DarthMod: Shogun v3.9-4.0 Feedback

[Atos]

Sengkoku campaign, VH, Mori.

I cant wait to have units table back in the way it was in 3.4 version (bonuses for clans special units, shorter recruitment time etc.) and +3 skills bonus on each experience level.

If current stats table is modifiable here is some feedback:

- light cavalry is close to immortal - I was attacking one unit with Yari Samurai and Yari Cavalry and they defended for some crazy long time (they were outnumber, in the forest and my samurais just couldnt have killed them). Cavalry is generaly much stronger than in old 3.4.
- charge seem to be bit slower than it used to be. Moving units is more difficult cause troops always try to keep the formation even when you order them to charge and with slighthly change of the direction.

I alos noticed strange BAI behaviour - attacks when should defend (AI was the defender), then retreat with 1/2 of the army.

[Mjarr]

They never had rank fire.

I probably messed up the install back then, my bad.

- light cavalry is close to immortal - I was attacking one unit with Yari Samurai and Yari Cavalry and they defended for some crazy long time (they were outnumber, in the forest and my samurais just couldnt have killed them). Cavalry is generaly much stronger than in old 3.4.

This seems to apply to any kind of cavalry, but light cavalry is probably the worst offender with AI's supermicromanagement skills. I've seen both generals and light cavalry charge straight into yari wall and rout yari ashigarus, and possibly the most hilarious for all the wrong reasons general charges in yari square. Bodyguards takes two casualties but the yari samurai with 5xp in question routs. I've also seen a general fight its way out of against three yari cavalry, maxed cavalry commander and improved charge w/ all yari cavalry. At least the bodyguard took some casualties, but...

Only thing that seems to actually cause some kind of actual damage to cavalry are matchlocks. Even more weird is that sometimes you have high rank AI generals against you which... can't do and their units fights "fairly", but then you have 0-rank general who quite literally pulls anime powers out of nowhere and you'll find enemy ashigarus routing your katana samurai while their clown cavalry makes a mess of your other units because the AI just charged through yari wall to go for your archers.

And just to clarify, difficulty doesn't seem to matter. Normal, hard, even very hard and it's virtually all the same.

[Kalaq]

Some things I've noticed during campaigns:

-cavalry is invulnerable to archers. You can put 800 bowmen to fire upon a cavalry unit and they might take from one to five casualties. Matchlocks work normally, though their freakishly slow reaction time usually gets them killed before a shot has been fired
-generals are terminators. I've seen a rank 1 (yes, a general with NO SKILLS OR RETAINERS, no upped armor / morale / charge bonus / melee attack / anything) plow through a yari spear square, yari hen and fighting it's way out of a complete surround, being cut off from all possible angles, angry spearmen stabbing them with no damage. Yari Cavalry seems to be the only way to effectively kill their general (or matchclocks)
-cavalry in general is damn hard to kill. Swordmen are utterly useless (yea it makes sense rock-paper-scissors etc.) but even spear infantry don't seem to do the trick. Either yari cavalry or matchclocks
-hammer and anvil doesn't seem to do as much morale damage as it should be. Enemy yari ashigaru can fight against 3 katana samurais usually to the last even when being surrounded.
-bowmen in general can stand freakishly much melee damage, even when charged from behind with katana / yari cavalry. If you are unlucky, enemy bow ashigaru holds off your cavalry in melee for 5mins while rest of your army gets crushed
-getting trade agreements is still random. You can have +200 relations with very friendly attitude with your ally and still they wont trade with you. Sometimes they break off the agreements next turn etc. Sometimes your worst enemy agrees to trade with you

And then some suggestions:

-if it is possible, increase the amout of experience gained by helping / leeching general(s)
-also, it would make sense while the general is in town, he should receive 1 or 2 experience per turn. I don't think they just sat there doing nothing (ok, some do and gain "eats like a pig"), they are doing the administrative work, working their bushido skills and most likely training their garrisons. This way you could get some supporting generals to a reasonable level at the same time while not being completely overpowered.
-also, once it's possible, I'm sure everyone would like to see +3 skills per level instead of 2, as it is of now. Or perhaps make a launcher option for the amount of skill points per level
-slightly increase the ship's movement range

Freaking CA messing up their game. 3.3 was in my opinion close to pefect in terms of balance and gameplay.

