Out of character thread XVI

[AussieGiant]

I would prefer if that were Über-armies in terms of numbers, technology, composition, and upgrades, but not triple golds. Anything double silver or below but fully late era with all upgrades is fine by me.

I have a question FH...

Why shouldn't TC do that?

In fact why shouldn't it be done instead of dumping money into the AI's coffers.

It is clearly a very direct and impactful way of increasing the difficulty.

[Stuperman]

yeah, but if you have a chivalrous general triple golds do not rout, ever. it turns your battle lines into meat grinders, I'm inclined to agree with FH, 1 or 2 silver, plus upgrades.

[gibsonsg91921]

yeah, for me and ahhnuld with the high dread it'll be bad enough. just imagine how econ or PK would have been with chiv. or someone in the middle like a newly recruited general would have the worst trouble, having no benefits at all.

[AussieGiant]

yeah, but if you have a chivalrous general triple golds do not rout, ever. it turns your battle lines into meat grinders, I'm inclined to agree with FH, 1 or 2 silver, plus upgrades.

Ah ha...now I understand the issue.

I guess Arnold never had those problems...

Interesting to see how understanding the workings of the game in great detail can make or break an idea.

[Zim]

Ok, everyone, I finished the writeup for the Battle of Bruges. If it's confusoiler above each section of text contains the screenshots for it). Sorry about the low quality, I had to turn down quite a few settings to easily fight a siege assault with some 4,000+ soldiers.

Edit: Tincow, I think I forgot to include the battle odds in the set of stats for it I sent you. They were 2:1, in my favor, largely thanks to the English army being almost all dismounted knights.

[TinCow]

Just to keep you all informed, the lack of movement towards 1338 is because of Staufen. econ21 and I have been working on it, but it will likely take at least a few days to resolve. In the event that a full scale battle erupts, I may simply advance the game to 1338 so that the rest of you can keep going. Given the orders that we have received, I do not think I would allow further moves after Staufen anyway. Thus, there will be no penalty to the Staufen players for the game to be advanced before the battle is resolved (though for IC purposes, it will be resolved in 1336).

[GeneralHankerchief]

Here we go.

[FactionHeir]

Considering econ only gave an account but no game rules, links to old threads and set-ups, I am not sure whether there will be an actual battle just yet.

Seems more like a history thread to get the attention of everyone for the moment.

[GeneralHankerchief]

I disagree.

I think a battle is imminent, otherwise he wouldn't have put the year there. The cliffhanger was to leave us all guessing whether Hummel would have caught Ruppel's army while he was away, or whether Ruppel didn't leave and Hummel still sallied out, or whether he missed Ruppel entirely and an assault is imminent, or...

[AussieGiant]

Good god!!

Econ amazing stuff there in the Staufen preparations

I'd say we have another round of civil war about to occur.

I'm fairly impressed with how well it can be handled out of the game and then the results implement back into it.

[gibsonsg91921]

yeah, i have a feeling the diet session wont resolve everything

[Cecil XIX]

Good god!!

Econ amazing stuff there in the Staufen preparations

I'd say we have another round of civil war about to occur.

I'm fairly impressed with how well it can be handled out of the game and then the results implement back into it.

Indeed. I'd love to see how crazy things would be in a full-blown civil war without foreign enemies to distract us. Heck, I'd help with the workload myself to make it happen. (hint hint )

[TinCow]

I think we can officially say that FactionHeir has suffered the worst luck due to die roll of the cataclysm. His odds of being caught out of the camp were 33%, with success on a 3-6 on a d6. I rolled a 2. I guess that makes up for GH's cavalry in Bern.

[AussieGiant]

yeah, i have a feeling the diet session wont resolve everything

Gibbo, the Diet session would have to last about a month of real time and even then I'd say we wont have everything resolved.

This Crisis is a generational thing in my view.

And as I'm a little conceited about this "Most Famous General" moniker...now that Hans bit the bullet who's the General with the biggest "Arnold's" in the Reich now

[AussieGiant]

Indeed. I'd love to see how crazy things would be in a full-blown civil war without foreign enemies to distract us. Heck, I'd help with the workload myself to make it happen. (hint hint )

Cecil...dude...fella...don't go and spoil all the hard work we've put in together out east


edit; that is tough luck there with the dice roll. I was a play with zero luck in those types of games...it nearly scarred me for life when I was younger.

[Cecil XIX]

Cecil...dude...fella...don't go and spoil all the hard work we've put in together out east


edit; that is tough luck there with the dice roll. I was a play with zero luck in those types of games...it nearly scarred me for life when I was younger.

I was actually talking about GM work. But that sounds fun too.

[AussieGiant]

I was actually talking about GM work. But that sounds fun too.

Damn, I just put my foot into it

[gibsonsg91921]

haha nice job AG. u ruined it!

"We made a breakthrough in group!" - Scott Evil

"I had the group liquidated you little @#$%!" - Dr. Evil

[AussieGiant]

haha nice job AG. u ruined it!

"We made a breakthrough in group!" - Scott Evil

"I had the group liquidated you little @#$%!" - Dr. Evil

You know me Gibbo...I'm just here trying to help

[GeneralHankerchief]

I rolled a 2. I guess that makes up for GH's cavalry in Bern.

No it doesn't, since Dietrich's still dead.

[Zim]

So, if Hummel manages to take out Ehrhart's army, does that mean that he'll get a chance to recruit troops before von Salza comes for him?

