Just when you thought it was safe to play drop-in battles...

So CA made some fantastic improvements to the drop-in system with the most recent patch, and now that I've got my ATI driver woes sorted out (cheers for Win7) I was eager to try it out.

I found a battle fairly quickly; I played as Britain attacking an invading French force. My opponent was obviously used to fighting the AI and not a person, so I won quite handily but it was a lot of fun. Then, at the result screen, it showed that I had lost a chunk of rank points. "How odd," I thought, "I did not know drop-ins were ranked... more importantly why have I lost points?"

Checked my stats and sure enough, I had lost about 1,000 points and had a loss added to my ranked games stats. I don't particularly care about my rank (my rank was obtained mostly by accident, joining random games which just happened to be ranked), but it still kinda stinks .

Just a word of warning to those of you who are concerned about your ranks (considering how hard it is to gain points at higher ranks, I certainly understand if you are).

Major Hem's Bro, this is a warning for you and your stars

Sadly this word of advise from Keiichi came a little to late. I now only have 8 stars do to the fools at CA screwing up yet another patch.

Originally Posted by Keiichi

Checked my stats and sure enough, I had lost about 1,000 points and had a loss added to my ranked games stats. I don't particularly care about my rank (my rank was obtained mostly by accident, joining random games which just happened to be ranked), but it still kinda stinks .

Yes, I have noticed that as well, it sucks.
I don't care about my rank and still play any dropin I can get my hand on, but this is a seriously stupid bug.

(apart from dropins being ranked being stupid in the first place)

why's CA screw over the ranking system

Think you guys got it bad? I have never once been able to play a drop in battle.

Originally Posted by Venset

Think you guys got it bad? I have never once been able to play a drop in battle.

Can you play normal MP?
Because it does take some time to find someone dropping into your game, and even longer to wait for someone offering a dropin.
Best to have friends tell you when they're about to go searching.

Originally Posted by daniu

Yes, I have noticed that as well, it sucks.
I don't care about my rank and still play any dropin I can get my hand on, but this is a seriously stupid bug.

(apart from dropins being ranked being stupid in the first place)

Posted in support of your thread over there! Hopefully someone from CA takes notice.

Originally Posted by daniu

Can you play normal MP?
Because it does take some time to find someone dropping into your game, and even longer to wait for someone offering a dropin.
Best to have friends tell you when they're about to go searching.

Its called No response from host etc. If I wait long enough the message will appear.

And yes I can play normal MP, when I eventually can join one. Same errors from Empire and these are the only games I have trouble with joining multiplayer games because of CA's coding. They use a certain setting that only certain types of routers/modems can play with other people with the same or similar router/modem because of compatible issues.

I'm actually pretty good but I can never fight guys like Point Man etc because of these bloody errors, however I did own a GODS member once on Pyramids but he rage quited, just like most people. Since the last patch I've only managed to get around two replays saved because everyone leaves the game before It ends.

On Empire my favourite faction was the Marathas and I was good at them, and I had great pleasure wiping out enemies who thought the Maratha sucked. (Never got to have a Maratha vs Maratha battle with Pointman because of the joining errors ) Don't get me wrong I lose now and then, but that's usually when my lag is really bad (always lag anyway but sometimes It's unbearable, and It can't be helped since I live in New Zealand) but of course I do make the odd mistake here there, like everyone.

On Napoleon my favourite faction is the Ottomans. Now your probably thinking I spam melee troops, the maximum I would bring is 3.

My typical army on Napoleon for Ottomans is 6 line inf, 4 light inf, 3 melee, 6 cav (4 lancers that inspire, 2 Ranged Cav), 1 gen.
My typical army for a faction with guard units is: 4 line inf, 2 guards, 4 light inf, 6 cav (usually a mix of either ranged cav, lancers and heavy cav), 1 gen. Rest goes into experience for anything that has 6 morale or howitzers (1, 2 or 3 depends on faction) Obviously If I was to bring howitzers then Ill bring about 4 Cav and not put chevrons on troops etc. A few of my favourite army builds had to be slightly changed because of unit price changes etc.

I haven't got Napoleon open atm so I can't be exact on my army builds. I am an offensive player, my micro is pretty good but lag sometimes ruins that and I really hate the run toggle delays (everyone gets it of course) but I've had to just deal with these situations.

Haven't played for a few weeks though because I am heavily involved in Mount & Blade: Warband and also currently playing EVE online. If anyone wants to see If we can get a game going then add me on Steam, username is Myaethiem. (Game name is Venset) Be warned though most likely It won't let me join and vice versa. Its a shame It really kills my multiplayer experience and I play Napoleon (and used to play Empire) to fight skilled players who want good battles, not idiotic AI that cant even form a straight line on Grassy Flatlands.

When I host games I don't rank them. Because whether I win or lose I like to watch the replays up close and enjoy the show. (And I don't care about rank points - ha point ). I also join any kind of game whether It has no rules or rules. I prefere No rules because any strategy is a legitimate strategy no matter how "cheap" It is and I always like a challenge (Note: I don't use "cheap" strategies)

So incase those who didn't bother reading my paragraphed wall of text, add username: Myaethiem to steam and see If we can get a game.
Please PM on forums telling me who you are so I know your not from another game.

Sorry about the long post but I tend to write alot, especially when I haven't slept and on my "second wind" as they say.

Cheers.

EDIT: If you are playing Vanilla campaigns (I have Peninsular aswell) and want a human player to fight rather than AI add me also. However the joining errors may not allow me to play but at least there's a chance that there may be at least someone on my friends list I can actually play with in a drop in battle. Hope that makes sense.

Originally Posted by Venset

Think you guys got it bad? I have never once been able to play a drop in battle.

Lucky man, you at least will be ablr to save points up. I lost mine.

Thats odd. Drop in battles seem to go fine for me.

ive played 4-5 and every time i win my score seems to go up by a very little bit usually no more than 150 points.

Originally Posted by DunkFunk

ive played 4-5 and every time i win my score seems to go up by a very little bit usually no more than 150 points.

Interesting, in those cases are you joining the drop-in battles or hosting them? I now seem to recall gaining some points following a successful drop-in battle as well, but that was before the most recent patch.

In any case, I simply don't think that drop-in battles should be ranked at all, especially when you consider the considerable advantage that the hosting party generally has. For example, the host will always know exactly what units he can expect to face and furthermore, if the host has a higher ranked general he is able to watch where you deploy your units. Not a very balanced environment for doling out 'skill' points!

dont think ive played u venset but your builds are sound and u sound like your a decent guy - so its a real pity u seem to have connection problems.

Perhaps pretending to lose in Drop-ins will help you gain points? Trying....

I used to have connection problems in Empire total war, untill I got my $3000 rig and a new internet Service provider.

its the routers or the game.one or the other.i think CA is trying to fix it subtly, hence the 1gb patch where apparently the only changes were to the audio files.(of course!)

Mostly the routers I think Y@$!N.

Originally Posted by Major Hemorrhoid's Brother

Mostly the routers I think Y@$!N.

really?but tbh, i play tonnes of other games, and never once had an issue connecting to host.its only ever been napoleon which caused trouble.and oh, the other host-based multiplayer games worked too.very puzzling

Perhaps the problem with connecting to the host is CA's way of keeping hackers out of games.