The Daily Update at the Com

[maestro]

I hear ya - still could have released ittereative patches to fix game-breaking mechanics. I guess I just call into question the wisdom of trying to fix everything in one patch.

I've just project managed a large software implementation and so-called mission critical patches are written, tested and rolled out to Live in a very short period of time. Big updates can wait but anything that's system-breaking (i.e.game-breaking in this context) gets dealt with quickly.

[AussieGiant]

I hear ya - still could have released ittereative patches to fix game-breaking mechanics. I guess I just call into question the wisdom of trying to fix everything in one patch.

I've just project managed a large software implementation and so-called mission critical patches are written, tested and rolled out to Live in a very short period of time. Big updates can wait but anything that's system-breaking (i.e.game-breaking in this context) gets dealt with quickly.

I certainly agree maestro. However, what I assume they have done is made the decision that for 96% of the user community the game is stable. Therefore they are focusing on a substantial patch to address a number of core areas of the game, including the final stability issues.

[Durallan]

I certainly agree maestro. However, what I assume they have done is made the decision that for 96% of the user community the game is stable. Therefore they are focusing on a substantial patch to address a number of core areas of the game, including the final stability issues.

I'm certainly not one of those 96% lol

[Fisherking]

June 16th

Due to popular demand today's update will be more technical in nature.

1. We made fixes to campaign map data reprocessing.

2. SimpleUniString bug fixes, we corrected some string values so they were default constructed.

3. We changed rebel data storage to store data in regions as well as armies for code sourcing purposes.

4. Reduced the prestige bonus for obtaining technology first, as a rebalance.

5. Unit group speed matching changes implemented. Unit group formations match speed more coherently.


For those of you hoping for new unit details, this will follow shortly.

Kind regards,
Kieran

AG, I don't know about % but lots of us just suck up the CTDs and lags, reload if we must and save a lot...

not much use in complaining if you can find a fix.


Edit: as of now this is half the update! There is a new unit if someone would like to port it over!

[antisocialmunky]

I hear ya - still could have released ittereative patches to fix game-breaking mechanics. I guess I just call into question the wisdom of trying to fix everything in one patch.

I've just project managed a large software implementation and so-called mission critical patches are written, tested and rolled out to Live in a very short period of time. Big updates can wait but anything that's system-breaking (i.e.game-breaking in this context) gets dealt with quickly.

They tried that remember with that hotfix that broke the game that needed a hotfix to fix the hotfix? I'm just glad that they are testing right now. I'm willing to wait for an update that won't totally tank everything.

June 16th

Due to popular demand today's update will be more technical in nature.

Well, I wonder who gets paid to check this thread every 5 minutes and how much.

[AussieGiant]

FK, I agree I'm glossing over the stability issues for those that still have them or those that are simply taking it on the chin and not writing. To those who are then I certainly say "well done" in the interim. And I pray to the programming deities that this patch crushes those last remaining issues for everyone.

I find it pretty interesting that we come out here in this thread saying "a little bit more than fluff" would be nice, and we essentially get a direct response. That's fairly good feedback.

[Servius]

Yep, again, I gotta say I am pretty impressed with CA's post-release attention. I finally finished my first game a few nights ago, which is a milestone for me because unavoidable CTDs had sunk every other one I had started since release. I look forward to the days when my biggest ETW concern is random faces. I'm happy that, while there are still balance and bug issues, CA is listening to us and giving us more info on that side of the equation.

[Husar]

So, I wonder, did anyone here, especially those who have not reverse-engineered the code yet, actually understand what the first three changes mean in practical terms?

I certainly know all/most of the terms used but I can't really say what effect exactly these changes will have, at first it seemed to me like that was done intentionally, people wanted technicalities so they got some that they cannot really understand anyway, if so, I really liked the joke.
If everybody else does know what exactly they do, then I guess I'm the clown of this thread now.

[AussieGiant]

So, I wonder, did anyone here, especially those who have not reverse-engineered the code yet, actually understand what the first three changes mean in practical terms?

I certainly know all/most of the terms used but I can't really say what effect exactly these changes will have, at first it seemed to me like that was done intentionally, people wanted technicalities so they got some that they cannot really understand anyway, if so, I really liked the joke.
If everybody else does know what exactly they do, then I guess I'm the clown of this thread now.

I certainly think your correct Husar. They took the piss to a certain extent with the update. Made a point though.

[Wausser]

Second part of the update

June 16th

Hi guys,

For the second part of today's daily update, we introduce another free unit - the Prussian Grenadiers. Wearing a distinctive brass fronted mitre cap, the Prussian Grenadiers are an explosive force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.

