BROKEN CRESCENT 2.0 - FEEDBACK PATCH 2.02

[Astaroth]

I think that archers are actually very strong. No matter which faction I play (on VH/VH), each of my armies has at least 4-5 units of horse archers and often 3-4 units of foot archers as well. They weaken the enemy, lower his morale and decimate his troops at a long distance. However, it's important to use them correctly. If you manage to utilize the terrain (e.g. high ground) to your advantage, archers will be especially devastating.
While foot archers aren't as mobile as horse archers, they can still score many kills and are invaluable when defending settlements. Not to mention that fire arrows can be quite useful to scare the enemy.

All in all, archers and horse archers are probably my most used units and I find them extremely useful. If anything, I'd consider them slightly too strong.

[rummtata]

To expect massive kills, would not be realistic, as use of archery in the medieval history had limited outcomes.

Though it is sometimes frustrating to content with the, compared to vanilla, significantly scaled down archers in BC, I have to agree with Strelac here. In an open field batte, archers alone would never win the day, even heroic stories about the english longbow vs. armoured knights imply the latter being outnumbered 5>1 or even 10>1. In vanilla, it was too easy to inflict enough casualties before the actual (melee) battle so that the enemy army would immediatly rout on contact. That is still possible, but hard to achieve - the way it should be. Limit your archers to a support role, and you will be fine.

[Zeeky_Bomb]

I've noticed that the Caucasian Mountaineer Axemen (for Armenia) sometimes hold an invisible axe, I'm guessing it's a problem with one of the axe models.

[C L]

Could you please check the army wage calculation for the Solanki Rajput faction. It bankrupts me in only a few turns and seems much too high for the value of the army. This is an excellent mod and i really enjoy the challenge.

[merlinuscdxx]

It's the generals that are bankrupting you. They cost about 2000 per turn each.

[D.B. Cooper]

I must say I don't like the new Muslim character cards. What's wrong with the ingame cartoon cards?

[spanish_emperor]

elephants, especially general elephant guards are way overpowered.

[wudang_clown]

Could you please check the army wage calculation for the Solanki Rajput faction. It bankrupts me in only a few turns and seems much too high for the value of the army. This is an excellent mod and i really enjoy the challenge.

Firstly, that wage was intended. Seconldy, there is plenty of solutions on this subforum how not to go broke with Solanki Rajputs.

[rummtata]

I've come across a few bugs playing the Ghorids:

1. Wrong unit sizes

You've probably noted this yourself by now, but just in case: Several of the Ghorid's units do not match their description regarding size. As far as I have noticed, they are always smaller than it is stated in the description cards resp. the recruitment window. I'm guessing the text features the intended values and the actual in-game unit sizes are bugged. I hope you are going to fix this in the next patch? ( )

2. Inapplicable character traits

One of my generals received the "dislikes the Reich" trait, which obviously is inappicable in BC since this faction doesn't exist ^^
BTW, the "dislikes" traits are pretty useless since they never seem to actually apply to a faction you're at war with resp. that does still exist. Perhaps you could do something about these trait's conditions.

[merlinuscdxx]

My guess on #2 was that the traits file descriptions didn't get updated. The trait still works as intended though, you just have to check the "descr_sm_factions.txt" file in your data folder to find out what BC faction the "vanilla" faction name refers to. You will, as in your case, still receive the "fears, dislikes, hates _____" trait for faction slots(vanilla factions) which aren't used in BC. I think they (the devs) just haven't modified the traits files yet.

[Bugout]

I would like to provide a little feedback regarding population growth. I have played several campaigns now with a keen eye on the reproductive abilities of my subjects , as I am very interested in the ability to build advanced barracks and stables in my provinces. After having looked through the settlement mechanics file and playing around with the values a little just to see what effects it would have, I must say I like the approach taken with regards to population growth. The hardest part is getting the castles from wooden castle to stone castle. Once you can build the 2nd and 3rd levels of farms, the castles are self-sustaining to citadel level, although having a high chivalry general (at least level 6) will speed it up significantly. Cities don't need quite such micromanagement as public order bonuses also have an effect on population growth. The highest percentage I have attained has been 4% in Baghdad compared to 9% in vanilla or other mods, which helps make for a nice leisurely pace.

The only part I think could use some adjustment (of course this is just my opinion) in a future patch, would be to slightly decrease the penalty to public order from squalor by .1 or .2, especially for castles. With the bonuses the AI factions get to growth they can end up with huge populations in their citadels which even with garrisons of 4-6 units can rebel. Although I use spies to encourage those actions in border provinces, I have also seen the main cities and capitals when they get into the 30-40 thousand range rebel even with up to 10 units in them. It also makes sacking the preferred method of taking a city as occupying a large city or citadel becomes impractical at best.

I would like to finish by saying I do like the system as it is (after finally figuring out how to get my wooden castle garrisons busy with the local merchants' daughters ).
These are some conclusions from my experience in the campaigns since the mod team here actually seems to take such things into consideration.

