DarthMod Napoleon v2.6 & v2.6+ "Epic Edition" Feedback

[DARTH VADER]

DarthMod Napoleon v2.6+ "Epic Edition"
"Epic" and "Fixed" it is now complete


+ Over 200 extra units

+ 43 Garrison units

+ 40 unit armies

+ Many different campaigns

+ Effects that look real

+ Fascinating AI

+ Realistic battle mechanics

= Mythic gameplay experience!


>>>DarthMod Napoleon v2.6 demo video - Mod DB<<<

Version 2.6+ "Epic Edition" (8/9/2012)

• Several new improvements that affect Battle AI positively for even greater and more challenging battles. DarthMod Napoleon has now 300% better Battle AI from vanilla = guaranteed. Those who still do not believe just try and see (especially in campaign battles).
• Melee mechanics improvements (better reactions, more lively engagements).
• Better animation mechanics, more realistic. (Less synchronised volleys, better sounds, less lag).
• 43 new Garrison units that make sieges far more interesting. No longer you will face only weak armed citizenry but instead you will have to battle against experienced Line infantry and trained Militia, according to town income. These troops are available for the human player too when he defends. (In previous version this was not implemented fully and caused bugs = you could not disband some units or after the battle they dissapeared. Now this very irritating bug is fixed).
• Howitzers more accurate and effective.
• Quicklime and Carcass more effective.
• Many more projectile improvements. For example muskets are having even more realistic firing trajectories. You can feel how the musket is better at the hands of a trained soldier than an inexperienced militia. Enable the improved projectile trails to watch how deadly or unstable at the same time can be a musket barrage.
• Squares more effective against cavalry.
• Fortifications slightly less expensive as requested.
• Musket sounds enriched with the magnificently recorded sounds of General Andy. You can find his standalone mod here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=537218 (General Andy's Musket Sounds). DarthMod now uses possibly the best musket sound mix of the community. Read the credits for more info.
• The 1X MP setting is now enabling normal vanilla unit size so you can freely change unit size or play DarthMod multiplayer without any issues.

Version 2.6 "Epic Edition" (14/8/2012)

• Battle AI is greater than ever due to formations and other parameters adjustments. It will really give you a hard time winning it, especially when it has artillery and a good general.
• Multiplayer with DarthMod enabled should now be fixed.
• Now there is richer garrison (Militia and many types of Line infantry) and also it costs when in siege (so Human campers will not wait for the AI to attack all the time because they may risk bankruptcy). This simulates the cost of a siege for the defender.
• Battle autocalc improved as requested.
• Gun reload rates extreme re-balance for better battle realism and challenge.
• Musketing morale impact is greater so that only the elite troops can stand under heavy fire long enough (or when they have a good officer around).
• General projectile lethality enhanced.
• Melee mechanics tweaked even better for more cinematic feel.
• Artillery more devastating.
• CAI better re-balance especially for France and Britain which should be more effective in the campaign map.
• CAI recruitment better with more special and elite troops.
• Fortifications have much more cost so that they are rare in the map.
• CAI should be not so aggressive to minor nations and must be slightly more reasonable.
• Diplomacy gift impact reduced (was requested).
• Howitzer impact slightly more powerful.
• Unit population cost nullified because in some campaigns caused problems (For example in Penninsula Campaign it made Towns too small and no more units could be built).
• Trade ports can now build warships so that the CAI can build powerful navies. As a tradeport becomes upgraded it can build bigger ships and smaller ships become obsolete.
• Improvements in effects (Musket muzzle flash much more realistic, Quicklime smoke effect more realistic, Water impact effects are now realistic and not tiny and gamey as in vanilla).
• New Musket sounds much more realistic using sounds kindly offered by Shokh, the creator of ACW mod (American Civil War - The Blue and the Grey).
• Extreme Naval Battle rebalance. Many changes to make the naval battles as realistic, challenging and beautiful as possible. For example you can now feel the mass and slow reaction time of a ship type and also there is simulation of how tides affect a ship's firing trajectory. The smaller ships shake a lot so they are not as effective in long range targeting as the bigger warships which remain more stationary in the water. But even for the bigger ships you notice this very realistic effect, as they shake after they take hits or they fire etc. so that you think you play a real naval battle.
• Some minor Launcher fixes to provide more accurate log reports.
• Projectile trails improved (Those you enable from the launcher).

