Mods to install/follow

[Peasant Phill]

Didz,
I've been browsing through the TROM boards on TWC but I only a very extensive list of changes made.
What are the 'features' of this mod and in your opinion which changes are less desirable.

Oh and I believe there is a forum about the Vanilla Extended Mod on the hosted mods here at the Org.

[Didz]

Didz,
I've been browsing through the TROM boards on TWC but I only a very extensive list of changes made.

What are the 'features' of this mod and in your opinion which changes are less desirable.

The goal of this mod is to make ETW more historically accurate, so if your not interested in 18th Century history its probably not for you.

The main area affected are the battles.

I find the troops behave more appropriately, and the uniforms, weapon capabilities and weapon effects are more accurate. For some reason this seems to affect the way the AI plays the game and generally speaking it does a better job than I remember it doing in vanilla. Suicide charges are quite a rare occurence for instance.

In the campaign game TROM limits recruitment of certain units whilst adding additional regional units. So, for example Sweden can only support so many Line Infantry Regiments but if it captures Denmark then it is able to add a number of Danish Volunteer Regiments to its battle line. My Swedish army currently has Danish, Polish, Prussian and Russian volunteer units in its battle line.

Artillery had been given more historically accurate ranges and the trajectory of fire has been flattened to make them more historically accurate. Likewise musketry now has it poper range and effect. Fatigue effects have been increased to reduce the amount of rushing around that both you and the AI can get away with. I find cavalry needs to be rested after every major charge, which is as it should be.

The biggest problem with the TROM_NAVAL_SUB_MOD is that the ships now rapidly run out of sea due to the arbitary limits set by the game, and that gets a bit frustrating as your constantly having to modify your tactic's to avoid the edges of the ocean.

There is nothing in TROM that I would prefer not to be there, in some cases I would have liked it to go even farther than it has, but in most cases I've got round than by downloading another small mod to provide the additional changes.

Generally, I would say that were it not for TROM I would no longer be bothering to play ETW, as the vanilla game is really just a joke.

[resonantblue]

I rather like TROM. Some of the changes that stand out for me:

- musket accuracy/lethality is dependent on range. Long-range shootouts are no longer lethal and can go on for a while. movement speeds have been reduced. feels far more historical to me. in vanilla you can just blast away at maximum range with no regard for actual tactics of the day. during this era, one major facet of disciplined troops was the ability to take a volley of musket fire without shooting their own load. in TROM, it's actually beneficial to do this. in vanilla, it's not.

- naval reload times increased, combat in general is slower but maneuver matters more. in vanilla, there's sometimes no point to maneuvering a ship unless you've lost a lot of guns on one side. in TROM, you can actually get benefit from letting loose a broadside, turning down wind and loosing another broadside.

someone did release a submod that addresses this for those that don't want the more realistic approach and faster naval battles.

- artillery is far more accurate. artillery can now be the biggest killer on the battlefield even with say 2-3 batteries in a stack. proper use of artillery, protecting your own guns - way more important in TROM.

- improved recruitment - the campaign AI builds better armies and thus facilitates better battles.

- some new units

this is not a total conversion, but rather makes vanilla way better.

[Didz]

Yes! with TROM the siting of ones guns is extremely important. If properly placed they can actually win a battle for you, but if badly placed they are just a liability. The main factor is that because they now fire with a correct low trajectory its vital that they are not deployed with rising ground to their front. If they are then most of the shot fired will either bury themselves in the slope or richocet high into the air over the heads of the enemy infantry.

I've actually seen an enemy infantry unit stand for ages under fire without taking a single casualty simply because there was a steep slope just in front of their position which was causing my cannon fire to skip over their heads. As soon as they advanced and marched onto level ground they got shredded.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=277058

[resonantblue]

Absolutely. Positioning guns is crucial and if you're on the attack, it actually pays off big time in TROM to consider the terrain and other factors while you advance. In vanilla, you can just limber up artillery, move entire army together to a new position, unlimber and really you've taken a handful of casualties.

Do that in TROM against an enemy stack with several artillery batteries and your army is going to be mauled. Advancing under cover of terrain, keeping your army spread out to avoid presenting easy targets and leapfrogging your advance (guns seem to be a magnet for enemy guns in the AI target priority order) seems the way to go.

on the attack I've had many cavalry skirmish battles, as I tend to separate the guns from the main troops to avoid too many casualties and we all know how much the AI loves to attack guns with cav while they're limbered up. feels right, or at least way more right than vanilla does.

[Peasant Phill]

Thanks Didz and resonantblue.

It seems that I'll be downloading TROM next (at least after my current really enjoyable UP campaign).

The Naval submod, is that the one where you can't just sail against the wind anymore?

[Didz]

The Naval submod, is that the one where you can't just sail against the wind anymore?

No, as I understand it nobody has managed to work out how the wind direction mechanic's work yet.

So, if you know a mod that does it I suspect the TROM team would be interested.

[Peasant Phill]

There was talk about such a mod on the 'daily update' thread I believe but I can't remember which mod that was. I'll look it up.

Found it, although I also remember something about the AI being zigzagging when trying to go upwind (as it should).

Hmm. I do not see anyone playing Darth's mod complaining about the inability of ships to sail against the wind... Sure, the battles are slower, but I find them to be more tactical (every turn matters...) and, as a result, way more fun...