Out of character thread XVIII

[Ramses II CP]

I often wonder if there isn't something wrong with the AI in my install of MTWII because I played Andreas' siege and had no trouble with it. How it went, in brief, is behind the tags, so don't check if you want to try it yourself:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Byzantine idiots let me sally out and delay their ram long enough for it to burn, never brought up another, and sent their infantry up the siege tower one at a time to be annihilated between my fanatics and militia spearmen. This after I had sallied and wasted most of my fanatics baiting them in. The crossbowmen had ~300 kills.

Quite honestly with the number of bugs I've seen around Huge Walls and the general incompetence of the siege AI I wonder sometimes if it's really possible for a player to lose such a siege from the inside. You'd have to have a lot of things go terribly wrong and get unlucky. The handicap of having to keep your general alive does complicate KotR battles to some extent, of course.

[Zim]

That's incredibly sad, Ramses. I figured my best chance was linked to AI stupidity.

With the extra reinforcements from Econ I might try a sally to thin them out a bit.

[AussieGiant]

Happy New Year Boys!!!!

Back and felling a little spaced out.

I've just finished the OOC thread which only took me about 40 minutes.

I'm now going to start reading the rest.

I think 1348-1 is the latest save so I will start taking a look at the carnage now.

Sorry for all the cops and robbers stuff but econ and I thought it might be good to role play it.

If the save isn't 1348-1 can some please let me know.

[_Tristan_]

Nope, that's the one...

There was editing done to make things "easier" in Outremer... as things got a little out of hand there...

[AussieGiant]

Thanks Tristan,

Ok then so that is good timing as I think this is the start of our turn.

I'll read the Order thread then we can get to work.

[econ21]

Glad to see you back with us, AussieGiant!

From the Diet thread:

OOC: (I'm ignoring the fact I have the plague IC or at least that it would be stupid to walk into the Diet when you have it. I hope that's ok with everyone as trying to be the chancellor by correspondence would be crazy)

I agree don't try to be Chancellor by correspondence - too much trouble and not enough fun. I am not sure how contagious the Black Death was - I don't think it was airborne (wasn't it carried by fleas?).

The problem is that in game, Arnold does have the plague and there is a non trivial chance he may die (3-5% per turn, according to Factionheir). My inclination would be to role play him rather like Baldwin the leper king of Outremer in the Kingdom of Heaven - he is afflicted and aware of his increased risk of mortality, but able to carry out his duties. Perhaps he could be recovering from the sickness, but left gravely weakened or something?

If Arnold does die of the plague before the next Diet, my instinct would be to let AussieGiant finish his term as Chancellor acting in the capacity of the Imperial Secretariat. If a Chancellor fell in battle, a fresh election might be in order. But the plague seems a special circumstance beyond the player's control.

[FactionHeir]

I've been trying to steer clear of the diet thread since Ruppel caught the plague. I don't think the guards would let someone like that in

[econ21]

I've been trying to steer clear of the diet thread since Ruppel caught the plague. I don't think the guards would let someone like that in

I don't think the French lancers would let him go in either.

[Ramses II CP]

People who got better after contracting the bubonic plague almost certainly never showed the more blatant physical symptoms of the disease, plus in real life you wouldn't have had it for years on end. I think we can consider a person as actually having the plague only after they're dead of it, Duke Arnold's bout notwithstanding.

Fleas probably were the main method of transmission.

AFAIK there's no illness with major outbreaks that behaved the way the plague in MTWII does, so it's just a gameplay device.

[AussieGiant]

ok that's good to know.

He's clearly changed and I was going to use a case of remission to explain his ability to function, which is what I will do now.

[AussieGiant]

Econ,

You mentioned Warmaster Horus was on reserve duty but he should be back as far as I can see.

[econ21]

He posted this a couple of pages back on 31st December:

Sorry for going AWOL for a while, and I'll be gone the next 4 days.

Generally speaking, I would not bank on someone coming back on active duty on a particular date until they post here.

[TinCow]

Its a full gold stack.
I think TC might have created more for the French than the others (the French got 4 full gold and 2 full silver) and moved the 4th gold stack to Ireland I guess to keep them away from us.
Still, France seems to have gotten more gold full stacks than any other faction for some reason.

