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Darth Servo wrote:

Darth Wong wrote:the Roman era just "feels" more epic by its very nature. You're Caesar, for Bob's sake. And the different factions have very different styles of warfare, which makes it more interesting from a tactical standpoint.

The RTW soundtrack is also far superior IMHO. What can I say, I'm a sucker for the little extras that go into a game to make it a sensory pleasing experience.

I'm pretty sure that because of the show using the game that I had no love for the soundtrack. By the time the game was released the music had worn thin and it just didn't compare to the previous two games soundtracks.

I suppose I was expecting something more Gladiator-esque but all I got was more military sounding drum beats with no Mediterranean flare whatsoever. Also I was dually disappointed that all factions shared the same music. I felt MTW2 was a step in the right direction sound wise.

As for the epic feel I think any Roman setting benefits from the fact that one man changed an ancient superpower into his own plaything. The Medieval period had many more players and very few ever succeeded in getting such a vast territory under their control. The Mongols sure, but they were a blip on the radar compared to the Roman Empire and frankly weren't much of concern to the far West powers.

And yeah, you had the Holy Roman Empire and the Hundred Years war...but can anybody honestly think of a single figure that stood out amongst the rest? I guess you could say the Medieval period makes up in variety what it lacks in epic feel.

Mega Ghetto Edit:

So I heard the Aztecs were nerfed but they raped my Late HRE troops (which had equal upgrades in armor and valour). Wtf?

RazorOutlaw wrote:Mega Ghetto Edit:

So I heard the Aztecs were nerfed but they raped my Late HRE troops (which had equal upgrades in armor and valour). Wtf?

They're much weaker than they were, but they're still unrealistically overpowered in melee combat. Their weaknesses are missile troops (their archers are too weak to shoot through good armour) and cavalry (they have none, so they cannot respond to a cavalry flanking maneuver).

An English army with longbowmen and mounted chivalric knights will utterly ass-rape an Aztec army. Just remember that their infantry is quite good in melee, and that (for some reason) the jaguar warriors, despite being classified as light infantry, have exactly the same specs as the Aztec heavy infantry (this might be a bug), and they have larger unit sizes. This makes them among the toughest troops in the entire game in melee combat, so practice your Alexandrian combat tactics: hammer and anvil. Pepper them with longbowmen at range and then let them engage your front-line of knights or armoured swordsmen so you can flank and smash with heavy cavalry.

It's even easier with musketeers, although you don't get those till quite late in the game. You can take a line of musketeers, put them on skirmish mode, and just let them slaughter an Aztec army. Since they have no cavalry to run down your musketeers, your musketeers can just keep running away and shooting until the Aztecs are wiped out.

I have yet to get the new world trigger. Has anyone figured out how to get it available at the Start or what triggers it?

Wanderer wrote:I have yet to get the new world trigger. Has anyone figured out how to get it available at the Start or what triggers it?

All you can do is keep playing until you get that "The World is Round" message.

Darth Wong wrote: All you can do is keep playing until you get that "The World is Round" message.

Okay.

By the Way has anyone figured out what program plays the FMVs?

I'd reinstall MTW now the 1.2 patch is out, but I'd really love to find some way to unlock all gunpowder units for all factions.

I find it retarded I can't get some cannon types and musketeers playing as, say, Poland or Venice. What is so French about muskets, anyway? Why can Poland get arquebusiers but not musketeers? It's just a matter of purchasing the right guns, for fuck's sake. The training regimen should be exactly the same for both units...

PeZook wrote:I'd reinstall MTW now the 1.2 patch is out, but I'd really love to find some way to unlock all gunpowder units for all factions.

I find it retarded I can't get some cannon types and musketeers playing as, say, Poland or Venice. What is so French about muskets, anyway? Why can Poland get arquebusiers but not musketeers? It's just a matter of purchasing the right guns, for fuck's sake. The training regimen should be exactly the same for both units...

If you think that's bad, consider this: only Spain and Portugal get Conquistadores in the New World. No one else gets them. Worse yet, the conquistadores are both cheap and highly effective, available as both heavy cavalry and heavy infantry. And you can train them in any large town or city in the New World, with no special structures required.

Wanderer wrote:By the Way has anyone figured out what program plays the FMVs?

The Bink Video Player is what you want.

Darth Wong wrote:

PeZook wrote:I'd reinstall MTW now the 1.2 patch is out, but I'd really love to find some way to unlock all gunpowder units for all factions.

I find it retarded I can't get some cannon types and musketeers playing as, say, Poland or Venice. What is so French about muskets, anyway? Why can Poland get arquebusiers but not musketeers? It's just a matter of purchasing the right guns, for fuck's sake. The training regimen should be exactly the same for both units...

If you think that's bad, consider this: only Spain and Portugal get Conquistadores in the New World. No one else gets them. Worse yet, the conquistadores are both cheap and highly effective, available as both heavy cavalry and heavy infantry. And you can train them in any large town or city in the New World, with no special structures required.

I'm guessing that they wanted Portugal and Spain to have an advantage in the new world. I never really see Spain and Portugal do well in my games, best I saw was Portugal go out and conquer France. I haven't reached the new world yet in any of my games but that was because I was playing 1 turn = 1 year which a mod (I think ultimate ai) changed to and I thought it was default. Does the computer try to go into the new world?

Just got the game and downloaded the patch. How do you unpack the data files?

ArmorPierce wrote: I'm guessing that they wanted Portugal and Spain to have an advantage in the new world. I never really see Spain and Portugal do well in my games, best I saw was Portugal go out and conquer France. I haven't reached the new world yet in any of my games but that was because I was playing 1 turn = 1 year which a mod (I think ultimate ai) changed to and I thought it was default. Does the computer try to go into the new world?

