New Empire: Total War patch - Monday

[Vympel]

Link

Looks promising. I may even start actually playing the damn game!

[Thanas]

Doesn't mention anything about fixing the most annoying and gamebreaking bug of all - the naval CTD bug.

Without that fix, it doesn't really matter.

[ray245]

Link

Looks promising. I may even start actually playing the damn game!

I'm still concerned about the AI's decision making process regarding war and peace. They mentioned they are making peace more frequent, but it seems like they never bothered to write a program that allows the AI to come to a reasonable conclusion on when should it fight to the death and when it shouldn't.

It almost seems like they are looking that the AI issue as a case of more wars/less wars.

[Steel]

Doesn't mention anything about fixing the most annoying and gamebreaking bug of all - the naval CTD bug.

Without that fix, it doesn't really matter.

It makes a nebulous reference to crash bugs in the fixes section, so hopefully that fix is in there.

I didnt get this game when it came out, waiting to see if it was going to be a horrible pile of bugs. I'd be interested if people think its really stable/balanced enough after this to be worth getting.

[CmdrWilkens]

Doesn't mention anything about fixing the most annoying and gamebreaking bug of all - the naval CTD bug.

Without that fix, it doesn't really matter.

Honestly I think its a bug mostly with 1st rate Admirals Flagships. I've begun constructing my late game fleets out of a mix of heavy 1st rates, 3rd rates and razees/5th rates and since I stopped putting an Admiral in charge (I've found I have such superiority that the extra cost of an admiral isn't worth it) I haven't had a single naval CTD.

That said if they fix the damn government change, emergent factions, and trade node bugs I will be freakin happy as can be. Those are the big ones left for me along with the AI's war/peace decision making but I have lesss faith that it will be fixed even if it is on the list of updates. Might also be nice if they finish adding flavor text.

Oh and Thanas did you see this:

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

I just remember you were paticularly peeved at the look of the Spanish so maybe they will have fixed things.

[Darth Wong]

It's not just the CTD. A lot of times, when I select a navy the game pauses for a very long time. Sometimes it CTDs when that happens, other times it eventually starts going again. But really, that's a choice between "unacceptable" and "merely infuriating", which is not a particularly great choice. There is no intelligible reason why I should be staring at a frozen screen after I click on a navy, wondering if it will CTD this time or "merely" freeze for 10 or 20 seconds before letting me regain control.

On the upside, ETW's horrible crash problems made me give up on the game and rediscover some of the fantastic mod work that's been done on M2TW, such as the Third Age total conversion mod which I've been playing lately.

Their last patch was also a bit of a shit. They made a drastic change to the economy which caused existing save games to suddenly spiral into bankruptcy. And since this fucking thing is on Steam, it updates without warning and you don't even initially realize what's happening unless you read all of those patch news updates.

[Phillip Hone]

Given that a lot of mods tend to lag behind patches, does the forced-update aspect of steam make it a lot harder to use mods with ETW?

[Darth Wong]

I would tend to think so. ETW has some nice new modding features, but the fact that it auto-updates means that any mod can suddenly be broken at any time, and the mod authors would have to rush to fix the problem because they can't just do a RTR and tell people to keep using the old patch level for a while.

[Thanas]

Oh and Thanas did you see this:

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

I just remember you were paticularly peeved at the look of the Spanish so maybe they will have fixed things.

If they actually manage to do so, I will be pleased. However, I am betting the dreadful colour scheme will still be there. Frankly, CA has such a shitty track record on unit design that I am very much disinclined to trust a word they say.

Also, the problem is not just confined to first rate flagships. I wish. No, I had second rates crash the game as well.

[Dominus Atheos]

Coincidentally Empire Total War is 50% off this weekend on Steam, so you can pick it up for $24.99 if you want.

[Pablo Sanchez]

Coincidentally Empire Total War is 50% off this weekend on Steam, so you can pick it up for $24.99 if you want.

These occasional weekend deals are the best thing about Steam, really. It's a perfect platform for encouraging impulse buys, but on the other hand it doesn't make you feel stupid because 50% is a big damn discount. I'll probably get ETW this weekend, when for $50 I would have steered clear due to all the noise I've heard on this forum about bugginess.

