New Empire: Total War patch - Monday

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Erm, doesn't the separate American campaign start just prior (and quickly progress through) 1798? So what's the problem with the name of the Marines, in that case?

[CmdrWilkens]

Erm, doesn't the separate American campaign start just prior (and quickly progress through) 1798? So what's the problem with the name of the Marines, in that case?

It starts in 1775 and progresses to 1820 but that isn't the only time Marines can appear. The United States can (and does pretty often) emerge as a new faction. When it does then US Marines would be available. As an aside there is a seperate quirk whereby the US uses an awful lot of "Company Line Infantry" which seems paticularly odd as those units are found almost exclusively in India and are suppossed to be representative of the mercenary armies hired by the large East Indian Trade companies. I haven't yet gotten the US to emerge since the patch but I do want to see if they fixed that paticular incongruity.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Got a round to playing some of the new patch, and the cannon changes are excellent. I just tried out a field engagement with an integrated artillery line, and the cannons perform now. Round shot is appropriately deadly now, although it's still generally better to use special rounds on mortars. Cannons are actually useful now though, which is the important part.

EDIT: Gun AI in general seems better. Canister and shrapnel are both performing a bit better, especially WRT fire at will.

[defanatic]

I have noticed a definite improvement when playing the campaign. The AI's turn takes less time, and clicking on Navies doesn't make my game stop for a minute.

Haven't gotten around to playing much, unfortunately.

[CaptHawkeye]

Got a round to playing some of the new patch, and the cannon changes are excellent. I just tried out a field engagement with an integrated artillery line, and the cannons perform now. Round shot is appropriately deadly now, although it's still generally better to use special rounds on mortars. Cannons are actually useful now though, which is the important part.

EDIT: Gun AI in general seems better. Canister and shrapnel are both performing a bit better, especially WRT fire at will.

I had the same experience finally. It was game-breakingly ludicrous for me to watch my 4+ artillery units fail to kill more 3 guys in an enemy line until they closed to melee distance pre patch.

[Darth Wong]

Got a round to playing some of the new patch, and the cannon changes are excellent. I just tried out a field engagement with an integrated artillery line, and the cannons perform now. Round shot is appropriately deadly now, although it's still generally better to use special rounds on mortars. Cannons are actually useful now though, which is the important part.

EDIT: Gun AI in general seems better. Canister and shrapnel are both performing a bit better, especially WRT fire at will.

What about the fucking losers deployed behind cover, who spend most of their time huddling passively, and are lucky to get off one shot every few seconds for an entire goddamned unit? Has that changed?

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

I dunno - I have never had the issues with units deployed behind cover a lot of people seem to have. My guys always do their job, more or less, although I don't bother with cover much anymore because special formations and fire disciplines are just so much more effective.

The thing that's irritating me most right now is the general stupidity of fort battles. Assault units act stupid, and defending units manage to be even dumber. I don't know why I can't just have my men man the battlements in exactly the same manner that my archers did in Rome and Medieval.

[CmdrWilkens]

Is it sad that I've found for seige battles that its just easier to man the frontal assault walls lightly and then deploy everyone else inside the main court aiming at the flag? The AI always bumrushes the freakin flag and lets me cut his units to pieces before beginning to actually try and kill off my defenders.

[Darth Wong]

Is it sad that I've found for seige battles that its just easier to man the frontal assault walls lightly and then deploy everyone else inside the main court aiming at the flag? The AI always bumrushes the freakin flag and lets me cut his units to pieces before beginning to actually try and kill off my defenders.

That seems to be the only viable tactic, especially since the defenders on the walls appear to have some kind of custom-made shit cannons with about a 50 foot range, which can hit the ground right in the middle of an enemy formation and not even kill a single man unless the fucking cannonball hits somebody right in the head.

[Darth Wong]

I dunno - I have never had the issues with units deployed behind cover a lot of people seem to have. My guys always do their job, more or less, although I don't bother with cover much anymore because special formations and fire disciplines are just so much more effective.

I don't bother with cover because it's fucking useless. But it really shouldn't be; why should it be so useless to use cover?

