DarthMod: Shogun II Feedback for v2.4 and above (Closed *** New feedback thread Created ***)

[DARTH VADER]

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Post your feedback and suggestions
and everything will be noticed
in order to optimise the mod
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[DARTH VADER]

I want to emphasize the importance of the DMS launcher in your gameplay experience:
The DMS Launcher allows you to customize your experience with DarthMod by enabling or disabling gameplay features or to add more graphics and sounds modifications made by some of the best modders of the community. All that with a click of a button.

Look at the current interface:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[G Rider]

The v2.4 download link for the installer is directing me to v2.35

[s4ccio]

the same to me

[DARTH VADER]

I am sorry for the temporary inconvenience and thank you for the notification. It is now fixed.

[Ionn]

Darth, just want to say, wow. You made an ok game to great (v2.35). Your overall theme of slower battles and faster campaign and a few adjustments here and there makes the game seem fresh. +rep

[s4ccio]

thank you! now it's working!! +rep from Italy! love your work!

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

Downloading now...Thank you DARTH...
Is it ok if i'll use AUM for 2.3... with this???
Just to be sure...

[DARTH VADER]

Swiss has not yet adapted AUM for this version but I bet he will very very soon. So unless it is adapted I suggest to use it as is to see all the new changes in effect.

Thank you for the reps

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

Swiss has not yet adapted AUM for this version but I bet he will very very soon. So unless it is adapted I suggest to use it as is to see all the new changes in effect.

Ok...Testing now...feedback later...
Cheers...+rep.

[TG Bottousai]

Got a CTD on campaign map first turn starting a campaign as Tokugawa. Is it safe to assume its because I had the Oda-Tokugawa alliance on?

[Vortal _Bondage]

Just had a quick glance and I'm not assured about the implementation of ashigaru boost. Wouldn't it be better to increase the recruit costs and upkeeps proportionally? At least implement it as a third option? I really want to try it out and I'm okay with samurai having a less essential role on the battlefield but I fear yari ashigaru spam would make the cavalry obsolete.

Also, in this state it is not financially efficient to have even any melee samurai at all. Why would I want to recruit a 120 unit katana or yari samurai when I can have 376 yari ashigaru(plus bonus to cav) with the same amount of cash? Of course this is not counting the huge amount of infrastructure and research required to have samurais.

I believe it is perfectly possible to give ashigaru class a better role in the battlefield without breaking the balance this much.

[♔Greek Strategos♔]

Ikko Ikki white unit cards problem still there...when I choose the retexture option from the launcher...
also Oda-Tokugawa allies mod now works fine...but when i use 1 turn per month submod they are enemies again??? its a mod conflict probably...
any suggestions????

more feedback later...

[nakago]

CTD when starting any new campaign. does not make it to campaign map.

just went from 2.35 to 2.4. didn't do anything else. any suggetions? (like erase script or something?)\
2.35 was working fine as of last night. staring new campaigns or loading old ones. no other mod

[TG Bottousai]

So this is something I noticed before in the last version, and I saw it again.

When my Ashigaru are in spear wall formation, and get charged by an enemy, they will break out of spear wall after the initial impact and then kinda run around in a strange way before engaging the enemy.

I'm certain of this because this time I watched it happen very closely and immediately came here (the game is minimized as I type).

I was zoomed in, first fight with a fresh start of takeda. and I had my archers in front of a wall of spear ashigaru. They're cavalry charged and I timed it perfectly so my archers pulled back and their light cavalry hit my spearmen dead center in the front... but they barely took kills (less than 20) and a few seconds later my ashigaru pulled out of spear wall, ran around like they were reforming, then started to fight only to have their cavalry pull right out barely taking a scratch. Anyone else notice this strange behavior?

[nakago]

CTD because of either ODA boost is on or O/T alliance is on. other than that , nothing everything else is peachy.

[[G-Shock]]

I noticed with 2.35 the Ashikaga were having a serious boost once I got there (I'm Shimazu) however they had not conquered any province and then, despite the boost it was easy to kill them. The most important thing I noticed was the 500% increase of time in the AI turn. It took well over 3 minutes to perform all the AI moves and there were only 8 clans on the map... I suppose it's the heavy scripting involved but the fact the AI turn takes so long to perform is obnoxious.

Anyway, back to 2.4.

I love the ashigaru boost in numbers but am now playing with oda and ashikaga boosts disabled.
I am totally against the cavalry buffing because these troops are lethal and according to me this unbalances the game even though with increased ashigaru numbers it's a land of spears and they are still at disadvantage the main problem is, as usual, with the ease with which the cavalry gains experience. In my first battle against ITO both my generals killed so many routing troops that their units immediately got to 2xp. At the first battle it seems rather hard to accept. Add the arts (i.e. strategy of attack = +2 charge bonus) and you already have 2 superunits at the beginning of the campaign. This is wrong.

I would like for armies to have much less visibility. That helps with using more scouting agents and helps the AI set the ambushes. You go deep in enemy territory you SERIOUSLY risk if you can't see the enemy and without scouts you should be really unable to. This visibility decreasing shoudl also be applied to ships. I find it amusing that a ship can see an army but the red engagement zones are big and this was a great idea.

