RTRVII: Fate of Empires - Feedback

[Tony83]

Please provide any feedback in this thread.

[Dog Fart]

I just finished my first battle in my Epeiros campaign. This mod is really high def. I had the vid settings on medium and it was still kinda choppy. But other than that it was rather impressive. The graphics rock. I think there should be more pikemen in that stack though. 4 is too few. But that's my preference. My first battle was not Pyhrric at all.

[Tony83]

Nice shots.

[florin80]

http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/a...acian1/2-1.jpg

What is that thing flying high to the left of the screen?

[Pat89]

What is that thing flying high to the left of the screen?

Pegasus?

[Brusilov]

What is that thing flying high to the left of the screen?

I think it's a 'flaming arrow' except the 'flaming' part is affected by the graphic card and settings....

[Arkaeyn]

I think it's a 'flaming arrow' except the 'flaming' part is affected by the graphic card and settings....

You think? It looks to me like an elephant made friends with some infantry.

[Tony83]

It's actually an Athenian, carrier based Nighthawk!



Didn't you know that it was the Greeks that pioneered stealth technology?

[florin80]

You think? It looks to me like an elephant made friends with some infantry.

My guess too. For a minute there I thought RTR either implemented a bigger environment bird/vulture or managed to bring the vanilla ones to fly lower. Alternatively there you have proof that ufo`s have been around for ages.

[RanDomino]

Here are my initial thoughts after playing a few years as Rome-
First, it looks really, really good. I have to turn the graphics almost as far down as they'll go (to the same settings as every other mod) and, although the unit models are somewhat washed-out and chunky, battles still look great; moreover the strategic map is hands-down the best I've ever seen in a mod.
The unit and building cost balancing appears well done.
The zoomed-in map throws an interesting twist on a setting and timeframe that's been done over and over again in RTW mods.
Overall it looks really good.

But I'm having trouble with a few aspects of the radical gameplay changes.
The mini-region system is cool, but it's kind of confusing to have a gajillion little towns that apparently don't do anything.
I have absolutely no idea what's going on with all these little artisan buildings.
The unit ID cards seem awfully similar- compare to RTRPE where the cards were made distinct with bold colors and large shapes.
Also I'm getting completely crushed in these battles against Epeiros, because of their invincible cavalry that shoot lightning bolts from their eyes. Equites are like 6 attack, 25 charge, 26 defense, but the Epirote cavalry are like 12/20/36! I can take them down eventually, but so far it's been taking me so long to kill them and secure my flanks that their phalanxes break my line before I can get behind them with anything.
Also also, for some reason the script doesn't seem to be starting after apparently working the first two times I tried to start a campaign (it crashed when trying to run the Heraclia scripted battle, which sometimes happens because my computer is a bit crap).

So I'm not sure how long it'll take me to 'get' the changes but the learning curve for this mod seems higher than for most others... Just looking at the city government charts gives me a headache. I'll give it a few more goes with the other factions and see how it tastes.

[The10thLegion]

Hey bud,

I know you are probably shaking your head at that defeat against Phyrrus (as was I) but as far as I know, no one has won the battle without cheating or modding it to make it easier. Don't feel bad though, all the veteran RTW strategists that have played that battle against Rome have lost. They will be easier after that though, and you can stumble (or trip) towards your way to expelling the Phyrrus out.

Also I was farely confused about the building layouts, but like all things... with time you will get used to them.

[Tony83]

Look at it like this, at the time, Pyrrhos' army was probably the finest collection of professional soldiers in the world, Alexander's style of army and fighting developed to its finest incarnation, with Pyrrhos himself being favourably compared to the great man himself! It's not supposed to be easy.

The Romans don't really have a chance in a straight head to head fight against Pyrrhos, so you are going to have to employ the same strategy of attrition that they used historically and wear the Epeirotes down. For that indeed was their Achilles heel, Pyrrhos could not replace his losses with men of the same high calibre and, eventually, Rome's seemingly inexhaustable supply of manpower wore him down.

So don't look for a quick victory against the Greeks, you are going to have to wear them down, and it's going to be costly both financially and in men. You also have to do it before the Cisalpine Gauls get restive, or Carthage realises just how attractive the toe of Italy is!

[Carados]

Hey bud,

I know you are probably shaking your head at that defeat against Phyrrus (as was I) but as far as I know, no one has won the battle without cheating or modding it to make it easier. Don't feel bad though, all the veteran RTW strategists that have played that battle against Rome have lost. They will be easier after that though, and you can stumble (or trip) towards your way to expelling the Phyrrus out.

Also I was farely confused about the building layouts, but like all things... with time you will get used to them.

Aye, it seems designed such that you can't win. I'm all for it! They did lose after all.
The zero cost of recruitment for the celtiberians is interesting.
The Romans... well, they are just cool anyway having said that I think most of us have gotten used to the power level of the Hastati and Principles. It's very awkward because you just want to throw them at the hoplites, but in this they'll just rip them to shreds!

[Aernuss]

I just tried the celtiberians yet, but I'm very impressed! Had a couple of ctd's as well, but nothing too terrible. The graphics are indeed very good, the units, the environments, everything, but what I notest the most were the ocean waters, seems to me a great step foward in what concerns to that detail, comparing with vanilla or any other mod, including RTR previous releases! I liked a lot the different categories of settlements as well; even if their influence in the game itself is not imediatly perceived, it contributes to a much more impressive representation of the historical period. One more very positive note to the historical research and texts witihin the game. No critics so far, except maybe the reduced options in mercenary and aor units, at least in Iberia. Great, great job boys!

[Caligula Caesar]

This looks really superb! The one criticism I have is that the units are too detailed, and even with my new laptop I have to turn off anti-aliasing and put unit quality down to low. No CTDs so far, though, and I have played 3 battles (lost the first, of course )

I have a few bugs: The first is that elephants seem to throw infantry units about 50 metres in the air and once rampaging can only be taken down by cavalry! The others are fairly minor: a lot of rivers seem to end a distance into the sea, and some buildings have a space or tab before them when you select them. And I suppose it is intentional that the fishmongers ect are black and white?

[darkfng]

The graphics are gorgeous! I have really only been working out what settings I will use for a campaign, decided on large units and slightly reduced graphics.

Favourite moment so far was after my first battle, the script carried me across the sea to view a little allied skirmish, after which I decided to have a look around. I moved the cam into North Africa the along the coast and saw Iberia. It was wonderful to how large it is, the graphics, the size, the sheer amount of towns, the promise of many a hard battle to take it all, just glorious.

[kalkwerk]

can´t say about gameplay yet, but graphically the most beautiful rtr mod so far.

this goes for map, units, unit cards, films - the old rtr feeling, which some of the old rtr fans missed in some of the other excellent mods out there.

mod of the year

[Clearchus of Sparta]

We hope you enjoy the new style of campaign too

[JonnyA1]

I have seen a few un-repeatable CTDs as noted elsewehere.

The game seems nicely balanced so far and looks pretty good.

The units all seem to move too fast in the battles, is there a simple way to slow them down about 20% or so? I keep having to pause to give orders to my units, which is something I always avoided doing before.

I really like the look of the political and cultural developments.

[darkfng]

The units all seem to move too fast in the battles, is there a simple way to slow them down about 20% or so? I keep having to pause to give orders to my units, which is something I always avoided doing before.

I was surprised by the sudden change in speed of the approaching enemy. I have grown to like it, it makes me a little more wary when trying to fine tune my lines when the enemy are reasonably close.

It can give me a little adrenalin rush when suddenly they all decide to charge and their cavalry comes speeding through their lines - it really does feel like they are charging at me.