Initial Thoughts

[BlutDolch]

Well I finally got the mod to work on Vista. I don't recall 100% of what I did, but I am getting pretty good at tweaking file names and deleting things from the hidden folders that make it difficult to get a mod working.

A few quick thoughts.

Game is a nice improvement and great eye candy. An occassional ctd, but nothing bothersome.

Unsure on the whole ram destruction before the gate thing. Seems the rams go up in flames too quick, but I always build 1-2 extra so it's all good.

My only comment that was driving me nuts is if the unit stats could use a little maintenance. The costs of units doesn't seem consistent in the unit_description files and some factions seem a bit heavy with troops that have 2 lives or are very cheap for their type.

I put all the troops into a matrix and redid their costs based on the basic Attack/Defense/Armor/Special Abilities etc etc per my own thoughts and balanced things out a bit more. Some of them were very confusing as to why some super troop is so cheap for one faction and a comparable troop in another is 4 times as much. Some factions have several 2 lives guys even. Not a complaint, but maybe something you could consider doing a brush up on. Also maintenance costs were way off. With a 4 turn year also. I reset them to 25% of a unit cost.

Ignoring all those tiny things a mod has in spelling or grammar and little oddities it is a major improvement and an enjoyable mod. Well done.

[Riothamus]

Well I finally got the mod to work on Vista. I don't recall 100% of what I did, but I am getting pretty good at tweaking file names and deleting things from the hidden folders that make it difficult to get a mod working.

A few quick thoughts.

Game is a nice improvement and great eye candy. An occassional ctd, but nothing bothersome.

Unsure on the whole ram destruction before the gate thing. Seems the rams go up in flames too quick, but I always build 1-2 extra so it's all good.

My only comment that was driving me nuts is if the unit stats could use a little maintenance. The costs of units doesn't seem consistent in the unit_description files and some factions seem a bit heavy with troops that have 2 lives or are very cheap for their type.

I put all the troops into a matrix and redid their costs based on the basic Attack/Defense/Armor/Special Abilities etc etc per my own thoughts and balanced things out a bit more. Some of them were very confusing as to why some super troop is so cheap for one faction and a comparable troop in another is 4 times as much. Some factions have several 2 lives guys even. Not a complaint, but maybe something you could consider doing a brush up on. Also maintenance costs were way off. With a 4 turn year also. I reset them to 25% of a unit cost.

Ignoring all those tiny things a mod has in spelling or grammar and little oddities it is a major improvement and an enjoyable mod. Well done.

BlutDolch, I'm very happy that you took this time to check out and provide some feedback for the mod. Just to make sure we are on the same page...The Rio VII IBFD Expansion is the latest dl and goes over thr Rio VII Flagellum Dei

-The rams will burn up quick with the modified increased town, and cities defences

-the 2 line guys I think are from the older mod..This I corrected in the Expansion...Changed the unit to now be separate: 1 now more elite (If I'm correct on your thinking)
- In the Rio VII Expansion I put in a good amount of time with unit stats and costs.
-unit stat cost will vary from faction to faction. Some elite units will seem very cheap in comparison to other factions. An example with this is the Slavs, Huns, and Bulgars..cheap elite units but this is to depict their political, economical and military culture. There is a method behind the madness. Factions varied in their economical applications to their armies.

I tried to stay true to the individual factions unit costs. This was important to me instead of trying to create a similar unit cost with all factions. This is all equated into the balancing out of the factions within the game so adjusting them without knowing this will certainly throw out the games balance.

Edited: I agree the unit descriptions can use some fixing up.

Look forward to your reply