[Minischoles]

Doesn't mention anything about fixing the most annoying and gamebreaking bug of all - the naval CTD bug.

Without that fix, it doesn't really matter.

Agreed. That CTD bug is incredibly annoying, especially with the new economy, since a good portion of my Navies are simply unclickable without a CTD, and they carry a good portion of my armies as well. I've literally got 6-7 fleets, just sitting there doing nothing but draining my funds. Heaven forbid I get blockaded or my trade routes get raided, since I can't do anything about them.

[Netko]

Coincidentally Empire Total War is 50% off this weekend on Steam, so you can pick it up for $24.99 if you want.

These occasional weekend deals are the best thing about Steam, really. It's a perfect platform for encouraging impulse buys, but on the other hand it doesn't make you feel stupid because 50% is a big damn discount. I'll probably get ETW this weekend, when for $50 I would have steered clear due to all the noise I've heard on this forum about bugginess.

The bad thing about Steam is that it is one of the idiotic digital download services that charge differently by region - that weekend discount in Europe is only down to €25, quite a bit different then 25$. I was actually considering an impulse buy, but no way am I purchasing anything off them until they get worldwide pricing.

[Steel]

Coincidentally Empire Total War is 50% off this weekend on Steam, so you can pick it up for $24.99 if you want.

These occasional weekend deals are the best thing about Steam, really. It's a perfect platform for encouraging impulse buys, but on the other hand it doesn't make you feel stupid because 50% is a big damn discount. I'll probably get ETW this weekend, when for $50 I would have steered clear due to all the noise I've heard on this forum about bugginess.

The bad thing about Steam is that it is one of the idiotic digital download services that charge differently by region - that weekend discount in Europe is only down to €25, quite a bit different then 25$. I was actually considering an impulse buy, but no way am I purchasing anything off them until they get worldwide pricing.

I had decided to not buy anything off steam unless it was significantly cheaper than from the shops (or unavailable anywhere else). When they brought in regional pricing that stopped my buying anything for the last couple of years. The E:TW 50% off sale was a really good deal, and, now that the pound has crapped its pants at £15 was actually the cheapest option in the world, working out to about $24.80 and way less than the 25 euro "deal" (almost full price with the exchange rate here )

[Pablo Sanchez]

The bad thing about Steam is that it is one of the idiotic digital download services that charge differently by region - that weekend discount in Europe is only down to €25, quite a bit different then 25$. I was actually considering an impulse buy, but no way am I purchasing anything off them until they get worldwide pricing.

I agree that it's bullshit, but the distribution set up for most intellectual commodities is atavistic. Publishers are still tied to the complex systems that were the only option until a few years ago, when the only option was to create actual copies of books, music, films, and video games and physically ship them to retailers for sale. Ten years ago individuals realized that these things were just a series of ones and zeros ready to be shot over broadband lines, and the era of electronic intellectual piracy took off pretty much instantly. It's taking a lot longer for the people who actually own the rights to that data to catch up, but I think we're beginning to see that happen. iTunes, Kindle, NetFlix is offering instant downloads for some customers, Steam, etc. My understanding is that the markup on Steam's "foreign" sales is due to distribution structures set up by publishers, where publishers have a division in each country that has the legal right to distribute games there, and these divisions demanded that Steam follow their pricing, in part because to do otherwise would imperil their relationships with local retailers.

So I blame Sega a lot more than I blame Steam. In reality I think Valve would be pleased as hell to charge US prices globally, because they would quickly become the primary retailer of US games abroad by undercutting the shit out of brick-and-mortar stores.

[Thanas]

I've been going over a few of the changes they announced and it looks like they will finally get the colour schemes right.
Link.

It is not perfect and far from 100% accurate, but I feel this is a good enough effort. Finally.

I am now looking forward to this.

[Thanas]

The update is out now.

[Thanas]

First impressions:

- Platoon firing has been fixed. Yes, yes, yes. Finally, your guards can defeat line infantry at a whim. Their first two volleys still does great damage, but in the end your constant rain of firepower will win everytime. I lost about 22 guards against 75 LI losses in a one-on-one.
- The cavalry guards and the spanish grenadiers look great. However, line infantry and guard infantry is still a joke.

