ETW: Total Imperialism

[General Anderson]

I'm no stranger to modding but I am a first when it comes to modding the Total War series. A quick history about my experience. My first Total War game was Rome: Total War and since then I've been addicted to the Total War series. Now I have Empire: Total War I've been interested in making some small modifications and I wonder if you guys can point me in the right direction.

So far I've downloaded most of the tools required from reading the Modding Tools Sticky.

So without further ado here are my ideas:

I'm glad that ETW wanted to have realism in the game but after seeing how long it took to reload their rifles it was stretching the realism a little much. The average line infantrymen during the time with the smoothbore musket could get off 3 shots in less than a minute, however rifles took longer to load because the lead ball tolerances were tighter along the riflings but they had far better range and accuracy. Also I think the line infantrymen range is a little exaggerated but I'm leaving that for historical debate.

Longer turn periods. I know some people won't like this but I think 4 turns per year gives a little more dynamics. This way if it is possible through coding you can alter the effects on your troops such as fatigue, morale and conditions. Winter can slow down and wear down your troops and you might lose a few to the harsh conditions depending where they are. This may not be possible but I want feed back on this.

Dynamic diplomacy and trade. I was very dissapointed in the AI when it came to diplomacy. They'll make outrageous demands and declare war on you on the least little thing, even though they were friendly! Also I did not like the part they took away diplomats or emissaries from play. Also maybe adding new buildings to gain Emissaries and Merchants to go on missions. Merchants can deploy resource sites and they can grow into towns and eventually into cities. Again let me know if this is possible.

Lastly I thought it was a little stupid to research the fire by rank technology. Even in the mid to late 1600s they had fire by rank tactics in volleys and the game starts at 1700. I know this was to add a little more diversity but seriously? I think should be an automatic feature also is there way to fix a fire at will glitch? Everytime I have fire at will turned on my men wait until the last freaking second to start shooting just when an opposing force is about to bum rush my lines. This is very frustrating!

I also like to know who does modeling for ETW. I have a few model requests for my mod.

One more thing, is it possible to bring back the old "Enslave, Slaughter or Capture" population option like in previous titles? Maybe not to exactly enslave or slaughter but have better options in order to gain more resources or reduce public disorder to a minimum.

Thanks for your support.

[Demokritos]

That's a lot of Q's, General, and many require extensive modding knowledge to answer, and not too many of us have that kind of knowledge. I can only respond to a couple of them to some extent.

The patch.pack(s) inside the data folder include(s) DB files where one entry called "unit_stats_land_tables\unit_stats_land" has columns like "Reloading Skill" and "Accuracy". Use the DB Editor for editing the values (of a mod created for the purpose including that table) there.

For more turns per year, I think the "startpos.esf" file (located in the empire total war\data\campaigns\main folder) is the one to mess with, using the ESF Editor. But the way to do it doesn't seem as straightforward as in previous TW titles. If possible, then a lot of other things need to be changed as well in order to maintain the economical balance of the game (like the cost of constructions/recruitment etc). Meaning: a lot of work.

Effects on units depending on season appear difficult. Some effects based on location or distance travelled might be easier to implement technically.

The technical room for adding new buildings or characters is probably limited, since the game engine must be programmed to take them into account already. Don't know enough about it. Diplomacy is handled in a different way now.

Don't know how to do away with the need to research for the fire by rank technology except by adding that technology as a result of another and earlier kind of research. Then maybe something else needs to happen at the point of time for the fire by rank technology for the game to work. Perhaps one could just change the order of how technologies is researched.

A different function for the battle results screen (in the manner of M2TW) also seem hard to achieve if the game engine is not originally built to make such calculations. But I know too little of these things.

For modders, just take a look in the credit section of the posts for released or hosted mods.

I know the above does not help you much, General, but that's about all I can say at the moment.