[STIM] Silven Total Improvement Mod [Version 4.0] - DOWNLOAD HERE - Updated September 28th 2014

[jpinard]

Silven - I almost didn't click this thread and holy cow am I glad I did! Your mod is about the exact thing I've been looking for. I am downloading it right now, but have a few questions before I begin.

* Does your mod basically incorporate the changes that close combat does, wherein units do not bunch together so much and you can see more unit animations? "Better staged battles" as the nice Russkie put it?
* Could you also remove fiery spears? I so hate that in my current games. With the amount of fire used in every battle it seems all of Europe should be burnt to the ground.
* Could you ask to have the campaign camera mode (zoom out) included? That just seems like a default mod everyone should have regardless of anything else.
* I think it would make sense to have your mod be standardized with 2 turns per year as a default. Can you do that please?
* Likewise, can you halve the distance troops can move on land/sea? This would increase the # of open field battles. If you think a 50% cut in travel distance is too much, maybe decrease it by 25% or 33%?
* Also can you make a version that is mod manager compatible? I have just your mod that doesn't use it and now sure to sync them all.
For example using:
* 2 turns per years
* Fire at wil
* Radious Graphics Mod
* Your mod

Thanks a ton. Just by your description and thought process I can see we're on the exact same wavelength

[Jeebum]

After a short test I think the missile infantry should not have those reduced accuracy penalties in the short range. They became way too effective for my taste, especially in the siege battles where they can easily obliterate attacking units from the walls.

Also the javelin range seems a lot. The Greek athletics of that era seem to have been able to throw somewhat over 60 meters (http://www.academia.edu/2631534/Recr...Javelin_Thrown) and seems unlikely that a soldier throwing several javelins in a combat situation would have similar range. I'm not sure what was the vanilla range, but I would advise to tone it down a bit.

[Silven]

What? Throwing on the charge is so stupid and unrealistic; how can hundreds of men throw their Javelins while charging full speed, perfectly in synchronization, and not hit each other? I mean, it just looks really bad and in no way comapres to Roman units holding formation and throwing their pillum both offensively or defensively - which is major - whereas the charge only allow you to use it (poorly) in an offensive charge.

Disappointing to hear it won't be in this mod then.

I like the idea behind the mod, and I personally tested it to give it a fair judgement. The problem with his mod, is that it breaks one of my golden rules, and that's that it breaks gameplay in its current implementation. The AI doesn't know how to use it correctly, and you end up getting AI units charging your units, STOPPING right in front of them, slowly trying to get rid of all their ammo in pieces, and THEN charging into melee with weapons drawn.

You might argue that throwing pila at full charge isn't realistic, but neither is a unit charging at full speed to within 10 meters of the enemy to stop and lose all that momentum, take aim, throw pila at a standstill, and then start charging again. Its a matter of picking the lesser of 2 evils, and if you would really like his mod merged with mine, he does provide instructions on his page to do this. You are more than welcome to merge our 2 mods for yourself if you like.

@jpinard
-our changes are similiar, but not the same. you will see MUCH less blobbing than in vanilla with my mod.
-fire spears are already removed from the game with this mod.
-Spelnyi's camera mod is completely compatible with mine. There's no need to merge them as downloading and installing his mod takes 20 seconds, and it gives people options and more compatibility.
-again, this is intended to be optional. not everyone likes 2 or 4 tpy. completely compatible, takes 20 seconds to install. i may start including the optional file in my download though.
-very unlikely that I will modify campaign movement distances. it would only worsen the current problem of AI abusing Forced March all the time.
-making a mod manager compatible version would be easy enough. I'll get around to it eventually. You can always use the PFM to make this conversion yourself in the meantime.

@jeebum
javelin ranges are at 80 (which is the vanilla value btw) for balance purposes. Making it any less would severely nerf them in the face of other ranged units and fast melee units.

[Jackal2233]

Silven, btw I just played around with the projectile tables some more. I increased the damage output of the archers to around 40, but with AP damage to 1 or 2, javelins to around 20-30, but with AP damage largely intact, and slingers to 10-20, but with AP damage around 3-4.

