Comments, Suggestions and Gameplay Issues (v3.0)

[Bardo]

Hello razordan.
The bug that you describe in your first post used to happen often in multiplayer battles, I'm still not sure why, but it was related to the movement of the camera view. We learnt a way to avoid it: after you press start battle button, do not move the camera until you have selected one of your units. For some reason, if you move the camera too fast as soon as you take control of your units, sometimes the screen goes blue, like the sky, and you have to reload.
It never happened to us again since v3.1, and I was hopping it was fixed.

Most factions can recruit new diplomats in their capital, except some factions with unique diplomat models, like mordor or isengard, that can not recruit new ones.

There is no easy way to disable diplomatic scripts between AIs, but they are not very effective if I tell you the truth.
You can try to delete it by editing this file:
...Rome - Total War\alexander\lotrtw\data\scripts\show_me\background_script.txt

and removing the text under this header:

;**********************************************
;scripted DIPLOMACY
;**********************************************

;;;;;;;;;;;; AI vs AI ;;;;;;;;;;;;

[razordan]

yeah i played around with the script file a bit. saving a backup just in case i ever wanted to return to the original script. It works.

The blue screen happened twice in my very first try at the game but since then hasn't showed up since so I guess it sorted it self out.

I was wondering why i couldn't recruit diplomats playing as mordor. is it possible to use the create unit cheat to receive a new one?

I was fighting gandalf about an hour ago, I won (after loosing like 100 some odd orcs) after the battle I had a CTD. the first one of the game for me. I guess next time I load the game i will try the auto resolve for that battle.

[Bardo]

I was wondering why i couldn't recruit diplomats playing as mordor. is it possible to use the create unit cheat to receive a new one?

If I remember right, it is not possible. You'd need the command spawn_army that do not work from the console.

Some people reported crashes in battles against Saruman, I guess related to the elephant based model, or the fireball effect. But Gandalf is an standard general, maybe your crash was related to something else. There are several posts in the forums about crashes just after a battle that we do not know the cause yet.

[razordan]

my medieval 2 game had serious problems with battles. So I am blaming my computer on that. And about the diplomat, I guess i will have to keep him out of the cities and semi safe if i want him around near the end of the game. I am finally advancing and capturing cities. gondor is just streaming with units that kill me when i get close. I bypassed them and went for rohan. lol. Alot easier.

[Kaetan]

why Rohan is not gaining full troops

[Stath's]

Why many units have so low Charge value? For example, many Rohan cavalry units and Warg Riders have charge 3. Isn't it a bit too low?

[Bardo]

I wish I had found the post where I wrote about cavalry charges long time ago, when I had recent knowledge of unit stats... I'll try to sumarize here what I remember.

The main reason is that I find cavalry with high charge values too powerful against infantry, when used properly. However, the AI does not use the cavalry properly, and I found too easy to kill huge armies of AI infantry with a few cavalry, and at same time it was too easy to stop huge armies of AI cavalry with a few infantry.

As you surely know, if you keep the cavalry fighting in melee, they can lose even against cheap infantry, but when you continually retreat and charge again, you can take advantage of the charge bonus to perform damage to the enemy without suffering casualties, because cavalry is almost invulnerable while the charging animation is active. The only effective counter against this tactic is to use units with the "spear" atribute to stop the charges, but this atribute makes those units too powerful against cavalry and too weak against other infantry, and we did not use it in this mod.

In vanilla RTW there is a clear and effective counter against any unit, that can kill such unit without almost casualties. I personally like when differences are more subtle, and it was important for lore reasons that certain units, like elves or dwarves, could stand against enemy cavalry without the need of spear_bonus or other special atributes. Else, elves with spears were useless against other infantry and it made no sense to me.

It is hard to explain with a single reason, it is like explaining why units have lower mass than vanilla rtw units, or higher morale, higher defense, slower movement, etc. All the changes are part of a whole new combat balance, different to any other mod, that we tried to adapt to lotr lore, where armies are formed mainly by infantry, and we tried to adapt the stats to the skills of the AI when possible, and to avoid usual exploits or unbalances from multiplayer games.

