MTW DEADLY SINS

[macsen rufus]

The pause button is essential to sanity -- how else can you find the time to make another cup of coffee whilst there are still 10,000 enemy soldiers left to kill

And this:

trying to click on a moving target

really bugs me. When things get crowded it's almost impossible to 'pick up' the unit you want, or accidentally point it at the wrong target because there's a stray man from another enemy unit in the midst of the one you wish to target....

Most of the other 'sins' I tend to role-play rather than have fixed rules. If my general dies, for instance, the prisoners get it in the neck, but generally I only massacre prisoners if I have more than 1,000 of them. This means the general goes straight to 'butcher' without passing 'scant mercy' in the VnVs after the battle...

As for the pillaging, I generally prefer to leave provinces as intact as I find them, if I intend to keep the province immediately, but there are times when I'm up against a big enemy faction, I might launch a chevauchee into a vulnerbale province which I can't hope to hold - preferably forcing the AI to retreat completely (best chance is to overwhelm their king's army...) then I can trash the province before returning to my secure borders. However, even then it's a role-played thing for when I'm in a tough spot. And I always have the rule that I NEVER trash the economic infrastructure - so farms, merchants and mines are spared the torch.

Setting up the re-inforcement grid is also not a sin in my book - if a big army goes into battle it will often be divided into different columns or battles before meeting the enemy, so it's effectively a way to designate your van, main battle, reserves, and rearguard. Interestingly, do you realise that in a battle where you have allies, you can also order the allies' reinforcement grid when their army is big enough? It can be a useful way to balance out your overall forces, if say you are short of cavalry, you can make your ally put in a first wave that has all of his cavalry deployed etc. I'd been playing for years before I discovered this can be done! (I also use this to keep his missiles out of the way if I fear he'll just shoot into the melee and kill as many of my men as the enemy's...)

I don't disband much, usually just broken mercenary units that have become too small to be of use, or when a general has become so vice-ridden he is no longer fit to serve the king (cracked-brained cowards who are fond of retreating etc...)

And of course that gives away that I sometimes use mercenaries, but only in extremis. In vanilla I might sometimes snaffle up any advance gunpowder units that crop up, as they come in very useful against the Mongols, especially for bridge battles. And talking of bridge battles, someone mentioned that the AI never attacks over the second bridge when available - yet it does somehow manage to defend a second bridge.... why is it blind in attack, but smarter in defence???

And saving between battles... that for me is purely a practical issue - I've tried it, but found more times than not it either causes me a CTD or the save is corrupted when it doesn't CTD, so I only do a quick-save at the end of the turn, and a full save before launching a war at a new enemy.

[LordK9]

I use mercenaries at times too. There are times when you need your army now but it isn't ready yet so the mercenaries are hired then (yep) disbanded. Sometimes towns need large garrisons to keep the peace until things settle down but afterwards these militia units are not needed and, well, that's the whole point of militia - call them up when needed then disband them.

[DEB8]

I use mercenaries at times too. There are times when you need your army now but it isn't ready yet so the mercenaries are hired then (yep) disbanded. Sometimes towns need large garrisons to keep the peace until things settle down but afterwards these militia units are not needed and, well, that's the whole point of militia - call them up when needed then disband them.

Agreed.

[Gilrandir]

so I only do a quick-save at the end of the turn, and a full save before launching a war at a new enemy.

How do you do the quick-save? When I need a save I press the Esc button to get to the menu and save the campaign. But sometimes the game crashes at this transition to the menu, so I lose a couple of years of campaigning just when I try to save to avoid it. Of course, if there was an autosave not long before, the losses are minimal, but you can never know when the AI will decide to autosave.

[macsen rufus]

How do you do the quick-save?

When you're on the campaign map, it's Ctrl-S, and Ctrl-L to load the latest quicksave. I got into to the habit because of the occasional crashes on hitting Esc to do the full save. Apart from the ones between battles, I find quicksaves are less prone to corruption than the full saves - probably because it's a different file type (IIRC .dat instead of .cpg). I find the Esc crash gets more likely with the more battles you've fought that year, but that could just be good ole Murphy, of course....

[Gilrandir]

When you're on the campaign map, it's Ctrl-S, and Ctrl-L to load the latest quicksave.

Thanks for the tip. Does the quick-saved campaign appear in the menu?

[macsen rufus]

Thanks for the tip. Does the quick-saved campaign appear in the menu?

Ooops, not logged in for a few days so missed the question, but yes it does - and usefully at the top of the list, as well.

[Axalon]

In retrospect...

I think this is a ridiculous thread, with a ridiculous premise. Its ridiculous, and their ideas and notions forwarded here are often stupid and ridiculous in equal measure. Especially when it comes to things that are deliberately included in the game, obviously with the intention to be used somehow. Stuff like disbandening or dismounting troops, using mercenaries, upgrades of armor and weapons etc. etc. Its all there as a part of the game, to be used freely as we please - its options basically - who are they to tell the rest of the world what to use and not use out of that. How you play you game is your damn business, not theirs...

Besides, if you honestly want a challenge in MTW - you do not start cooking up some silly "home-rules" or "sins" - you play (or craft) a serious mod. That is what you do if a challenge is desired - you do not keep playing the raw game as that is clearly the easiest version around... And anyone with enough experience of MTW knows that. Looking back, it was a clearly a mistake that I participated here like I did in the first place - I should have just posted this (above) stuff instead and left it at that. As for the infraction I received here in 2008, that was ridiculous too - and you can quote me on that any day....


