Empire Realism - Feedback and General Discussion

[King Utopus]

I too, recently downloaded this mod and enjoyed it greatly. There is a great overall balance to the game, the orange menace has been bought under control and the diplomacy is a vast improvement over the virtually broken vanilla. You can actually turtle to develop colonies whilst balancing war and diplomacy which is what I had hoped for when I initially bought this game. That said, there is still a "get the human player" mentality amongst the AI particularly noticeable when playing the Ottoman campaign (I play vh/vh), the European factions show little or no interest in the Indian subcontinent, and the AI does make some questionable decisions now and then. (Leaving 1st rate ships of the line on trade nodes whilst home ports are burnt with impunity and leaving capitals virtually unguarded seemingly conspiring in their own demise - problems that particularly afflict the minor factions.)

If I may make a suggestion for the future of this mod (other than improving the above in so far as this can be done) I would argue that Denmark and Portugal should be fully playable factions with major faction status and/or improved AI behavior. Aside from the fact that these factions are and were considered the equals of some factions who currently enjoy the status of "major", they could and should act as buffers to the advances of states such as Spain and Sweden who can otherwise expand almost unopposed. I find it rather immersion breaking to see these factions treated as little better than banana republics and I hate having to send troops to defend them because they are unable and/or unwilling to defend themselves. It would also be fun to play as these factions because they offer unique strategic opportunities and challenges.

[JaM]

thanks for feedback, i'll see what can be done

[demagogos nicator]

If I may make a suggestion for the future of this mod (other than improving the above in so far as this can be done) I would argue that Denmark and Portugal should be fully playable factions with major faction status and/or improved AI behavior. Aside from the fact that these factions are and were considered the equals of some factions who currently enjoy the status of "major", they could and should act as buffers to the advances of states such as Spain and Sweden who can otherwise expand almost unopposed. I find it rather immersion breaking to see these factions treated as little better than banana republics and I hate having to send troops to defend them because they are unable and/or unwilling to defend themselves. It would also be fun to play as these factions because they offer unique strategic opportunities and challenges.

I am secunding this.

[JaM]

problem with India is quite simple and relatively hard to fix. there is no value that could influence Major European factions to go there, as there is just a local and global importance values, while increasing global, gives importance to both america and india regions, but at the same time makes that faction far less interested in situation in Europe, which might be quite bad for factions like France who can lose any interest defending France and instead focus on Canada or some sea invasion in India.. so with this in mind i had to adjust the AI to focus on local regions, instead of ignoring it.

With Portugal and Denmark, situation is a bit problematic. these countries dont have own units, which means to enable them i will need to add multiple custom made units so they could have proper playable roster. It is something i might consider in the future, but not sure when it will be added.

[King Utopus]

problem with India is quite simple and relatively hard to fix. there is no value that could influence Major European factions to go there, as there is just a local and global importance values, while increasing global, gives importance to both america and india regions, but at the same time makes that faction far less interested in situation in Europe, which might be quite bad for factions like France who can lose any interest defending France and instead focus on Canada or some sea invasion in India.. so with this in mind i had to adjust the AI to focus on local regions, instead of ignoring it.

If this is true then the current balance is fine because I have seen both Britain and France transport troops from the home region to aid their expansion in the colonies numerous times and only once to the detriment of their interests at home. I have also just witnessed Britain capture Carnatica so clearly the current AI is capable of expanding to India however rare. I guess we will simply have to accept that there will be no great competition for India as the price for a balanced AI focus.

With Portugal and Denmark, situation is a bit problematic. these countries dont have own units, which means to enable them i will need to add multiple custom made units so they could have proper playable roster. It is something i might consider in the future, but not sure when it will be added.

Given how much work that would require it is entirely understandable why that must be put aside for the foreseeable future but I am glad you appreciate why making these factions playable/major would make this mod more immersive. As a more immediate measure, might it be possible to improve minor faction behavior particularly for these two factions? Often it seems as if they lack a survival instinct (which should the first principle for any minor faction) making them easy prey for the more active and "driven" major factions.

[JaM]

yes, that can be done a bit more easier, i will create separate behavior definitions for these, but it will be not save game compatible (unless you edit your savegames and assign new definitions to them there)

[Marcus Vitruvius]

JaM, in the next release do you think you could make the thirteen colonies be actual British territory?

