Seasons and wonders free lc, rally point 19

[The Outsider]

http://youtu.be/m5g6HpKOwa4

Finally, it's here something positive, and I am happy for it. Though I was expecting some new units for carthage as well. So here it is

[Hooahguy]

Crossing fingers that the next free-LC is an expanded political system!

[Myth]

I gotta say It's looking good!

[Sp4]

FFS! I start a new campaign and they make another patch a day later. It's like they WANT me to restart every 3 days!

-E- It is looking good though :3

[Myth]

That's why I adamantly refused to start a new campaign before the next major content update

[CaptainCrunch]

It's about time CA. The thing that blows my mind is that people were still making excuses for CA as to why seasons couldn't be added to the main campaign

Whatevs, it feels good to hear some promising news about this game for once. I hope this means full integration. I don't have CiG, are the weather effects in that also on the battle map? I'm in the middle of 2 DEI campaigns, I hope it works out that the effects play nicely with preexisting campaigns that already use 4tpy and weather without needing a restart.

*Update is live now (16:15 EET or UTC+2)

[CaptainCrunch]

Patch notes for those that may be having trouble accessing the wiki:

Seasons and Wonders Update

The Seasons and Wonders Update adds a selection of new content and functionality to the main game. It also Includes AI, technical and gameplay improvements and prepares the game for players who purchase the Hannibal at the Gates Campaign Pack DLC which is released on the 27th March.


Carthage Roster update

After the Sicilian Wars of the 4th and 5th centuries BC, the trading empire’s armed forces were left dangerously depleted, and their senate instituted a greater reliance on mercenaries to bolster their elite citizen infantry. To reflect this we’ve expanded Carthage’s mercenary recruitment pool to include three new units: Numidian Noble Cavalry, Mercenary Noble Fighters and Italian Swordsmen, along with Celtic Light Horse and Balearic Slingers. Any foreign factions who find themselves in Carthaginian territory will also be able to hire the two latter units as mercenaries.


Twitch.TV support

ROME II now natively supports Twitch.TV broadcasts, which enables you to send live gameplay streams to your Twitch.TV channel and chat directly with viewers. Check out the options from the main menu. You’ll find a new Broadcasting tab in the options menu which gives you a number of variables to tweak to get your stream looking and sounding right, including bitrate, server selection, framerate, microphone volume and so forth. When you’ve set up a Twitch.TV account and logged in via ROME II’s Broadcast tab, simply hit the new Twitch button in the ROME II UI in-game, and away you go. We’ve posted a full broadcasting guide on the Total War Wiki, which will help you set up a Twitch account, get broadcasting, and talking with viewers and fellow broadcasters. Please note that loading screens will appear black to viewers while broadcasting; this will be addressed in the next update.


Seasons in the Grand Campaign

Seasons are now in the Grand Campaign, and will cycle through 1 season as each year passes. Like Caesar in Gaul, these come with their own visual and gameplay effects, such as winter attrition.


Battlefield Wonders

If you fight a battle in the vicinity of one of the following wonders, you’ll see these epic sights on the battle map. New Battlefield Wonders include:


Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
The Pharos of Alexandria
The Colossus of Rhodes
Bam Citadel
The Oracle of Amun Re


Touchscreen Support

If you’re playing ROME II on a touchscreen device, such as an Ultrabook, we’ve implemented touchscreen input support in partnership with Intel. You can browse the input instructions in the ROME II Encyclopaedia, which explain how to use the camera, navigate maps, and give army and unit orders via fingertip gestures.


Technical and Performance Improvements

Battle

Improved battlefield pathfinding.
Crash fix for an infrequent AI crash which occurred during encampment battles, after a palisade had been destroyed.
Improved the plane of water in battle maps, to reduce harsh edges when it intersected with the terrain.
Fix for large pathfinding spikes in barbarian siege battle, which caused battles to stutter.
Fix for the battlefield terrain sometimes turning black when switching between graphics settings on some configurations.
Fix for a rare crash while units disembarked from ships during combined battle.


Campaign

Fix for a large frame rate drop when placing the mouse over a blockaded port with an agent selected. Agents can now act on blockaded settlements.
The sea on the campaign will no longer clips through the land around some coastal settlements on various screen resolutions.
Fix for a client crash when the host switches from a Multiplayer Campaign lobby to battle lobby whilst client is joining.


Modding

Added support for disabling / enabling out of date mods in the Launcher. This is likely to stop game crashes when an update is released.
Fixed the "show_message_event()" campaign script function. The function takes an event key from the "message_events" table, an integer X co-ordinate and an integer Y co-ordinate as parameters. Custom events can be added by modders, but must have an event key beginning with "custom_event_", followed by a number (e.g. "custom_event_678").


