Auto-Watchtowers

[Soul Reapir]

So I was playing SS the other day and realized I really like how it has pre-made watchtowers on every territory so you can see all of your land. This makes perfect sense as in real life, a kingdom would have eyes and ears everywhere in their own territory. With the difficulty of the mod, esspecially with the economy, having these pre-made watchtowers would save time, and a little bit of money for the player to focus on more important things. So I hope that TATW considers this idea to be implemented in future versions. Its a great feature.

EDIT: Last option is supposed to say, "As an in-game option on turn 1".

[glykiamizeria]

really nice idea,some watchtowers are usefull also in ME each faction had several outposts

[Chyeaaaa111]

There was some submod that I used in the past for earlier editions of TATW. Can't remember what it was called thought. Also, I couldn't agree more. I hate how many blind spots one has in your own kingdom.

[Queller]

I agree. I always spend lot of turns only for doing these watchtowers.

[Lionheart_19]

and if you're playing a big faction, like gondor, rohan or harad, you'll need a lot of watchtowers and if in the end you multiply all those watchtowers by 200.... it's a lot of money

[Bobz]

Agreed, provinces consist of so much more than just the capital. Being able to see your entire land was the best change in Empire, if you want to keep watchtowers in the game just have them for viewing enemy land.

[Rorarii]

Lets stick to reality, what happened in real life.

Yes watch towers provided info but also villages etc .. so any small group of houses should act like a tower .. not only that but trade wagons (you know those small wagons moving along your roads) should also provide intel. That makes more common sense.

R

[Plumo]

I think you ( the player) ought to place the towers him/herself.

[PaulH]

I'm somewhat torn about this as I feel having Watchtowers the way they are is not entirely a bad thing, even though it does frustrate me greatly that each time I conquer somewhere I have to do the Watchtower run around the land I conquered and the cost is obscene. Perhaps there should be some midway balance between the two? I don't know.. perhaps the core settlements that you have at the beginning should have Watchtowers for yourself (that disappear when the realm is conquered), and that Watchtowers instead cost 50 to purchase rather than 200. Either that, or expand the range that they can view so that we need to build less of them.

[Ekaddon]

I disagree. A "medieval" kingdom would be fairly blind and deaf on what happens beyond the main roads trough its territory. Even there it would be limited to what you actually see from the road. As a merchant or farmer, I surely would not leave the "trail" with the middle-earth creatures lurking in the wild. Even in our reality people feared the woods. But the idea that roads would be visible is good.

Not to mention that even any information that is gathered would only be available when said caravan reaches its destination. Then from there on someone would need to carry it to the King/governor himself. Even the best data available would be a day old. Watchtowers need to be manned (very few people available in TA!) and they will also need to carry their information forward by pigeon and eagle at best.

In middle-earth lore I would see watchtowers as a "pinnacle of evolution", only available as the kingdom has expanded enough and a "far-sighted" enough ruler has created a new line of communication. The Third Age is a time of depression and the old highways are all deserted, by the War of The Ring this had gone so far that the stonework was already cowered by nature, some simply forgotten. Only Gondor and the Shire had their line of communication somewhat secure and up/running.

[vonckenLOTR]

i think its a good idea

[cormagus77]

I like the idea also
As it is now all i'm doing for the first decades is building economy and watchtowers.
Better make them ready from the start. And If anyone complains about this presumed "advantage" (or more fitting: "lesser disadvantage") for the human player, one could imply this as an ingame event on turn1:
"Do you want watchtowers in your realm erected/manned? This shall cost you XXXX Gold!"
So everyone could choose to have them erected automatically or manually! It is indeed realistic and logical that any halfsane regent in any halfway civilised country would have his eyes and ears naturally open! and as Rorarii has rightly said: Not only watchtowers have eyes and ears...

[Nemesis_GR]

+1 for permanent watchtowers like ss.

[Ultra123]

i think this is a great idea and should be polled and sub-modded in should the developers disagree.

[Jakeler]

Agreed, Atleast make it optional like Barons submod's and like SS that way the players who want to place em themselfs can do so and the players who dont want to spend the first 20 turns placing towers can do that!

[Dwarven Berserker]

This sound like a job for Baron Samedi...

[TheXand]

There should be a poll in this here thread. I'd like to have the option for auto-watchtowers too.

[Jakeler]

Dwarven Berserker
This sound like a job for Baron Samedi...

I'm not sure about that xD I asked awhile ago before this was even a post.

Quote:
December 23, 2011, 03:39 PM
Originally Posted by Jakeler
Real looting looks wicked! and I just downloaded your mod pack its really fun! Playing as Rhun. I was wondering if a mod existed that pre placed watch towers in every region so you wouldnt have to place them yourself (Like the option in stainless steel) its a pain in the ass placing them as Rhun! lol if such a mod existed I think it would be an amazing add to your pack

Baron Samedi.
Such thing is not optional via scripting I believe (desc strat).

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...2#post10769892

[Baron Samedi]

I'm not sure about that xD I asked awhile ago before this was even a post.



http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...2#post10769892

Like I said, if these watchtowers could be placed via scripts then I could create such a feature. However it is done via descr_strat (in: ...\Medieval II Total War\mods\3.0_Baron\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign). Just use control+f to search for ''watchtower'' and you will find the watchtowers which are currently present in vanila (there are a couple of them):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

region Umbar_Province
farming_level 0
famine_threat 0
watchtower  179 28
 
region Andrast_Province
farming_level 0
famine_threat 0
watchtower  82 84
 
...
...
...

It is really simple to create them. Just place your cursor on your map where you want the watchtower, type: ''show_cursorstat'' to find the coordinates (x and y). Create a new watchtower entry in descr_strat.txt with your coordinates. Thats all there is to it.

Edit: So in conclusion there is no such thing as an ''option''. You either will have them or not.

[Soul Reapir]

Added a poll. I'm surprised at the large amount of support. Figured it would be like 50/50.