Ideas thread?

[cherryfunk]

I said that it affects gameplay in ridiculously complicated and strange ways. Unit recruitment, army movement, economy balance, diplomacy etc. It is not broken or sth, but it doesn't function as a bunch of really independent states would; it's just how the engine works. AI manages the faction as an entirety, it doesn't schedule according to specific cities.

It seems, from the player's perspective, to be several minor uncoordinated factions, doesn't it?

[Aradan]

Not to me, at least. What I see is a completely uncoordinated faction. Anyway, perhaps that's a matter of personal point of view...

[cherryfunk]

What I see is a completely uncoordinated faction.

Which would be an apt description of a loose confederation of Elvish or Dwarvish settlements, no? The books are full of examples of these communities aiding each other; they were clearly in contact, and felt themselves part of a commonwealth, but were simply too small and isolated to help each other very often. Wouldn't such a dispersed faction be the perfect way to represent this?

[Aradan]

This is probably the way it's going to be done anyway.

The thing is that with RTW's AI it's almost certain those dispersed factions will start stupid wars with every neighbour; and since they will have so many of them they will start with everybody and will soon die.

So there is a slight possibility that we will end up with only each faction's core settlements being under their rule at the start and have the rest of the settlements as rebels or, if they are very small and nearly insignificant from an army/population/power point of view (for example Lothlorien that was abandoned or Imladris that had extremely few inhabitants by that time), as landmarks/wonders on the map. That's actually for campaign balance to show. Because right now I can't decide what I'd hate more, Elves fighting with Arnor/RK in an idiotic war over Rivendell or Elves fighting Elven rebels to capture the settlement...

What would you prefer?

[cherryfunk]

The thing is that with RTW's AI it's almost certain those dispersed factions will start stupid wars with every neighbour; and since they will have so many of them they will start with everybody and will soon die.

I'm not sure, in XGM they tend to mind their own business and only react to agression. Also, the XGM environment is so full of conflict that these semi-neutral cities are less likely to be targers for the bigger factions, in part because they're well garrisoned. Maybe it's a question of setting up alliances at the campaign start, and how much money they have?

Because right now I can't decide what I'd hate more, Elves fighting with Arnor/RK in an idiotic war over Rivendell or Elves fighting Elven rebels to capture the settlement...

Well, it depends on how much 'devolution' you want to depict. The rise of the new Shadow suggests that considerable time has elapsed, and the old ties may be fraying. Don't forget the animosity that the Rhohirim felt towards Lorien. And if Gondor has begun to lose sight of its glorious past, it makes sense that Arnor would have done so to a greater extent. So a campaign by Arnor to capture the Gray Havens in order to bring those haughty elves into the warm and righteous embrace of Men would be understandable I think.

But any such conflict could at least be delayed a long time by the way you set the map up and by having alliances in place. And I think the benefit of say a Free Elves, Free Dwarves and Orcish factions -- with each having 3-5 regions scattered all over the map -- would outweigh any implausible racial conflicts. Which I'mnot convinced would really be that implausible -- I think it would make sense that the Elves and Dwarves would retreat more into themselves -- and the humans become more distrustful of them as a result.

Ultimately you either have to depict a glorious future Middle Earth where the Reunited Kingdom is a shining beacon of peace and nobility, or a strife-ridden future Middle Earth where alliances are breaking down and conflict flaring up again all over. Obviously the second is going to make a much more enjoyable campaign, and frankly is the only possibility given the engine's rather limited AI.

[Aradan]

Believe me when I say campaign balance needs far more than the starting faction relationships and treasury. You wouldn't believe the number of factors that come into play...

Well, I'd certainly go for a strife-ridden Middle-earth, where all alliances are tested and war is a constant threat. Indeed the game's diplomacy and AI (this one deserves a lol) doesn't allow for more than just that: Total War. We will however (and already have in the coming patch) try as hard as it gets to keep things reasonable, ie not frequent wars between good factions.

[monkeyman]

even if the orcs couldn't win couldn't it still be a logical way to represent them more often in the game. also could you give me a link or place i could find the lore?

[Aradan]

Primary source of lore are the books, letters etc by prof. Tolkien. Then we use essays by other authors etc. But it's a hard work to cross examine and find definite answers if you're not experiened in doing that. An easier way is to visit some sites that have quite a lot of info. Try those:
Annals of Arda
Thain's Book
Encyclopedia of Arda

[I Am Herenow]

All the building & unit pictures (UI cards or whatever they're called) in the Campaign map are grainy - the quality is v. low and you can see individual pixels. If this is something to do with my PC and not the mod, please advise as to how to fix it!

Also, the minimap in the Campaign Map is also very big and therefore of low quality.

[Aradan]

Hmm, I have definitely never heard such a complaint before and never seen any low-res images. They all use the vanilla resolution, bar 2-3 which use higher and are therefore resized by the game itself... It must be sth at your end. What resolution do you use?

[I Am Herenow]

1280 x 1024 I think

[Aradan]

Hmm, that doesn't make sense. Everything should be alright... Do you get the same effect with other mods you use or with vanilla?

[I Am Herenow]

Nope, only FATW

[Aradan]

Well the images are perfectly fine, so I'm out of ideas. Perhaps the installation was somehow corrupted... Try to download again, uninstall and reinstall. let us know if the problem persists.

[Mangerman]

I have got the same problem as 'I am Herenow', but for me it isn't really a FATW specific problem, more of RTW problem. I have got the grainy UI cards on vanilla and every other mod for RTW I ever played. It's only on 1280*1024 resolution and I've tried it on multiple pc's, they all have the same problem.

[MasterOfNone]

That's my resolution and I have no problems - can you give a screenshot (either of you)?

Is this a problem with your settings? Do all games look grainy? Are your graphic cards less than a couple of years old?

[Schwarzenegger]

I'm not sure if it has been mentioned, search didn't provide any results (but we all know how search function aren't as effective as we would want them to)
I'm playing dunland and I find that the text for the date and money in the treasury does not stand out very well from the UI. I have to actually look at it to see how much money I have, I can't just glance over it.

If no one else is having this problem, it may be my brightness settings

[Aradan]

I'd say this is a barbarian UI thing. We'll take a look at it. Thx for the feedback!

yes, a screenshot with the grainy images would be helpful.

[Mangerman]

Ok, here is the screenies:

1024*768




1280*1024



As you can see, the UI on the 1280*1024 one looks grainy. All my settings are maxed out. I tried changing my AA, with no effect.
But as I said, I have this problem with vanilla RTW + BI too.

[TNZ]

An idea for making positions of office like these inheritable: Prince of Dol Amroth, Prince of Ithilien, Steward of Gondor and Lord of Emyn Arnen: