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

[Son of a Preacher]

The BAI is (as reportet) just great. You realy have to think in the battles to win now. Its hard and if the chances arre even, the AI gives a damn good fight (i actualy lost battles!).

I just noticed that the BAI moves its arty a bit to much. Generaly it uses its arty very well, but sometimes its moves it after every shot.

CAI: Just great, just one thing: In the peninsula campaign: The Brits (me) got regions at the northcoast and the southcoast. The CAI got two Fullstacks (as i could see) which just moved everyturn one to the north and one to the south. The next turn they just reverted their direction and traveled in the opposite direction. Next turn they reverted again and so on for 10 or more turns.

I have to point out that the CAI and BAI even with this little reportet "problems" the best are which i ever saw in total war. The battles are magnificent. I got my best battle of all my total war battles since shogun I!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[yupper]

[QUOTE=The dead one;11888288]

I encountered 2 issues, not sure if they are 2.6 related since I have not played previous versions of DM:N.

1) Playing France, in the Napoleon Europe Campaign, I cannot recruit militia units. There is an 'X' in place of the number of turns required to recruit them, even though I have the necessary building (obviously) and money.

The X means that they are 0 turn to recruit. So you can recruit as many as you want (9) in 1 turn. Just klick on them like you normaly would.

Ah, I see. Thanks.

[Hockeywarrior]

I haven't had a chance to download and try the new version yet, but I do not understand at all why you made fortifications cost MORE when as it was before, you basically never fought over fortifications. Which was a bad thing ... I even requested in a thread on these forums to drastically DECREASE the cost of fortifications so that they are more common like they would have been in real life. As it was in 2.5+++, not even capital cities like Paris were defended by forts which made 0 sense what so ever. Here is the thread:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=551717

So now we have a 100% chance to never fight sieges that include fortifications? This is definitely a big step in the wrong direction Darth, and it really takes away from the realism of attacking major cities. A major part of Napoleonic warfare were sieges of fortifications but right now that aspect is completely missing from DMN.

[Leoben]

Errr... Sieges of fortifications have not been that major in napoleonic warfare from what I know. I think it played a major part in the peninsular campaign and that's about it. There has been some sieges here and there but nothing major compared to other decisive battles like Waterloo, Austerlitz, Iena, Auerstadt, Wagram, Eylau and many, many more.

Vienna has fallen 3 or 4 times without siege battles, Berlin too, as well as Paris. Those were capitals, though.

[Ikeys93]

Hey Darrth, I am playing as Spain and I dont see any more line infantry, they are still in the old school white and blue uniforms, but in play battles I see different types of infantry

yeah, can you fix that? a mini spanish units pack or something please

[Hockeywarrior]

Errr... Sieges of fortifications have not been that major in napoleonic warfare from what I know. I think it played a major part in the peninsular campaign and that's about it. There has been some sieges here and there but nothing major compared to other decisive battles like Waterloo, Austerlitz, Iena, Auerstadt, Wagram, Eylau and many, many more.

Vienna has fallen 3 or 4 times without siege battles, Berlin too, as well as Paris. Those were capitals, though.

At the very least capitals should have walls of some kind. It's quite silly to attack those cities and they have zero defenses ...

[MoxPearl]

Cai as a minor is still broken

As Sweden expect to be at war with every country on earth for no reason , even when they are your allies and "very friendly" .. Yet next turn decide to join a war against you for no reason

[Retrop Neb]

Hey Darth, thanks for the update, First of all I'd just like to state the positives of the new version so far.

Positives

1.More Varied Garrison: I like how you get lots of different units in siege battles now, makes it both more interesting and more difficult.

2. Trade Ports: All minor factions are now building trading ports which was asked for, and it was a great idea to have them build warships as well which will hopefully bring them into the game more.

3. All battle mechanics/sound mods are good: Almost all the other improvements you have made to the Battle gameplay or campaign seem to work well.

There are however only a few things within the last update that I feel may be steps backwards...

1. More expensive fortifications: In my experience the CAI barely ever build fortifications in the first place. In fact I'm not sure if they ever have. I'm not sure then that making them more expensive was really necessary.

2. Siege defense penalty: I haven't yet been besieged in this newest version of the mod, though I'm not sure why the penalty is necessary. Surely when a province is besieged you already take an economic hit, as you are no longer able to trade through it, and I'm pretty sure you lose its tax income. Historically siege battles will probably have been at least as expensive for the besieger as well as the defender, as you would have had to pay the wages of the besieging armies soldiers and maintain its supply lines. The defenders would be fighting for their lives with whatever they had. I don't understand why it would be so costly just for the defender, so I hope the penalty isn't too much. If it is a lot, I feel it should be either reduced or removed entirely, or a similar penalty for the besiegers too.

