Some thoughts on NTW and where its at ATM

While I think of it would like to say I think the flaw CA made with NTW is the lack of unit variation, for the most part 90% of units are generic across factions with a strong weighing to units from france, Prussia and Britain. This we all know. However it begs the question of how would NTW be 8 months after release if the units were not so generic. Of course there would be some imbalances but these arnt always nescessarily a bad thing. and I do think we would have seen some standard strong build across all factions instead of the now standard builds we have which are pretty much identical across all factions. I would have maybe thought slight or even no variation in shooting range would have been far superior to the range differences we have had now and also with ETW and would be far more historical and more challenging with the emphasis on morale and accuracy. For example the difference between light inf and line could have been focused more on accuracy and not range. I also think unit movement speed of militia to elite line could have been staggered to add a different dimension to game play ( ie elites slowest and militia the fastest) I think greater unit variation would have made upgrading a lot more tactical. Maybe it would have created a more dynamic experience in big games like 3v3 or 4v4 where units moved to counter other units and not just a game of 3 1v1 matchups. Greater strategy in game would be needed and if art was nerfed to a somewhat more historical level - I think we would have seen some epic long games. When I say art should be nerfed I mean at present art is basically a long range gattling gun which developed out of necessity and not reality. To make art useful CA choose to balance the cost against the damage. That is art is expensive and it needs to be effective against those players who rush and are aggressive so it needs to shoot quick and do lots of damage. If the game was slower (ie players needed to manover more in games to match up counters to the opposition builds) the games would be longer and therefore no need for the super art – art could be less accurate and have longer reload to a point where it makes a difference but not a such a overwhelming one as it currently does. This is not to say im anti art but historically if say one side had 3 art and the other 4 art - historically the 4 art side would not have had such a huge and unrealistic advantage as it does in NTW.

Anyone have anything interesting to say - NTW seem to need an injection or two from CA to boost the playability - surely it cant be too hard to create a few more units or something.

Yes it would be nice to see some unit variation but unfortunatly we are set in a period were there wasnt alot of diversity. Im all for minor factions getting a DLC just something to make them a little more playable against the majors ( i mean if portugal had some guard infantry they would be fine)

With militia and elites im thinking its the other way around e.g the better trained/experianced guard units would march better than the recently recruited pants wettingly terrified militia.

Another thing is something pretty common to all "realism" mods is that musket fire gets very effective at a certain distance, instead of the one arc of fire that shows range perhaps there could be a second one that marks where the muskets become really effective.

I dont know how to fix artillery without making it overpowered.

i'd like to see a variation in units. wot i mean by this, is that they give us the units u get in the campaign. like the brunswickers, 95th rifles etc. plus sort out the stamina issue which makes it so hard to play on maps like syria. a few more maps wouldnt go amiss either.
tbh i think CA have turned there back on ntw as they are hedging there bets on shogun and working on that. i for one (and its only my personal choice) prefer this time period and love the history of this period. which makes me play this game more than any other.
when shogun comes out the same will happen again. alot will play it and then get bored or frustrated with it due to the same reasons people are saying about ntw. after playing empire and ntw i dont really believe CA anymore.

The shoudl be a penalty when the art guns arnt firing in line of sight. (With that being that the point what the howys are trying to shoot at is randomly placed based of skill from the point you clicked

All the cannon balancing problems can be solved if we finaly get soem decent maps though.

The only shot that needs nerfing is probly the explosive shot

and it woudl be nice if tehre was some unit variation even if the stats dont change. As in unquie uniforms

so we work of level of troops

Green , Line -( line and light variants) , young guards , Middle guards , veteran guards

and varous specialised elite units

yeah more units sounds good to me, in terms of the gameplay i cant see anything majorly wrong.

Its been abandoned. I unfortunately will not be buying shogun, because I like this period of history a lot more. Now if they'd done a ROME 2..........

ill give shogun 2 a go, but if it doesnt float my boat im jumping straight back to napoleon.i just cant believe we are going to take a step back now from gun warfare to melee warfare.

i personally wont be playing shogun online. it doesnt interest me in the slightest. it will be a big melee blob and cav micro. whoever has the best cav wins. not as skillfull as ntw me thinks. it will look pretty but alot of players especially those who live at home with there parents and have no income of there own will have trouble running the game on there pc's. which has happened alot in ntw and etw. i will be sticking with ntw. i love this game, love this time period in history and is the game that i wished i could play as a kid growing up.
i'm not starting a flamewar. if u like melee games and this time period then good luck to u. like wot y@sin says.....whatever floats ur boat.

Hi guys, my opinion is it wont be as much fun as the gunpowder battles, i will try it out online but not really expecting great things, CA dont seem to be able to fix the problems in NTW, so i foresee some serious issues with shogun 2. NTW in my opinion is the best game in the total war collection, i have played them all online now and i like the pace of it and the gameplay in general but so many wont play it due to lag, no response from host and bugs and cheats.

Most of you probably know I've been playing ETW lately, and to me it boils down to this: ETW MP is better.
NTW doesn't only not offer ETWs variety, but is also much less balanced; one would think that less variety means more balance.

IMHO, the only step that improved MP gameplay-wise were the changes in range for line, lights and rifles, along with the latter's smaller unit size.

^ I have been playing empire more and more, and wondering what everyone was allawys complaining about. It is mush better as far as ballence and fun goes.

if they toned down the 125 range rifles effectiveness in empire like they have in ntw then i would say empire but its ntw for me all the way...

Originally Posted by triphammer

if they toned down the 125 range rifles effectiveness in empire like they have in ntw then i would say empire but its ntw for me all the way...

1. Limit rifles
2. Use meatshield
3. Terrain maps
4. Voila

But I do agree 100%, they need to be nerfed to hell.

Originally Posted by Carswell

1. Terrain maps
2. Voila

they need to be nerfed to hell.

Not to hell, but I really think NTW did a good job there, especially with the 60 men unit size.

Rifles are fine. I used to be afriad of them, but now I will just walk though their fire (regularly face 5-15 rifles per game) And I find them WAY weaker then lights in nappy. a simple militia will give you the edge as empire units have slow reload time. Light dragoons are the only over powered unit, then need slower reload and accuracy. I have stopped taking them do to being to easy to flank people and wipe out entire armys.

I think NTW MP is far better than ETW in almost every aspect. Especially the fact that Fire by Rank and Platoon Fire isn't a feature in NTW, since I've had tons of moments of utter frustration when the whole unit waited for 1 guy to reload, or to move up the line -_-

well in ntw, sometimes you gotta wait for your units to get in position (all of em) before they start firing, even though some guys been standing still for a few seconds

Originally Posted by Y@$!N

well in ntw, sometimes you gotta wait for your units to get in position (all of em) before they start firing, even though some guys been standing still for a few seconds

True, but at least some of them will fire as soon as they're in position.

yeah thats nice, avoids a big morale hit