Beta Release - FO 0.95!

[demagogos nicator]

I finaly tried the mod for the first time. Congrats CC, Boom S and all others involved you have done the job you could be proud of, this mod will certainly become my favourite one when it is finished. There is great choice of factions and beutifull units combined with sense of detail, historical acuracy and realism

Btw. are you using the battle map grass and bushes (grounds?) from FoE? I like them somehow better than those currently used in RTR VII.

[Caligula Caesar]

Thanks There's still a lot to do, but things are certainly coming together

I added the environments quite a while back (around RTR-VII's first release, or maybe a bit before or after), after Muizer improved them. He improved them again since then, so I may want to take a look at the current ones and see if I want to add them. I haven't really looked closely at the differences

[demagogos nicator]

There are more differences between them but in general new grass looks more polished but it also shorter, containing less/or maybe even none) flowers and scrubs. What I like on the older version which you are currently using in FO is that units hiding in grass are really hidden and the battlefields in general looks less cultivated.

I really like the changes and improvements you have made on certain RTR units and new horses fit them well (but Numidians should ride saddleless and bridleless). Arverni heavy cavalry and Getai reform units looks really great to name a few (I have alredy said my compliments about hetairoi, phalangites and elephants). When speaking about Getai I have noticed that there are Thracian unts (Romphaiaphoroi and Dii swordsmen)recruitbale in all of the Getai regions, I think they should be recruitable only if the Getai expand souther to the land of Triballoi and other Thracians but I may be wrong.

Britonic heavy charriots using armoured horses? (and the pure guys are still half naked )

To be honest I do not really like the multi steppe faction but I can see the reasons why you decided to do it this way.

Are you planing to add some more advanced walls to barbarian factions latter on? Currently they have only palisade and stockade available.

Your elephant balance system seems to work very well

I think it would be a good idea to disable the skirmish mode for the helenistic/pontic scythed chariots because now they are crossing the lines and disrupting the good order of their own army while harrasing the enemy with missiles.

Bactrian and Maurian factions look really good and exotic and Maurian portraits and music adds a lot of flavour. Bactrian units also looks amazing, I guess most of them came from Aqd mod, arent they?

Why Carthage starts with such a huge force (including Sacred band) on Sicily?

Uff, had to ventilate my first impressions

[Caligula Caesar]

Lol wow Thanks for your feedback, I'll try and root out all the bugs you found

To be honest I do not really like the multi steppe faction but I can see the reasons why you decided to do it this way.

I don't like it either. But I figured that I really need several factions in the Steppe, but I doubt anyone will actually play them. So I was able to reconcile (with myself at least) lumping them together, with a barbarian minifaction in between

Are you planing to add some more advanced walls to barbarian factions latter on? Currently they have only palisade and stockade available.

I've set it so that the Germans and Steppe guys can often build a level lower than the Gauls, Celtiberi and Getae, since they are further removed from "civilisation" and so have less technical nounce, not to mention basically no known major settlements.

I think it would be a good idea to disable the skirmish mode for the helenistic/pontic scythed chariots because now they are crossing the lines and disrupting the good order of their own army while harrasing the enemy with missiles.

It occurs to me that I have "balanced" the chariots, but I haven't actually checked how they work with the current balancing, so I may need to do some refinements.... including removing skirmish mode.

Bactrian units also looks amazing, I guess most of them came from Aqd mod, arent they?

Several of the Bactrians are AqD, yes. Some of his best work was done on them. Others are my reskins of RTR units, and the hetairoi and most eastern AoRs are RSII or adapted from it

Why Carthage starts with such a huge force (including Sacred band) on Sicily?

I wanted to encourage war in Sicily with those armies. I think I went way too far, though. The Carthaginians never had such a huge expeditionary force.

[demagogos nicator]

I don't like it either. But I figured that I really need several factions in the Steppe, but I doubt anyone will actually play them. So I was able to reconcile (with myself at least) lumping them together, with a barbarian minifaction in between

Why not playlable Sarmatian faction in the European steppe, barbarian minifaction in Asian steppe (to represent Saka, Messagetes and so on) and few rebel regions between them or vice versa?

I've set it so that the Germans and Steppe guys can often build a level lower than the Gauls, Celtiberi and Getae, since they are further removed from "civilisation" and so have less technical nounce, not to mention basically no known major settlements.

That is a good idea

Btw. Athought, the Marcomanni minifaction is very interesting gameplaywise (another germanic tribe for Cherusci to compete with) you should be awared that until the early AD there were historicaly no Marcomani present in the lands where is their starting position in game and the territory of modern day Bohemia was inhabited by celtic Boii as Tacitus states in his Germania, this is also supported by the archeological evidence which is clearly celtic .unitl the first years of AD. During the first century BC Marcomanni inhabited Main river valley and Caesar mentioned them forming the part of the army of Ariovistus.