In terms of Bugs I have noticed...

1. Disbanding Units: I too have noticed that some units cannot be disbanded in the few different campaigns I have tried recently.

2. Baden Wurtemburg still doesn't become French in certain campaigns: When recently playing as Bavaria Baden became french I think, but when I have tried as other factions Bavaria but not Baden becomes french. As I have said in an earlier post this weakens France in central Germany as Baden is easily defeated, and France misses out on the units it is given by the change.

3. Navy strength bug: Often after naval battles it tells you that your fleet is at full strength when it is in fact often severely damaged.

And then some more general improvements I feel would benefit gameplay, most of which I have mentioned before...

1. All Swedish/Norwegian/Courland and possibly Danish troops should be winter attrition resistant: All these countries should be used to the cold weather they perpetually suffer from and so I feel their armed forces should reflect that. Denmark maybe less so, but their norwegian fusiliers and elite units should definitely be winter resistant.

2.All factions should be able to hire mercenaries: I don't know whether this is an error or a conscious decision on your part, but I feel that no matter which nation you are if you have the cash you should be able to hire mercenaries. It just seems odd for example playing as Russia or Denmark and being powerful and rich enough to wipe out Prussia but not having access to the same troops.

3. The powerful nations NEVER build their 'wonders': I think that they should be built already as it would give the factions a little boost making the game harder slightly, and if the benefits apply to you when you capture capitals its also an incentive to capture them.

4. Gibraltar should start off with a star fort: Or if not a star fort just the first level of fortification. I say this because I feel it is far too easy for Spain or France to conquer when historically, as shown by the great siege, they were never able to do. It would add a more interesting dynamic to the Spain/GB war I think too, perhaps making GB more active if they can actually hold onto it.

5. Give all generals and more units the path seldom trod ability: Or if not all of them have it as a trait for some of them. This way you could have an army of light units all with paths seldom trod able to sneak behind enemy lines led by a competent general wreaking havoc. This was historically how many of the Free or light brigades were supposed to act anyways. It would not be too unfair an advantage either, because the army will not be able to have artillery, as this would negate the hiding ability, making it not a match for more balanced/ heavier armies or well defended provinces, limiting its role to ambush or raiding. I also think more units should have paths seldom trod including all light infantry, all skirmishers, all riflemen, all light cavalry, all mounted infantry (like Russia's mounted riflemen) and all 'light' lancer units (such as cossacks, but obviously not any 'heavy' lancers such as dutch guard lancers). This will mean that all factions will be able to do it.

6. Change Russia/Prussia's victory objectives: One reason I think Prussia and Russia are more likely to stab each other in the back is because they have no victory objectives in France, like Austria has to capture Belgium. Therefore there is less incentive to work together and fight France than there is to fight each other. If both had to capture Paris for example they'd have to work together for a while, making each more active, and then eventually the coalition could break down.

7. All factions should have access to the basic howitzer: Whilst playing as spain I've noticed the only arty they can recruit are 9 and 12 pounders. I feel this limits many factions - it seems a bit pointless that they can all research the technology but not have access to them. I say only the basic howitzer because if you wanted to maintain the 'backwards' theme for some of these nations they can be 'backward' enough to not recruit rockets or experimental howitzers.

8. Make a hardcore mode/submod where every building/technology is already built/researched: With this all out of the way players would be able to focus solely on campaign and battle strategy, with the funds and capacity to build huge armies of the best and most advanced troops. Obviously being a submod it would be optional, so players that dislike the idea could play without it. But I like the idea of the major nations going toe to toe with all the best units they can get from the start. Obviously it may need tweaking, for example Russia has the most provinces and would become the richest, so maybe be a little less developed than the others, but I'm sure a reasonable balance could be struck. Maybe not have forts built straight away though as this would affect the dynamic of early campaign gameplay, preventing any rush strategies from taking place.

9. Units should have the 'guerilla warfare' ability: As proposed by leemyster in the last thread, I think it'd be cool if rifle units or skirmishers in particular and some light cavalry had the guerilla warfare ability. This is in keeping with the skills these units are supposed to embody, sneaking behind enemy lines and ambushing. Certainly for factions that do not have any rifle units such as Russia, I think their basic light infantry should be given this ability, if not indeed all light infantry for all factions. This is in keeping with the methods of warfare used in the period.

