MTW-Redux Beta Released!

[daigaku]

@Axalon:
Heir: It was definitely a son, had watched his growing-up from moment of birth announcement. Don´t remember if I had similar experiences in Vanilla, but might be so. Maybe really an engine thing, annoying anyway....
Marriage: Had asked for last daughter of a faction heavily under pressure - hoping to inherit the remaining regions if new and unwed king goes the way of all mortals ;-) ...and, of course, the old king was married already - engine supporting bigamy in year of death?!? ;-)))
Version: Still playing 1003VI, for on my old machinery it´s running better and more stable than 1.1
about my getting-rid-of-unwanted-heirs-battles: Haven`t played many factions in redux, so I can only compare with what I experienced. But if a dismounted 2star princeling, standing in the woods, is attacked by some 20-40 5star enemy general unit and slaughters them till rooting - okay, I admit, I love to lure heavy cavalry into forests to get at them really nicely, but it seems those Royal Knights are really "a big bang for the bucks"...

Meanwhile, except the british islands, from Picardy to Toulouse and all Iberia, as well as Norway and Sweden and the mediterranian islands except Sicily, is mine and being built up, those spanish horse units giving a nice extra "pepper" to my army. Russians, formerly having owned half the world, are facing riots due to bribed-by-me illoyal Generals (yes, I do use heavy cash-flow this way sometimes, having spent about 400.000florins that way ;-)). With only 6 regions producing really decent troops, 3 of them reserved for bow production (a pain in the ass, those 2 and 3 year production cycles!!!), I simply don´t have the masses to conquer some 30 regions from them ...

That´s it for the moment,
wish you to have as much fun as me with the game,
greetings daigaku

btw: Was it really your intention to allow every single region to build every single office building, even cathedral?

[daigaku]

Hi,
year 1100. 1.3 million florins. Remaining factions: Pope (somewhat strong), a few german and french provinces, some russian, saracene and moorish as well. The biggest problem: me preferring all those local-special troops get difficulties retraining, them all being scattered over the map with often only one (completely built-up) province to retrain. I´m not using those feudal/royal stuff except Royal Knights from former heirs and those increadible Feudal Longbows.
The English rooster, for my taste, is somewhat BIG. So many different types of troops to discover and put to test in battles, so many different needs of buildings for optimal performance of some troops. Sure it´s worth the effort, but really time- , money-, and patience-consuming...
Once more, I didn´t stick to my "Vanilla-approach" of calmly taking only the direct surroundings and some provinces for special troops, but went (in need of high influence) conquering the map. Experience: Even a rebellious region like Scotland gets tired of rebellion after some time, so the regaining-rebellious-region-exploit doesn´t work forever. Otherwise, I might have been content with the british islands and maybe Flanders, Couronia and some mediterranian islands for ship production.
Question @Axalon: You know my approach for training men only if all morale/valour buildings are set up from our discussion of the Norse. Do you think it will spoil the game experience if I cut down the building time of some of those badly needed structures? It´s so many I need for my way of gameplay that sometimes I really lose patience ;-))
Question2: Any news about 1004-VI ?
Battle-tired greetings,
daigaku

[Axalon]

Thanks for posting Dai, as ever...

…it seems those Royal Knights are really "a big bang for the bucks"...

Royal knights are serious and powerful units – few can match them in close-combat. The same can easily be said about Norse bodyguards and Byzantine cataphracts… And as ever, they have all weaknesses, as all troops do…

…bow production (a pain in the ass, those 2 and 3 year production cycles!!!

Considering how good those units are (especially under player-management), I think its only fair (and good) that it does take time to get them. Same thing goes for the Cataphract regiment with its unrivaled 4 turns…

I simply don´t have the masses to conquer some 30 regions from them ...

I guess that is part of the problem/dilemma with armies centred on quality/elite-formations they are seldom available in vast numbers. Enough mass/quantity can eventually “drown” quality – strangely enough that is even more possible in Redux then in raw MTW (units having no negative attack-stats in Redux - if memory serves). Building mass is not really a problem, but the circumstances it creates might very well generate some… I guess the real question here is/was how badly do you want those provinces?

Was it really your intention to allow every single region to build every single office building, even cathedral?