Gameplay Improvements


Battle AI improvements

Improvements to how the Battle AI calculates the priorities for attacking/defending certain areas in cities and minor settlements, to reduce passive AI in some situations.
When the player disembarks defending units, the attacking AI will no longer flip-flop between attacking the city and the newly disembarked units.
Improvements made to the siege battle AI’s ability to re-use previously abandoned siege vehicles when attacking.
Fixed a Barbarian minor port battlefield variant, which previously only allowed the battle AI to access one side of the map that they were deployed in. The battlefield AI will now be able to use all of this map as intended.
Artillery units are now moved to a more useful position during battles, for example closer to the settlements if they are out of range in order to bombard them.
Improvements to Battle AI bracing.
Improved disembarking behaviour for AI Naval units in battle.


General battle improvements

Victory conditions in un-walled settlements and encampment battles are no longer based on victory points. These victory points remain, but now provide a morale bonus to nearby troops holding the position.
Victory conditions in walled settlements are now based on a single victory point only, rather than three in some maps. These victory points remain, but now provide a morale bonus to nearby troops holding the position.
Following the changes made to the victory conditions in minor settlements and encampment battles, the battle AI is free to leave the victory point when defending to engage attackers outside, and will now attempt to do so when beneficial.
The "Weak points" feature in siege battles was deemed counter-intuitive and therefore has been removed. Previously, this feature caused some sections of city wall to be weak which could be exploited by the attacker, even if the city had no damage in the campaign.
In the Zarmizegetusa (Roman city map variant) battle map, captured gates will now be owned by the correct army when taken.
Fixed a problem in the Alexandria siege map, which sometimes lead attacking AI into a dead-end, or made the AI only focus on 1 victory point. Also fixed some collision on some stairs in this map.
Tweaked sidestepping/strafing speeds of units on the battlefield.
Fixed elephant riders incorrectly using firing animations while facing in the wrong directions.
Missile cavalry will now draw melee weapons correctly when charging.
Minor improvements to the terrain heights in the Carthage Historical Battle.
Horse Archers and other fast skirmishers are now more effective in auto-resolved combat.
Improved ladder docking points, and the terrain beneath them in the medium Egyptian port battlefield settlement, to allow ladders to dock more effectively.
Fix for missing secondary weapons for Dacian Noble Horsemen and Persian Cavalry.


General AI improvements

Improved public order management in Campaign modes.
Improved the Campaign AI’s strategic analysis of enemy force distribution.


General Campaign improvements

Improvements to end-turn times in Campaign modes.
The pool of Factional mercenaries in campaign mode is now replenished after a mercenary is recruited.
When an agent attempts to assassinate a barbarian warlord, the warlord will no longer move to another location before the wounded animation begins.
Agent actions that extend building construction time no longer stack. Cancelling and restarting construction no longer circumvents extended construction time.
Fix for flammable rounds not being available in campaign.
Indian Armoured Elephants added as a unit available to generals in campaign for Baktria.
Changed transition cost from land to sea.
Increased cost of moving across sea on campaign, increased navy ship action points to compensate. Land armies moving on sea will now travel a smaller distance each turn.
Moved Cohort Organisation to higher in Roman tech tree.
Adjusted siege techs for most factions so siege towers and battering rams are unlocked earlier.
Changed unlock requirements for tier II Hellenic main barracks to same as for tier II Hellenic light barracks.
Changed raiding stance to reduce GDP in region instead of giving an unhappiness penalty.
New minor industrial chain now available in all campaigns.
Fix for Campaign AI accidentally declaring war by converting neutral agents.


Persistent General's Bodyguards

If a general/admiral is leading a force and is replaced, then his bodyguard unit is retained with him and slowly replenishes (no upkeep costs are paid for this unit though).

If that general/admiral is reappointed to a force then the player has the choice to retain the existing bodyguard for free (including experience and unit upgrades), or to pay to change the bodyguard (to a fresh unit with no experience or unit upgrades).

When a general/admiral dies you must still pay the normal costs to replace them. If there are no free replacements available (for example an admiral dies and all of your possible replacements had land bodyguard units) and you do not have sufficient money for any of the available replacements then you must reappoint an existing general/admiral with a changed bodyguard for a reduced cost, but the size of the bodyguard will also be reduced.

If a general/admiral dies and you have no generals/admirals available to replace him and you do not have sufficient money to hire a new candidate, then you must hire a candidate at a reduced cost, but the bodyguard will also be reduced in size.