You can see it this way: if you increase the charges of the cavalry and keep the rest of stats the same, the cavalry will be overpowered because there is no effective counter against such cavalry in this mod, due to the lack of units with special atributes like "spear" or "phalanx", due to the lower mass of infantry units, and also because most special units like berserkers, chariots, or ents, were tested and balanced against cavalry with the current low charge values.

[Stath's]

I believe i understood. Thank you for your very detailed answer.

[Stath's]

Isengard campaign. Around turn 18, OOTMM betray me and lay siegee to Fangorn camp. Do you have any advice on what to do? Continue to play like this or use Force Diplomacy? Playing Very Hard Campaign, Hard Battles. I have 7 cities on total and was getting ready to attack Edoras and those filthy orcs ruined my good plans...

EDIT: I decided to move their army before they attack me (move-character command). I believe it was better that way, because my alliance with Mordor did not break either. What was strange is that Harad took OSgiliath after attacking Mordor. But after 2 turns or so, they become allies again. So far I like very much the balance of the campaign map. Killing the heroes one by one is also very, very interesting. At first, they were all together into one army, i avoided them and since then, they come one by one with their own small-medium army. There were 2 or 3 big battles that I could lose and that proves the game to be challenging. The units are detailed and beautiful (and there is a plethora of them!) and the custom cities are simply a dream. Taking Edoras reminded me of Dragonsreach in Whiterun. What a fantastic work you have done.

[Stath's]

I want to use move_character with Nazgul Attea (e with 2 dots above it), but it does not work. I found that pressing Alt + Shift and the "L", it makes the e with 2 dots above it, appear, but still the move_character command does not work.
I want to use it, because Mordor is about to betray me and i want to postpone this.


EDIT: It worked finally, the name was Nazgula. I have a smilar problem with another Nazgul now, Nertea i think, i tried all the names Nazgula to Nazgulf, but it did not work. The biggest problem however is that Mordor is determined to betray me. I move their armies and they are slowly gather again around my lands, ready to attack. They do not attack Gondor whatever I do.

[Bardo]

Right, you can find the iternal names of characters in the file names.txt. This is the list for nazguls:

{Nazgula} Nazgul Attëa
{Nazgulb} Nazgul Nelya
{Nazgulc} Nazgul Cantëa
{Nazguld} Nazgul Lemenya
{Nazgule} Nazgul Enquëa
{Nazgulf} Nazgul Otsëa
{Nazgulg} Nazgul Toldëa
{Nazgulh} Nazgul Nertëa

In my experience, AI likes to attack to the player with less money in the treasure. You may try to use the money cheat to give your faction more money than Gondor and Mordor. If you do not use this money, then it is not really a cheat, and the only counter effect is that your characters could gain traits related to money corruption, specially if there is more than 100.000 gold in the treasure.
Please, tell me if you think it worked, because it could be a good alternative to protectorates in order to avoid betrayals from the ai.

The console_command is:

add_money gauls, 50000

The factions:

carthage = gondor
; numidia = numenoreans (HB only)
;
; -------- culture roman = orcs
; romans_julii = mordor
; romans_brutii = isengard
; romans_scipii = orcs rabbles
; spain = mordor second age (HB only)
;
; -------- culture greek = elven
; seleucid = noldor
; macedon = galadhrim
; thrace = silvan elves
; greek_cities = elven alliance (HB only)
;
; -------- culture barbarian = northmen
; gauls = rohan
; germans = free-peoples
; britons = dale
; dacia = dunlendings
;
; -------- culture eastern = men of darkness
; armenia = easterlings
; parthia = southrons
;
; -------- culture egyptian = dwarven
; egypt = dwarven
;

[Stath's]

Thanks for the answer Bardo and sorry for delaying to post. I have tried it and for the first 2-3 turns it seemed that Mordor was taking their armies away, but then sadly they attacked me again. Of course, this may not be a reliable test. Maybe if i had added money with cheats many turns before, maybe they would not attack me. As I see it, at this point of my campaign, Mordor has set me as a target and this cannot change.

EDIT: Nevertheless, I will continue the campaign, as this Mordor attack has made things even more challenging. Of course, since I have moved many of their armies, thins are not so difficult as they used to be.

Maybe 1 of the problems are that there are areas of mine that are listed to their victory conditions?