Then I tested the missile fire against legionaries in Testudo formation, at range, legionaries take no casualties, but at mid and especially short range the damage will then show. Then I tested the missile fire against normal troops, and it's no longer nerfed. Try out those above settings, personally I believe I found a certain balance, but that's just my taste.

[whitewolfmxc]

If you can find a way to "fix" naval units when set to X 1.5 OR 2 in the game not having 2 ships (someone already did that in the mod workshop) and NOT have the bug that goes with it (a certain amount of men will get "stuck" on the ship and you cant see them as well and the men on board will behave weird as well) id play the F out of this mod XD

[deguerra]

I like the idea behind the mod, and I personally tested it to give it a fair judgement. The problem with his mod, is that it breaks one of my golden rules, and that's that it breaks gameplay in its current implementation. The AI doesn't know how to use it correctly, and you end up getting AI units charging your units, STOPPING right in front of them, slowly trying to get rid of all their ammo in pieces, and THEN charging into melee with weapons drawn.

I approve. I'd love to see this implemented in game, but not if it just ends up breaking more.

[Defensore]

Enjoying my campaing so far, though I can't say I have seen that many brilliant moments from the AI (not your fault, vanilla problem, I know).

One thing I'd like to propose: increase the charging speed of units (running and walking I'm content with)

Why? Well, why not? I do understand soldiers would'nt charge at a 100 m sprint speed, but it seems to me that current values might be a tad too low.

[TarasLitvin]

Glad to see the mod is progressing

[Jeebum]

@jeebum
javelin ranges are at 80 (which is the vanilla value btw) for balance purposes. Making it any less would severely nerf them in the face of other ranged units and fast melee units.

Oh okay, it just read on the first page that all ranges were increased so I thought javelin as well. Anyway, could you address what I said about the reduction of accuracy penalties at close range? I think missile unit shouldn't be that lethal at close range.

Thank you for the mod!

[Hjalfnar_Feuerwolf]

Could you eventually reimplement the cavalry formations? I don't think they are complete crap as they seemed to be balanced.

[Croesus]

As a few of you noted, this is indeed a problem present in vanilla. It seems that the problem wasn't as noticable before because kill rates were already on turbo speed no matter what the situation was, so you wouldn't have noticed it as much. Now that I've dramatically reduced kill rates for standard face to face combat, the kill rates for face to back combat didn't change for some reason. I started rummaging around in the tables and I've found 3 or 4 very promising potential solutions. When I find the fix, expect to see it in Version 1.3.

The problem I'm having is not so much that my cavalry is getting shredded when they disengage, but that they completely ignore the order to do so. I also have issues, especially with skirmishers, where I will command them to march or run one direction, and they'll charge the complete opposite direction. My skirmishers will even sometimes forego their ranged attacks and charge into melee instead of running away. I guess I was hoping there was a value somewhere for how responsive/obedient/disciplined they are.

[jpinard]

Silven - Excellent, I switched it. Had no idea it was that easy.

I love your golden rule too. You've got great foresight. Been giving you rep for this

[jpinard]

Silven - Excellent, I switched it. Had no idea it was that easy.

I love your golden rule too. You've got great foresight. Been giving you rep for this

[jpinard]

Silven - Do you know if we can still get achievements when we use mod manager or pack file mods?

[wrcromartie]

@JPinard - I believe you do still get achievements, as I had an achievement or two trigger while I had mods enabled.

[Silven]

-----Version 1.3 has been released!!!!!------

-Playing With 1.5x Unit Sizes is now available as an option!

After some testing, I decided that this is the biggest option I'm going to allow. 2x unit sizes just cause way too many problems, not too mention its twice as much work to maintain that many variants of the mod. From what I could tell, everything worked bug free with 1.5x. Naval battles, coastal battles, they all seemed fine, but I didn't do extensive testing. Personally I really don't enjoy playing with such large unit sizes, and I wouldn't even recommend it, but there were many requests so its available as an option. But I'll need those of you using it to provide any bug reports or problems that you might come across.