[antisocialmunky]

So, I wonder, did anyone here, especially those who have not reverse-engineered the code yet, actually understand what the first three changes mean in practical terms?

I certainly know all/most of the terms used but I can't really say what effect exactly these changes will have, at first it seemed to me like that was done intentionally, people wanted technicalities so they got some that they cannot really understand anyway, if so, I really liked the joke.
If everybody else does know what exactly they do, then I guess I'm the clown of this thread now.

#1 - I dunno.
#2 - String declarations without initialization or something which is pretty minor since it'd probably onle affect displaying text.
#3 - They added some stuff to their extermal data storage structure to add a some new information probably to make the rebels more intellegent.

[Wausser]

June 17th:

Today's update concerns the campaign difficulty levels and current balancing. Looking beyond the changes made to the upcoming patch we're continuing to test different campaign scenarios with various difficulties.
We've increased the likelihood of rebellions on the harder settings now.

The patch has also made it into final testing. This means it's frozen, no more changes made and it now needs final approval, providing we find no issues all will be well.

Kind regards,
Kieran

...

[TB666]

Sorry for the double post but here comes the patch notes

Hi guys,

Update 1.3 will be released for Empire: Total War on 22nd June 2009. Ahead of its release, here are the major features coming to the update:

We’ve worked on implementing the multi-threading in the game for multi-core processors and made many optimisations that will also help increase performance on single core machines.

Players will see huge benefits through increased frame rates particularly in land and naval battles.

14 Free Units have been included in this patch, adding a large amount of diversity to the playable factions and the armies the player will face. These units replace ‘generic’ equivalents giving each faction a unique identity on the battlefield. Here is a description of each free unit available in the update:

Prussian Grenadiers

Wearing a distinctive brass fronted mitre cap, the Prussian Grenadiers are an explosive force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.

Spanish Guardias de infateria

These elite guard infantry are charged with protecting the monarch and are a potent force on the battlefield.

Swedish lifeguard horse

This cavalry regiment forms part of the monarchs’ household guard. Superbly drilled, they act as a shock force on the battlefield.

Holland Horse Guard

Armed with heavy cavalry sabres, these disciplined cavalrymen represent the elite of the army.

Prussian Garde Du Corp

The Prussian Garde Du Corp are a replacement for the Prussian standard Household cavalry. These heavy horse shock troops are best used to break enemy lines and overrun enemy positions. With a strong charge and fearsome attack, these riders make short work of those who would oppose a Prussian monarch.

Prussian Life guard

The Prussian life guards are equipped similarly to line infantrymen. However their uniforms are altogether more splendid, marking them out as a superior force, in arrogance if nothing else. They do a good job as garrison troops and are dedicated to the crown.

Russian Grenadiers

This new Russian unit is great for assaults and their grenades pack a mighty punch!

Spanish Guardias De Corp

The Spanish Guardias De Corp replace household cavalry for Spain. With almost unbreakable morale, on the charge they are almost unstoppable.

Spanish Grenadiers

These are a replacement for the standard Spanish Grenadiers with a distinctive bearskin hat to mark them out as exemplary on the battlefield.

Swedish ‘Lifeguards of foot’

These are a highly trained replacement for the standard Swedish guard. They are often used as a force in a system that defends a monarchy and can be relied upon for utter loyalty and deadly accuracy in the field. Their professionalism is reflected in their fearsome battle reputation.

Holland Guard

The Holland Guards from the United Provinces are superior line infantry units. Carrying smoothbore muskets, they were traditionally chosen to protect the royal family and have an incredibly high morale, often making them the last troops to break in a fight.

Scots

The Scots are a Highland ex-patriate infantry used by the United Provinces, renowned for their deadly charge.

Swiss Infantry

Very disciplined infantry of the United Provinces with quick reload and excellent marksmanship.

Mamelukes

Mamelukes are fearless light horsemen, deadly when deployed against a broken or unsupported enemy.

Additionally the Spanish nation has had a new uniform design to better reflect its historical look.

Audio:

Sound loading has been made asynchronous, so heavy disc access is reduced to a minimum. This makes loading times faster and reduces any instances of ’stuttering’. Unit group sounds have also been improved, for more realistic group movement. The primary sound library (Miles DLL) has been updated to stop occasional clicking. And we’ve added more sound variation for unit deaths and musket fire.

Campaign:

- Several crash bug fixes in saves, movement, agents and logic.

- Various optimisations have been made to AI and path systems to reduce the campaign map turn times.

- When the pirates are destroyed and re-emerge they now maintain a status of at war with all and are unable to enter into diplomatic negotiations.

- Added small ships on domestic trade routes from the trade nodes to home regions moving in the correct direction, i.e. with the flow of trade.

