Subjective feedback

**tone** · March 30, 2009, 12:51 PM

It'd be good to get some subjective feedback from our beta testing team. There's loads of threads here dealing with problems, errors, etc, etc. What I/we'd like to know though is how does RS2 feel at the moment? What's good so far? What would you like to see improved? It'd be good to find out your impressions so far.

**King Nud** · March 30, 2009, 01:23 PM

the UI is amazing so is the music and te skins. I think the gam feels almost right (balance wise)
None of the factions are too easy, they are all very challenging. THis was a major flw in vanilla. THe Seluecids especially are challenging, as at the start of my campaigns i must cut loose some regions to keep money in and to be able to repel the amazingly aggresive ptolemies.

TOnce the units are balanced i'm guessing that will be easier to handle. Otherwise

**Agisilaos** · March 30, 2009, 01:45 PM

i have not played as many turns like the other guys so i will write about how does it feel until 548 AUC. MACEDON and INDEPENDENT GREEK CITIES attacked me and since i destroyed the macs and had ceasefire with IGC no one has dared to attack me. i attacked Romans while Free People just protect their lands but do not invade me. i am allied with most of the rest factions besides ptolemaics, seleucids, attalids and 1-2 more so maybe that is a reason they do not attack me. so far some factions have not improved a lot by conquering free people lands. perhaps it will improve in the next turns. otherwise it is a great feeling to play with this beta. i really enjoy it a lot! huge variety of units and buildings, great historical research you have done and the units are by far the best in any rtw mod! i am impressed

edit: i played 4 more turns and free people started to appear in a few regions i control

**Kátz** · March 30, 2009, 08:22 PM

Time to give feedbacks about the Battle of Raphia.

I have many screenshots for the battle though. The AI is at least not as retarded as before. Quite a good job. I divide my force in 3 as before. I need to defeat the more mobile infantry/cavalry than the Phalangites. Things are going very well. But sometimes, their cavalry can go nuts that they charge my archers when I position a phalanx unit in front of my archers!

The AI really tries to adjust its formation a lot. Most of the time they are going to be tired a lot, at max exhausted. It seems that my flankers really made them pissed off. Now I go to the left flank, It was an easy go because they are mostly exhausted. But not the elephants.

Now the elephants come to my left flank. They seriously NEED balancing a bit. I tried to position phalanx troops to beat them. Instead, they break through the wall! I position much more troops (spearmen). In the end, they are defeated (of course). But the casualties are unbearable. I lost 600 men. 70 of them are my elites. Lots of my phalanx are crushed. Including mobile spearmen.

Then the general, they are now going nuts. They KNOW they are going to be defeated against my general. Yet, they charged! I guess it was the last hope so my general dies..... (But seriously, I would like my general dead so it can be replaced.). But at least, they do not charge to spearmen anymore.

Battle report finished. Campaign report :

Things are going fine for a while. 3 turn have gone and no major change has happened. They are very minor, people starting to siege around. Etc etc.

**Douchebag** · March 30, 2009, 10:24 PM

AI generals arent suicidal anymore. I just had a large battle with the Macedonians, led by a 8-9 command star general. Surprisingly, he actually stood BEHIND the frontlines and would only charge when his mens morale started to go down. If he starts taking heavy casualties he would pull back to a safe distance. Battle lasted about 25 minutes, and 98% of his men fought to last man...I won but I took heavy casualties. EPIC BATTLE!

**Phalanx300** · March 31, 2009, 07:15 AM

I like the detailed focus on local units, and the balance seems to be good, even though Macedon seems to expand north to easilly.

**Athkara** · March 31, 2009, 02:54 PM

I like the overall feel - especially with the new unit stats, though some are still duplicates; the battles are great. The only thing that detracts from it for me is the unpolished campaign map, so I can't wait to see it finalized.

**tone** · March 31, 2009, 03:41 PM

Nearly there. I'm working more on the battlemap at the moment, but will hopefully get the campaign map finished very soon. I think you'll like the battlemap changes - loads of improvements. Still some work to be done before its final state though in terms of trees and so on.

**swhunter** · April 01, 2009, 02:35 AM

As playing Sparta
Seleucides are taking over the east, and south.
Maybe they are to strong?
What major factions were in power at these times from 536----636 and beyond.

**King Nud** · April 01, 2009, 04:22 PM

Originally Posted by swhunter

As playing Sparta
Seleucides are taking over the east, and south.
Maybe they are to strong?
What major factions were in power at these times from 536----636 and beyond.

Make them much weaker and the player will have lots of trouble getting anywhere. I'm troubled by the challenge of the ptolemaics. A human TSE would be picked apart methodically by the Ptolemaic Empire.