Yup, if you want spend the cash on it then that’s your headache, it won’t hurt the game, but restricting such buildings would… The choice is there for those who want to spend the cash it takes on having several cathedrals or whatever – if you are not one of those then just ignore it. As for the AI, building more the one chancellery (or whatever) is generally a good thing, it functions as backup-infrastructure if another was conquered elsewhere etc. etc. Makes powerful and wealthy factions more durable to pressure (external and internal).

The English rooster, for my taste, is somewhat BIG.

Well, the Norse roster is fairly small for Redux-standards and should not function as a reference to evaluate other faction-rosters. One can generally say that most factions have a bigger variety of units available then the Norse. Optional factions have typically less complex unit-rosters, which obviously makes the more easy to handle in general. The Italy/Lombardy’s roster is probably bigger then Englands (Spain about the same) and the HRE have the largest roster of them all. All that stuff is easily checked in solo-battles, its fairly accurate too…

So many different types of troops to discover and put to test in battles, so many different needs of buildings for optimal performance of some troops. Sure it´s worth the effort, but really time- , money-, and patience-consuming...

Well, all that is part of the diversity of Redux… Its part of all things that defines Redux as Redux and not some MTW-clone… In providing that much choice, diversity and possibility, it also brings obvious dilemmas to the player – the “what should I focus on”-question or the “can I wait for such troops at this stage”-question, do I “have time and cash for it?” etc. etc. Personally, I find the complexity in possible circumstances interesting and entertaining as it really does influence the game I am playing, especially so at start up. It does matter what choices I make, as it creates/shapes/influences the circumstances I get as I play the game. Me like… Anyways, had it not been hard somehow to get the advanced and superior troops, then every player would spam such troops ASAP as they really are better then other lower tier troops, and they really do give an edge (as you have proven time and time again). Its all things like that which combined ends up making Redux superior to raw MTW, as the latter can’t keep up or honestly compete with all that, it never could. That circumstance sets Redux apart from raw MTW and makes the experience of the two very different. You know that as much as I do.

Experience: Even a rebellious region like Scotland gets tired of rebellion after some time, so the regaining-rebellious-region-exploit doesn´t work forever.

Can you blame them? You can only be vanquished and destroyed so many times… When that happens you should already have a healthy batch of experienced troops – and in the event that you don’t - A) then you are doing something very wrong, and B) seek out new hunting-grounds for rebel-slaughter…

Do you think it will spoil the game experience if I cut down the building time of some of those badly needed structures? It´s so many I need for my way of gameplay that sometimes I really lose patience ;-))

If you are asking for my opinion…. I think the building-times are very agreeable/sensible as is and so I would argue against a change/reduction of that (for reference, build-times are with little exception much shorter then raw MTW all over). “Development-time” is just as valid as “development-cash” as a factor, or so I believe… If you cut “time”, you should at least try to compensate that with increased “cash”-levels or you certainly will wreck the challenge in these regards, and ultimately damage the game-experience… That’s what I think… Another alternative is that you lower you maxed standards on troops – imagine that…

Any news about 1004-VI ?

See next post… (My advice, get it and install ASAP - because you will get an improved/better game-experience once you do).

- A

[Axalon]

The RXB1004 VI-upgrade patched!

Alright, the links are up... The VI-upgrade for RXB1004 has been patched (due to previous performance issues) and is available now. As to kill confusion and possible screw-ups, I decided to patch the VI-upgrade/"Module B" for RXB1004 directly. Furthermore, I have recalled the previous VI-upgrade(s) for RXB1004 as they are now obsolete. All Gold/VI/v.2.01-users are recommended to download the new VI-upgrade and re-install Redux all over and then you folks are good to go with the improved game. It is possible to just install the new "Module B" on top on previous installs BUT there might possibly be anomalies s a result - a fresh re-install is therefore recommended as to minimize such problems.

Overall, the VI-RXB1004e improves AI-performance and fixes some minor previous and detected bugs/errors/typos. It also fixes the strat-map. It’s labelled “RXB1004e” for distinction in the files whenever relevant. Due to various changes in file-structure, this patched/newer version is not save-game compatible with any previous saves. A new game is also required for it to function. Um, some extra links directly here...

http://www.atomicgamer.com/files/106...x-vi-beta1004e

http://www.gamefront.com/files/23893...-Beta1004e.rar


Feel free to post your experiences with and/or comment on the RXB1004e for VI/v.2.01....