The samurai numbers in a unit should be smaller. At large size (1x) 125 ashigaru are still no match for 80 yari samurai. The goal should be to slowly move towards a 1:3 ratio with elite samurai units going to 1:5 ratio and being effective only as shock troops (as intended). Provided 1 man eats 1 bowl of rice regardless of his class or weapon (the horse also eats so in those cases it's more) you can see why the ashigaru should cost more in upkeep (more men) AND in recruiting (more training needed because they were not born with the sword in their hand like samurai).

Considering the ease with which you can build a unit in Satsuma at turn one and still have it alive and with 8XP once you've conquered Buzen (and all Kyushu), I think we should drop the bonuses the bushido arts give (i.e strategy of attack give +1 charge bonus instead of +2 and kenjutsu level 1 NOT giving xp boost while kenjutsu lev2 gives 1). There is no way to avoid building superunits in this game and while DMS smoothened this factor it's still too much imo. You can mix units and CTL M will mix units with different equipment and experience but XP is never lost... nor a unit which takes heavy losses is ever autodisbanded. This is bad... at least triple the XP needed to increase XP of a unit... this is especially evident with the cavalry which can kill scores of routing enemies and get very high xp bonuses. Do mind that the bigger the unit size, the higher the number of kills you can achieve in battle, hence the higher the unbalance between unit types and unrealistic results you will get as your campaign progresses so between arts giving a lot, commander bonuses, traits, retainers, equipment and xp + the fact that the ratio of samurai/ashigaru is not realistic all we need is the space marines or the goblins and we have the perfect fantasy game. It's obviously not a critic to DMS but... I suppose we could do something about it. I say when a unit takes 66% losses that unit should be autodisbanded... don't know why but in DMS I very rarely lose a unit this way...

The religious conversion factor of a nanban port of 3.5 seems extremely heavy. In one year you are over 10% of population converted and in medieval Japan with isolationism in effect (regardless... they've always been very traditionalist and close-minded in that era) it seems rather impossible. Conquering Bungo and finding a 100% christian population seems wrong. You build a temple, your religion is buddhism, you add a monk and you STILL can't even begin to convert back to buddhism again. Perhaps a 2.0 conversion factor would be more appropriate... at least in slowing down the nanban conversion to christianity. We may add events to make the population be more rebellious during this process but with a slower rate you can at least do something about it. Right now the pop doesn't rebel too much and you CANT' convert back so... I think we could do something here.

The AI doesn't seem too much interested in taking your trade posts and KEEPING them for itself. It's rather easy for the player to build scores of Koku this way. Oh yes it does raid the routes but it doesn't go for the trade posts and force you to fight to keep them. If possible, the AI should see these as priority targets both to increase their funds and to hurt the player's. Meanwhile, I say the Wako activity should be higher. They seldom actually pass the hizen straits to attack southern Kyushu and when they do get there, their numbers are low. Why pirates would use trade ships at all if they can RAID routes and capture other factions' trade ships? More pirates and more combat ships I say and clans should fight, keep and escort their sea trade resources. Since trading affects diplomacy and minors have few regions, and since a lost port can mean the cutting of a trade route, I think the harbor building should have 1 trade route already and the trading port +1 (etc. etc.). Let the trade start at harbor level. That helps survivability of all clans for a bit longer.

I just fought a siege in Hizen 1100 men vs 650 and I barely lost 100 in autoresolve. Too easy for the player (it feels like cheating). Losses for attacker should be increased in the autoresolve and should be much much higher in sieges.
That's all my feedback for 2.4 for now.

[Atos]

[..]

What difficulty level you play?

I think you could post more on suggestions than feedback with all these ideas mate. As far as I remember Darth is trying to balance the game by small changes and improve things that are not good in vanilla game. Some changes you suggested sound good but are quite deep and I think they could mess all things again - that kind of new versions will start whole balance problem from begining. The idea is to stop at some point and to have good game for everyone, isnt it ?

[Akusa]

lol Takeda is Germany now.

[Rome101]

All hail the mighty Vader!!

G-Shock, I find it easy to agree with many from what you say, but everywhere it seems a bit too much. Darth should definitely look into some of the ideas (like decreased Nanban conversion) but make up his own numbers (like 3.0 or 2.5 and increased unrest, otherwise EVERYONE will build Nanban and equip each province with a priest, and that's too easy of a solution).
Also, samurais aren't shock troops AT ALL. They were elite units used for the most difficult fights and the most threatening situations. True, they were backed by a larger number of ashigarus, but it doesn't mean they didn't know how to fight prolonged fights.
Maybe you're using them wrong. You need to first soften up the target with missile and ashigarus, maybe harass them a bit with cavalry. Then, after they're already fought up and worn out, and while they are focusing on a low-level bunch of pest-y peasants, you drive the elite samurais from the flanks and let them tear through their enemies. Trust me, they'll be devastating, even when outnumbered.
What you're describing, on the other hand, seems like you're sending them to meet head-on with their enemies. That's not how battles are fought, according to Sun Tzu. Following the Japanese art of war, you need to use your strong troops against the enemy's weakest, and after you've put a hole in their ranks fill it with a mass of elite troops.
Also, we don't want to reach a situation where samurais are fighting ashigaru and LOSING. That'll completley contradict their role as a BETTER unit.