**Benz282** · April 01, 2009, 04:18 PM

Overall, I think the mod "feels" good right now. Most of it seems to be "done" or very close to being "done", but my main problem is the Onager and Missile unit spamming of the AI. The campaign seems to be quite balanced (though, that might be due to the possibility that all AI factions are filling 60% or more of their armies with units whose stats are generally quite similar), the music is wonderful, and the graphics are simply amazing.

I like that RS2 starts around the start of the Second Punic War, as opposed to 280-270BC like every other R:TW mod in existence.

My only other irk thus far is that the Sarmatians have access to a very limited selection of troops. I may have not reached the point in the campaign where a "reform" happens, but I've pretty much been using the same units all the way through my campaign (up to around 614 AUC at this point). After the 3rd level of Barracks/"Military Complexes", nothing is gained, making it pointless to advance that structure beyond that point. I know there are many more buildings coming before the mod is publicly released, but is there going to be much more work regarding recruitment? (I have only played the Sarmatians, so I am not sure whether or not this is an issue with other factions as well)

**tone** · April 01, 2009, 05:12 PM

Originally Posted by Benz282

Overall, I think the mod "feels" good right now. Most of it seems to be "done" or very close to being "done", but my main problem is the Onager and Missile unit spamming of the AI. The campaign seems to be quite balanced (though, that might be due to the possibility that all AI factions are filling 60% or more of their armies with units whose stats are generally quite similar), the music is wonderful, and the graphics are simply amazing.

I like that RS2 starts around the start of the Second Punic War, as opposed to 280-270BC like every other R:TW mod in existence.

My only other irk thus far is that the Sarmatians have access to a very limited selection of troops. I may have not reached the point in the campaign where a "reform" happens, but I've pretty much been using the same units all the way through my campaign (up to around 614 AUC at this point). After the 3rd level of Barracks/"Military Complexes", nothing is gained, making it pointless to advance that structure beyond that point. I know there are many more buildings coming before the mod is publicly released, but is there going to be much more work regarding recruitment? (I have only played the Sarmatians, so I am not sure whether or not this is an issue with other factions as well)

What units have you got access to at the moment?

**Benz282** · April 01, 2009, 06:48 PM

Tone, here's a screenshot of my home-region (Campus-Roxolani). The barracks is upgraded as far as it can be; at this point, at least.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

**Calvin** · April 01, 2009, 09:20 PM

I'm about to lose my second campaign ever - the first one was as the averni, this one as scythia. I love love LOVE the feel of this mod!

**tone** · April 02, 2009, 03:23 AM

@Benz - once outside Sarmatia you should be able to start recruiting some Scythians (noble cav, scythohellenic archers, some other ones I think, Bosporan heavy infantry and a load of other AOR units. Looks like you're not getting these. DVK??

As far as native Sarmatians go, you've got pretty much all that are available.

**Benz282** · April 02, 2009, 02:39 PM

Oh, ok. Sorry. I DO have the Scythian Foot Archers + I think Royal Cavalry in the settlements I've taken from them (I am at school right now so I can't check). I don't think I've gotten to the point where I can recruit the Bosphorans yet, but that sounds good.

Also, the AOR is working; I took some settlements in Greece (to distract the Macedonians) and saw that I couldn't really hope to ever make any "good" troops in those settlements. One problem is that the final "Military Level" (Assembly of Warriors) is not shown in the Building Browser, though the first three levels are.

**dvk901** · April 02, 2009, 04:07 PM

Originally Posted by Benz282

Oh, ok. Sorry. I DO have the Scythian Foot Archers + I think Royal Cavalry in the settlements I've taken from them (I am at school right now so I can't check). I don't think I've gotten to the point where I can recruit the Bosphorans yet, but that sounds good.

Also, the AOR is working; I took some settlements in Greece (to distract the Macedonians) and saw that I couldn't really hope to ever make any "good" troops in those settlements. One problem is that the final "Military Level" (Assembly of Warriors) is not shown in the Building Browser, though the first three levels are.

I've discovered why the buildings aren't appearing in the building browser AND why descriptions for buildings are missing. Both problems are connected. I had hoped to require no more than a 'city' level for faction barracks, but it appears that RTW just won't have it. So I've went back to the old 'town, large_town, city, large_city, huge_city' progression...and lo and behold, all the buildings and their descriptions appear again.

**Phalanx300** · April 02, 2009, 03:46 PM

Also, its to bad that the game couldn't be a few years earlier focussing on Sparta's resurection and struggle with Phillip. Don´t know how things were with the Roman-Carthaginian war at this time though.

**Ketchup** · April 02, 2009, 03:58 PM

Yeah, there are so many interesting periods in History - it's why I love it! However, if we went earlier then we couldn't have Hannibal in Italy, or the Battle of Raphia, which are 2 great situations, so dvk has said that the date isn't to be changed.

**Squid** · April 03, 2009, 04:37 PM

Any building past the first won't appear in the building browser if you have more than one building at a particular level, but their descriptions should still be accessible from the building construction screen once you can actually build them.