On vh/vh AI gets ridiculous bonuses in the form of morale in battles and pop growth on campaign map. Pop growth is crazy because they get maxed out cities fairly quickly. As far as I know, these bonuses are hardcoded. Besides that, the fixed income (King's purse) is coded to be reduced at higher difficulty levels. Also, extra strong AI rebel stacks spawn near your starting position. This makes it extremely hard early on, but has less effect in mid to late game. In addition, cAI implemented has its own effects such as increased threshold for AI factions to become trusted ally (harder to gain allies and maintain them) - all based on the code (not tested personally). I tested the mod at med/med settings and found the balance ok - not too difficult, not too easy. I suppose at vh/vh it will be extremely hard early on (first 50 turns).
Out of curiosity, what is the highest income in one settlement that you guys can achieve? I had over 10k per turn in London when playing as England. The wool trade kicked in. I am worried there is too much income late game. I may need to increase the costs of higher tier troops to make up.
Sandy
It is fairly straight-forward. It can be based on player's treasury and King's Purse can be decremented in proportion. It would keep the treasury from ever going beyond 100k or whatever you decide. But, I personally dislike these sorts of methods. A variation of this is already implemented for AI factions. I will look into it.
Sandy
any news?
An aggressive conquest by Zardar Total Warrior on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...hFAyhL0aJ7Msx0
Sandy
I would advise you edit one of the English provinces to have a little dot of land in one of the provinces on the mainland, so that Britain has a land border that makes sure the AI remains active between the channel.
Congratulations!! Two years of hard work to fruition!
You can also try placing spies on the other mass of land. The AI is not very good about seeing beyond it's blinders. It is still that way, in Atilla.
Last edited by xeryx; July 10, 2017 at 12:48 AM.
"Do not try and bend the spoon, that is impossible, instead only try and realize the truth.
There is no spoon, and you will see, it is not the spoon that bends, only yourself."-The Matrix
Sandy love your mod, had to reinstall total war so I am downloading it now , it's one of my favourites for sure.
are you thinking the map expansion will be up to Italy/half of Germany or something like that?
"It's not always possible to do what we want to do, but it's important to believe in something before you actually do it"
Marku,
Hey Marku, I remember you from DLV forums. Glad you like it. Regarding expansion, absolutely, it is my next goal. I am thinking winter holiday season when I will have 2 weeks off. I am modding few hours every week, but its not enough. To release 1.0 I practically spent two weeks all day with lots of coffee to finish it in December last year. Currently working on some historical event scripts (yes/no type) to enhance gameplay. Should be out by end of August, I think.
Sandy
hey sandy, are you planning to add more units in the future?
Hi Sandy,
thanks for the mod and for the difficulties you've included. I like the mods where Loyalty has an impact on the game in the old BGR-style. In the SSHIP the starting loyalty is also set to 3, and the system in the minimod to the Broken Crescent provides a very interesting solutions: the generals don't rebel but they turn being useless to the end of their days since they get mobility close to 0 plus provoke enormous unrest. The result is: you send them outside a settlement and wait till they die (or "unrebel", mainly due to the change of the ruler). So I'm looking forward to see how your solution plays out.
I've got a few questions:
1) why didn't you developed the DLV-BB further, but you'd decided to create a new mod?
2) what areas of your mod are you planning to expand / revamp in future? Only to other geographical areas, or also the mechanics (apart from the scripts you're currently working on)?
3) why have you chosen the price/upkeep ration of 1/10? Eg. in the EBII it's 3/16. Have you more insights or it's just you feel like it or it's just the DLV way (what wouldn't be wrong, I'm just asking out of curiosity)
4) what's your experience with the AI behaviour in the context of the PTF (permanent stone forts)? People say it's detrimental but some mods kept it (DLV extensively). The first few moves I've experienced don't say much, to be frank.
Some observations I got while playing DoC.
Taxman issueSpoiler Alert, click show to read:
Bugs' spotting, as requested (WIP):
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Buildings at the start (1330)Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Some observations:
- I think it woule be useful to have a forum to discuss certain facets of the mod (even though there're not many M2TW players these days)
- the differences between a castle and a city in providing income is really big - this is clearly the DLV style, in constrast to many mods that tend to go towards OST system.