- A

[daigaku]

Hi @Axalon,

I guess that is part of the problem/dilemma with armies centred on quality/elite-formations they are seldom available in vast numbers. ..I guess the real question here is/was how badly do you want those provinces?

You sure remember from our Norse discussion: That was never a problem for me, but is my standard way of playing. I didn´t need nor want those regions, just wanted to weaken the Rus. And it worked the bribing way as good as if I had spent years with battle..

Yup, if you want spend the cash on it then that’s your headache, it won’t hurt the game,

Cash as well as time I happily spend for morale and valor - that´s why I go for those somewhat remote factions, giving me the calmness of being out of the main troubles to build, later breaking forth with small but tremendously suped-up armies, showing everyone the place of their own - in my backyard ;-))

and the HRE have the largest roster of them all

I never went for those potentially great factions, at least not in Vanilla. HRE, Byzantium, I gave them a try and got bored even on expert setting how easy it was to conquer the greatest part of the map in nearly no time - and not blitzing, thus far you know me... REDUX may be different, sure some time I give it a try just to know what you created there, but for my normal gameplay it´s remote factions like Norse and English, or underdogs like Polish...

Anyways, had it not been hard somehow to get the advanced and superior troops, then every player would spam such troops ASAP as they really are better then other lower tier troops, and they really do give an edge (as you have proven time and time again)

Thanks for the kind words, Axalon. One problem/chance I see, especially in Vanilla (REDUX changed that quite a bit): The AI hardly ever takes the "effort" to build and train in such a manner - had it my style of playing I´d sit in the shit, facing enemies really hard to come by. Would be quite a challenge, breaking out of the Norse forests and facing, for example, an army of some completely souped-up HRE superknights with highest armour, weapons, valor and morale... Mymymy, even my beloved Bodyguards would hesitate for a moment - and crash into them with even more enthusiasm, I could imagine ;-))

AND: Thanks for the links for 1004-VI. Downloaded, and give it a try these days.

Greetings and best wishes for you,
daigaku

[Axalon]

Hello again Dai...

Cash as well as time I happily spend for morale and valor - that´s why I go for those somewhat remote factions, giving me the calmness of being out of the main troubles to build, later breaking forth with small but tremendously suped-up armies, showing everyone the place of their own - in my backyard ;-))

That’s all fine and well, as long as you have that kind of luxury… Sometimes you don’t and then you are forced to act and make do with what you got. Spain and HRE are typically good examples of that very circumstance.

REDUX may be different, sure some time I give it a try just to know what you created there, but for my normal gameplay it´s remote factions like Norse and English, or underdogs like Polish...

Obviously, Redux is different as it is clearly much harder, diverse and dynamic then the raw game ever was. Poland on expert/veteran is as tough as it gets, Spain is also typically a hard faction to handle. I think it is very possible to lose with both Spain and Poland in RX-classic on "veteran". You can obviously lose with all factions - depending on the circumstances - but those two strikes me as the most likely out of the 6 regular factions… The Norse and Russia are the toughest among the optional factions...

Would be quite a challenge, breaking out of the Norse forests and facing, for example, an army of some completely souped-up HRE superknights with highest armour, weapons, valor and morale... Mymymy, even my beloved Bodyguards would hesitate for a moment - and crash into them with even more enthusiasm, I could imagine ;-))

The HRE has everything it ever needed to utterly crush any opposition. No matter the enemy. It is a matter of development, time, cash and oppourtunity. It has a unit-roster that can counter essentially everything, no true weakness. The Norse infantry are exceptional and very powerful in close combat but if caught standing in front of Frankish and heavy crossbows-formations - they will get slaughtered. Royal archers can also be extremely deadly to the Norse infantry. Had it been multiplayer - the Norse would likely be almost destroyed even before the battle had actually started. They need woods to survive such units in prolonged encounters… Moorish, Byzantine and Slavic archers are also deadly if allowed to operate freely. The point is every faction have their strengths and weaknesses somehow, the Norse is no exception to that. The fact that you like the Norse and that they seem to suit your playing style - is a different matter altogether.

- A

[Stazi]

Could you explain what was wrong? I've downloaded C version, installed it and the game started as usual. I didn't have time to play so I haven't noticed any bugs.