- The AI should now no longer repeatedly sign a diplomatic agreement and then break it the next turn. Treaties are more valuable and adhered to.

- We’ve fixed some border trade agreements allowing greater numbers of bordering factions to properly trade with one another.

- Movement arrows now reflect the range of the selected units, not the whole army/navy.

- AI will no longer counter-offer and ask for more money than the player has available.

- Fixed commerce raiding taking money from blockaded trade routes.

- Fixed navies getting stuck when forced to retreat from ports (tactial retreat).

- Fixed rare inability to attack certain ports.

- Fixed middle mouse button camera drag stopping working occasionally.

- Made emergent factions be at war with the faction they emerged against if that faction is human.

- Fixed various movement extent crashes.

- Changed background income for minor factions.

- Fixed diplomatic relations with emergent factions.

- Tactical withdrawal will now always leave armies on the landmass containing the settlement of a region.

- Changed war score system to make the AI more likely to accept peace.

- Fixed crash when embarking and disembarking armies at ports.

- Fixed trade ships not being correctly registered in trade nodes after splitting forces.

- Fixed government change diplomatic effect.

- Improved commerce raiding display on trade screen.

- Faction specific text is now used in diplomacy.

- Prevent players cancelling the movement of fleeing agents.

Balance changes

Units

- Charge bonus generally increased across the board for all units and melee defence reduced.

- Greater diversification of stats between different unit types designed to emphasise differences and improve balance.

- Redone costs for all units for multiplayer to improve game balance which better reflects the actual battlefield worth of each unit.

- Mob formation added in for Native American, irregular and some skirmisher units.

- Spot distance for light infantry, skirmishers, irregulars, light cavalry and missile cavalry increased allowing them to spot hidden units at longer distances.

- Russian line infantry stats have been boosted to allow them to compete more with other faction’s line infantry.

- Movement speed of all unit types reduced by 10%.

- Ammo for light infantry increased to 20, line to 15.

Land battle morale

- Charge morale bonus reduced from 10 to 4.

- Recent casualties, extended casualties and total casualties morale penalties increased slightly for higher percentages.

- Rear and flank exposed morale penalties increased.

Fatigue

- Fatigue penalty for melee reduced from 18 per tick to 10.

- Running fatigue penalty for heavy and light cavalry reduced from -3/-2 to -2/-1.

Artillery Changes

- Calibration area for cannons and howitzers reduced. Accuracy of non-round shot shot types reduced to compensate.

- Muzzle velocity of round shot for cannons increased to make them fire lower and bounce more, accuracy also increased.

- Lethality of shrapnel pieces reduced to match canister shot, range also reduced to 350.

- Load time for special shot types for howitzers increased slightly, and range reduced to 350.

- Calibration area for mortars increased, accuracy of round shot increased to compensate. Reload time increased slightly.

- Accuracy of 18 lbr horse guard artillery restored to 65.

Hit points of gun trains increased to 50, all guns and caissons to 25.

[Lemur]

Yay.

[Furunculus]

sounds good.

i may start playing again.

[Barkhorn1x]

A nice, beefy list to be sure.

[Quickening]

I thought there was meant to be changes made to the difficulty and the likelyhood of naval invasions?

[Fisherking]

That is a lot of changes!

We will see how it goes...

But today I found an undocumented change they seem to have made at some recent time!

If your home region has multiple ports, when one is blockaded it no longer kills all trade! Most but not all.

I was really amazed and even a little joyful to see that it has been snuck in.

So next time you are playing France or England you can see what I mean.

[FactionHeir]

Still missing a lot of fixes as per my list in addition to following I did not list:

Problem with a port being blockaded by a third faction and you/AI take the AI/your region ->Port remains blockaded as long as the third faction wants it to be, even if they are your ally or neutral.

Artillery likes to fire parting shot even when told to stop.

Artillery rounds fired at buildings (especially by mortarts) can bounce off the roof like mad and fly all over the map.

If attacking a unit with left-click rather than double left-click even when standing next to it will result in the attack and router chasing to be counted as walking but carried out as running, effectively allowing you to chase routers while regenerating fatigue at the same time. i.e. double click is NEVER a good idea anymore, even when right next to the enemy. Even for cahsing routers, single click is a must now.


Changes that are not so great:

Emerging factions only hostile against Human, but not AI

Ammo increased for infantry (even more dumbed down)

Melee defenses reduced across the board: Great, now cavalry becomes even more useless and we can expect to see mobsa cutting down household cavalry even faster? (note mob already only have 1 defense so can't be further reduced)

[Durallan]

mmm patch time cannot come soon enough! Hoorah! Three Cheers for CA, may this patch fix the last of the CTD's! I shall finally play a whole game O.o =)