- the feels map is small (or I've seen not enough yet, mainly Flanders) but the movement points are few accordingly. Together both solutions seem ok to me. There's not difference in movement points between infantry and cavalry (what is historical in the operational terms - congratulations, eventually somebody got it right!).
- AI turns are extremely fast (what means there's little script behind). However, on a new machine also the DLV turns were very fast. In any case - don't shy away from including new scripts ;-)
JoC
Last edited by Jurand of Cracow; August 26, 2017 at 07:09 AM.
Mod leader of the SSHIP: traits, ancillaries, scripts, buildings, geography, economy.
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If you want to play a historical mod in the medieval setting the best are:
Stainless Steel Historical Improvement Project and Broken Crescent.
Recently, Tsardoms and TGC look also very good. Read my opinions on the other mods here.
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Reviews of the mods (all made in 2018): SSHIP, Wrath of the Norsemen, Broken Crescent.
Follow home rules for playing a game without exploiting the M2TW engine deficiencies.
Hints for Medieval 2 moders: forts, merchants, AT-NGB bug, trade fleets.
Thrones of Britannia: review, opinion on the battles, ideas for modding. Shieldwall is promising!
Dominant strategy in Rome2, Attila, ToB and Troy: “Sniping groups of armies”. Still there, alas!
DLV had the system you described. I hated it to be honest. It is too complicated and unnecessary. The game already has a built-in rebelling mechanic linked to loyalty trait. I like it simple in my mod, at least for now until the map is completed and all factions included.
1) DLV-BB is stuffed to the brim. I wanted to try myself on a fresh ground and implement my own ideas. There are many things I dislike about DLV-BB. It restricts the player too much and is not for a casual total war player. However, I admired the battle AI and the campaign experience and that's what kept me around.
2) I am working on some pop-up historical events that require player input (yes/no), which will then have some effects on the campaign. My next goal is to expand the map and include new playable factions. I plan to carry this out during winter holidays.
3) It simply worked well for DLV map balance, so I sticked to it. Its simple and works well, no other reason.
4) I read that AI has no idea that stone forts are there and cannot make proper use of them. This appears to be the case in my experience. One solution to give the rebel generals that sit in them from the start of campaign 0 movement points. However, they glitch out and step our of forts from time to time. So, I dropped the idea. I managed to partially resolve the problem by positioning forts at the "frontier/defence" points. Every region has tiles that AI prioritizes when it comes to positioning of troops. These tiles are visualized in console by "toggle_terrain frontier" or "toggle_terrain_frontier_defend", I can't remember. These tiles are naturally choke points close to borders. I observe that AI armies occupy forts more often this way.
No idea. These types of bugs are minor. Thanks anyways. I will keep an eye for that.
Fixed.
I was worried that by having too many buildings already built there would be little to do for the player. I will consider including more upgraded buildings in the historically developed cities. I suppose it would benefit gameplay.
I feel the mod is too small at the moment for a forum of its own. I plan to apply for a forum after the next big release.
Regarding city/castle mechanic, I think it is a major element of strategic gameplay. In DLV castles sometimes even had negative income. I chose a more balanced approach. Castles have smaller populations limiting tax income, produce twice income from farming, half from trading, but have less penalties for public order and maybe a few other things I can't remember. Castle generate quick income from farms and pay off quickly. Cities take a long time to pay off, but it is worth it. I had more than 10,000/turn in London. Also, governing a city or a castle has impact on the general's traits (General vs Governor traits).
I kept movement speed the same for two reasons. Like you said the historical reason, but also so that AI armies are not split into many small ones.
Currently, there are only critical scripts in place that enable AI to perform better on campaign map. And a few other nonessential scripts. Overall, I am aiming for a solid sandbox experience without dictating the player what to do. I think AI is the most important factor. The campaign AI in DLV was pretty much vanilla or worse. The AI factions would never listen to diplomacy. Here, I used XCAI4.0 by xeryx, which should result in a better and less predictable AI. Diplomacy is useful again. Battle AI is Taiji's AI from DLV-BB. It deploy stakes in battle, keeps flanks protected and keeps reserves at the back. I think it is as good as it gets. Certainly better than any AI in any of the newer total war games.
Regards,
Sandy
How far East do you plan to expand? are you going to include Mongol and Timurid invasions?