[Blingerman]

Some things I've noticed during campaigns:

-cavalry is invulnerable to archers. You can put 800 bowmen to fire upon a cavalry unit and they might take from one to five casualties. Matchlocks work normally, though their freakishly slow reaction time usually gets them killed before a shot has been fired
-generals are terminators. I've seen a rank 1 (yes, a general with NO SKILLS OR RETAINERS, no upped armor / morale / charge bonus / melee attack / anything) plow through a yari spear square, yari hen and fighting it's way out of a complete surround, being cut off from all possible angles, angry spearmen stabbing them with no damage. Yari Cavalry seems to be the only way to effectively kill their general (or matchclocks)
-cavalry in general is damn hard to kill. Swordmen are utterly useless (yea it makes sense rock-paper-scissors etc.) but even spear infantry don't seem to do the trick. Either yari cavalry or matchclocks
-hammer and anvil doesn't seem to do as much morale damage as it should be. Enemy yari ashigaru can fight against 3 katana samurais usually to the last even when being surrounded.
-bowmen in general can stand freakishly much melee damage, even when charged from behind with katana / yari cavalry. If you are unlucky, enemy bow ashigaru holds off your cavalry in melee for 5mins while rest of your army gets crushed
-getting trade agreements is still random. You can have +200 relations with very friendly attitude with your ally and still they wont trade with you. Sometimes they break off the agreements next turn etc. Sometimes your worst enemy agrees to trade with you

Are you refering to SJ campaign or FOTS? It seems to be a SJ issue isnt it?
I am at the moment following a 3.6 FOTS campaign updated to 3.9+ and cavalry can be killed with Spears. They are strong but killable. I dont know if this is due to be an updated campaign or to be FOTS.

[robin2852]

I downloaded this mod today (with the 3.9 patch+hotfix) and whenever i try to launch the game via the darthmod launcher the game crashes on the initial loading screen every time without fail.
The game loads fine through the normal launcher but i am unsure if the darthmod changes still apply to the game if launched through the normal method.

It would be great if i could get some help with this, thanks

[Blingerman]

I downloaded this mod today (with the 3.9 patch+hotfix) and whenever i try to launch the game via the darthmod launcher the game crashes on the initial loading screen every time without fail.
The game loads fine through the normal launcher but i am unsure if the darthmod changes still apply to the game if launched through the normal method.

It would be great if i could get some help with this, thanks

Are you sure that you have installed first 3.4 in shogun 2 folder and afterwards 3.9+ in shogun 2 folder?

[AlexCouceiro]

It would be nice if on a hard mode campaign alliances didn´t cost so much money. Even when you have great relationship with some other faction, it will still take a great amount of cash for them to have you as an ally. And some of the times it will be in vain, because they will break the treaty 5 or 6 turns later, without receiving any penalty.

I think it is really cool the fact that the AI, on hard mode, can research faster, produces tough troops and have some more money than the human player; Constant naval invasions and an aggressive behavior is also very fine. But when it comes to alliances, I believe things should be a bit easier, or less costly, at least if you are playing on hard mode. On very hard and legendary campaign difficulty level, I agree it could maybe be a different story.

***** After playing for a couple more turns, I actually found out alliances can be easily made once you have a common enemy. I started a new campaign as Chosokabe and found out so far that if I pick an ally not involved in war on many fronts, at the same time that I carefully choose enemies who have no allies, things can go very well.

I haven´t gotten to Realm Divide yet, but despite the minor adjustments the game still needs – like naval battles - I am enjoying this new mod version very much. After playing for 60 turns, most factions are still alive, and the alliance system and the balance of strength among clans are truly delightful.

