Third Age: Total War Let's Plays (MOS & D&C!)

**OseronPhaer** · August 27, 2014, 11:21 AM

So, I've been doing these games pretty much since I've started my channel and I figured it was about time I posted them up here. Third Age: Total War is easily one of the best mods I've ever played (addendum: number 3,actually, according to my top 5 mods list). Thus, it is the primary game to appear on my YouTube channel for much of its two year history.

So far I've done the following:

The Silvan Elves (Massive Overhaul Submod 1.5) - This is the first game I tried when I started the channel. Unfortunately, the game broke towards the end and so was never completed. Generally the video quality is poor, but it's fun to see how bad I was in the beginning of everything.

The Elves of Lindon (Divide and Conquer) - This is the second game and one of two I've (more or less) completed. It was also my first proper game with DaC, so it was a relatively new experience for me. I would argue it is probably my best LP so far, though it did go on rather long.

The Orcs of Gundabad (MOS 1.6) – A short, aborted attempt at playing an evil faction. There's a lot of rage and confusion as I attempt to figure out how to work an evil faction... before realizing I'm totally outmatched by the dwarves encroaching on my territory.

The Kingdom of Arnor (MOS 1.6) – My second favorite playthrough, done after I finally read The Silmarillion. I feel this is the first game where I'm completely engaged and totally committed not just to the gameplay itself, but to the underlying lore and implications therein. It's, technically, still unfinished, though I have no clue when I'll actually complete it.

The Orocarni Dwarves (PCP/Dagor Ennor) – A short attempt at playing the PCP mod. Ended early due to stability issues. Disappointing, because the mod looked very promising.

The Silvan Elves 2 (MOS 1.7) – My recent attempt to complete the Silvan Elves again...which once again exploded in my face. This time, it was caused by issues I have with balancing in the new version of MOS. Despite frequent requests to return to this one, I will not be to avoid the constant frustration it caused me.

Thranduil's Realm (Divide and Conquer .5) – My newest and current LP, I'm tackling the new version of DaC with my favorite faction. Hopefully it goes better than the last one.

Additionally, I've dabbled in the Rise of Three Kingdoms mod for Medieval II and DarthMod: Shogun 2, for any fans of those out there.

Thanks for checking out my videos and I hope you'll stick around!

**OseronPhaer** · August 27, 2014, 11:26 AM

So...I just spent time making this post look all neat, published it and now it looks crappy.

And I can't edit it, to boot. :/

**insolent1** · August 27, 2014, 01:04 PM

You need 25 posts before you can edit posts.

I watched one of the OoG vids, the rage one

One of the best things you can do is play on a smaller unit size as even though it makes the battles look less spectacular, unit movement, cohesion work much better. M2TW was designed with normal unit size in mind so all maps work much better with this unit size.
RTW was better in this regard as large and huge worked almost aswell as normal(cities and walls where better laid out).
Playing with the normal unit size also allows for more tatical flexibility as units can fit through gaps instead of just been huge melee blobs.

**OseronPhaer** · August 27, 2014, 05:31 PM

Originally Posted by insolent1

You need 25 posts before you can edit posts.

...Dammit.

So, my assessment of the funky unit movement was correct (I did it several episodes before). I know it's less of a concern with the good factions because they move in tighter formations, but I may consider down-scaling if I return to evil. Thanks!

**insolent1** · August 28, 2014, 06:36 AM

There is an entry for some units in export_desc_unit "disciplined", "highly trained"

This plays a role in unit cohesion. I don't think any of the orc units have this although I think some of the urak-hai have this.

In the OoG campaign you where playing MOS which has some very interesting stats for some units, mostly the elf units. Have a look at the above mentioned file(if you are going to edit it use notepad++ and always make a copy of the original) and you will find entries for the eldar nobles, they get some interesting bonus. The elf bodgyguard is one of the strongest units in the game.

I'll point out a few other things I noticed, Fatigue, while you took your time setting up you probably should have waited for awhile till all your units where fresh, fatigue lowers the stats & morale of units.
You also had multiple units engaging a single unit, this just tires your units while achieving nothing, it won't speed up the kill rate as only so many troops can engage at a time.

