Darth Dark Formations for EB

[mlp071]

This is last updated Darth's formations for RTW, which i converted to EB.It contains several diferent formations for each faction.

You can check pictures of them here :


http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=62465


During testings , which i did with all factions, there was no CTD's.Casse generals or any other chariots didn't cause ctd either.Some of the formations are unortodox so don't get confused pls

From feedbacks so far , and testings, it appears that formations are optimized for HUGE unit settings.Phalanxes on huge have 6 rows ,but on large have 3 .If i change that it will affect units combat ability and create smaler unit formation , which will then lead to whole formation not functioning as it suppose to.Playing on large with same results is still possible though, AI will do same things , but formations will look little weirder.


Please send me feedback here or PM, if you encounter any recurring CTD or weird situation (meaning more then once). There are at least 4 formations per faction, and due to their randomness and time , i have no way to test all.

I am planing to possibly add some more formations in future to this file and do some more tweaking.

Place these files into EB/Data folder, and BACKUP your files first.

Link:


http://rapidshare.com/files/36336749/Darth_AI_8.0.rar

You can also try Thorlof's version which is posted in this forum.He did great job
I would like to thank Darth for alowing me to convert (at least try to) this file.

[Pharnakes]

Briliant, thanks

[marioo!]

Agree with Pharnakes, truly amazing

[Elukka]

This is great! Is it save game compatible? I've already got an older version of the mod.

[mlp071]

This is great! Is it save game compatible? I've already got an older version of the mod.

Yes it is save compatibla as far as i know.

[Narhon]

thanks. This mod does make the battles more challenging

[Captian Cornelius]

Yay! No more one line battle formations.

[mlp071]

thanks. This mod does make the battles more challenging

I guess people likes it so far , since it has been downloaded 120+ times in 2 weeks period since posting...

Please send me feedback , if there is any problems , so i can try to work on that

Thanks

[Pharnakes]

One problem that I have noticed is that renforcments act very stupidly, spreading out all across the map, and then attacking one unit at a time. This problem is most noticeable when the renforcing army is larger than the atacking army, but I'm pretty sure this is an unimprovable rtw bug, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Except for that this has been very useful so far. Thank you.

[mlp071]

One problem that I have noticed is that renforcments act very stupidly, spreading out all across the map, and then attacking one unit at a time. This problem is most noticeable when the renforcing army is larger than the atacking army, but I'm pretty sure this is an unimprovable rtw bug, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Except for that this has been very useful so far. Thank you.

Yeah , what i found out from forums is that unit getting spread out all over battlemap is CA bug from 1.5. They actually officially admited that one

[jerby]

minor thread revive,

I was wondering, will the AI now attack me head on?

Playing Macedon gets rather irritating when my (phalanx-based) opponents decide it's foolish to meet my untis in a line

[jerby]

Okay, still playing Darth, game is still good, and the AI definatly does some "new formations"

this is literally what they did when they attacked me, open field. I captured the screen moments after they sent a unit of slinger straight at my line...from 30 units straight to 7, javelins were flying.

[mlp071]

minor thread revive,

I was wondering, will the AI now attack me head on?

Playing Macedon gets rather irritating when my (phalanx-based) opponents decide it's foolish to meet my untis in a line

Some barbarian formations do have instructions to attack head on, but they will concentrate their troops on one place , while they send 1-2 units on sides to keep you busy there ..

I had reports that players got surounded. And i got surrounded as Makedon against Epeirotes once.

Okay, still playing Darth, game is still good, and the AI definatly does some "new formations"

this is literally what they did when they attacked me, open field. I captured the screen moments after they sent a unit of slinger straight at my line...from 30 units straight to 7, javelins were flying.

It looks to me that they are trying to outflank you on top of the screen.

Are you playing on Huge unit setting or lower ones? Also they look outnumbered ? Thats Romani right ?They are using their Manipular formation , but they don't look like they got enough manpower for it ..And they changing that into crescent shaped formation , while they will try to keep you busy with middle units.



Just trying to get more details to be able to pinpoint

[jerby]

ohh, I see

well, what basically happened was my opponent formed three columns (like you can see)
and I guess they indeed tried to flank me from both sides...but it sorta backfired (very, very badly)

thanks for all the answers!

[mlp071]

ohh, I see

well, what basically happened was my opponent formed three columns (like you can see)
and I guess they indeed tried to flank me from both sides...but it sorta backfired (very, very badly)

thanks for all the answers!

Unfortunatelly, i can't make them win in that condition, hehe ....These formations will make them more manuverable. And they will inflict more casualties then with vanilla formations.

In full strenght and with huge/large setting , they can beat you if they have better quality units and at least same number of units, example African pikes and elite infantry.

For more than that , only way out is playing on Hard for battles. I can assure you that you will get run for your money in that case. AI will broke thru your wings and suround you if you don't react on time and fast

[The Wicked]

Hi guys... Well i have a problem i cannot download the file because the dap cannot find a source to download any help?

[mlp071]

Hi guys... Well i have a problem i cannot download the file because the dap cannot find a source to download any help?

Thast because Rapidshare doesn't support DAP or any download manager as safeguard from so-called "robotic spam sites"

try this one :

http://www.axifile.com/?7053495

if that doesn't work you gonna have to download that manually.