Don't get me started on my canned M2:TW rant re: the design choices made in the late game to hamstring certain factions.

I mean, I have no specific problem with conquering all Europe with the antiquated armies of Constantinople while I'm pulling in tens of thousands of florins per turn, every turn, with full building queues for all my cities and forts, nevermind redundant armies just standing around waiting for the Mongols and Timurids to expend themselves against my impregnable fortresses so they can shoot them to pieces with arrow fire- but, come on- with an Empire that spans from Baghdad to the English channel (I had just invaded England when I temporarily moved on to other games) and that much money, my troops should be the finest in the entire world, with the very latest in equipment and training.

But nooooo - no arquebus or musket for me ... never mind culverins or cannon ...

I really need to go back and keep playing- fight the Timurids, conquer England, wait for the New World ...

Hah! Instead of working, I've been searching for a mod giving gunpowder units to more people, and what have I found? Jackpot!

Linka linka

I won't be able to test it today ; But God, I hope it delivers.

Jesus Ball-licking Christ. I noticed that there are almost no Catholic factions left, but I hadn't really processed the significance of this. I'm playing as Spain and I've conquered everything west of Greece in the North, and everything west of Egypt to the South. I'm being attacked by a few Timurid full-stack armies, so I open up the console and hit "toggle_fow". Virtually the entire map from Greece onwards is black. Timurid black. There are full-stack Timurid armies everywhere. Other factions like the Mongols and Byzantine Empire have been reduced to a single settlement. The fact that those factions continued to exist led me to erroneously assume that there was still some struggle for power in the east. Not so; this game is shaping up to be a huge clash between the western half of the map and the eastern half of the map, each controlled by a single superpower.

To avoid just that sort of nasty surprise, I had to go through the micro-management pain of moving spies and diplomats far from my borders (the distance from my borders got progressively less throughout the game hehe) and just continually spy and trade for maps. Pain in the ass, but I did know what was going on.

I just wish there was an idle agent key.

Vympel wrote: I just wish there was an idle agent key.

I can't tell you how many times I got a death notice for a diplomat or spy I forgot completely about out on the hinterlands somewhere decades later. Annoying to say the least. The amount of agents you have active out there when your empire say stretches from the Pyranese to the Asia Minor is not trivial.

I've started moving all my agents out of the cities except one spy for anti-spying work. That way, at least I know what agent resources I have at hand when I see something I need to react to during enemy turns (which also bog down to insane times at the later stages but are essential for situational awareness in those times).

D.Turtle wrote:

Wanderer wrote:By the Way has anyone figured out what program plays the FMVs?

The Bink Video Player is what you want.

Thanks, now I am moving against the Papacy and Sicily, and starting to switch to a Gunpowder Army backed by Christian Guards and Urban Militia.

Er.. Question: You mean there's more than one bunch of Mongols raiding?

I thought we only have the Mongols.. as in.. those from China?

The first mongols represent the golden horde. The second set represent the Persian Mongols.

ArmorPierce wrote:The first mongols represent the golden horde. The second set represent the Persian Mongols.

Timurid Cannon Armed Elephants

Elephants can support ballistas and catapults, but cannons were not supportable upon elephants as the force of the blast often killed the elephant.

Wanderer wrote:

ArmorPierce wrote:The first mongols represent the golden horde. The second set represent the Persian Mongols.

Timurid Cannon Armed Elephants

Elephants can support ballistas and catapults, but cannons were not supportable upon elephants as the force of the blast often killed the elephant.

The game needs a serious reworking.

What needs to be done is a more serious game with a broader research tree. Alas, I think we have to have mods for that.

Elephants can support ballistas and catapults, but cannons were not supportable upon elephants as the force of the blast often killed the elephant.

Im not an expert, but they're relatively small serpentines, not cannons proper- does that make a difference?

Vympel wrote:

Elephants can support ballistas and catapults, but cannons were not supportable upon elephants as the force of the blast often killed the elephant.

Im not an expert, but they're relatively small serpentines, not cannons proper- does that make a difference?

Not at all, still too powerful for the elephants' backs. In order for it to be remotely possible, a way has to be found to dissipate the energy of the blast and recoil in a way that doesn't kill the elephant.

RazorOutlaw wrote: And yeah, you had the Holy Roman Empire and the Hundred Years war...but can anybody honestly think of a single figure that stood out amongst the rest? I guess you could say the Medieval period makes up in variety what it lacks in epic feel.

I'm calling the medieval period 1066-1453, although I know that the MTW disagrees with my start date so some of these don't count. I'm adding the renaissance in because MTWII covers that as well. Let's go down the list of ones that immediately come to mind. Some of these dates are educated guesses because I don't really remember them well and can't be arsed to look them up.

William the Conqueror- 1066

Suleiman especially, but pretty much any of the first few Ottoman Sultans- 1400-1500

Saladin- late 1000s?

El Cid- late 1000s?

Gustav II Adolf of Sweden- 1800s

Subutai, along with Genghis Khan and his other Dogs of War- 1380+

I'd put Jeanne D'Arc there if only because a Schizophrenic 14 year old girl managed to lead troops successfully. That's pretty notable in my book.- 1470ish

Ivan IV the Terrible- I don't know, honestly

That enough heroic conquerors/victorious generals? I didn't add less impactful if as brilliant figures like any number figures from the Low Countries named Of Orange who seem to produce leaders like flies. I didn't get into statesmen or religious figures because that'd get a bit huge of a list.