Changes imminent? What!?

[RedFox]

The question is simple: What changes would everyone of you like to see in the first release of the new Diadochi - Total War?

I know some of you had lots of requests in the Santas wishbox thread and those have been fulfilled. I am interested though in more requests for changes from the public.

Be certain though that suggestions for Sparta or Syracuse factions will be ignored. I'm willing to listen to anything else though, especially if you think something is too easy or too hard in this mod.

Thanks again and don't forget to +rep Maraxus if you see him in the XGM Forums.

[MrWeale]

Hey there redfox i wonder if there might be something interesting to be done with the ships? as theres not used much currently and cost a bit.

Trying to think creative so maybie throwing in a few random events. although i know there scripted is there any possibility or is that too time consuming.

also is there any news on the walls project? relly looking forward to that.

[RedFox]

The walls have been long completed and are just collecting dust in the DTW repository. About random events, well, if you suggest something like that, it would be good if you also suggested a list of possible events ; )
Ships are indeed neglected at the moment and I don't think there's much that can be done about them.

[jakobh94]

Can you make trade more important?
And i would like to see a extended unit rooster for barbarian factions.
And since you've already decided to cut the map a bit, im satisfied.

[HeroSK]

Since I am a "unit based" player, I enjoy watching cool looking units rather than moving on campaign map, IMO, a 4-horse chariot would be nice addition.

In case of events, a slave revolt under command of Spartacus in Italy would be nice addition.

However, my dream is reskinned eastern roster (which is already in to do list I think)

[RedFox]

Thanks jakobh94, I'll really look into the trade possibilities and try to raise the trade bonuses from market buildings a lot. This will probably mean a bit higher upkeep costs for some more popular units though, but might not. As for barbarian factions, I'm afraid those will be worked upon after this release, since I'm really busy finishing up the Greek roster. I haven't had any time to work on Diadochi for a long time though, so I'm trying to work as hard as I can today.

[jakobh94]

Thank you for seeing over my suggestion about trading.
Its sadding a bit that the barbarians wont be worked on for a while, but after all, the mods name is Diadochi: Total War and the greeks should be priority #1.

[aznflea]

could you extend the campaign time til about 30 bc and include the roman legionnaires in the mod? the legionnaires are one of the coolest looking units in the whole rtw series. the hellenistic age ended when octavius caesar ended the ptolemaic egypt so im keen on having a longer campaign time.

[l'amer]

I was wondering if the images of the wonders could be on the campaign map. I just miss them. Of course if it isn't possible it's fine.

Another thing would be to add some changes to the Achean league roster. I noticed that in the faction description it says that Achean league has a fighting style inherited from greeks and makedons but its roster is the same as greeks. So maybe this suggestion is already taken care of as you say you are redoing the greek roster but if not, that would be a cool thing.

Thanks.

[RedFox]

The fighting style refers to the medium length pikes on Iphikratean Hoplites. They also have many similar units and Thessalian cavalry which is almost equal to Hetairoi. Other than that, it's a pretty generic Greek faction.

[Spartan 666]

could you extend the campaign time til about 30 bc and include the roman legionnaires in the mod? the legionnaires are one of the coolest looking units in the whole rtw series. the hellenistic age ended when octavius caesar ended the ptolemaic egypt so im keen on having a longer campaign time.

You will see the legionaries in the next release...for the extended campaign, dunno...

[jakobh94]

Um .. Early Legionnaires, but pretty much the same.

[aznflea]

im not talking about early legionnaires im talking about the imperial ones

[Spartan198]

im not talking about early legionnaires im talking about the imperial ones

Won't happen, I think. They were removed because the campaign focuses on the era of the Pyrrhic and Punic Wars.

Imperial legionaries are cool, but overrated.

