NTW3|Version 2.0 Released

**Von_Clausewitz** · February 29, 2012, 10:43 PM

The Lordz are proud to release Napoleonic Total War III version 2.0.

Download links:

Main Installer (577mb):
Mirror 1: http://www.badger1815.be/NTW3/Napole...0ver%202.0.exe

Mirror 2: http://www.icoe.be/ntw3/Napoleonic%2...0ver%202.0.exe

Mirror 3: http://www.fileserve.com/file/q9tMh4c

Map Pack (468mb):
Mirror 1: http://www.badger1815.be/NTW3/Napole...0ver%202.0.exe

Mirror 2: http://www.icoe.be/ntw3/Napoleonic%2...0ver%202.0.exe

Mirror 3: http://www.fileserve.com/file/9tzSBFy

This version brings along multiple fixes for bugs/exploits found in version 1 in addition to multiple other improvements and additions.

Installation Instructions:

1. Uninstall all previous versions of NTW3 and/or other mods (including any previous NTW3 beta versions). You have for this an uninstaller present in your "napoleon total war" folder. The default path is:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\napoleon total war

2. Check your "data" folder, located in the above mentioned "napoleon total war" folder, for any files with the prefix "NTW3_". If you find any, delete them.

3. To install "NTW3 version 2.0", you don't need the previous "NTW3 version 1.0". All necessary files are included in the 2.0 version.

4. Download the 2 files needed to play NTW 2.0, "Main Pack" and "Map Pack" through the links given above. You can download "Main Pack" from mirror 1, and "Map Pack" from mirror 2 or 3. They are all compatible with one another.

5. When both files are downloaded, start by installing the "Main Pack" called "Napoleonic Total War III ver 2.0.exe". Then install the "Map Pack" called "Napoleonic Total War III Map Pack ver 2.0.exe".
Have patience, if during the installation process the program is saying "Not Responding" leave it finish its task. Don't click abort.

Note: If you have problems installing on a Windows 7 64bit version, right click on the files you downloaded and run them as administrator.

Side-note: When you double click the installer, and you see on the second screen after you clicked next: "-Install Napoleon Total War ver 1.3.0", it means the last version of Napoleon: Total War. As steam is mandatory to play N:TW, your version should be automatically up-to-date. So just ignore this if you don't understand the hell I'm talking about.

Last, but not least, If you're still encountering any problems, feel free to ask us for help. We prefer spending time to help you, than you not playing our damn mod. :mrgreen:

Changes to Single Player Campaign:

A new naval system is introduced (The Grand Fleet Mod) with permission.

A new AI system for campaigns and battles is implemented (UAI Mod ver 1.0b) with permission

And... :

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Still known SP bugs:

The triangle of the crash (Reims, Cleves and Innsbruck). Never click on those towns the first turn. From the turn2 the ctd bug disappear

Never click also on Davout's hidden army the first turn, as for the triangle, the second turn the bug disappear

Changes to Multi-Player:

-Extensively redone Ottoman Faction – including new longer range more accurate but slower firing musket.
- New Naples faction.
- Extra units for all factions.
- Historical correct unit names in their original faction languages.
- Movement speeds adjusted. Slightly slower walk & run, faster charge over a longer distance.
- Minor adjustments to Morale & fatigue effects. (generaly lowering of morale debuffs)
- Minor stat’s tweaks.
- Some repricing, mainly Artillery & Elite Cavalry (up), Lesser Austrian & Russian infantry (down).
- Improved firepower (accuracy) for Russian Infantry.
- Improved Charge bonus for French Infantry.
- Skirmishers improved verses artillery.
- Artillery more vulnerable to musketry
- Counter battery fire made less effective.
- Slower pivoting guns, reduced arc or fire, new artillery classes.
- Artillery firepower (roundshot & Canister) slightly reduced at longer ranges.
- Barrage time reduced to 2 minutes.
- Fog of War distances adjusted (generally reduced spotting).
- General unit slowed & made very poor at spotting.
- A working experience table that gives small improvements for small cost:
L1 +1 melee
L2 +1 defence
L3 +3 reload
L4 +1 accuracy
L5 +1 morale
L6-L9 repeat the pattern.
Note: to get to L5, & +1 morale, would be +40% cost, L9 & +2 morale +100% cost.