Balancing Changes

Scythian Royal Horse Archers now have the Heavy Shot ability.
Gallic Hunter arrows are no longer missing while they are reloading.
Adjusted military generator templates for AI to produce more balanced armies.
Reduced damage, ammo and reload rate of javelin armed missile units.
Reduced AP damage of slingers.
Rebalanced cavalry melee attack and melee defence, reduced horse hit points.
Adjusted pike balancing.
Reduced chariot mass.


Usability Improvements

Battle

Audio bug fixed for units sometimes using "selection" voice over, when they began wavering on the battlefield.
Improved use of battle order response audio for several units.


Campaign

Added XP, bonuses, man count, cost & inactive states to General’s Bodyguard panel to support new General’s Bodyguard design.


Encyclopaedia

Regions on faction pages now click through to interactive map.
Abilities/attributes on unit pages now click through to relevant manual articles.
Touch controls article added to manual.
Garrison unit cards display numbers of units.

[Myth]

We need all the classical 7 wonders - where's the Temple of Artemis in Efes? I'm glad this is live. But I also have Reaper of Souls for Diablo 3 and the new Thief... Life is hard.

[CaptainCrunch]

All I gotta say is; "Persistent General's Bodyguards"

They just went to a "whole, 'nother, level!"

[Seyavash]

I have to say though that the seasons change seems rather pointless to me. Having 1 turn per year with seasons is just silly. Those players who wanted seasons most likely also want at least 2 turns per year. The mods already do a better job of this so I am not sure who this feature will really satisfy.

[easytarget]

Yep, I agree, putting seasons in while leaving 1YTP as is, well, that's just pants on head retarded. And the first person to respond saying mod it, think about what you're saying before you to have a pair of trousers on your head.

Didn't see anything in the list showing they fixed agent spam or seiges, did I miss it?

[Hooahguy]

Is it really that stupid? M2TW had a winter/summer cycle and that was 2 years per turn as I remember. I really cannot understand why this aspect, of all the game's flaws, seems to have people up in arms over. To me at least its a non-issue.

[easytarget]

It's not as big a deal to me now that I have CIG and HaTG to play, both of which have proper turn implementation. The main campaign in the back half is a snooze-fest anyway.

Why it matters, to answer your question, is because seasons affect strategy, of minor but interesting consequence, yet still a factor in immersion. Much more damaging to the point of game breaking to me is the fact that Roman generals and agents are turned into meaningless cannon fodder as they die off so frequently in 1ypt I can't be bothered to learn their names or buff their skills.

None of it really matters to me at this point, I really really like the smaller campaigns they are releasing. And I've got ME2 running SS to keep me occupied, never played it originally, it's magnificent. And I never played R1 using EB, so I'm playing that as well in anticipation of EB2. So, really, it doesn't matter a whit in the scheme of things what CA does to the Grand Campaign to me.

That said, I still consider it hilariously stupid to patch in weather that shows up one season per year. And if you want to test just how stupid that really is, tell someone who doesn't play games that you play one where the designers just made each season a year long. I dare you. Come back here and let us know the reaction. hahah

[Jarmam]

We need all the classical 7 wonders - where's the Temple of Artemis in Efes? I'm glad this is live. But I also have Reaper of Souls for Diablo 3 and the new Thief... Life is hard.

Hehe, Im right there with ya. I still need 3 chapters of Thief (cp5 was awesome), and I never played D3 until the expansion where Im doing a co-op with a friend. But the patch and the DLC both look really good overall. And isn't it wonderful to feel spoiled for choices of good games again?

[Seyavash]

Is it really that stupid? M2TW had a winter/summer cycle and that was 2 years per turn as I remember. I really cannot understand why this aspect, of all the game's flaws, seems to have people up in arms over. To me at least its a non-issue.

To be honest, I found M2TW's turn cycle silly too. I always edit the turns so it is 2 per year. RTW2 feels like a step backward immersionwise in this respect. CA has added some interesting roleplaying elements to generals and agents that with seasons could really feel like a proper campaign but then ages them far too rapidly. For me Napolean TW had a very nice timescale, but obviously that's too much for a game designed to span decades if not centuries. I will probably love CIG when I get around to playing it.

[Sp4]

We need all the classical 7 wonders - where's the Temple of Artemis in Efes? I'm glad this is live. But I also have Reaper of Souls for Diablo 3 and the new Thief... Life is hard.

I really did not like the new Thief. It felt like a boring version of Dishonoured.