***

Folks, play 'ol MTW as you please, and above all feel free to post about that as you like on these boards. Don't bother with or conform to these notions of supposed "sins"- its little else then some arbitrary and snobbish drivel. In short, its BS. Besides, if you want to be really cheesy as you play this game at home - then that is still your headache and problem, not mine (or any others).

- A

[LordK9]

Believe me, I did not intend to change how I play nor do I believe anybody did. I did enjoy reading what some others thought was cheesy even if I thought it not so well thought out. I do appreciate your sentiments, though. My own preferences in games is to be able to think, not twitch so I have a tendency to avoid so called "real time" games and tend to games with turns. I wouldn't play TW games at all if there wasn't a pause button but, that's just me. I also don't like to preach so I will say what I do and why but at least try not to write a persuasion speech. Not sure as such if I agree or disagree with you but I did find your comments very interesting.

[Trapped in Samsara]

Its ridiculous, and their ideas and notions forwarded here are often stupid and ridiculous in equal measure.

Hi

I feel that statements such as this discourage participation in this discussion board.

Best regards
V

Sapere aude
Horace

[Gilrandir]

I think this is a ridiculous thread, with a ridiculous premise. Its basically about some few snotty posters that tries to make the rest of the world to conform to what they regard as a supposedly proper way to play MTW.

It looks like one tough poster tries to make the rest of the world to conform to what he regards as a supposedly proper way to play his ridiculous mod. And this is his problem, not others'.

[DEB8]

In retrospect...

I think this is a ridiculous thread, with a ridiculous premise.

Generally speaking, that's fairly accurate. Hence the opportunity was taken ( by yourself and myself latterly ) to debunk most of the views initially expressed. A perfectly reasonable response at that time.

Its basically about some few snotty posters that tries to make the rest of the world to conform to what they regard as a supposedly proper way to play MTW. Its ridiculous, and their ideas and notions forwarded here are often stupid and ridiculous in equal measure. Especially when it comes to things that are deliberately included in the game, obviously with the intention to be used somehow. Stuff like disbandening or dismounting troops, using mercenaries, upgrades of armor and weapons etc. etc. Its all there as a part of the game, to be used freely as we please - its options basically - who are they to tell the rest of the world what to use and not use out of that. How you play you game is your damn business, not theirs...

Again, generally speaking , quite correct...

Besides, if you honestly want a challenge in MTW - you do not start cooking up some silly "home-rules" or "sins" - you play (or craft) a serious mod. That is what you do if a challenge is desired - you do not keep playing the raw game as that is clearly the easiest version around...

Ah. The reason behind the "rant"... Not everyone has either the intelligence, time or inclination to either make a mod from scratch or to adjust a vanilla game to enable playing one.

Looking back, it was a clearly a mistake that I participated here like I did in the first place - I should have just posted this (above) stuff instead and left it at that.

I think the only mistake was posting the latter part of your latest set of comments...

As for the infraction I received here in 2008, that was ridiculous too - handed to me by a ridiculous man, for ridiculous reasons - and you can quote me on that any day....

I have often felt like that too when given an infraction. However, I fail to see why it was brought up again though... Move on !!

Folks, play 'ol MTW as you please, and above all feel free to post about that as you like on these boards. Don't bother with or conform to these notions of supposed "sins"

Quite correct !

[DEB8]

I find the Esc crash gets more likely with the more battles you've fought that year, but that could just be good ole Murphy, of course....

This is just how I find it in Shogun. Not so unlucky in Medieval ( to date )...

[DEB8]

The pause button is essential to sanity -- how else can you find the time to make another cup of coffee whilst there are still 10,000 enemy soldiers left to kill

That reason, along with Toilet breaks and various other non game related interruptions just goes without saying anyway...

And this: really bugs me. When things get crowded it's almost impossible to 'pick up' the unit you want, or accidentally point it at the wrong target because there's a stray man from another enemy unit in the midst of the one you wish to target....

Agreed. It's difficult enough sometimes even with the pause button on !!!

but generally I only massacre prisoners if I have more than 1,000 of them. This means the general goes straight to 'butcher' without passing 'scant mercy' in the VnVs after the battle...

Interesting. I must remember that...

As for the pillaging, I generally prefer to leave provinces as intact as I find them, if I intend to keep the province immediately, but there are times when I'm up against a big enemy faction, I might launch a chevauchee into a vulnerbale province which I can't hope to hold - preferably forcing the AI to retreat completely (best chance is to overwhelm their king's army...) then I can trash the province before returning to my secure borders. However, even then it's a role-played thing for when I'm in a tough spot. And I always have the rule that I NEVER trash the economic infrastructure - so farms, merchants and mines are spared the torch.

Sound play, particularly the last rule....

Interestingly, do you realise that in a battle where you have allies, you can also order the allies' reinforcement grid when their army is big enough?

Well that's news. Ta !!

And talking of bridge battles, someone mentioned that the AI never attacks over the second bridge when available - yet it does somehow manage to defend a second bridge.... why is it blind in attack, but smarter in defence???

Sadly it appears so. To date though, I have noticed it more in Shogun than Medieval...

And saving between battles... that for me is purely a practical issue - I've tried it, but found more times than not it either causes me a CTD or the save is corrupted when it doesn't CTD, so I only do a quick-save at the end of the turn, and a full save before launching a war at a new enemy.

I don't think I have had a problem yet with corrupted saves ( famous last words )... I do get a few crashes between battles though, so the option to save prior to a battle on the "reinforcements" screen is most useful.