Read more about the full changelog and features of the mod

Installation & troubleshooting



It is fully save game compatible with your previous DarthMod "Mythos Edition" or "Epic Edition".
It is required to uninstall the previous version and then install this new one.
Read the simple installation instructions

Useful info:
Always open the Steam client before you open the launcher
How to play Multiplayer with DarthMod Napoleon
Technical support


Please share your opinions @TWCENTER FORUM

Join DarthMod@Twitter / DarthMod Facebook page

[AFC98]

Can't wait! Downloading 2.6 now!

[Marc Byzantinum]

Thank you Darth!!

Downloading now..

The presentation Video doesn't work in Germany because of the GEMA
"Leider ist dieses Video, das Musik von SME beinhaltet, in Deutschland nicht verfügbar, da die GEMA die Verlagsrechte hieran nicht eingeräumt hat. "

Anyway.. great work

Greets

Marc

[Son of a Preacher]

oh just great man! The changelog seams superb! Didnt see that comming even!

[DARTH VADER]

So I implemented what I write in this changelog. Can you give comments about the many new features?

[AFC98]

THANK YOU
Units for Sweden and Denmark!
Next, Poland!

[Raied]

Downloading now, thanks a lot Darth.
Can't wait to play as spain this time.

[plissken3]

WOW - OMG Darth the musket sounds are the best I have ever heard - they really feel like you are in a battle - please do not change them they are awesome. I loaded a save game - mythos edition(Hard campaign & Very Hard Battle) & I was very impressed the AI was smarter than usual - allies were better than I have played - they seem to hold an alliance for longer, As far as I know no problem there (just improvement) Other than that I seem to be enjoying my campaign (France -Hard Campaign - VH battle) I must say that in the Mythos edition enemy troops still had the tendancy to melee at certain points, I just had a large battle with Russia playing as France -& far more enemy came to my front & started using their muskets at a fair but lethal distance - I have played "Darthmod" eversince it's release & i must say that it does not get much better than this!!!.....new "Epic Edition" is for me a triumph Darth, the game I played tonight using "epic edition" - I can honestly that I have not played a better battle so far while playing Napoleon without your mod. I am using the projectile mod and it is much better than Vanilla - one more fix for it - a little bit more real would be awesome (less white) other than that keep Tweaking my dark lord & I can say that this "Epic Edition" is my fav so far, please keep up your work - I look forward to your next update (if any)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Centaure]

Hi Darth,

Thanks for the new release which looks very promising.
I have been playing for the last 2 so here are my first impressions that I am going to divide in 2 categories:

Negative:

1.To me the new smoke effects look great however I have to tell you that the game is now very laggy especially when lines are firing at each other. In fact it is so laggy that I decided to revert back to v2.5+++ (only the smoke effects) which is to me the reference for smoke effects of any NTW mods or Total War mods I have seen yet.

2. I played as France and attacked a prussian army with no general (it could be the issue) evenly composed between cav, arty and inf. At the start of the battle the AI proceeded with the now infamous unit shuffle for a few minutes and the arty did not unlumber and fire for also a while even though it was in range. I did win the battle very easily as my arty ripped the AI army appart. One of my howitzer units had 1300 kills alone!!! This battle was played with the 2.6 smoke effects.

Positive:

1. Sound effects are marvelous it is so much better than the previous version even though it was good but this is definitely an improvement.

2. BAI. I played a second campaign battle France against Prussia once again and this time with the 2.5+++ smoke effects. The Prussian army had a three star general and a very well composed army. The infantry was made up of mostly regular line infantry.

This battle was a complete turnaround compared to my previous one as the AI set up its arty and fired almost immediately. The AI then moved its troops in perfect coordination against the attack I was preparing and in fact it faked an attack on my flanks with its cav units. As soon as I moved my cav to counter the attack on the flanks the AI launched a full assault on several points of my line supported by its reserve cav units.

At this stage the battle turned into complete chaos, IT WAS FANTASTIC
I quickly rushed up my reserves to support my line but it was too late....it was gone.
I nearly escaped defeat thanks to my arty and what was left of my cav so in one word luck
Not to mention that I had about 15 elite units

In conclusion it has been a long time since I had so much fun and I cannot wait to test it further.
I will keep you posted. Thanks again.

[DARTH VADER]

plissken3
YES! This is what I want to hear(read). DarthMod Empire v8.0 will have similar epicness. I will use DarthMod Napoleon ideas to optimise the upcoming massive update for DarthMod Empire.