[CaptHawkeye]

What about the fucking losers deployed behind cover, who spend most of their time huddling passively, and are lucky to get off one shot every few seconds for an entire goddamned unit? Has that changed?

Their seems to be some improvement. My Austrian Line Infantry sustained 13 casualties thus far, most of those were to an ill advised redeployment I attempted right in front the British. The British probably didn't kill more than 4-5 men while they were behind the wall.

[Thanas]

Sadly, the AI still is retarded when it comes to properly deploying cover.

I for one am playing on very hard, so the AI should be smart - right? Well, no. I just managed to outmaneuver and defeat a unit of Hessian infantry with milita because the AI still clung to that cover instead of noticing my guys were marching in from behind.

[CaptHawkeye]

Yeah, i'm already experiencing the joy of things they didn't fix. I garrisoned 2 units of conscripts into a building and the enemy artillery didn't fire one shot at it. Even as their units ran up to the building and got sniped to death by the guys in it.

[ray245]

They still haven't fixed the memory leak issue.

[Thanas]

Holy crap.

The diplomacy AI is now so retarded that in three different games, I have been attacked by protectorates of my allies and my own dammed protectorate thrice in a row.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Did they fix some issues just to screw up another?

[Zwinmar]

Finally finished the US campaign, kept crashing going into winter of 1820. The AI needs to work, be smarter, something. Spain continued to declare war on me regularly even after I reduced them to one province (Milan) in Europe.

[CmdrWilkens]

You know for all the claims of "Diplomacy AI now makes Peace more often" I'm not seeing it. In my most recent game (as Prussia) I've had to eliminate France since they wouldn't make peace even after I captured Paris and offered it back to them (I needed the two damn armies on my Eastern Frontier) so I lost control of Warsaw while taking the time to chew through Turin (France had eleiminated Savoy early on).

Later on in the same freakin game I was trying to negotiate a peace with the Ottomans so I could finish off Sweden (who attacked me out of the blue) and they refused to even though I offered Greece, Bulgaria, and eventually even Transylvania.

At the same time playing as Britain if I ever wind up at war with Prussia they just will not negotiate a peace. I've offered them shitloads of cash, technology out the ying yang and freakin Hanover (not all at once or in the same game)...and they won't budge.

[Thanas]

I see an improvement that the AI is willing to deal more often when it is in a weak position, but ignore it when it feels it is in a strong position.

But my own protectorates attacking me? That is retarded to the max.

[ray245]

I see an improvement that the AI is willing to deal more often when it is in a weak position, but ignore it when it feels it is in a strong position.

But my own protectorates attacking me? That is retarded to the max.

Although the AI doesn't seems to be able to judge how much they have to gain through some peace offering. The AI needs to be greedy when it see a very good peace offer even when they are in a strong position.

From what I can see, CA didn't even bother to plan their development process for the AI.

[CmdrWilkens]

I will grant that the combat AI seems a lot stronger, now the General's unit does get involved before the end and there is more use of skrimishing and hit and run cavalry strikes. In turn I've had to be a bit more conservative with my troops so the battles are a bit more challenging. Overall the game AI is always going to be the toughest thing to do but there are just some stupid things that happen sometimes. I could understand protectorates attcking in the sense of "throwing off the shackles of oppression" BUT the only way it should happen is via dialog box where you are informed nation XX is withdrawing from proection and give you the option of declaring this acceptable or unacceptable.

[Artemas]

Do the AI countries make peace with each other now?

Thing that really pissed me off (i never had a problem making peace with countries) before was the the computer nations would continue long, pointless wars where there was no hope engagement, let alone resolution. Mughal vs. Bavaria anyone?

[CaptHawkeye]

No. You can still find the Ottoman Empire and Austria uselessly pissing on eachother with the occasional single unit cavalry raid on a local farm. Occasionally they'll get caught up on a single territory fight and you'll just see that area of the map change hands endlessly. They never try any different strategies. The AI just pulls the exact same shit over and over again.

God knows how the Indian Nations are. I haven't played France or Britian since the game came out. I was just so sickened by the diplomatic AI that it killed the game.

[Artemas]

Fuck that shit then, i'll stick to trolls wading through a sea of peasants. YAY THIRD AGE!