Sorry for much of this being a repeat of what I have said before, but I really feel that, and others have expressed support for, these ideas would help enhance gameplay and help Darthmod continue to be the best mod for N:TW. I know you are obviously very busy working on a lot of projects, but it would be great Darth if you could get back to me on my specific ideas and if you feel they are worthy of Darthmod, or even possible to do.

Thanks again,

Retrop Neb.

[Kardakes]

Italian Line Infantry is heavily bugged. Some of their texture and model is invisible

[Centaure]

At the very least capitals should have walls of some kind. It's quite silly to attack those cities and they have zero defenses ...

I don't know how far you got in the game but in my French campaign most major and minor nations have built star forts.

By the way if there is one aspect of the game I have no use for is fort battles especially if you are playing with 40 unit armies. I think it would take a lot of work to make them fun but in my view it is just not worth it. For example most of my arty is made up of howitzers so when I attack a fort and the AI puts 6 or 8 units next to the flag pole it turns into a blood bath. My infantry has barely the time to actually reach the walls that the battle is already over

Also from a historical standpoint Napoleonic wars were wars of movement and not position. Napoleon never fought sitting behind a wall but rather on the battlefield as highlighted by the campaign of France when the country was invaded by the coalition forces. Fortifications were more or less useless at the time because of the increased presence and firepower of the artillery pushed by Napoleon ( logical as he used to be an arty officer).

[Retrop Neb]

Another bug I've just noticed; it often doesn't tell you when factions break diplomatic relations with you or when other factions declare war. I was just quickly playing as Saxony, was allied to both Prussia and Austria. Both of them broke their alliance without telling me and a few turns later they declared war. Bit unfair really.

[Retrop Neb]

I don't know how far you got in the game but in my French campaign most major and minor nations have built star forts.

Weird, that NEVER happens to me. I've always got the most up to date mod as well, and I always uninstall before downloading. Then again I'm normally pretty aggressive and capture a lot right from the beginning... my campaigns might not last as long. What month/year in the campaign have you got to?

[Centaure]

Weird, that NEVER happens to me. I've always got the most up to date mod as well, and I always uninstall before downloading. Then again I'm normally pretty aggressive and capture a lot right from the beginning... my campaigns might not last as long. What month/year in the campaign have you got to?

December 1810

[walshbrn]

So this is my first time posting, and I apologize if this is in the wrong spot. I downloaded this mod a few days ago and it seems that every time I start a Prussian campaign my computer crashes. I can get up to turn 3 before it crashes to my desktop. So far I haven't had this problem with Britain or any other country. What should I do?

[MoxPearl]

I also cant seem to disband certain units :/

[airborne guy]

Major bug... When I am sieged by an enemy force, I will move out to attack him and I will win a major victory without losing too many troops. When the battle is over and it goes back to the map screen over half my force disapeers. I have tried this with many factins and the same thing happens to me. Can anyone else confirm this?

[ToxicKilla]

Launcher won't work.
It completely fails to copy any files other than the 4 default ones into the main data folder. I've tried everything I can but it's just not working.

[ToxicKilla]

Launcher won't work.
It completely fails to copy any files other than the 4 default ones into the main data folder. I've tried everything I can but it's just not working.

Never mind, I sorted it.

[airborne guy]

Major bug... When I am sieged by an enemy force, I will move out to attack him and I will win a major victory without losing too many troops. When the battle is over and it goes back to the map screen over half my force disapeers. I have tried this with many factins and the same thing happens to me. Can anyone else confirm this?

Can anyone confirm this

[Ediblemittens]

Gave 2.6 a download after replacing 2.5 (which had strong AI). I had read that the AI was much improved, and I was not disappointing. First battle, I went as Denmark against the Austrians (Outnumbered by roughly 200 men). I decided to play Syrian Ridge to see how the AI would handle a map with heights. My basic strategy was simply to march up and hold the ridge, and see how the enemy would attack.

I was completely blown away. For one, the enemy didn't muddle around with formations. They advanced smartly against my line. Concentrating a large amount of their infantry on their left flank, they managed to overpower my right flank completely, driving them down the ridge with a melee charge. On the other flank, I attempted to move two reserve Musket battalions in a flanking maneuver on the enemy's right (The main enemy line was uncommitted, I might add). The enemy responded with a reserve (!) unit of light infantry to counter me. As soon as the Austrians had turned my flank, the enemy's main line made a push, and the battle was basically over.

Needless to say, I was very impressed. The only issues I might raise are 1.) the enemy still seems a bit hesitant in artillery usage (Although smarter than 2.5, where whether they used their guns was a hit or miss), and 2.) enemy infantry still seems a tad too interested in melee combat

Other than that, I am exceptionally happy with the AI this go round. Nice job Darth.