V&V mechanics, "NoGoingBackLevel"

[Red Harvest]

I am very glad to see CA reps comment on the broken traits that folks have been toiling away at for approximately 2 months (probably longer since there was some work on it prior to 1.2.) This is one of the things that seriously unbalances the game for the player vs. the AI. With the player getting 10 stars in a couple of battles, the AI doesn't seem to have much of a chance on the field.

As a suggestion...it looks like it would helpful to both CA and the community if confirmation of such problems was a bit more timely. Not wanting to shoot the messengers, but folks put an awful lot of work into things like this. CA could leverage this community resource more by confirming specific problems sooner so that investigation could then move into other aspects.

Thanks!

[Old Celt]

Jerome,

Very good to see you posting here. I was wondering if it might be possible to have some members of this forum community do some beta testing of these changes prior to the next release? I'm sure you could get all the volunteers you'd ever need, and by taking such an opportunity, you would be heading off issues that might not be seen until many thousands of hours of gameplay have been logged. Just a thought.

[SigniferOne]

Er I don't want to be an annoyance, but I am not sure whether to classify our current inability to parse descr_skeleton.txt as a bug or just something we haven't figured out how to do yet. So Jerome, since you asked for feedback, if that's broken can you confirm it? Otherwise we keep hoping that some way to get it to work will be found.

[HarunTaiwan]

That's what we want to hear!

[Epistolary Richard]

Sometimes, I get to put a joke or two in as well.

I take it Trigger 2000 was yours then?

[therother]

Thanks for the greenlight, Jerome. I wonder if the .org could follow up on this in an organised way? The first step would be finding someone who would be willing to collate issues, perhaps in a stickied thread. It's rather a big undertaking and would have to be done by someone who is into the detailed mechanics of the game. I would propose therother, based on his very systematic approach in the Ludus magnus.

It is an excellent idea, doubly so now that JeromeGrasdyke has given it the greenlight. Unfortunately I do not currently have the time to undertake such a large project, although thanks for the vote of confidence. The suggestion has been noticed by the Org staff, so hopefully one of them with be able to take this on.

[A.Saturnus]

It is an excellent idea, doubly so now that JeromeGrasdyke has given it the greenlight. Unfortunately I do not currently have the time to undertake such a large project, although thanks for the vote of confidence. The suggestion has been noticed by the Org staff, so hopefully one of them with be able to take this on.

Some fool has been found to work on it...

[Red Harvest]

When that issues list is being compiled, I suggest the charge effect/charge bonus be added as a discussion item. There was a thread about this recently. It is not what I would call a bug, but it is a feature that when investigated leaves most of us scratching our heads and appears to be an area for improvement.. Short of it is that the charge bonus stat works, but doesn't seem to have a significant impact--negligible for "normal" stat levels. Instead charge kills seem to be more controlled by armour level of the charging unit and by base attack. Mass has some impact but again less than the armour level. And the very act of charging itself seems to have a rather large sort of fixed effect.

Another one to add as an odd effect is that units raising their pila can stop a charge cold at times (quite frequently in 1vs1 tests), and then inflict heavy casualties on the chargers when they do release. It seems to be a timing issue, and it is very counterintuitive. When they are preparing to throw one would think they should be quite vulnerable to the shock of a charge. It might be intentional to make up for the difficulty of units being able to release their pila in time, but the fact that they are then causing heavy damage with the pila after taking the charge seems quite wrong/buggy. There could be quite a bit happening that we don't know about with this, the whole volley delay effect might be playing havoc here. It is worthy of scrutiny at least. Not sure if it ever happens for other missile units or when changing formation for any other types...could be a deeper glitch.

[Quietus]

Man, I'd like to volunteer and all but unfortunately, for my very selfish and personal reasons, I don't like seeing or knowing triggers or internal unit characteristics/mechanics and other intimate txt files. (I enjoy playing by instincts and try to preserve the game-ness of it all, hence I avoid those threads and don't participate at all). I still help whenever I can though.

Je'Rome!! Great to see you back (why are you hiding?). If you ever have some time, quickly skim or peruse my RTW Guide and leave a short comment or message. You have a lot of credits there too.

[Wishazu]

this is probably a bit off the topic guys but i was wondering if you CA guys could tell me why Egyptian Desert Cav has a unit size of 80 on large scale when other cav units are only 54? cheers. btw, really looking forward to the expansion :)

[therother]

Okay, the thread for this is open in the Ludus Magna. See here.

Thanks.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Thanks Gerome/CA!


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[Captain Fishpants]

Jerome,

Very good to see you posting here. I was wondering if it might be possible to have some members of this forum community do some beta testing of these changes prior to the next release? I'm sure you could get all the volunteers you'd ever need, and by taking such an opportunity, you would be heading off issues that might not be seen until many thousands of hours of gameplay have been logged. Just a thought.

I can answer this rather than Jerome.