The Problems these changes are designed to address include:
- Canister creep
- Artillery duels
- Bullet proof gunners
- Ineffective skirmishers
- Over easy charges against equal numbers of fresh opponents (especially by big units).
- Over powered cavalry
- Kiting (constant withdrawing)

Changes to Historical Battles:

A PDF document is included detailing how these battles should be fought.

- Three new historical battles are added:

Other changes:

- 20 new maps were added and 10 version 1 maps were reworked
- Over 250 new unit cards
- 45 new units added and countless uniforms were adjusted for historical accuracy

Finally,

I would like to extend a special thanks to Lordz Avon Ulysses, Desaix, Fullin, Legless Lannes, Sean Capone, and The Fenix for their continued work on Version 2 and the countless hours they spent to finish this version.

Thanks to Lord Liberalis for his work on the Loc file and all the tedious translation work.

A thanks to Lord Somerset and Lancier for their dedication to the clan ladder and their work in organizing the Lordz NTWIII tournaments.

I would like to thank the beta testers for their patience and non-relenting feedback.

Thank you for the crew of the "Grand Fleet Mod", the "Ottoman Campaign Mod", Diggy's "Improved Artillery Sound Mod" and the "UAI Mod" for allowing us to use their work.

I hope you continue to enjoy NTWIII and that you will drop by our teamspeak server to join us in epic battles.

PS: If you would like to consult the version 1.0 Release Notes, click on the spoiler beneath.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

The Lordz Modding Collective (LMC) is proud to present to you Napoleonic Total War 3 (NTW3).

NTW3 is the latest of our Napoleonic mods, based on Napoleon Total War by the Creative Assembly (CA). You will find download links at the end of this presentation.

Whereas Napoleonic Total War1 (mod for Medieval 1 Total War) and Napoleonic Total War 2 (mod for Rome Total War) were complete reinventions of two popular games, NTW3 is more of a makeover of the latest Total War title by CA. This however was still a major undertaking as we strived to provide the most historically accurate multiplayer experience we could given the limitations of the tools/engine available to us. Some compromises of course were needed for the sake of good gameplay as we wanted the experience to remain fun.

Since it would be dull to enumerate all changes made, I will highlight the main features of the mod.

I- Playable Factions

NTW3 will include 18 nations that partook in the Napoleonic wars. A complete order of battle was developed for each of them to allow varied armies on the field. Nations will vary, as they did historically, in unit sizes, morale, firepower and close combat capabilities, making for different national strengths and weaknesses. This practically translates into using different strategies and tactics to achieve victory based on the nation used.

For example; Historically Russia had massive armies on the field, good selection of cavalry, and large numbers of guns. It's poor saltpeter made for poor gunpowder with more missfires which lead to the Russian preference for charging and bayonet use compared to prolonged musket fights. This is represented in game by larger unit sizes, low musket accuracy and better melee stats. Their batteries are larger than other nations with slightly lower stats to simulate the historical limitations of their artillery (poorly commanded at first and bad saltpeter). Despite the lower accuracy of the Russian artillery, a Russian commander in NTW3 will quickly realize the effectiveness of its bigger size and will use it to soften the enemy. He will prefer not to stay in long firefights but to charge for victory when the setting is right.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, England had more of an elite but smaller army. It's men were experienced, and were good shots (The British also deployed mainly in 2 line deep formations bringing more guns to bear on their enemies) . Many lower quality Dutch and Brunswickian troops supplemented its low numbers on the continent. It's cavalry was decent but not the best in Europe. It's commanders almost never used their cannons in large batteries but mainly in half batteries throughout the line. This is represented in game by smaller infantry unit sizes that deliver a deadly punch. Their high cost will make a British commander in NTW3 consider the ground as his best ally, using reverse slope when possible, to minimize casualties and supplementing his army with a few less expensive (and dare I say, more expendable), Dutch and Brunswickian troops. He will definitely prefer a protracted firefight to a charge.

Here is a complete list of all playable factions:

France
Britain
Russia
Austria
Prussia
Spain
Ottoman
Bavaria
Denmark
Hesse-Darmstadt & Baden
Northern Italy
Poland
Portugal
Saxony
Sweden
United Netherlands
Westphalia
Württemberg

II- Gameplay Mechanics:

1/Unit Sizes

Infantry units represent battalions or regiments. Because of the ‘slot limit’ in game some compromises were needed. The larger units are either strong battalions, (British Foot Guard, Hungarian Line) or 2-3 small battalions (most Russian, and some militia units). Historically unit strength was variable so the sizes are one interpretation only (based on the 1808-1815 period).

