Empire Mod Questions & Recommendations

**Akarios** · September 21, 2015, 10:51 AM

I don't know about adding new crossing arrows, but the path is changeable in the traderoutes.esf (yeah, weird, I know). That's where all the path finding splines are located. There may be other locations as well, I'm still new at this and in the process of analyzing the files.

**wangrin** · September 26, 2015, 06:49 AM

All the data about regions, pathfinding, etc. are located in pathfinding.esf, regions.esf and trade_routes.esf.
We have tool to export data :

EditSF
esf2xml (from taw)

But researches about campaing map modding gave up and many pictures are lost now.

One way to edit data would be to convert them as .fbx file and modify them through 3ds max for example, in the same way as TWS2 Assembly Kit do.

**Zooasaurus** · November 24, 2015, 03:41 AM

In terms of unit roster and realism, what's the better mod? IS or DM?

**PikeStance** · November 24, 2015, 04:06 AM

If you are looking for realism; then you are looking for Imperial Splendour, Imperial Destroyer, and Empire Realism. DM gives you a lot of options. It also have a lot of reskinned units, but it doesn't necessarily make it historically consistent or realistic.
I suggest you play each one for a few turns. I would start with IS and ER first as these changes the least number of files. Then try ID and DM. Another option, but not necessarily ideal for unit roster is APE:TI which add a whole new strategy to game- play. In the end, they are all good. It comes down to which one that feels best for you.

**Zooasaurus** · November 24, 2015, 06:08 AM

Originally Posted by PikeStance

If you are looking for realism; then you are looking for Imperial Splendour, Imperial Destroyer, and Empire Realism. DM gives you a lot of options. It also have a lot of reskinned units, but it doesn't necessarily make it historically consistent or realistic.
I suggest you play each one for a few turns. I would start with IS and ER first as these changes the least number of files. Then try ID and DM. Another option, but not necessarily ideal for unit roster is APE:TI which add a whole new strategy to game- play. In the end, they are all good. It comes down to which one that feels best for you.

can i have both IS and DM at the same time?

**PikeStance** · November 24, 2015, 07:18 AM

Originally Posted by Zooasaurus

can i have both IS and DM at the same time?

No, every mod I suggested are "major" mods which make changes to the startpos files. Both mods also make changes to the same types of files. I am afraid you have to pick. You can pick choose which stuff you can use, but this gets tricky. If you are not familiar with modding, then I wouldn't know where to begin to tell you. I would just play one for a bit. Then uninstall it, then play the other. If you do that make sure you run Empire normally in between. Also back up the original files first.

**La Tene** · January 13, 2016, 02:00 AM

Originally Posted by PikeStance

If you are looking for realism; then you are looking for Imperial Splendour, Imperial Destroyer, and Empire Realism. DM gives you a lot of options. It also have a lot of reskinned units, but it doesn't necessarily make it historically consistent or realistic.
I suggest you play each one for a few turns. I would start with IS and ER first as these changes the least number of files. Then try ID and DM. Another option, but not necessarily ideal for unit roster is APE:TI which add a whole new strategy to game- play. In the end, they are all good. It comes down to which one that feels best for you.

I'm running Empire Realism and I think the battles are fantastic. But they've drastically altered buildings costs, effects, and technologies in a way that feels unbalanced to me. Constructing roads costs a huge 4000 coin for example, and, some technologies are just waay better.. taking away the element of 'choice' i.e. I have to chose the best one. Have you noticed these things? Am I missing something when it comes to their balancing systems?

Anyway, I am sure I will install one of the mods you've listed (not Darthmod, frankly) but having a hard time deciding. Do any of these excel in terms of campaign work?

**Mjarr** · January 14, 2016, 08:22 AM

Originally Posted by La Tene

I'm running Empire Realism and I think the battles are fantastic. But they've drastically altered buildings costs, effects, and technologies in a way that feels unbalanced to me. Constructing roads costs a huge 4000 coin for example, and, some technologies are just waay better.. taking away the element of 'choice' i.e. I have to chose the best one. Have you noticed these things? Am I missing something when it comes to their balancing systems?

It is there to keep progress more in level with gameplay pace and in some ways, that is quite historical. Major leaps in techonology tend to be investments now early in the game as opposed to default everyone all over the globe has at relatively precise timespan. I do agree there are few techs that are way better to priotise than others but it is not really that unbalanced in grand scheme of things. It also encourages to make decisions based on your current situation even if they are somewhat unoptimal or unusual. I once deliberately kept road connections poor in few areas to buy more time in case of multi-front war due having to actually plan how to spend my coffers, and when I eventually ran into four front war essentially it saved me a region due slow advance with surprisingly good number of siege artillery slowed down even further by poor roads. By the time they reached to assault I had 6x cavalry unit detachment in reinforcement range.

Easiest solution would be to use pack file manager to alter prices of buildings though.

**Thrasymachus** · January 24, 2016, 03:05 PM

Hello, I am looking for a graphics and sound improvement for Empire (textures, music, unit models, flags, smoke, firing sounds etc) but keep the vanilla gameplay for now. Any recommendations?