In the past there was a beta test organised within the forum communities and, though very successful, the whole process was ruined by one individual who leaked the beta code onto the net. As you might imagine, that kind of thing stops the process in its tracks.

[Old Celt]

Capt Fishpants,

Thanks for your reply. I fully understand the concern over beta releases and security. I wonder if perhaps you have a trusted relationship with a user at this site, and you might be willing to give that single individual a role in beta testing? I would be very happy to know we have someone as a sort of liaison between the dev and forum going communities. Such a person could help by tuning in to the concerns of the forum members, and watching for the presence of these problems in the beta program. Just a thought.

[econ21]

I wonder if perhaps you have a trusted relationship with a user at this site, and you might be willing to give that single individual a role in beta testing?

I think at least one member of the org was a tester of the 1.2 patch. I don't want to name names, but I recall him/her posting in advance that a range of issues had been fixed and indeed they have been.

[Turin]

Jerome! Jerome!

Finally you're back, me and some animation modders have had a FEVERISHLY BURINING QUESTION for you:

(just one question so I'd really appreciate it if I could get some kind of answer)

For the next Total War release, which I'm guessing is the expansion to RTW can you all please, and I'm really begging now, please make fire by ranks possible? What am I talking about? In all the previous Total War games there have been early gunpowder units. These units fired by ranks, one after another. It was very cool and very pioneering.

But now that is all impossible, and because of it many many great mods are made impossible. Napoleanic Total War 2 is going to be like crap without the rank firing. A good NTW2 can totally beat out that Imperial Glory imposter!

So if you all could get the designers to do us the tiny favor of making the changes so that the volley fire by ranks becomes possible again... we would all really appreciate it!

Thanks Jerome and Captain Fishpants!

[webbird]

Something which deserves the word bug is the behavior of allied factions when granting them the right of military access, they dont want it, asking allied factions to get the right has the same effect and message, NO WAY! Allways the same, whenever i tried to do it.
Was that problem allready mentioned somewhere? CA,please let it be part of your ToDo list.

[player1]

If anybody from CA is still following this thread:

How exactly Posioner ancillary works?

;------------------------------------------
Ancillary poisoner
    Image hooded_figure_ancillary.tga
    ExcludeCultures barbarian
    Description poisoner_desc
    EffectsDescription poisoner_effects_desc
    Effect Subterfuge  2

;------------------------------------------
Trigger trigger_poisoner
    WhenToTest SufferAssassinationAttempt
    Condition Trait Paranoia >= 2
          and Trait DeceiverVirtue >= 1
          and AgentType = assassin

    AcquireAncillary poisoner chance  10

Trigger seems a bit problematic, and I wonder does it work at all.

Also interesting thing to note that one egyptian spy has Poisoner at the start of the campaign.

[Captain Fishpants]

You're right, the poisoner trigger isn't going to work. However, now that you've pointed it out, I can do something about it. Thanks.

[player1]

While you are here the question about GoodConspirator trait and sabotage missions:

;------------------------------------------
Trait GoodConspirator
    Characters spy
    AntiTraits BadConspirator

    Level Plotter
        Description Plotter_desc
        EffectsDescription Plotter_effects_desc
        Threshold  2 

        Effect Subterfuge  1 

    Level Schemer
        Description Schemer_desc
        EffectsDescription Schemer_effects_desc
        Threshold  4 

        Effect Subterfuge  2 

    Level Conspirator
        Description Conspirator_desc
        EffectsDescription Conspirator_effects_desc
        Threshold  8 

        Effect Subterfuge  3

(note: spy only)

;------------------------------------------
Trigger agents14
    WhenToTest SabotageMission

    Condition MissionSucceeded

    Affects GoodConspirator  1  Chance  100 

;------------------------------------------
Trigger agents15
    WhenToTest SabotageMission

    Condition MissionSucceeded

    Affects GoodConspirator  2  Chance  50 

;------------------------------------------
Trigger agents16
    WhenToTest SabotageMission

    Condition MissionSucceeded

    Affects GoodConspirator  3  Chance  25

(sabotage triggers for assassin, also if worked, would lead to big gains due to mutiple triggers)


I guess this is why assassin don't gian experience for sabotage missions.

[player1]

Ok, now one question about GoodSpy trait (this time nothing bug related ).

These are the triggers:

;------------------------------------------
Trigger agents2
    WhenToTest SpyMission

    Condition MissionSuccessLevel = slightly_successful
          and Trait GoodSpy = 1

    Affects GoodSpy  1  Chance  10 

;------------------------------------------
Trigger agents3
    WhenToTest SpyMission

    Condition MissionSuccessLevel = partly_successful

    Affects GoodSpy  1  Chance  80 

;------------------------------------------
Trigger agents4
    WhenToTest SpyMission

    Condition MissionSuccessLevel = highly_successful

    Affects GoodSpy  1  Chance  100 
    Affects GoodConspirator  1  Chance  50

Now, the question is what constitutes success level of spying missions?