The small skirmisher units represent 1-3 companies of ‘specialist troops’ (most armies used their skirmishers this way). A scale of 1 in-game figure to 6 actual soldiers was adopted.

The cavalry is not as easy to define. Cavalry regiments often operated in squadrons, or groups of squadrons, like the battalions of an infantry regiment, the cavalry units in game represent these groups. The 1:6 unit scale was also used.

The cannon units are batteries of ‘average’ size for the armies. 1 in-game gun represents 2 actual cannons. The crew per gun, as well as number of guns per battery varies by nation.

Within the constraints of the 20 unit slots we tried to allow players to create scale armies of 15 – 30 battalions with artillery and specialist support. There is room also for a brigade of cavalry, more if you make sacrifices elsewhere. At the scale of real Napoleonic battles this would represent a small Corps of maybe 2 infantry Divisions and cavalry support.

2/Unit Ratings

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Wargaming rules were used as a base for unit stats. Multiple sources were used to compare the different value or strength of a unit compared to its counterpart in other nations. A formula was used to calculate the cost of the unit based on its stats. Each number in the stats was given a relative importance compared to the other numbers. This was used as a coefficient to adjust the price for example of better shooting stats compared to better melee stats. We applied this formula consistently to all branches of the army for each nation. Finally, minor nations were divided into 3 categories based on their historical importance and the size of their armies during the Napoleonic wars between 1808-1815. Each category received a different extra penalty to unit costs to represent the fact that these nations could not historically field as large or as good armies as the 5 major factions.
Of course there is some degree of subjectivity that was used when no clear historical data was found for some units in certain aspects, but mostly we relied on published sources and expert opinion.

3/Weapon Effects

Using a scaling factor of 1 in-game distance unit equaling 3 metres the ranges and effects of weapons have been realistically portrayed. Musketry causes only moderate casualties beyond 100m, becoming virtually useless beyond 200m. Cannons were based on effective range, with varying fire rates for sustained, long range bombardment and desperate ‘defend-the-battery’ close range canister.

4/Balance

Much work has been done to get the balance of Infantry/Cavalry/Cannon right. This is the essence of Napoleonic warfare, and the equal importance of each is one reason why this is probably the most popular period for Wargames. This balance can only be achieved through testing, and our dedicated team of more than 30 has been providing feedback for many months now.
Also we used unit limits and adjusted costs to prevent spamming.

5/Realistic fatigue & Morale effects

Cavalry starts very powerful, but become useless after a couple of charges until rested again.
Units under heavy fire and weakened may break if something ‘bad happens’.
Cannons cannot fire flat out all day, reserving their ammo and energy for important tasks. As the crewmen become fatigued, the battery loses reload and accuracy. Past winded, they become very inefficient. Exposure to musket and especially cannon fire will break down a unit's ‘will to fight’ making a rout much more likely when the enemy closes.

6/Fog of War

This means you will have no idea what you opponent is up to until you are close to his army.
Scouting, generally using light cavalry, is required to locate the enemy. Consequently, tactical and strategic ambushes are possible. I think this will be a very appealing and distinctive aspect of this mod.

7/Unit Disruption for Infantry/Cavalry Interpenetration.

Units cannot pass through each other like ‘ghosts through walls’. Friendly infantry will be considerably slowed and scattered if they attempt it.
Your cavalry can NOT leap forward from behind a line of infantry to attack the enemy. You must have gaps for cavalry operations. This seemingly small feature will have a big impact on how armies are maneuvered on the field.

III- Historical scenarios

Napoleon's Eagles deals with the historical engagements of the Napoleonic era. It represents the true ‘grognard’ companion to the NTW3 classic mod. The battles are carefully researched and recreated with detailed OOBs, uniforms, and historical behavior.
Maps were created from 1:25000 scale topographical data, villages represented with their correct layout and stronghold positions. Realistic terrain effects impact heavily on the unit movement and behavior. Historical battles play in a more realistic fashion, they are slower and fatigue settings are harder.
It would be best to familiarize yourselves with the historical battles prior to playing them. In the final release, the orders of battles, the map analysis and other features (victory conditions, starting positions, delays etc...) will be published to allow an offline study of these battles.

These battles are meant to be played in MP, playing them on LAN with AI will cause significant lag on some PCs while the AI tries to manage a huge number of units.