[Ramses II CP]

Yeah, replays simply don't work consistently, and in my experience the more men on the field the less likely they are to function. I played with them quite a bit when planning out my next AAR and I couldn't get more than 1 in 5 to display a correct result, and almost all of those involved half stack or less forces on both sides.

Man, I'm tempted to have Fritz rebel just to get in on the PvP action. Alas, Fritzy has immense loyalty and his Duke and Prinz at the moment are his brother, so it just doesn't make any sense.

I hate to take sides, but Igno would have 0 trouble winning that battle with his 'real' general. In a custom battle it's going to be harder but I'd almost bet my life that the AI throws away their cavalry. Is there an actual structure on the map for him to use?

(I sooooo want to try that custom mod after the battle is over)

[Privateerkev]

Man, I'm tempted to have Fritz rebel just to get in on the PvP action.

That was the real OOC reason driving Jan's actions from 1324 to 1332. Basically, I just wanted to get in on a cool PvP battle. I found good enough IC reasons to justify it and ran with it.

I'm amused that Jan's army is still around and being used for yet another PvP battle. Go Catholic Crusaders!

[Ignoramus]

That's why Wolfgang rebelled. It's just that I had a convenient IC justification. And it doesn't look like this will be my last PvP battle either.

[Ignoramus]

I can't find the data/ui/units/spain folder anywhere in my MTW2 folder.

[econ21]

I can't find the data/ui/units/spain folder anywhere in my MTW2 folder.

OK, it sounds like you have not unpacked M2TW. The first patch brought an unpacker utility that extracted many files that were previously compressed. Look at the M2TW readme for details of how the unpacker works. Extraction is mainly for modders who want to tinker with the files.

The problem with unpacking the files is that it requires a lot of space on your hard disk (the readme has the precise requirement). If this is an issue for you, you could try creating the folders you need for this mini-mod without running the unpacker. (Just create a ui folder in your data folder, then a units one in the ui folder and a spain one in the units one etc). The mod may work without extracting all the files although a modder like Factionheir might provide a more definitive answer on this. If it does not work, you may have to uninstall some things from your computer to create the space needed for the unpacker. (The more modern games seem to be the things that take up a lot of space.)

If you do have the space required, then run the unpacker and extract all the files. Note that there are two files you must delete after running the unpacker or your battles will always crash. (After I first used the unpacker, I spent some time pointless debugging an earlier mini mod I created when in fact it was fine and the issue was the two files.) The M2TW readme tells you which files those are. Try to run a normal custom battle to check you have run the unpacker properly. Then re-install kotorfix and then install the staufen_mod.

[FactionHeir]

No need to unpack. Too big a hassle. Just create the folders that are not there.
Actually, it would be best if econ reuploaded his mini mod but with the fodler structure already present so Ignoramus only has to copy it into his data (or M2TW) folder, similar to the fix. That way you also won't need the "copy of EDU".

I'd do it, but I won't be back for another 8 hours or so.

[econ21]

No need to unpack. Too big a hassle. Just create the folders that are not there.

Excellent, thanks!

Actually, it would be best if econ reuploaded his mini mod but with the fodler structure already present ... I'd do it, but I won't be back for another 8 hours or so.

Please could you? I don't know how to do that.

So, if Hummel manages to take out Ehrhart's army, does that mean that he'll get a chance to recruit troops before von Salza comes for him?

Good question. I was thinking no, but on reflection I think that is too harsh given that Ehrhart is allowed to raise troops this turn and bring them back to Staufen. However, I don't think there would be a lot of rebels or any high quality rebels around Staufen instantly ready to join Hummel. There were none for Ehrhard and Staufen is the loyalist heartland.

So what I think is that, if he wins the sally, Hummel may use his 11 wealth to instantly buy some troops to field against Ehrhart when he returns (and von Salza too if he shows up). However, he is restricted to:
(a) two Free Company units - either Men at Arms or Longbows (at 4 wealth each)
and
(b) spend the remaining 3 wealth on any units that cost 2 wealth or less. Three units of fanatics are available at 1 wealth each, at a slight (1 in 6) risk of rekindling the war of reformation in Staufen.

Alternatively, if Hummel ends the turn not under siege, he could use his wealth to freely buy whatever Staufen can build. Given the situation, however, I think this option would be too much of a gamble for Ignoramus to want to take. He probably needs the troops this turn.

I hate to take sides, but Igno would have 0 trouble winning that battle with his 'real' general.

Well, I did wonder about modding his unit stats files to reflect the command ability of his real general. However, I figured fighting against the AI was a sufficient way to model that. The loyalists are taking quite a hit having their main army in the hands of the AI. If I put a player in the role of a captain - as I did at Bern - I think it would be harder for Ignoramus to win a PvP battle proper even if I modded the files to reflect his real general's stats.

Is there an actual structure on the map for him to use?

There is, but I don't want to reveal the map just yet.

[FactionHeir]

Please could you? I don't know how to do that.

Well, you'd basically want to create a data folder (empty). Open that folder and create the next folder etc. Basically what you wanted Ignoramus to do.
Then place the right files into the right folders and zip the whole thing.

It may sound strange that I can't do this while having access to a computer, but those permissions on college computers tend to be very limited without admin access.

[econ21]

Thanks again, Factionheir.

Following your instructions, I have repackaged the mod to make installation simpler. All Ignoramus needs to do is extract it to his main M2TW folder and it should create all the needed sub-folders.

http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/staufen2_mod.zip