Because I had previously played some other 60 turns as Chosokabe before, I can attest replayability is great. On my last campaign, clans which survived were others. Besides, my own situation concerning the campaign is completely different now. Opposing to vanilla predisposed and biased AI, playing Darthmod up to now gives me the feeling that one´s actions actually matter, that there are factual and realistic consequences depending on what you do or choose.

[dajarvi]

I just installed Rise of the Samurai, and Darth Mod doesn't seem to work in it, at least in the battles. Portraits are different. I uninstalled and reinstalled just to be sure. Any suggestions?

[crazyivan]

is it just me or do the parrot canons sound really week almost like a heavy bow.

running 3.4 and latest patch

can we pppplllllleaseee have the extended movement for the ships back....

Melee is tops not much to improve on there Darth
Cannon in IMHO is good they are for the time period accurate enough.
Rifle damage could be taken up a notch.
Cav as a whole is still a little to much but hay when you have a bunch of armoured long sword attack you and you dont have spears so sad to bad..

i think towers as a whole should be more leathal and a faster fire rate...it makes you think twice and plan your attack better to try and knock them out....

[Face_Face]

Bow Kachi goes through ammo very quickly. I understand they're meant to screen your forces but they don't have enough ammo to inflict enough causalities to have an impact on a battle.

[Ulcerus]

I just installed Rise of the Samurai, and Darth Mod doesn't seem to work in it, at least in the battles. Portraits are different. I uninstalled and reinstalled just to be sure. Any suggestions?

I have also noted this. RotS does not seem to have the updated unit cards.

[libindi]

I EDITED MY POST BECAUSE PROBLEM SOLVED

[Jorgen]

Hi.

I have noticed that the Hattori Bow ashigaru still have the Cannon sound, during my campain. think i wait playing my campain until it has been fixed

By the way, as you all can see i am new to the forum but i have played darthmod since empire. TW series would not be the same without Darthmod so Thanks a lot for making this series worth playing

[libindi]

I EDITED MY POST BECAUSE PROBLEM SOLVED

[BigTambo]

I am also noticing the cavalry problem in the sengoku jidai campaign(not sure about the others)Yari armed troops do not do much at all to them wether it be a general or normal cavalry.In a battle I had just there some yari cavalry took out about 50 of my yari sams before even 1 of them dropped and as for generals the only good counter is another general on horseback it seems.I mean fair enough they are generals with a bodyguard of elite soldiers but thats not gonna stop a spear going in your horse

[Ecthelion]

Explosive Shot needs to be made more effective.

Right now, armor piercing seems to work substantially better, even against wooden hulls than explosive. Even solid shot seems more effective.

[AlexCouceiro]

In Shogun 2, cavalries are a bit too strong. Bow Ashigaru also seems to handle and hold melee combat for a little too long.

[Servius]

I noticed something odd with the diplomatic relations points. Here's a scenario to explain.

You are Takeda. Kiso is a minor clan that holds a single province on your western border.
A) If you attack Kiso, defeat them, and then decide to make them your Vassal, a negative entry appears under "Past Grievances" This make sense.
B) If someone else attacks Kiso, defeats them, and keeps the province from themselves, and then you liberate them and make them a Vassal (Vassal being the only option available to you that would bring Kiso back), they still get a negative entry under Past Grievances. This does not make sense.

It would be great if there were a way to have the AI differentiate between Subjugation (Example A) and Liberation (Example B).

[Lucius Tiberius Vorenus]

Any thoughts on changing family members "Coming of Age" to kick in at an earlier age? I recall one of the Rome Mods had family members "Coming of Age" at 16 or 18 years. I'd like to get my family members from Shogun 2 in the field(in an Army) at at younger age, to get an earlier start on experience and ancillaries.

[Lito]

Its pretty random. Some come of age at 13, some 19. I dont think it needs to be changed.