed spear units (for example, dumping half of the shield value into armor, half into defense).

[Von Nanega]

Billmen finally carve up cav. Spies die like flies untill trained up. "Gasp" there are really good governor traits in the game. Not every field general has a @#$%^ pagan magician. The 1.02 "unofficial" is,

[gibsonsg91921]

where do i get this leaked patch? and do i have to download 1.1 as well or is it a full patch? im still on 1.0 here

[Von Nanega]

where do i get this leaked patch? and do i have to download 1.1 as well or is it a full patch? im still on 1.0 here

Look around the forum. You will find a link. But with the news that testing is almost done on the Official patch. You might want to wait. No, dont need 1.1. In fact I found that if 1.1 is on the game. 1.2 wont work.

[TinCow]

You can get the unofficial 1.2 patch here. As was said above, though, indications are that the official 1.2 is nearing completion, so if you don't mind waiting a week or two (*crosses fingers*) you might want to just skip it.

[Yun Dog]

You can get the unofficial 1.2 patch here. As was said above, though, indications are that the official 1.2 is nearing completion, so if you don't mind waiting a week or two (*crosses fingers*) you might want to just skip it.

Man I hope so

reading this...I have hopes for this patch

tried to play 1.1 modded the last few nights and on each occassion quit out of shear frustration

mainly the causes of my frustration were:
pathfinding in citys, unit cohesion, chasing routers, cav not working in citys, men milling around ladders, men getting caught up on stuff

I ended up resembling something like the 'Angry German Kid' on utube and I dont speak german
GAH!!!!

[TinCow]

I have been playing a VH/VH Venice campaign with unofficial 1.2 and have been giving the AI factions significant amounts of money via console every once in a while.

I have noticed significant improvements in the campaign map AI and diplomacy. Enemies attack with large stacks at multiple targets at once. The AI always combines stacks to get large and powerful armies whenever possible, resulting in major battles at regular frequencies. The tactical AI seems to be slightly improve, but it still has problems. Even so, the vastly improved campaign AI makes tactical battles harder simply because larger armies are bring brought to bear against me far more frequently. I have yet to see any AI stacks hang around doing nothing. When the AI builds armies, it uses them, including coordinating competent seaborne invasions of islands. Iraklion and Rhodes have been under constant siege for me since my war with Byzantium started, even while they keep attacking Durazzo and Ragusa by land.

The diplomatic side makes far more sense as well. Even on VH difficulty, alliances hold very well and are easy to maintain. When you sign an alliance, you get a significant boost to your relationship with that faction, and I have noticed that the longer the alliance lasts, the more your relationship with them improves. If you attack an enemy faction, not only do you lose relationship with that faction, but you will also lose relationship with that faction's allies. That's a smart improvement and helps increase the emergence of long-term alliance blocs.

I also just experienced one of the most extraordinary events I have seen in either RTW or M2TW. From the beginning of the game, I have been allied to the Papal States. During that time, the Pope had maintained a full stack right next to Rome, but had never left his province for any reason. Recently, Milan attacked me and besieged Florence with a large stack. I had only 4 militia and a general in it and could not have won the battle. However, immediately after the city was besieged, the Pope moved his entire full stack next to Florence, which was attacked by Milan the following turn. I held off the Milanese in the town square long enough for the Papal army to enter the city and defeat the Milanese. After the battle was done and Florence saved, the Papal army returned to Rome and went back to its usual business.

It cannot be a coincidence that the first time a Papal States army left its borders in 50 turns was to stand next to an ally's town right before it was about to be attacked. That's a major AI improvement I had not expected to see.

[sapi]

Things definitely look better from my perspective, though it's hard to know whethre that's a result of the patch or the 25k I'm giving each faction every turn via the King's Purse.

toggle_fow is showing much larger armies moving around, and while it's still almost impossible to get an alliance when you're at war with another faction, it's much easier to keep them.

Diplomatically declaring the end of an alliance also seems to result in a reduced reputation hit, which is good.

I've also seen the papal armies support me as their ally, in this case sitting next to florence, a milanese city, while my forces have it under siege.

[Shahed]

Sounds pretty good. I think I'll install it, finally.

[Tyrac]

Yes. It is well worth installing. Playing as the Russians VH/VH the Byzantines landed an army south of kiev and marched towards it. Before they got their I had my best diplomat find one of their units and try desperatly for peace. I got a cease fire and trade and then an alliance. Then the AI marched its army BACK DOWN TO ITS SHIPS AND SAILED AWAY!

Previously it simply would have bumbled around a bit and then attacked a few turns later. The byzantines have now been staunch allies and trade partners for the last 60 turns.

This is just one example of many.

I have to wonder with all the weeks that have passed now since the cancelled release if they are not making some rather serious other improvements.

[TinCow]

Yes, the AI behaves rationally diplomatically. I have had several ceasefires with factions where I never would have under 1.1. Usually (though not always) a faction will request peace after they take several major losses at my hands. They will then pay for a ceasefire, rebuild their forces, and attack again when ceasefire period is over. Very sensible.

[Richard The Tiger Heart]

Im gonna give it a try. It looks good...

[icek]

what about guild bug? is game still forgetin about experience updates for units in queue after load?

[Bob the Insane]

Yes, the AI behaves rationally diplomatically. I have had several ceasefires with factions where I never would have under 1.1. Usually (though not always) a faction will request peace after they take several major losses at my hands. They will then pay for a ceasefire, rebuild their forces, and attack again when ceasefire period is over. Very sensible.

Example of the above...

Playing as HRE at war with Milan (as is most everyone else due to excommunication and crusade)... I have pushed them out of Italy and they now hold Toulouse and Cordoba (no idea how that happened). A crusade has been called against Cordoba and I am besieging Toulouse. Well up popes the Milanese diplomat with a ceasefire request and no silly demands about getting Milan back or cash or anything....

I naturally refused the backstabbing heretical scum's request but it would have been interesting to see if I could have gotten anything for it...