[The Wicked]

Thast because Rapidshare doesn't support DAP or any download manager as safeguard from so-called "robotic spam sites"

try this one :

http://www.axifile.com/?7053495

if that doesn't work you gonna have to download that manually.

thanks

[Reno Melitensis]

I will give it a try. In my Romani campain I am fighting against Koinnon Hellanon, and they are not giving me too much trouble.

[jerby]

Back again, with more questions...


how do I change to units default line-up? With EB all my units were 6 deep and 10 wide (or so, 60 units, medium size) but with Darth everything is 3 deep and incredibly wide.
It's not bad, but it looks ridiculously thin, and breaking through the line is easy...

which lines should I change?

[mlp071]

Back again, with more questions...


how do I change to units default line-up? With EB all my units were 6 deep and 10 wide (or so, 60 units, medium size) but with Darth everything is 3 deep and incredibly wide.
It's not bad, but it looks ridiculously thin, and breaking through the line is easy...

which lines should I change?

If you read first post these formations are designed by Darth for Huge size units. They are playable on Large also, but they look little bit different.Anything lower then that will make them really weird looking.

Problem is that if you make unit formation 6 lines deep on medium , that same formation will be 12+ man deep on Huge.Plus units will be overlapping each other.Thats limitation of the engine

you can try changing some of these lines, but i cannot guaranty that you won't have CTD or that formation will function in supposed way, sorry :

block_formation		line
block_relative_pos	2 0.0 -6.0
inter_unit_spacing	0.2

I am planing to make one for Large/Medium units size , just didn't have time to get around.

[jerby]

ahh..that settles it then...I'll check it out...

stupid me for not backing up ("ahh it's Darth, what could go wrong?") the formation files...

thank you for your help!

[Spoofa]

can u edit the formation that is default for when the enemy sallies? my army is just basically all jumbled together.

[mlp071]

can u edit the formation that is default for when the enemy sallies? my army is just basically all jumbled together.

I will take look into it , i noticed that Darth didn't change those for some reason.Maybe they are not changable without causing CTD.

Did you have that happen more then once? I personally didn't have any problem like that so far.

[Lysander13]

Back again, with more questions...

how do I change to units default line-up? With EB all my units were 6 deep and 10 wide (or so, 60 units, medium size) but with Darth everything is 3 deep and incredibly wide.
It's not bad, but it looks ridiculously thin, and breaking through the line is easy...

which lines should I change?

If by changing the units to default line-up you mean having your units "deploy" in terms of width as they originally did before you installed the Darth Formation File then it is simple. It's simply a case of overriding Darth's
min_unit_width & max_unit_width command to allow EB's EDU settings to dictate how each unit will deploy. All you have to do is in your text editor find the "replace" function. (Control + H for Notepad and Notepad ++ users)

In the "find what" box type:

min_unit_width

In the "replace with" box type:

;min_unit_width

Then select "replace all"

Repeat the same process to override the max_unit_width command.
In the "find what" box type:

max_unit_width

In the "replace with" box type:

;max_unit_width

Then select "replace all". Your units will now deploy using EB's EDU settings while using Darth's AI Formations. Changing the following text....

block_formation		line
block_relative_pos	2 0.0 -6.0
inter_unit_spacing	0.2

Will alter the position of the unit in that block as it's relative to the rest of the formation but will not change it's depth or width.

[jerby]

you guys are hero's!

thanks a million!

[Lysander13]

can u edit the formation that is default for when the enemy sallies? my army is just basically all jumbled together.

Keep in mind when this happens your forces are either laying siege to a city and or are about to lead a wall assault. So since your forces are laying siege to a city by default they will be deployed either in a Wall Assault or Siege Deployment formation. So when the enemy sallies this is the formation they are caught in. There is no "when an enemy sallies" formation. You must re-deploy as the enemy sallies. So if you choose to starve out a city keep in mind on the last turn i believe the enemy always sallies; so if you don't like to fight an enemy who sallies forward, make sure you attack the walls before they come out from behind them.

[Sassem]

Q: Archers

I had to raise a merc army( phanlax skirmish and archers) to fight of a enemy stack when i attacked and made first contact the archers rushed in without firing a single shot


i had had my army under ai control except for my cavalry

is this still a common problem?

everything else went fine the enemy got flanked etc

btw this was my first roman battle with this mod i had 8 units the enemy only 3 but they where elite

sorry for my english

[mlp071]

Q: Archers

I had to raise a merc army( phanlax skirmish and archers) to fight of a enemy stack when i attacked and made first contact the archers rushed in without firing a single shot


i had had my army under ai control except for my cavalry

is this still a common problem?

everything else went fine the enemy got flanked etc

btw this was my first roman battle with this mod i had 8 units the enemy only 3 but they where elite

sorry for my english

Not a common thing(that i know of), it looks to me that AI used them as light infantry, in lack of it.

Ai has a list of preference for each position in formation, if unit that is first on the list is not available then AI go down the list till find one.If there is none from that list, AI will chose on it's own

I would believe thats what happened.

[Quirinus Kuhlmann]

I have one more question about changing the width of the deployed units in darths dark formations: Do I have to replace the "min_unit_width" and "max_unit_width" lines only in the "decr_formations.txt" or in both txt.-files?