Drop-in battles

So.. If I start a SP campaign with drop-in battles enabled does every battle in that campaign(other then autoresolve) have to be against a human? It looks to me, from the few screenshots I've seen, that if I choose to enable drop-in battles then the AI will be replaced by drop-in battles for the entire campaign, which might lead to alot of waiting around for someone to join.

I think the option should be given before each battle, ie: Fight Battle(AI), Autoresolve, Retreat, and Drop-in Battle(human). Not locked in at the beginning of the campaign.

Does anyone know exactly how this is going to work?

Haveing said that, of course I'm looking forward to having you guys in my campaign.

I read somewhere that as long as you enable that option it will search for a human player for a set amount of time but if no one is found then it will default to AI

I think there are also some other limits on it. For instance if you attack a single unit with a full stack it shouldnt enable the dropin.

Good to know GED. I am looking forward to jumping into a lot of random battles. It will be the high point for the game for me.

How many others are looking forward to this feature?

Originally Posted by Scooter

Good to know GED. I am looking forward to jumping into a lot of random battles. It will be the high point for the game for me.

How many others are looking forward to this feature?

Is an excellent idea i think yes, i will be dropping in quite a bit, would be alot more intresting than the standard instant battle

with all these wonderful souls, who needs BAI, except for every mp battle when the coward drops

This sounds interesting. And won't be as stressfull as say a 1vs1 battle.
If I drop in on someone, I will give them a good battle but I know they will most likely still win because of the setup. But sounds fun to try though. My first Multiplayer in total war might be a drop in one with me droping in on someone else.

Got to try this hope it works.

I wonder how the big mods will be handled . Will I be able to enable 'drop in' if I play a version of DMUC ?

Also, just worrying as I do , will there be players waiting on the servers who just play battles really badly . Will you see their nic ? If so it could spoil the immersion.

But overall I think it's the best innovation in strategy games I've seen in a long time.

Originally Posted by Indus_Valley

I wonder how the big mods will be handled . Will I be able to enable 'drop in' if I play a version of DMUC ?

Also, just worrying as I do , will there be players waiting on the servers who just play battles really badly . Will you see their nic ? If so it could spoil the immersion.

But overall I think it's the best innovation in strategy games I've seen in a long time.

mods wont work on MP unless both player shave exactly the same mods on

so unless there are specialist people who play darthmod or whatever on drop-in battles then u probably wont be able to

I will only play drop in battles and mess up other peoples campaigns.

Originally Posted by RomulusAugustus

...I think the option should be given before each battle, ie: Fight Battle(AI), Autoresolve, Retreat, and Drop-in Battle(human). Not locked in at the beginning of the campaign.

Definitely. I can't imagine it being locked at the beginning That would make it a MP campaign (but just against many opponents). It's called drop-in for a reason. Can anyone confirm?

Originally Posted by Gezoes

Definitely. I can't imagine it being locked at the beginning That would make it a MP campaign (but just against many opponents). It's called drop-in for a reason. Can anyone confirm?

Hmm... Maybe when you have "drop in battles" enabled you can still choose to fight against AI at the start of battle so you dont have to wait players.

I think there are new options in the screenshot below that I havent seen before (?).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I could be wrong thought

Originally Posted by Praefectus praetorio

Hmm... Maybe when you have "drop in battles" enabled you can still choose to fight against AI at the start of battle so you dont have to wait players.

I think there are new options in the screenshot below that I havent seen before (?).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I could be wrong thought

I think your right. In that screenshot it looks like all four options are there. Thanks for the input guys!

I'd like to know what happens with difficulty levels. For instance, I want to play on hard against AI but normal against human opponents.

Originally Posted by Quivis

I'd like to know what happens with difficulty levels. For instance, I want to play on hard against AI but normal against human opponents.

I'm pretty sure the difficulty setting won't affect human on human battles, judging from the fact that CA seems to have designed the drop-in system to mainly apply to "even" battles.

2 facts to Drop In:

a) What happens when the connection sucks or the other guy is a "quitter"?
The battle will be go on and be taken under AI control again. It will not end as in the ranked battles in MP!

b) Who can be my enemy at Drop-In?
Unfortunately I have 3 versions which were told to me and I don't know which one is the truth!
- You can invite someone special out of your "friendlist" in Steam
- It is made by chance
- you can make a setting between friend or chance

sadly I can't find the link, but I remember a comment that it will only be enabled when the battle is between (a) large enough forces and (b) the forces are evenly matched. Something you would auto-resolve (like a full stack v. town militia, no matter how many) would not be avaliable; again, I can't find the link so this is just what I remember.

I personally plan on dropping in as much as I can, I think it'll be a lot of fun.

Oh, you can also choose to allow random drop-ins or friends-only. Hopefully there won't be too many rage-quitters; but I remember (again) it being said that if the dropper-in quit the AI would pick up and finish the battle for them.

I will be joining peoples campaigns to hinder them

Droping in just to mess up other players is sad. Do you think there will be any way to kick off people from your game, or block them from droping in again?

Originally Posted by Scooter

Droping in just to mess up other players is sad. Do you think there will be any way to kick off people from your game, or block them from droping in again?

i think it would be fun to give other players a challenge, would be great to get into a drop in battle to control some mini state like hannover and fight the french