Three of France's extra armies were added to help them deal with other AI factions. Portugal's presence was really hamstringing them, so I worked to eliminate Portugal. In the end, I had to give France two gold stacks around Bourdaeux to make sure that the final city would fall. Anything less than that and they broke off the siege and ran away. That is where two extra golds came from. I think it was worth it, because the French AI has been significantly more aggressive since eliminating Portugal and securing their rear.

In the middle of the Cataclysm, Scotland declared war on France and I tried to have them eliminated as well by placing a French stack outside their only remaining city (Dublin). Despite being at war and having a massive advantage in men, that stack has never even moved an inch. It's very annoying, as French involvement in Ireland was common in their wars with England in later years and I thought it would be fun to have a French-English war going on with conflict in the British Isles.

I also attempted to have Spain eliminate the Moors and capture Timbuktu, but the army I moved to Timbuktu rebelled and the army I placed to attack the Moors ended up joining the Crusade on Tunis. So, I was only able to eliminate 1 of 3 target AI factions. I figured that having a few powerful enemy AIs would give a greater challenge than several weaker AIs.

[_Tristan_]

OOC: I will abide by the rule governing non-knightly characters fighting battles, using the tried and tested Lothar work around.

Econ, would you care to elaborate on that ?

It might become of use to Hugo soon when facing some French with the Legion der Krone...

[FactionHeir]

Lothar work-around = using less than 6 or was it 7 units in your stack when attacking to allow you to command.
You can field more units but those must be under AI control.

[_Tristan_]

I see... starts scheming...

[econ21]

Lothar work-around = using less than 6 or was it 7 units in your stack when attacking to allow you to command.
You can field more units but those must be under AI control.

The key thing is that, by the Charter, any stack of 7 or more units must be led by a knighted general. But a stack of 6 or less could be led by an unknighted one.

I guess the loophole aspect is having a reinforcing stack as a way around the limit of 6 units. Having any reinforcing stack under AI control is not strictly required by the Charter - it's something TC likes doing to make the battles more fun. But I guess manually controlling the reinforcements makes it even more obvious that a loophole is being exploited.

[FactionHeir]

I was thinking of modifying that precedent to make it that non knight characters can lead a full army in battle if they want, but that they can only control their bodyguard unit and say any very low level infantry. All the other units have to be grouped (into as many groups as you want) and put under in-battle AI control (only works for grouped units)

That would be closer to how a non knight would be able to act in a real battle?

[_Tristan_]

you should have thought about it before letting me get my hands on such a large stack...

[gibsonsg91921]

umm, Tristan, don't forget, in a turn or so Peter is swinging in and taking control of the Legion der Krone.

[FactionHeir]

Not if Hugo can take over the world with his French rebellion beforehand

[_Tristan_]

umm, Tristan, don't forget, in a turn or so Peter is swinging in and taking control of the Legion der Krone.

Just joking... or maybe not

[gibsonsg91921]

well, i should just edit the save really soon then!

[Ferret]

ah so it is a race! What are you gonna do if Dieter teleports down there and kills all the French by using auto_win attacker and then pays an English assasin to kill Hugo and then Peter and then Von Kassel so that he can become Emperor! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

[gibsonsg91921]

hes not the one who becomes prinz if dieter dies, according to the game!

and btw, i never declared dieter to be my prinz. i didn't even know econ gave us the go-ahead.

[Warmaster Horus]

I'm back. Finally. Active duty again.

Happy new year folks!

[_Tristan_]

Taking the save

[_Tristan_]

Moved Hugo and the Legion der Krone

Save uploaded

http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/kotr1348-2.rar

[AussieGiant]

WH, welcome back.

Can you take a look at the orders thread and let me know over there what you want to do with the Bavarian House Army Gerhard?

And to the rest of you...I know you're all joking about console commands and the other stuff...but I have a good memory, and that is why I always put in the disclaimer before the 24 hours set up for you all, if there is tampering then brake out the oil because there will be a

[Warmaster Horus]

I'm thinking of attacking that french stack, but I haven't seen the save yet, so I'll refrain from giving decisive orders now.

I'll take the save first thing tomorrow morning (if it's available), as I'm going to bed in a few minutes.