Yep, I agree, putting seasons in while leaving 1YTP as is, well, that's just pants on head retarded. And the first person to respond saying mod it, think about what you're saying before you to have a pair of trousers on your head.

Didn't see anything in the list showing they fixed agent spam or seiges, did I miss it?

Fair point is.. you can mod all of it. M2 had multiple seasons over multiple years and no one was throwing a fit then. Personally, I don't understand what is so important about 1657579 turns per year to make the game last longer. The game just becomes retarded if it lasts that long as it has in no way been geared for it and all the mods do is literally make the game last longer, increase the costs of all things and increasing the build time, so you are really not playing a different campaign, you're just playing a tedious, slow mo version of the base game.

[Myth]

I'm an oldschool Thief fan. I played the first TDP demo back on my first PC. That's why I'm trying the new one. Dishonored was inspired by Thief: The Dark Project and Thief 2: The Metal Age

Heck, one of the best fan mission authors created the Boyle Mansion mission as a tribute to Thief 2's Life of the Party.

Play Thief 1 and 2, you will never view stealth games the same way.

[easytarget]

Personally, I don't understand what is so important about 1657579 turns per year to make the game last longer. The game just becomes retarded if it lasts that long as it has in no way been geared for it and all the mods do is literally make the game last longer, increase the costs of all things and increasing the build time, so you are really not playing a different campaign, you're just playing a tedious, slow mo version of the base game.

That's my point. You can't mod things like this to fix them. The game is designed around it. As I said, I don't care, Grand Campaign is a waste of time. But I'd buy the game again today just to play CIG and HaTG.

[ReluctantSamurai]

Is it really that stupid? M2TW had a winter/summer cycle and that was 2 years per turn as I remember. I really cannot understand why this aspect, of all the game's flaws, seems to have people up in arms over. To me at least its a non-issue.

You have to take the way-back machine to STW I, with its four seasons. Here, seasons had a major impact on how you played the game, from battlefield conditions (anyone remember playing peek-and-sneak in a snowstorm?), or waiting for the foulest thunderstorm to assault a river province (minimizing enemy projectile fire), to how you conducted your development. When you only collect your income once every four turns, you have to plan very carefully what to build and when, and just how much army to raise. Poor planning, and several consecutive poor harvests, could find you hitting the "start new campaign" button pretty quick.

So seasons add another dimension to the game like nothing else can, to say nothing of having the time to be proud of how #1 Son is coming along as the next potential Shogun......

[fallen851]

This is a good news. Someday, I may play RTW II again if this trend continues... but it'd have to trend this way for awhile...

Someday.

[CaptainCrunch]

You have to take the way-back machine to STW I, with its four seasons. Here, seasons had a major impact on how you played the game, from battlefield conditions (anyone remember playing peek-and-sneak in a snowstorm?), or waiting for the foulest thunderstorm to assault a river province (minimizing enemy projectile fire), to how you conducted your development. When you only collect your income once every four turns, you have to plan very carefully what to build and when, and just how much army to raise. Poor planning, and several consecutive poor harvests, could find you hitting the "start new campaign" button pretty quick.

So seasons add another dimension to the game like nothing else can, to say nothing of having the time to be proud of how #1 Son is coming along as the next potential Shogun......

God I loved that game, it was straight up magic at the time. I can't hear Togo Igawa's voice without immediately thinking about it.

[ReluctantSamurai]

I can't hear Togo Igawa's voice without immediately thinking about it.

Like this one?.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g5vBdGoBSA

And this should bring back some good memories...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXby75cye0Y

[Myth]

Played some with the new seasons last night. The game feels a lot more polished now. had it launched in this state it would have been as well received as Shogun II.

[BroskiDerpman]

Played some with the new seasons last night. The game feels a lot more polished now. had it launched in this state it would have been as well received as Shogun II.

If they redid the ui to something like the one shown in really early versions then it'd be a decent game by CA standards.

[ReluctantSamurai]

At this point, I don't think anything CA does to the game really matters....

The RTW I Forum gets more traffic than this one does, these days

[BroskiDerpman]

At this point, I don't think anything CA does to the game really matters....

The RTW I Forum gets more traffic than this one does, these days

And supposedly R2 was supposed to give .Org some life; It feels more dead compared to before.

[The Outsider]

True, I don't remember org as this silent ever. The only thing to really look forward to is EB II. If that doesn't enliven the org than I don't know what will.

[Hooahguy]

And supposedly R2 was supposed to give .Org some life; It feels more dead compared to before.

Yeah, the problem is that it had a less than stellar start and even now when its a lot more polished, first impressions count.