Centaure
Good feedback. It is strange that you got lag with the new musket smoke effects because I optimised them also. The new muzzle flashes have the same FPS cost with the previous and are very sexy. If you tried to change GFX options then you may have to do the following instead of replacing with old effects: FLICKERING, LAG OR OTHER PERFORMANCE ISSUES? (SOLUTION)

About 2. negative. Thanks for the report. Strange because in every battle I tested that the AI was defending he always unlimbered and fired his cannons, and I also provided a demo video to show that. Please tell me if it happens again and what are the conditions exactly, if possible.

[Centaure]

Negative:

1.To me the new smoke effects look great however I have to tell you that the game is now very laggy especially when lines are firing at each other. In fact it is so laggy that I decided to revert back to v2.5+++ (only the smoke effects) which is to me the reference for smoke effects of any NTW mods or Total War mods I have seen yet.

2. I played as France and attacked a prussian army with no general (it could be the issue) evenly composed between cav, arty and inf. At the start of the battle the AI proceeded with the now infamous unit shuffle for a few minutes and the arty did not unlumber and fire for also a while even though it was in range. I did win the battle very easily as my arty ripped the AI army appart. One of my howitzer units had 1300 kills alone!!! This battle was played with the 2.6 smoke effects.

Darth, please discard above comment as I have reinstalled the mod and the smoke effects now work perfectly and look awesome. I played 2 additional battles against poorly composed armies and the AI put up each time an excellent fight as described in my previous post. Therefore at this stage of the testing I can say that 2.6 Epic Edition is a complete success.

Apologies for the incorrect statement, I shoud not have doubted you my lord.

[DARTH VADER]

GREAT! You made my heart shake for a moment. I am always frustrated when I think I do mistakes.

[Centaure]

GREAT! You made my heart shake for a moment. I am always frustrated when I think I do mistakes.

You are doing great no worries

[airborne guy]

Good to hear of the update thanks Lord Vader

[AFC98]

Played a while in a Scotland campaign... *** awesome Darth. I've been using the ACW mod for a while, good to see the musket sounds are getting around. Also this has refreshed the gameplay for me. I'm completely into the battles. The smoke is not too lagging... And the AI... Where do I begin? Very impressive Darth. The only negative... I want more blood also when I said the muskets needed tweaking about the accuracy... Nvm. Everything has been perfect!Although can someone explain why almost everyone has a Swiss unit?

Three cheers for Darth!
Hip hip hurray!
Hip hip hurray!
Hip hip hurray!

[gastovski]

Hmm, time to reinstall this godforsaken game with DM. Tbh only playable with DM. LME has terrible BAI and sound effects for my taste.

[Alexzav]

Darth! OMG This is awesome. I did a couple of turns with France H/H.

1. BAI resppnses to my movements quite smart. I charged thie last standing unit and at that moment one Line Infantry came back from retreating and shot at my back! Cavalry didn't rush to my lines they met my Light Cav with the Lancers (outnumbered!) and kicked my horses' ass. I tried to retreat from that local massacre but they keep chasing me. Artillery is great. All changes you described are noticeable.
2. Naval battles seem to be too long. I had only one so i can't judge. Had a fight for my port with 2 French 38 Frigates against 1 32 Austria. One more comment is that ships are kind of too strong (i could hardly see the wholes in their sterns. May be the matter is their size. WIill test the real vessels).

Thank you very much for your efforts to make this game perfect!

[MuppetGank]

Do the 40 unit sized armies save games cause imbalance with the AI? As in will it behave differently or get confused then if they had 20 sized armies? I would like to try them.

Also anything changed CAI wise from the Russian point campaign? tried playing the Russian campaign twice on H/H and every faction declared war on me by turn 10 without me even attacking anyone despite giving state gifts and money etc.

[gastovski]

Yep, too aggresive diplomacy continues not just for Prussia but for every nation. Many people stated the issue but haven't fixed yet. Another thing is that, for example Britain declares war on Austria. After 10-15 turns they send 1-2 stack to conquer some lands THROUGH France and French occupied European lands. They pass entire French army to invade other lands this shouldn't happen.

[swiss_warrior]

I don't know whats wrong. But everytime I want to start a campaign with Switzerland I get a CTD. I tried also with Scotland and Bavaria but it's always the same issue. I also reinstalled the whole mod, but it still doesn't work. It would be great if anyone could help me :S I played 2.5 before and it worked perfectly