**wangrin** · January 25, 2016, 12:40 PM

1600 Mod : new units (models, textures), etc. Focus on XVIIth century.
ACW : new units (models, textures), etc. Focus on American Civil War
Imperial Splendour : new units (models, textures), techtrees, buildings. Focus on XVIIIth century
Imperial Destroyer : new units (models, textures), campaign improvement. Focus on XVIIIth century

**Thrasymachus** · January 25, 2016, 02:50 PM

Originally Posted by wangrin

1600 Mod : new units (models, textures), etc. Focus on XVIIth century.
ACW : new units (models, textures), etc. Focus on American Civil War
Imperial Splendour : new units (models, textures), techtrees, buildings. Focus on XVIIIth century
Imperial Destroyer : new units (models, textures), campaign improvement. Focus on XVIIIth century

Thanks for answering. I've already tried Imperial Splendour and I like it a lot. However, I just want to play a vanilla campaign and I was just looking for an improvement in the presentation department. Anyway, I have found something thas suits my needs, this mod that makes the game look like NTW does the trick.

**skillfultree** · January 28, 2016, 09:06 PM

looking for a mod the changes the Ottomans portraits to something more realistic.

**Sar1n** · January 29, 2016, 04:14 AM

Back to ETW again, for a while. It's the naval battles...I just like them. Problem is, usually the mods heavily nerf speed and maneuverability of ships, and AI isn't capable of coping with it, and naval battles result in huge mess as AI ships ram into each other as they can't maneuver properly.

So, I want just these things from mod:
3/4/more TPY. The build/research times shouldn't be rescaled though...I just don't want to be hard pressed by the 200 turn limit of vanilla campaign.
Naval battles remain at least bit fun. Some recruitment and economy rebalance might be good, but if anything it should make ships more expensive, not like Darthmod where I had several 20-ship fleets and every battle was huge mess.
Improved BAI and CAI.
Minor factions improved, playable and able to hold their own.
If there are any additional units, quality over quantity. No description-less units with messed icons.

**PikeStance** · January 29, 2016, 05:51 AM

Are you willing to be a lab rat? I have developed naval and land battles, but like others I do find it to be too slow. I would love to speed it up and wouldn't mind some feedback. Also I'm doing CAI improvement. If interested I could also use some feedback as well. Check out my signature for links to all.

**Sar1n** · January 29, 2016, 06:03 AM

I'll check it out soon. I played IS quite some time ago, found it a bit unfinished...and, is some things, weird.

**PikeStance** · January 30, 2016, 10:56 AM

Yes,... as far as where we want to go...it is unfinished. I am not sure what you mean by weird though. We strive for historical accuracy.

**Sar1n** · February 02, 2016, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by PikeStance

Yes,... as far as where we want to go...it is unfinished. I am not sure what you mean by weird though. We strive for historical accuracy.

The rosters, while obviously unfinished, seem to have stats all over the place. Some riflemen have 150 range, some 350, there are even really weird things like camel gunners with 400 range...artillery is even crazier. European artillery looks okay at first glance, but there are oddities, like some Swedish mortars and howitzers with range to cover entire battle map. Eastern artillery is far superior to western-most powerful European foot guns have 600 range and two guns per unit...some eastern nations like Persia have foot artillery with 800 range, four guns per unit. And then there are oddities like Danish rocket line infantry (I haven't figured out yet how to recruit those in campaign though).

I've tried the submod a bit...unfortunately it's just what I was worried about. AI can't deal with reduced ship maneuverability. In few test battles with larger ships, AI spent half of the time-and those were long battles-in a "dogpile", with its ships tangled up together as they tried to turn against the wind. The hull values make it even more ridiculous-when a sloop can take few point blank broadsides from first rate and not even slow down...

**PikeStance** · February 02, 2016, 11:49 PM

Originally Posted by Sar1n

The rosters, while obviously unfinished, seem to have stats all over the place. Some riflemen have 150 range, some 350, there are even really weird things like camel gunners with 400 range...artillery is even crazier. European artillery looks okay at first glance, but there are oddities, like some Swedish mortars and howitzers with range to cover entire battle map. Eastern artillery is far superior to western-most powerful European foot guns have 600 range and two guns per unit...some eastern nations like Persia have foot artillery with 800 range, four guns per unit. And then there are oddities like Danish rocket line infantry (I haven't figured out yet how to recruit those in campaign though).

Thanks,... I will look into it., The stats were created by previous team members.
I know eastern guns were bigger, but they should be inaccurate. I will do some tests on that.

Originally Posted by Sar1n

I've tried the submod a bit...unfortunately it's just what I was worried about. AI can't deal with reduced ship maneuverability. In few test battles with larger ships, AI spent half of the time-and those were long battles-in a "dogpile", with its ships tangled up together as they tried to turn against the wind. The hull values make it even more ridiculous-when a sloop can take few point blank broadsides from first rate and not even slow down...

Yes, I felt it was too slow as well. I want realism, but not at the expense you suggest.

**Zooasaurus** · January 31, 2016, 04:56 AM

Well.... I pretty much haven't found a mod that suited me
DM was good, but it needs more units and variety for minor factions. Causa belli just adding unfinished units with messed-up portrait and descriptions for me.
IS is the best, though i feel it's unfinished. Comparing unit roster for GB and France with other factions... Maybe RoTR will fix this?
I haven't try ID because lack of single link and ER because it haven't updated for ages
I guess for now i'll stick with IS

**Lordsith** · February 01, 2016, 03:35 AM

If you want to play with new experience in Empire total war i recommend to play Imperial Destroyer + VDM. VDM submod adds a lot of stuff such as disasters, deseases, climate attritions, naval attritions, more deeply economic system, historical events , more features for agents and ministers and etc etc etc. VDM adds more roleplay system ,it's a pity that not everyone knows about this mod.