[Andy1984]

How about strengthening the AI in the mid- and late-game? Right now, the beginning of the campaign can be pretty though, but as time progresses, you're less likely to find yourself in a really daunting position.
I'm not sure how this could be achieved though, but strenghtening third-tier or higher units for the AI (and only for the AI of course) could be an option. In fact XGM does this by means of provincial campaigns for the horse archer-factions (by giving them greater numbers). By giving such a bonus to any AI once they start fielding mid or high-tier units, the game might still be balanced for the AI. The player however would find himself waging some ferocious wars.
Another approach would be to make the monument AI-factions have better. You could also add the construction-option of a(nother) monument in the AI-capital (constructable once the reforms have passed), which might give extra military bonus. Here too, the effects of this monument shouldn't affect the player.

[RedFox]

I'll rather try to make sure the AI is forced to recruit only best units in the later game. I really really dislike mods that have factions spam you with 26 stacks (not an exaggeration! It does happen in XGM). It just makes the game repetitive and boring. I'll rather think about seriously increasing the AI experience bonus - right now all AI units have +2 or +3 exp when recruited (not sure what it was in 0.941, but it's +3 in my version). Perhaps raising it to +5 exp will provide you with a more challenging AI, while maintaining the low amount of stacks.

Since I really do NOT have time to playtest DTW at all, can some of you guys give me some feedback on your progress through the campaign? What kind of units do you encounter? How many stacks? How's the economy?

However, a second monument for AI doesn't seem a very exciting idea and would add little to the game. Rather - giving lots of weaker greek and eastern units the recruitment condition "and not marian_reforms". Leaving the option of only recruiting elite troops and nothing else after the Polybian reforms kick in. I think I'll do that, thanks

[gaunty14]

The walls have been long completed and are just collecting dust in the DTW repository.

where is this fabled repository, I've never been able to find it

[Andy1984]

As for Pontus, by 246 they had two or three third-tier barracks, but their armies were mainy made up of sparabara (lots of them), mercenary hillmen (again: lots of these men), as well as the occasional missile units, chariots, eastern cavalery mercenary and mercenary hoplites. I don't think they've trained any decent amount of Eastern pike-units, although they had a few units of Mercenary Deuteroi.
In my wars against Egypt, I've always seen a good amount of pike-units, including Deuteroi and Pezhetairoi. In the early to mid-game, they supported their pikes by slingers and peltasts. Later they sent an occasional unit of Desert Cavalry Archers (the slingers and peltasts dissapeared almost completely). It seems to me the AI is really keen on building the Auxiliary barracks. Armenia had at least one settement with the third-tier auxiliary barracks, but not even the basic Eastern barracks. Egypt on the other hand focussed almost entirely on Mercenary war elephants. By the time I reached Memphis, Egypt had trained three or four units of mercenary war elephants but hardly to no other units in the city. Combined they had max. 2 stacks wandering in or around the Nile-vally (without elephants).

About the number of stacks: I haven't encountered any unreasonable amounts of them. Factions that are given the time to build up during as much as 10 (?) years (as Pontus was), might have 2-3 stacks being supported by 4 settlements. Egypt on the other hand was far from done once they lost their Asian positions (they kept sending half-stacks), but they weren't too strong nor numerous to be defeated.

My Seleucid economy was tight even after I conquered Asia Minor and the Nile-valley (as I've noticed in another thread), but that might be due to the region in which my empire was located: few natural borders and an extended empire forced me to have significant armies on most edges of my empire. An empire concentrating on the Agean would probably have less dificulties in paying for its upkeep.

[RedFox]

It seems that I have to raise Mercenary prices and reduce the importance of Auxiliary barracks a lot. Thanks for the the feedback!

where is this fabled repository, I've never been able to find it

Well, that is the point of it, now isn't it?

[aznflea]

... I really really dislike mods that have factions spam you with 26 stacks. It just makes the game repetitive and boring. .....

YES. YES. YES. I HATE THOSE MODS. ITS SOOO BORING. in dtw sometimes i lose a battle and since it takes a while to recover i begin to lose settlements in the area. i almost completely lost asia minor because i lost this battle due to this stupidly steep hill where the cavalry charged into my phalanx and almost broke it. this just shows the importance of each battle.