Elevation, this gives bonus to the unit that is higher up, it used to be a pretty big bonus in mtw and stw but I think it was toned down for rtw and m2tw.

The AI is very good at "charging", it dosen't always pick the best unit to charge against or the best time to charge but when it does charge it almost always lands its charge.
This is something that can be a bit hit or miss for a player as we don't always know the optimal charge distance and there can be other factors involved. So when facing AI controlled cavalry they show be one of your primary concerns.
There are ways to dissipaite the charge, playing against the AI you should have seen one of the ways to do this.
When you see a cavalry unit charging one of your units if you time it right you can make the unit run away/skirmish, if you watch carefully and get the timing right you will see the AI cavalry unit switch from "charging" to "pursuing", this means they will not have their charge bonus.

**OseronPhaer** · August 30, 2014, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by insolent1

I'll point out a few other things I noticed, Fatigue, while you took your time setting up you probably should have waited for awhile till all your units where fresh, fatigue lowers the stats & morale of units.
You also had multiple units engaging a single unit, this just tires your units while achieving nothing, it won't speed up the kill rate as only so many troops can engage at a time.

Elevation, this gives bonus to the unit that is higher up, it used to be a pretty big bonus in mtw and stw but I think it was toned down for rtw and m2tw.

The AI is very good at "charging", it dosen't always pick the best unit to charge against or the best time to charge but when it does charge it almost always lands its charge.
This is something that can be a bit hit or miss for a player as we don't always know the optimal charge distance and there can be other factors involved. So when facing AI controlled cavalry they show be one of your primary concerns.
There are ways to dissipaite the charge, playing against the AI you should have seen one of the ways to do this.
When you see a cavalry unit charging one of your units if you time it right you can make the unit run away/skirmish, if you watch carefully and get the timing right you will see the AI cavalry unit switch from "charging" to "pursuing", this means they will not have their charge bonus.

Honestly, the only reason I didn't wait around on the fatigue was that I didn't know how long it would take to recover, given that it took so much time to march up to begin with. SUppose I was rather impatient.

That cavalry tip though...that one I'm going to take to heart. That will prove useful for the rest of my let's plays.

**OseronPhaer** · February 19, 2015, 09:57 PM

Oh, hey, I forgot I made this thread (well, more like it was in the back of my mind).

Regardless, after that comical disaster that was the Orcs of Gundabad, I'm at it again, this time as the Free Peoples of Eriador. And I'm having a blast:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...LGWi_tXa3oKPSh

**OseronPhaer** · July 17, 2015, 09:27 PM

I still don't have enough posts to actually edit the first post, but that is no matter.

So, the Kingdom of Arnor is complete...ish. I still have the previous version of MOS installed and will probably go back to it from time to time.

However, it is time I moved on! Specifically to the PCP submod (well, Dagor Ennor now, I suppose) as I play as the Orocarni Dwarves! So drop on by, watch, and...stuff. I don't know.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...7g_MRuXonm3szu

**Ngugi** · July 24, 2015, 03:31 AM

If you want the etxt of the OP changed, just PM it to me and I'll handle it

**Ngugi** · December 08, 2015, 06:38 PM

Nice list of LPs, hope to see you make a series of DCI one day

Will spec' the Arnor campaign

**OseronPhaer** · December 08, 2015, 07:28 PM

In other news, thanks to Ngugi, the first post no longer looks like garbage and I have a new playthrough to announce!

Today, I begin the War of the Ring once again, this time as Thranduil's Realm in Divide and Conquer! Join me as I fail to realize how the game has been tweaked and inadvertently plunge myself into debt for five turns!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQNF...5lazlM&index=1

Thanks for watching!

**OseronPhaer** · December 08, 2015, 09:12 PM

In other news, thanks to Ngugi, the first post no longer looks like garbage and I have a new playthrough to announce!

Today, I begin the War of the Ring once again, this time as Thranduil's Realm in Divide and Conquer! Join me as I fail to realize how the game has been tweaked and inadvertently plunge myself into debt for five turns!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQNF...5lazlM&index=1

Thanks for watching!