[Caligula Caesar]

0.8 is out Here is the list of changes in its full glory:

-Improvements to the units balancing system: More differentiated ground type modifiers, more clear-cut difference between elites and non-elites, and a vastly improved price range
-Balanced German, Illyrian and Greco-Bacrian units, and corrected some errors in previous balancing
-Redid the resources in fifty eastern provinces and strat map resources in those
-Added/implemented new strat map officers for many factions which were using generic (or just plain wrong) ones
-Added Seleucid Cataphract
-Added culture-specific (male) peasants, and faction-specific revolutionaries (revolt CTD fix units)
-Fixed some of the bugs in the mining system
-Fixed German Clubmen, Heroes and Youngspears
-Added some Greek colony buildings where they were missing
-Corrected several errant building and unit UI cards
-Added normal hands to Bactrian units
-Fixed agents’ UI cards
-Fixed some allocations of formations to AI factions
-Increased Marian Legionaries to 50 men, and Triarii to 40
-Added updated Getic Bodyguard and corrected its (lack of) name
-Made Getic Warband into spearman unit (as it should be)
-Allowed Achaea to recruit Spartans in Sparta
-Made Carthage’s reform units reform-dependent
-Decreased movement points slightly
-Fixes to some irregular or excessively high building prices
-Fixed Barbarian Tribes’ strat banner icon
-Corrected bug stopping the correct campaign descriptions from showing
-Added a new UI icon for the Indian Spices resource
-Tweaked resource trade values
-Made the timber import building only available in coastal provinces (the building having the purpose of allowing ships to be built)
-Removed Mauryan militia spearmen (who were bugged anyway)
-Gave artillery crews their helmets back (solving the half-headless effect)
-Improved Bactrian Cataphract’s texture slightly
-(Attempted to) add a custom formation for a Mauryan Elephant Assault
-Fixed a CTD on Carmania’s settlement details scroll

[Antiokhos Euergetes]

Magnificent, I'd better go an test it.There is one more thing I think really would be the proverbial icing on the cake ALEX.EXE ?

[Caligula Caesar]

I'll need to work out how. I don't think CA made the port easy Especially when I don't have Alex. Btw, be sure to check out settlements outside of battles. I'm quite proud of my peasants

[Antiokhos Euergetes]

Will do will be up late have an essay on Aristophanes 'Clouds' to write

[Caligula Caesar]

Hehe I'm reading the Birds at the moment. The guy's a genius.

[Antiokhos Euergetes]

Agreed...birds is fantastic. What translation are you reading? I'm reading Sommerstein, but I also like Meinecks translations

[Caligula Caesar]

This one Mainly because it's freely available on the internet with line numbers. I'm always a bit baffled on which translation to use. This one reads well enough, anyway.

[Finn]

CC, is the latest patch save game compatible?

[Antiokhos Euergetes]

This one Mainly because it's freely available on the internet with line numbers. I'm always a bit baffled on which translation to use. This one reads well enough, anyway.

I do recommend Sommerstein though, not only does it have both English and Greek - but also has detailed notes almost line for line
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Clouds-Class.../dp/0856682101

[demagogos nicator]

Great job CC
[QUOTEThere is one more thing I think really would be the proverbial icing on the cake ALEX.EXE ?][/QUOTE]
Is ALEX.exe really that crucial? I have played Chivalry Total War a lot on both BI and ALEX exes and I have seen almost no difference.

[Caligula Caesar]

@Finn: I expect not, since all the resources involved changes to descr_regions, and map changes usually mess up things. At best, the changed resources won't be in your game. I can't think of anything else from the rest that would cause a CTD, but I did do quite a lot of stuff, so there might be something. If you do try it, make sure you back up map.rwm (I have an empty one in the patch, which should make the game generate a new one, which will almost certainly mess up the campaign).

@Antiochos: I usually go for the free ones on the internet I'll see what there is in the library, though - Aristophanes seems a good read.

@Dem: Thanks

[Finn]

@Finn: I expect not, since all the resources involved changes to descr_regions, and map changes usually mess up things. At best, the changed resources won't be in your game. I can't think of anything else from the rest that would cause a CTD, but I did do quite a lot of stuff, so there might be something. If you do try it, make sure you back up map.rwm (I have an empty one in the patch, which should make the game generate a new one, which will almost certainly mess up the campaign)

Thanks, I will probably continue my Armenian campaign for now, and when I update to the latest patch I may give the Germans whirl.

[Caligula Caesar]

I've worked out why I was able to release the patch early - I forgot to make the new mercenary pools Ah well, something for the next patch...

[bobbyr]

Great job with the 0.9 beta Caligula Caesar!

[CanOmer]

I have an old version of FO, I didn't remember its version. How can I learn it?

I downloaded it in 2.1.2012.
It is 737.818KB.
File name is FO.7z