SS poll

[Tacitursa]

Im just trying to find out if the number of factions and map size is really needed.

I personally have only ever taken more than half the map once and most of the time i take about a quarter before starting a new campaign due to campaign becomming to easy or bordom.

So let's see what everyone else thinks.

[JorisofHolland]

Check the download thread for factions; there are 199 regions.

[PerXX]

Do we really need to conquer the land, in order to call it "used"?
I find it rather interesting to see what goes on at the other side of the map.
The large map is a major part in the "epicness" of a game. Any reduction in regions/factions would be a step in the wrong direction, as I see it.
Even if there were to be created Mini-campaigns that'd focus on smaller regional areas, like Scandinavia/brittain, I'd still prefer maxing out the region limit, simply to add more detail.

[Tacitursa]

I didnt mean campaigns that small i meant more like Europe as a campaign. Think of 100 years war campaign but on a bigger scale that includes north africa , italy , iberia , central europe , Scandinavia

When playing europe factions all the middle east does is slow turns and limit regions/units. And when playing middle east europe does the same.

Europe and middle east should be seperated into two campaigns. A Broken cresent version of europe would be epic.

[OneArmedScissor]

I think the far east settlements are a waste.

[Walternat0r]

Generally get between 20 and 40 regions before I get bored. Only exception was my Venice campaign a year or so back that I went the whole way with. It was eaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasy, so much money.

[KittySN]

About 10 regions or a "personal objective" then restart.

The game goes downhill (slaughter) from there.

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

I establish a strong kingdom maybe say 15 provinces and last between 50-100 turns and then Micromanaging Hell and boredom sets in. In my view though it's 100% operator error and has nothing to do with the Campaign map. They be doing their own thing, mang....

I believe boredom sets in due to operator error, the maps fine.....yo..

[Tacitursa]

I believe boredom sets in due to operator error

What do you mean by that tortas?

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

What do you mean by that tortas?

The maps not boring, "I am". and please call me Mega. My dad's name is Tortas... Ex. I had a bad day, cant concentrate. My car just died, screw this., etc.

[Tacitursa]

I dont feel that way. My campaign becomes boring because the AI factions are too small and i become strong to fast and the turns are too long.

If all the factions in europe had tripple there current number of regions and armies it would take much longer to kill them , many more battles and seiges and ud feel like you were actually fighting someone instead of completely steam rolling them

And after taking out 1-2 factions the game would still be somewhat difficult and it would still take awhile to take out the next faction instead of just sending 10 stacks to kill there 3 regions and wiping them out in 2 turns.

You'll never be able to stop the snowball effect but you can make it alot more fun. Fighting 10 stacks with 20 stacks is alot more fun than fighting 3 stacks with 6 stacks.

[meese]

Are you arguing there are too many factions or too many regions? Because if you remove some regions, the factions are going to have even less to go amongst themselves and the game will end up being even worse. If you remove the factions in the removed regions, well then it's all the same really except now you don't have a mongolian/cuman/spanish/whatever empire anymore.

And i don't think splitting up Italy into say, twenty provinces is really possible...if that's what you're suggesting, because I don't see any way of giving the factions more provinces without doing that or giving them ahistorical starting positions.

As for me, I get bored usually a few decades after the end date. I suppose it's because I'm constantly at war or preparing for war so there's always something happening. It's easy after the first ten or so provinces but still fun until the end when you realise the A.I are still fighting amongst themselves and you're the only superpower.

[Tacitursa]

I think there are too many factions and too little regions.

And i don't think splitting up Italy into say, twenty provinces is really possible...if that's what you're suggesting, because I don't see any way of giving the factions more provinces without doing that or giving them ahistorical starting positions.

How so? Have you played the Kingdoms expansions campaigns each faction has alot more regions. Italian city states and 100 years war campaign also have extra regions , nothing ahistorical about them.

Its easy to give european factions another 2 or 3 historical regions if you make the map smaller and have less factions.

[TheBromgrev]

I get what you mean Wizaz. When playing as any faction except the Mongols (the whole reason I downloaded this mod), I tend to get bored once I reach the "steamroll" point. Normally that's after I take over my immediate neighbors; no one else can compete and I end up steamrolling everything. For me, the fun is in the beginning, before the faction I'm playing as becomes so huge that no one can challenge me. However, that's not a problem with the mod, but with all of the Total War games in general (especially Empires).

The only problem with the focused mini-campaigns, is who will make them? The Italian and 100 Years War campaigns are great, but it takes a lot of effort to make even a "small" map such as those.

[scarybandit]

I think the OP has an interesting perspective here. Personally I have been considering playing a sandbox style Hotseat game for a few turns to even out the Faction provinces and positions a little for gameplay reasons, mainly because a friend is visiting from out of town and I'd like to see him play a few turns in a mature campaign. But now I am considering having less small Factions and more super Factions, created out of my own complete Hotseat micromanagement (Editing the files would be a lot faster but I like playing with my toys).

I am thinking, for example, reducing the Factions in Europe to:

Spain, England, France, HRE, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Papal States.

Which removes: Portugal, Aragon, Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Venice, Genoa, Sicily, Teutonic Order, Lithuania.

I feel the bigger Factions will have more survability and be more of a long term threat, making a longer campaign more enjoyable over more turns.

I would like to point out however, that having the option of playing any of the current Factions in SS is always better than having less options available. I'm just saying you can arrange these things to your own needs.

[King Siegfried]

There's no reason to remove factions or reduce the map or settlement number contained therein. Stainless Steel is fantastic because you can have an entirely different feel to your game based on which faction you're playing. Playing as England, Spain, Germany, Russia, the Turks or the Byzantines all provide very different styles of gameplay, both on the campaign map and on the battle map. That's part of what makes the game so inviting and fun.

While I'd love to see more specialized campaigns like Battle for the Baltic v2.0 being released, it takes a large amount of work and time to complete such an ambitious project, which is why there aren't many. If you want more of them, the best thing to do is head on down to the Mod Workshop and start doing it yourself.

[meese]

I'm going on the presumption that you still mean having the grand campaign split into two.

The main problem really is that it's a lot of work. I mean, to start with, what factions would you get rid of?

OH and also, I would be very against removing the grand campaign altogether or making this replace it because there's just something about having the world to the east or the west doing whatever the hell they're doing, and you wanting to find out what they are up to. For no particular reason just that we can and that's fun. FOr me anyway.

[Souka]

I try to go as far as i can with my campaigns but some factions are just not as fun as others. I have only once conquered nearly half the map and it was in my French campaign i controlled all Spain, England, France, Germany, Italy and Scandinavia. When you get to this point it becomes a pain ending turns because you have to fight that other big ass empire and defend against multiple stacks all the time.

[OneArmedScissor]

Some of the Middle Eastern settlements need to be removed.
Remove Luxor and those other settlements way the hell out in the middle of no where and where no Faction ever ventures.

[Radiso-FIN]

I don't usually conquer more than 10 provinces and I also don't like destroying other factions, although it highly depends which faction am I playing.
For example if I play as Byzantines my goal is to rebuild the Roman Empire, which means I must capture large territories and destroy many factions.
Also when I played as Novgorod I wanted to build a Russian Empire so I again conquered many provinces.

But generally I don't want to conquer the whole map and destroy other factions. Sometimes if I see some faction being destroy by another, I even may go to help it.