Version 1 offers:

Battles from Napoleon’s 2nd Italian campaign: Marengo and Montebello.
Here the numerous Austrian army of FM Melas will face the more mobile divisions of the Reserve Army of Napoleon.

The first volume of the 1806 campaign: Auerstädt
The epic struggle between Prussia and the French "decima legio" of marshal Davout's III Corps. Recreated with a wonderful autumn map, the Prussian player(s) field more than 90 units in the full scenario.

The Battle of Austerlitz or the battle of the THREE EMPERORS.

Here you will try to recreate Napoleon's most impressive military victory or try to restore virtual dignity to the Austro-Russian coalition. Who knows, if you do well Prussia might throw her lot with you and declare war on the French empire.

The Battle of Waterloo

Probably the most famous of the Napoleonic battles. You will get to recreate the fight for Hougoumont, the attack of D'Erlon's corps, the charge of the Middle Guard...Will you change history and beat Wellington before Blucher arrives? Or will you still be driven to abdicate?

Other included battles: Aspern-Essling, Hohenlinden and Eylau.

Unique to Napoleon’s Eagles is the ability to control an entire army.
This would mean, playing Marengo on a 1vs1 basis will offer each player the challenge to manage more than 80 units, playing the same battle on 2vs2 will give players 40 units each on so on.

To access these wonderful engagements please use the scenario battles instead of land battles when hosting. You will have the opportunity to pick how many players will be on each side from there. Please note that sometimes the players will see very few units available to them in the pre-loading screen but in fact they will have an appropriate army in game.

IV- New Multiplayer Maps

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

NTW3 includes a complete rework of all vanilla maps as well as more than 40 new maps made from scratch. These new maps were designed in different styles. Some of them are objective maps with multiple victory locations assigned different victory points. These should be played with time limits, the side with the more points at the end is the victor.
It is our firm belief that without good maps the multiplayer experience will remain lacking, so we are committed to keeping the community interested with a steady stream of new maps.

V- Compatible SP Campaign

Single Player Campaigns (alpha version)

After having been submerged by our dear fans requests for SP compatibility of NTW3, we are quite happy to announce it's release in an alpha state.
For now, only the European Campaign has been modded, the Italian and Egyptian Campaigns are untouched, but playable. Some bugs with roasters, towns and the maritime section of SP have been fixed. We are working hard on bringing you an extraordinary SP version, so don't take this as anything final, it is quite far from what we envision. Stay tuned for more info.
We also hope you will help us, as you did in the past, to report bugs and incoherences encountered in your Single Plater Campaigns. The strength of NTW3, lies within the involvement of its community.
So please, don't hesitate to post your thoughts and critics.

VI- Other Changes at a Glance

1/ A score of gorgeous 2D artwork including an original work commissioned specifically for NTW3 by artist Mehmet Sait Sener (used as the banner and as the main screen in NTW3).
Artist Mehmet is, in his own words, "A philologist(Spanish/English) and a self taught artist, with a passion for languages, history and art. I like depictions of history through art and literature; be it movies, games, or books. Currently a freelance concept artist/illustrator".
You can find him here: http://woodyend.carbonmade.com/

Some of the many loading screens made by Lord Legless Lannes

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

2/ New units with new uniforms for some older units (adjusted for historical correctness when possible)

3/ Music and sound changes

4/ Changes to the radar map and unit icons on the radar map (now using conventional wargaming icons)

5/Unicorns with the ability to fire canister, explosive shells and round shot to be faithful to their historic versatility. An unfortunate compromise was to remove their barrage capability. This was partly compensated by slightly higher reload.

6/ Removed crouching when hidden. Now units will walk upright, the hidden attribute was essential to fog of war and so it was annoying to see men crouching until seen by the enemy.

7/ Added maps previews to show starting positions when loading

8/ Removed upgrading units and replaced that feature with custom made conscript/regular and crack units to model these differences in a historical way rather than just a generic % increase in stats for all. In game, it will be easy for the player to know his upgraded units as they have chevrons on the unit cards.

9/ General cannot charge, this was made to avoid people using their generals to charge in the back of a melee, getting the high rear attack malus.

10/ Localization files will show the names of the units in their native language except for the ottoman army.

These were some among many more minor adjustments.

Credits:

The Lordz Team

1/ Lord Von Clausewitz: Mod leader, worked on unicorns, removed crouching while hidden, participated in developing the overall gameplay in the classic mod under the guidance of Lord Avon_Ulysses.