[GrandViZ]

I would like to provide a little feedback regarding population growth. I have played several campaigns now with a keen eye on the reproductive abilities of my subjects , as I am very interested in the ability to build advanced barracks and stables in my provinces. After having looked through the settlement mechanics file and playing around with the values a little just to see what effects it would have, I must say I like the approach taken with regards to population growth. The hardest part is getting the castles from wooden castle to stone castle. Once you can build the 2nd and 3rd levels of farms, the castles are self-sustaining to citadel level, although having a high chivalry general (at least level 6) will speed it up significantly. Cities don't need quite such micromanagement as public order bonuses also have an effect on population growth. The highest percentage I have attained has been 4% in Baghdad compared to 9% in vanilla or other mods, which helps make for a nice leisurely pace.

The only part I think could use some adjustment (of course this is just my opinion) in a future patch, would be to slightly decrease the penalty to public order from squalor by .1 or .2, especially for castles. With the bonuses the AI factions get to growth they can end up with huge populations in their citadels which even with garrisons of 4-6 units can rebel. Although I use spies to encourage those actions in border provinces, I have also seen the main cities and capitals when they get into the 30-40 thousand range rebel even with up to 10 units in them. It also makes sacking the preferred method of taking a city as occupying a large city or citadel becomes impractical at best.

I would like to finish by saying I do like the system as it is (after finally figuring out how to get my wooden castle garrisons busy with the local merchants' daughters ).
These are some conclusions from my experience in the campaigns since the mod team here actually seems to take such things into consideration.

Thank you very much! This is indeed very useful.

[Emperor of The Great Unknown]

I persoanlly think that doubling the population thresholds for all the settlements works pretty well.

[George S. Patton]

Hi,
I've just looked at the Sindh campaign and after conquering a nearby town looked at its barracks which stated:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Point is that Soomro + Jat occur twice in the list but it's not simply a text problem but one can really recruit 2 Soomro Ksh... and 4 jat spearman units. I don't know if that's intended. Just wanted to mention it.

[zznɟ ǝɥʇ]

I must say I don't like the new Muslim character cards. What's wrong with the ingame cartoon cards?

I didn't like them at first, but now I love it. Really adds another dimension. Only wish there were more!

[Bugout]

I thought I might report on how the economic situation is shaping up in a couple of my campaigns. With careful application and spawning merchants from specific cities in order to get merchant guilds there, I have been able to get high income out of certain cities.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

With the merchant guild hq, Herat was my highest income for the Ghaznivids, though Samarqand was only a bit behind without all the upgrades done (which tells you how good Samarqand could be if it bordered more provinces as it only has 4 neighbors).






Notice how Turbat has that much without a governor, a good trader could easily put it in the 9000's.

Now sometimes I have been able to groom a good governor and if he can get the first level of good trader then he goes to a city that is in the midst of upgrading its trade enhancing buildings, with the following result.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

This governor has a bonus of 65% to trade (with about 70% penalty to taxes ).

And of course there is the jewel of Iraq, Baghdad!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It doesn't really matter to me, but it does seem kind of silly that out of a population of 53,000 I am only getting 1600 dinars on high taxes.

The key for these cities is having many neighboring provinces, in Baghdad's case, it has 9 bordering provinces to trade with. Constantinople and Samarqand are shortchanged in a way since as borders of the map they miss out on some additional trading partners, otherwise they would be right up there with Baghdad and Antioch. I hope this was informative and doesn't appear like I am just showing off my bling.

[Achilla]

Thank you very much! This is indeed very useful.

I think main problem of the AI is that it garrisons those cities with 1-2 units most of the time ... I don't really think squalor is the only problem here, it's just a cherry on the pie of rebellion

Btw, perhaps this could be changed?

<ai_revolt_modifier float="0.xx"/>

to

<ai_revolt_modifier float="0.00"/>

and the problem will be gone ;d? Yes, it makes spies useless at revolting a settlement, but to my understanding it gets rid of any unrest as well making it easier for AI to cope with things ... or alternatively learn the CAI garrison cities with at least 12-15 troops, because as it is now it's a joke (build trebuchet or two and then blitz settlements with 1 or 2 units inside ... lololol! )

[Douchebag]

wut?

[Heinz Guderian]

I didn't like them at first, but now I love it. Really adds another dimension. Only wish there were more!

Huddle up Fooz.

d00d, we gotta collect some more photos like these from the internet (legit ones mind) and send them to GV and Strelac. You go look in the Bollywood forums, i'm gonna concentrate on Middle Eastern soaps.

And break.

[Nergal1610]

Is it intentional that my maximum unit pool for most units is 1? For example, I have checked the building browser and still the later game stables and barracks have a maximum pool of 1. It's annoying when you cant recruit correctly and the respawning for some measly spearmen takes about 3-4 turn.