[Steel]

First impressions:

- Platoon firing has been fixed. Yes, yes, yes. Finally, your guards can defeat line infantry at a whim. Their first two volleys still does great damage, but in the end your constant rain of firepower will win everytime. I lost about 22 guards against 75 LI losses in a one-on-one.
- The cavalry guards and the spanish grenadiers look great. However, line infantry and guard infantry is still a joke.

I got the game the other day, and while I havent had a crash till now I have noticed the large pauses sometimes with selecting a navy. Has anyone seen an improvement in this or the navy crash bugs?

[Commander 598]

"Empire Total War: Elite Units of the West"

"Additionally, the first downloadable content for Empire: Total War is now available on Steam. The Elite Units of the West DLC features an *additional* 14 new units from all the major Western factions. Featuring all new infantry and cavalry units, equipped with the best weapons and having undergone the most rigorous of training, this DLC is the perfect addition to your Empire's army. Expand your Empire with even more options on the battlefield as you improve your tactics and defeat your enemies." - Update News.

And they still get color schemes wrong...USMC wore green in the era.

[CmdrWilkens]

And they still get color schemes wrong...USMC wore green in the era.

What is funny is that I almost jumped on the expansion just because they were including Marines...and then I saw the preview uniform. Moreover it should be the Continental Marines not the US Marines since the later didn't come into being (though we trace our history back to 1775) until 1798 with the rebirth of the frigate Navy.

[Lonestar]

Well? Has the CTD issue been resolved? Or at least mitigated?

[Thanas]

And they still get color schemes wrong...USMC wore green in the era.

What is funny is that I almost jumped on the expansion just because they were including Marines...and then I saw the preview uniform. Moreover it should be the Continental Marines not the US Marines since the later didn't come into being (though we trace our history back to 1775) until 1798 with the rebirth of the frigate Navy.

But don't you know? Unit colours don't matter.

At least that is what some idiots were screeching at me for daring to critizse it back then when ETW came out.

The spanish colour scheme...redesign my ass. They redesigned two units and simply replaced the yellow for the other types with white. Which now leads to my ships being white-painted. Hooray for singleminded replacement of colours.

That said, the AI is still retarded - the colonies of my allies still declare war on me. Idiocy for the extreme. Also, the AI still refuses to make peace. Furthermore, as Spain I immediately get jumped by nations that have no reason to jump me at all - like Savoy or the Papal states...I haven't noticed any AI improvement so far.

Battle AI is still stupid as well - a few minutes ago native americans took great joy of parading their general in front of my cannons.

Lonestar - for the CTD issue, I cannot really say, because I had to restart my game due to the latest economic twists.

So - noted improvement for me - the Spanish land units now only look 70% retarded, whereas the ship now look 100% idiotic whereas they didn't do so before.

Worth it? Doubtful.

[CmdrWilkens]

And they still get color schemes wrong...USMC wore green in the era.

What is funny is that I almost jumped on the expansion just because they were including Marines...and then I saw the preview uniform. Moreover it should be the Continental Marines not the US Marines since the later didn't come into being (though we trace our history back to 1775) until 1798 with the rebirth of the frigate Navy.

But don't you know? Unit colours don't matter.

At least that is what some idiots were screeching at me for daring to critizse it back then when ETW came out.

I distinguish between not buying a "new replacement units" expansion and the original game. If in the original game Marines were called, as they are, US Marines anad wear blue I would still buy the game...if the only thing I am buying is the units (and that is the case with the DLC) then they should fucking be right.

In other words i get the complaint about uniforms I really do but for the game as a whole I don't see it being a deal breaker. For DLC which only features units (no scenarios or other new toys) then unit realism is a dealbreaker.

[ray245]

Sadly, there has yet to be any mods that make major improvement to the game. For one, even changing the amount of provinces and new factions in the game is extremely hard without CA releasing their modding tools.

Moreover, all the existing mods are simply minor add-ons that needs to be fixed everytime CA updates the game with a new patch.

With no major modding teams that seeks to do a major conversion mod, and no assurance that the game bugs and bad AI can be fixed in a reasonable amount of time, there seems to be little reason to play ETW for a long time.