2/ Lord Desaix: Lead designer, worked extensively on all aspects of the historical scenarios, map making tutorial, reworking all vanilla maps, making installers, developing the fog of war concept and multiple fixes here and there

3/ Lord Fullin: More than 40 maps made from scratch, making new units and countless uniforms

4/ Lord The Fenix: Historical scenarios maps made from scratch, worked with Lord Desaix on the historical scenarios

5/ Lord Avon_Ulysses: Determined unit abilities / Statistics, the overall gameplay mechanics and the Faction's Order of Battle . Created Cavalry / infantry interpenetration penalties system.

6/ Lord Legless Lannes: made all the beautiful 2D artwork, the loading screens, the unit cards, the screenshots, promotional art and the map preview screens

7/ Lord Liberalis: helping to promote the mod in non English speaking forums by doing the necessary translations and working on public relations. He also renamed every unit in it's native language.

8/ Lord Sean Cappone: For making the open beta installer, and his work in making a compatible SP campaign.

9/ Lord L'Aigle: For his work on the textures and atlases.

A special thank you:

1/ Honourary Lord Dumonceau: for all his help and hard work in the nick of time, helped with making units, on the sounds and music as well as multiple other fixes

2/Honourary Lordz BDC and JC for their contribution to the mod in its infancy. Lordz Badger and Hokomoko for their work on map making in ETW. The knowledge acquired from them helped us make the new maps for NTW3.

3/Gen Thielmann AKA Cyn for all the historical research he has undertaken for us

4/Jakob for his research on the Scandinavian armies

5/ Jutland for allowing us to use some of his models

6/ Scorpionet for allowing us to use some of his models for spain

7/ Cornwallis for his Prussian pack used in the historical battles

8/ JFC for allowing us to use his NTF mod

9/ LtRowland for allowing us to use his BettersoundFx

10/ PDGuru for allowing us to use a few of his models

11/ Primergy for his wall, monument and vineyards models.

12/ Last but not least, to our beta testing team of more than 30 people that tested the mod relentlessly over months

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Installation and Other Important Issues:

NTW3 comes with its own manager that will allow you to pick to play the classic mod or the historical scenario. It also has a "delete script" button. It is recommended to press it if you had been playing other mods so as to not have any bugs/incompatibility issues . Other buttons you will find are "save preferences" and "load preferences" that will allow you to save multiple graphics and other settings to load at your discretion prior to launching the game so as to not have to do that each time.

The Mod was extensively tested in Medium Funds (10K) and medium sized armies. Ultra sized games will allow double the men, except for artillery where only the crewmen double but not the number of canons (CA bug). The Ultra sized armies are only recommended in 1vs1 and 2vs2 to avoid lag. the experience in this setting will probably be different than in medium sized armies, and since it has not been beta tested extensively, we cannot guarantee the results. Artillery might be underpowered in this setting, we might in the future make a separate version of the mod with double the men and improved canons (either will double the size or improve the damage) to be launched from the mod manager. This is something still being discussed.

Before installing, a few suggestions:

1) DELETE (or move to another dir) ANY REPLAY SAVED WITH OTHER MOD OR VANILLA, this can cause crashes when saving/loading replays like unfortunately with every other mod

2) DELETE (or move to another dir) ANY SAVED ARMY WITH ANOTHER MOD VERSION or VANILLA, this can cause crashes when loading armies or maps

3) Please SAVE the vanilla LOCALIZATION file to another folder in case you have problems playing vanilla so you can restore it. This is an extra precaution.

Please join the Lordz steam groups to easily find and arrange games in NTW3.
You can find us here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/NTW3

HAPPY WATERLOO DAY
THE LORDZ TEAM

NB:

It was brought to our attention that some files worked on by HusserlTW were used in the SP campaign without credit being given to his work. I would like to apologize for that fact, it was an error made of ignorence as I was not informed of that fact, and not of malice. So I would like to thank him for his work and recognize his contribution.

Best regards,
The Lordz.

**drummer2177** · February 29, 2012, 11:36 PM

Breathless. This is an outstanding mod! Congrats for creating this!

In the SP Campaign, there are a few factions that do not have skins, Batavia (Holland) and the Papal States (May be more, havent checked every faction). Now, this was just for the unit cards in SP (I saw the real ones in MP) but it had the grey placeholder cards from Empire total war.

For performance, what is the recommended graphic settings? A battle would start out smooth but start to lag quite a bit when the first volly of rounds fire. (I am using 2x geforce 470 in sli, have an extreme 980i cpu with 12g of ram) I am going to try to update my drivers and see if that can help.