[JaM]

13 colonies is given to Britain via mission, you just need to conquer few isles first, mostly from pirates.

[Destin Faroda]

Don't forget to vote for JaM and his realism mods. The election phase for the 2013 modding awards has recently started and it only lasts 14 days.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forum...Modding-Awards

[JaM]

i guess its 2015? but thanks

[MR.Buttons]

any progress on the new version

[totalwar258]

Well, I hope this is answered, but it looks like this forum is pretty dead.

Just installed the Realism 4.7 mod, all the effects are good, can even play battles, construct buildings, etc. However I have a problem, every time I try to save the game, the whole game crashes to desktop, and it actually DELETES the save file.

Any fixes for this? This thread is 50 some pages long, lol.

[totalwar258]

ADDITION:

In addition to aforementioned problem, I can't even end my turn as well. Everything else is good though, moving units, battles, etc.

[JaM]

strange, but it is not the mod issue. most likely you need to reinstall the game or something.

[totalwar258]

Hmm, when I uninstall the realism mod though, the game runs perfectly. Can change turns and save and everything else.

Thank you, anyone else have any ideas? I'm only semi-computer literate so if I have to move around files and such, I'll probably ask a couple questions.

[gallandro]

May be you have other mods and they are in conflict. If you use Steam version, you can make simple experiment - Rename your Empire Total War folder and reinstall the game (Properties->Local Files->Verifay Integrity Of Game Chache), then install the mad and try again. You can easaly reverse changes by deleting new game folder and rename back the old one. You can even keep two verions and start the exe file from the renamed folder or make shortcut on the desktop or in Steam (Add a Non-Steam game).

[Eagle Beak]

I am relatively new to the Empire and Napoleon Total War games (Medieval II has most of my experience) but as soon as I stared played Empire Total War, I realized that it was lacking in realism and attention to historical accuracy, and that modding was the only way I would be happy playing it.

At first Empire Realism looked like the answer. (I was also looking for a mod with a realistic Georgia faction, and though I found a post claiming there to be one, I assume it no longer exists: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...Georgian-Units). However, I've played it for a couple hours now (only custom land battles, I only test the campaign if the battles are worthy), and I have some serious problems with it.

Now, I've read the FAQ, and I understand the theory behind the 3 to 1 distance ratio, and the increased moral factor, and I was excited to start playing because it sounded like it would play much more realistic. However, my very first match, 1 vs 1 for just 2 units of line infantry, and both units ran out of ammunition without killing a casualty. So I moved then closer, 10 feet apart. This time, after about 15 minutes of shooting, one of the units lost 2 men and began routing . . .

I'm sorry, that just does not cut it for me. Please, if you disagree with me, feel free to confront me and defend this mod. But until someone point out the practically of some of the seemingly ridiculous mechanics, I just can't play it.

[Mjarr]

Did you give proper experience to the units in that test for the sake of testing? I did the same just now with xp1 British line infantry vs French line infantry in both early and late periods from bit under max range, and only difference was that later period ones inflicted slightly more casualties in the first few shots, going down from max headcount to roughly 190 before it slowed down as both units lost cohesion and scored maybe one or two per couple of volleys on in-game terms. In every other case they were fairly equal in terms of casualties, and by the time they were just past halfway with ammunition my French broke with 141 heads remaining while the British one was wavering with 138 heads remaining. I recommend trying max fund battle (both late and early are fine) with at least 2\3 stack filled with proper experience, since individual test that may or may not have been missing proper experience gives outright bizarre results.

[JaM]

not really bizarre, just 0exp really means men with no experience whatsoever... and such men would be quite ineffective to use weapons in a formation. exp 1 represents trained men, exp 2 represents regularly trained infantry, and exp 3 covers well trained men. exp 4-6 goes for veterans or elite units. so putting 0exp cannon fodder units against each other just proves what i wanted to achieve. Try the same thing with 3exp vs unit of 0 exp and you will see drastically different results..

[Mjarr]

not really bizarre

Actually they can be somewhat bizarre since sometimes, I assume due ETW engine quirks xp4+ unit misses entire volley against infantry from in-game distance of ~10 whereas from max range they score few casualties. Infrequent moments no doubt, but I have seen it happen once in a while.