[Halvar von Flake]

I don't know if it helps but The Last Days offered their modding material for free use...

[Nerazim]

Hmm Seriously there should be alot of changing
Galadhrim and Silvan Elves should be on one Faction and Silvan are red haired
General/Hero Portraits like Thranduil should be changed
Haldir and other elf Heroes have the sword that Elrond has so annoying
Helms Deep Wall should be changed too
Noldor should recruit Noldor units on all of the map since its so hard and useless in the late turns and Rivendell is the only settlement to have level 3 armor why not on Forlond,Harlond and Grey Havens in the Movies or i say the Second Age have superior armor and should be op since the late game all enemy factions will destroy Noldor anhd the Noldor will be useless fighting Mordor,Isengard,Orc Rabbles,Harad,and Rhun so annoying only 3 areas to recruit op units and just weaker on all things or the noldor should recruit on all sea regions and make level 3 armor.
Arnor should be featured here like in Third Age to balance things here
The most annoying thing are allies if i go noldor and conquer on the west side example Beorn(captured by Goblins) will be attacked by Galadhrim or Silvan Elves and or Moria too and sometimes Gondor,Rohan will attack too and Free Peoples

[Infidel144]

Hmm Seriously there should be alot of changing
Galadhrim and Silvan Elves should be on one Faction and Silvan are red haired

What makes you think Silvan Elves are red heads?
Red hair was very rare among Elves.
Per Tolkien, the Silvan Elves should, as with their Sindarin cousins, be mostly (though not completely) dark-haired.

[James the Red]

Wow guys, I just downloaded this mod a few days ago and I'm giving this mod an 'A+'.

I haven't gotten very far with any campaign yet, but from what I have seen I am liking. I always thought the turn based half of the TW games was far more important than the real time battles part and that's a big reason why vanilla TW games never hold my attention for too long and its a large part about why I love EB and other mods. And in this mod, having several turns needed to train units makes me value my units. This makes the strategy map important because, if say you play as Rohan and you lose a few big battles against Isengard than you go from having momentum to playing defensivly while trying to train new forces while Isengard and Wildmen come at you from the north and Mordor stars coming from the east. Its possible to 'lose' in this game and not just "play and expand until you get fed up'.

The different special settlements are a huge benefit, really spices up the sieges. Although a few times Ive noticed that sometimes the enemy wont be able to get onto their seige towers and kinda just fumble around by the towers base.

[the persian Immortal]

any ideas for a new faction!? :/ there's still a place 4 1 or 2 I guess

[Mr_Nygren]

There is one issue in the game that i have stumbled upon!!!

You can click on a settlement and then click on the icon "view settlement in the battlemap" or similiar text. When you click the icon you will get to see the settlement in peacetime with civilians and soldiers walking around peacefully.

But the issue is the sound in this peacetime battlemap is RTW sound, and not LOTR.

[StrangerGamer]

hey guys, can I just day first how much I love this mod. I was also enjoying the fellowship campaign as the free peoples. I managed to make it to mordor but then - Hundreds of Orcs guarding the plains of Gorgoroth and I made it to Doom and waited a turn. But i was then attacked during the end turn phase. When I retreated as Frodo he died and the ring fell to the Enemy. Is there any way to introduce a new script for maybe Gondor or any 'Good' faction to draw out Sauron's armies as in the movies? Because the Quest of the Ring for me is impossible.

Furthermore, I positioned Strider, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf and Boromir (He survived the fight at Rauros) at Dunharrow to acquire the Army of the Dead (again as the free peoples). But then as I ended the turn Rohan completely turned on me and attacked. After a Spartan defence my heroes were lost. Is there any way of forcing the 'Good' factions to remain good untill the destruction of evil? I am aware of the script that makes peace between them after each turn but this happened DURING an end turn and so the script could not prevent it. Otherwise I love this mod and I play it a lot

[StrangerGamer]

Oh and one more thing (Sorry! ) When Gandalf the Grey dies, and sacrifices himself to kill the Balrog, the free peoples are without a diplomat of any kind, any way of fixing that?

Also the backstabbing problem isnt just with Rohan, the Elves attacked the Dwarves and Harad and Mordor are having a massive brawl too.