Excellent work on this long awaited Mod! Thanks!

**Patrykus** · March 01, 2012, 01:08 AM

Excellent mod!
It's much better than V1 but there are some bad things:
-AI is still stupid, it can't make formations, AI doesn't know what to do and it's making really stupid things,
-Unit sizes on ultra are too big(infantry can't form squares),
-and there are too many factions available in multiplayer campaign. I can't chose Russians, Ottomans and Prussian but there are small factions like Papal States.
I haven't try multiplayer yet.

Sorry for my English, I'm still learning.

**drummer2177** · March 01, 2012, 01:18 AM

Again, thanks for this great MOD. It really is outstanding!

**gastovski** · March 01, 2012, 06:09 AM

Awesome mod thanks but some of Ottoman ship names are missing.

**caissus** · March 01, 2012, 08:52 AM

Does the multiplayer campaign work on this mod with the new release?

**Protector** · March 01, 2012, 10:20 AM

FANTASTIC !

+ Best MP mod ever.
+ The SP changelog is extremely broad and shows the long and hard work.
+ Lovely new units
+ Epic battles, smoke is perfect
+ Canister shot is perfect
+ Individual and different unit skills are great

- Unfortunately there are still ETW unit cards like placeholders, same like in V1.
- BAI unfortunately is worse than the expectation.

But I am looking forward to the first patch for SP improvement.

**drummer2177** · March 01, 2012, 10:46 AM

Multiplayer battles are in place, drop in battles as well. I do not know about full multiplayer campaigns.

*EDIT* It seems the single player campaign is a bit buggy. Wonky incidents seem to crop up; I was on turn 10 attacking the Papal Faction in Rome as Naples when the game lagged then crashed. Also, there are more units without unit cards (using the generic empire card).

--Just pointing out some issues! Still enjoying the action!!

**[N]Tac** · March 01, 2012, 03:22 PM

Them lordz eat feedback for breakfast,good or bad. Sp is still in beta so I guess the more feedback they get the quicker a patch will arrive.As for MP and HB a true work of art.

**Von_Clausewitz** · March 01, 2012, 09:39 PM

Hi guys, thanks for the feedback.

SP is still buggy somewhat, still a work in progress.

Please post buggs in SP on the lordz forum so we can compile a list. So far we have been mostly commited to the MP battles and historical battles as these interest us more.

Lord VC

**Col.KanKrusha** · March 01, 2012, 11:14 PM

I had a great moment today. One of my line units had morale turn orange. I pulled it back 50 yards and formed a new line which is usually a manoeuvre that only delays the inevitable and the morale turned green. I was ecstatic, it felt like real tactics with a real benefit.

Then I had an unhandled exception error (sorry did not get the number). Still, great battle. Thanks to the BPA boys for letting me join them

**Emilio Aguinaldo** · March 01, 2012, 11:34 PM

Where are the custom battles?!!

**DarthKael** · March 02, 2012, 02:46 AM

Originally Posted by Emilio Aguinaldo

Where are the custom battles?!!

I believe you need to select Napoleonic Total War III MP in launcher.

**Fencible** · March 02, 2012, 10:46 AM

Thank the Lordz! V2 is very happily installed here, and I wish to thank you all for your dedicated, pains-taking work. I've been playing a SP campaign

Things I am particularly thrilled with:
1. The light cavalry scout squadrons! One can now use light cavalry for their most important historical purpose: to scout far ahead of advancing armies, screen them from enemy observation, and then be available for pursuit at the end of battles. Excellent feature exclusive to NTWIII.

2. Wonderful historical unit details - I like the 3-pounder artillery for Austria, and the many historical infantry and cavalry units.

3. Historically correct building levels at start of 1805 - YES, this is an excellent improvement! It has always bugged me that in vanilla game all countries start out with only light cavalry available until many turns and much development later (same with ships, cannon, and infantry). Heavy cavalry was there first in Europe. The light cavalry was the 'new' advanced invention becoming popular in the mid to late 18th century (in Europe). Now, it is possible to have historically available units available in the correct time-frame. Why play a historically based game if you are not going to honour historical facts while doing so? Well done, Lordz!