-Major improvements made to Cavalry.

Cavalry have received the overhaul they desperately needed! A complete rework of the way Charge Damage is calculated was done. Diversity in charge values are present in all mounted units now. All Cavalry now have potential for dangerous charge damage, especially if performed to a flank or exposed rear. BEWARE Shock/Lancer Cav! Bringing spear units to the field and putting them in the right places is truly important now, as cav left unchecked will wreck havoc. Holding enemy units locked in a brawl with your own units and then swinging cavalry around to flank is truly a satisfying sight to behold now. However, you need to be sure that the cav you're sending in will be able to either finish the job, or manage their own in melee, as cav caught in a prolonged fight are vulnerable, especially against spears and pikes.

Sidenote: after talking with a few other modders I've discovered that the bug that causes extreme casualties when attempting to disengage your units is a new one with no solution in sight. This is something CA put in place to counter an exploit that was occuring in Shogun 2, and it seems they made a knee-jerk reaction and completely broke the ability to tactically disengage. I've searched high and low, this is truly something that only CA can fix.

-Nearly All Formations given bracing and defensive buffs in response to these deadly new cavalry.

Make sure you're paying attention to any formations that the AI might be using, and make use of them yourself, or you might find yourself asking why you just got pwnd.

-Hoplite Phalanx and Shield Wall now behave in the same way as Pike Phalanx and Attacking Testudo.

What this means, is that if you give your unit an attack or move order, and then tell them to assume their respective formation, they will continue to follow the order you just gave them while moving into their new formation at the same time, instead of stopping dead in their tracks and then dropping formation as soon as you give them the order again. Note, if you give them a double-click attack order AFTER assuming formation, they will still drop the formation, as these formations are not meant to be used while running.

-Morale Fine-tuning made to some missile units.

There were a few missile units with morale values that were a bit too high. They've been normalized a little more and the higher quality missile units should break a little sooner.

-Charge Speeds adjusted in all infantry.

Very minor boost to heavier infantry, minor boost to lighter infantry.

-All Pila-Equipped Infantry had their ammo count reduced from 2 down to 1.
-2 Turns Per Year and 4 Turns Per Year is now an optional file included in the download. I recommend 2tpy for best balance.


I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that has downloaded my Mod and provided feedback. I didn't expect it to get this popular. Seeing as I've broken 10,000 views of the thread, this seems like a good time to try and make things look a little more shiny. If there are any artists out there that would be willing to make a Thread Header Banner and sig banner for me, I'd be forever grateful.

I'll be on vacation until Monday afternoon, have a great weekend everyone.

[jpinard]

Silven - Do you know if we can still get achievements when we use mod manager or pack file mods?

Also, I am getting obliterated in battle. The enemy archers are just brutal. I think maybe fire arrows need to be made less accurate. We may have lines of soldiers clashing just 4 people deep each, yet the enemy archers are still setting only my units ablaze at miraculous distances. Although it could just be that I suck. (this is v1.2)

[Vinicam]

\o/

I'll make sure you have some feedback from my part by Monday. It's sad the cavalry casualties can't be modded yet.

[Vinicam]

Silven - Do you know if we can still get achievements when we use mod manager or pack file mods?

Also, I am getting obliterated in battle. The enemy archers are just brutal. I think maybe fire arrows need to be made less accurate. We may have lines of soldiers clashing just 4 people deep each, yet the enemy archers are still setting only my units ablaze at miraculous distances.

I think the archers are ok.. Maybe the infantry you're using has low armor? Anyway you should be trying to avoid getting fired for too long by skirmishers. Flank them!

[Jeebum]

How much did you reduce the unit walking speeds? They seem a tad bit too slow. Have to speed up the timer in quite many battles before encounter. I think Radious had unit speed quite well balanced (20-30% reductions across the board depending on the unit).