4. Interesting campaign behaviour of AI - Spain has just invaded Austria landing an army at Venice from a fleet - not something I've ever seen before! France and Ottomans are performing intelligent naval blockades that are really hurting me.

edit: 5. How could I forget? Naval battles seem greatly improved - love the sound of the guns. Ship handling seems better, and AI behaviour is sensible - none of the old circling about in tight circles. But I haven't had any really big engagements yet.

Areas which could be improved:

1. In SP, AI opponent still starts out some battles clustered into a giant ball. Once the AI gets going and shakes itself out, it does quite well, however. I have been hard-pressed by AI on at least one occasion, and I'm only about 14 turns in to the campaign.

2. Strange special effects that stop the computer dead in it's tracks. I was shocked in the first campaign battle to see what appeared to be 2 dimensional thermo-nuclear explosions - extremely large blinding flashes, accompanied by flat 2 dimensional black masses meant to be smoke. The flashes and black smoke were not translucent, and completely blocked out whatever was behind them. All movement would pause for several to as long as 30 seconds before each set of 'explosions' occurred. Canister shot produced an effect similar to the appearance of cluster-bomb explosions hitting the ground - looked quite good, actually - but was quite out of proportion to the figures it was engulfing. None of these effects were scaled - they appeared to happen immediately in front of my eyes, no matter how far away they were supposed to be.

I'm not sure why these effects look so bad on my computer, nor why they bring the animation to a complete halt when they occur, but it must by my video card. The problem was completely resolved by editing out the two FX packs from the user script and substituting Mech_Donalds blood_smoke mod, which gives very realistic effects (including properly white black-powder smoke). I then start the game using the vanilla start-icon so that the script isn't over-written. I haven't yet checked to see if the NTWIII FX can be deselected by option from the startup screen, but if it isn't possible now, it should be added to protect people with my sort of video handicap.
I'd like to add that I never have any problems with animation under normal circumstances, even with large battles.

3. I don't seem able to access Lord Desaix's battles: how does one go about it?

All in all, a wonderful mod, and the mod I will use going forward. Thank you all for your wonderful work.

Fencible

**DarthKael** · March 02, 2012, 11:07 AM

Indeed, wonderful mod.

Originally Posted by Fencible

3. I don't seem able to access Lord Desaix's battles: how does one go about it?

How are you trying to access them ??

**Liberalis Bellatricus** · March 02, 2012, 11:23 AM

Kind words, thanks.

**KamilW** · March 02, 2012, 11:28 AM

I've been having trouble with that myself. There's no explanation on what to choose in the launcher to play this or that. For example, for me it's not logical that if you want to play a single player custom battle, you need to choose NTW MP. So perhaps for new users, new fans, it would be interesting to post something about this. So as you've probably guessed, if you want to play Lord Desaix's battles you need to choose a certain battle in the launcher and press play. The game will then take you to the main menu, where you need to choose multiplayer, then choose LAN, choose your battle/map and so on. You will be able to choose whether you play it against a human opponent or against AI. So for single player battles, you need to choose NTW3 MP in the launcher if I'm correct.

Having this said, I'm only disappointed because these historical battles (the new ones, created by the Lords team) aren't really historical battles in the exact meaning of the word. They're mere (historical) MAPS which you can use to play a battle on. If you choose such a battle, you won't have a set of units ready (like in the vanilla historical battles), which historically fought in that particular battle. You simply choose your map and have to choose your own units. So I think the name "historical battles" is quite misleading (for new players). Unless I'm doing something wrong that is.

Apart from this, the mod seems to GREAT GREAT GREAT so far

. Congratulations and thank you! I'm looking forward to the next version. Can't wait to have an AOR system, new tech tree, other features... Only then will this mod be truly THE BEST OF ALL.

**Liberalis Bellatricus** · March 02, 2012, 11:36 AM

A NTW3 User Guide is on it's way. Couple days more.

**DarthKael** · March 02, 2012, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by KamilW

Having this said, I'm only disappointed because these historical battles (the new ones, created by the Lords team) aren't really historical battles in the exact meaning of the word. They're mere (historical) MAPS which you can use to play a battle on. If you choose such a battle, you won't have a set of units ready (like in the vanilla historical battles), which historically fought in that particular battle. You simply choose your map and have to choose your own units. So I think the name "historical battles" is quite misleading (for new players). Unless I'm doing something wrong that is.

You do.
There is ready set of units...
(historical battles in launcher->)Menu-> Multiplayer-> LAN battle->You need to choose scenario map, not land battle ! And there they are.
Historcial maps with historical set of units.