been away whats up with 1.3 and 1.5 patches

[trench]

Been away for a while - march 2006 so the forums told me.
Anyway i saw that there is 1.3 and 1.5 patches.
Does anyone have a change log for these patches?
Are they worth installing or do they make more mess than they fix?

Sorry for skepticism, but newer not always bettter you know.
Regards,
Don

[Kaidonni]

They are the latest patches, and definitely worth it. 1.3 makes a bit of a mess that 1.5 clears up. Some fixes include banishing all save/load bugs, thank Jupiter (EXCEPT a diplomacy one...the computer is awful on the turn you load into, it isn't so receptive until the next turn). A fair few other things are also fixed. 1.5 is by far the best, though. Least messed up (there is an additional patch to fix something to do with the temples of Epona...somewhere).

Now I must say the following...

1.3 is ONLY if you don't want BI. BI vanilla (1.4) auto-patches RTW to 1.3.

AND

1.5 is ONLY if you don't have BI 1.4. If you want 1.5, and have BI, get the 1.6 patch which also auto-patches RTW to 1.5.

AND

No previous patches required before 1.3/1.4.

Also visit the following site for more support on the patches (go to Support and you'll be given a list of the Total War games to choose from):
http://www.totalwar.com/

[Trajan]

RTW Patch 1.3:

GAMEPLAY ISSUES

Balancing
There are a number of improvements that have been made to the Balancing of the
game, which will change the way that the game is played.

* Spear bonuses against cavalry have been increased (they were previously
hard coded and are now moddable, in addition to mount_effect)
* Braced spearmen (standing ready) now reflect part of any attacking
cavalry’s charge bonus back on the horse
* Adjusted most units’ charge bonuses to improve play balance (especially
for cavalry) in response to charge code changes (which fixed an issue for
higher bonus values)
* Reduced archery attack for some elite units
* Reduced secondary non-phalanx attack for stronger phalanx units
* Adjusted incorrect shield attribute for several units (to reflect
models)
* Fixed Egyptian desert axemen armour
* Fixed bug for early and late Thracian and Scythian generals
* Reduced archer attack from chariots and elephants, and reduced dog attack




Code Issues

We fixed a number of different bugs and associated issues for the patch, below
you will see some of the headline fixes.

Campaign Map
There have been numerous fixes to the Campaign Map. There are a few highlights
below.

* The Load Save bug has been addressed
* The speed on the campaign map has been improved
* Improvements to the Campaign map AI
* Better mix of rebelling units, including mercenary units and fewer
peasants
* Fewer brigands, more pirates and the ability to mod the rate that these
appear
* Fixed issues with the faction graphs where a dead faction was still
receiving income



Battle Map

As with the campaign map there have been numerous little fixes. A few
highlights are:

* Improvements to the battle AI
* Pre-battle speeches for the Roman factions now include sections on
previous meetings with that faction


RTW 1.5 Patch:

Campaign Map



* We have fixed the “memory leak” slowdown issue that was seen when playing
the campaign map for prolonged periods.

· We have fixed the Naval battles that were not working correctly in
version 1.3. AI-controlled factions will now make proper use of ships.

· Saved games from version 1.2 will work in version 1.5. A couple of
other problems with saved games have also been fixed to prevent crashes.

* The Gauls can no longer recruit Naked Fanatics as they no longer have
farming-related shrines and temples.
* Academy-class buildings now give a law bonus, as they do in the BI
expansion pack. These buildings now have uses in cities without governors or
generals in residence.
* Only Roman factions can hold Games at an Arena-class building.
* Diplomacy has been “tweaked” so that Roman diplomatic activity is more
coherent.
* Fleeing armies can now only flee once after a large battle defeat.


Units



* We have added secondary low-quality sword to the phalanx-capable German
Spearman Warband.
* Removed inappropriate officer from Rebel Archer Warband units.
* Reduced hit points for German Berserkers from 3 to 2 (matching those in
BI).


Battle Map





* Improvements have been made to prevent men spilling around the base of
siege towers.
* There was a pathfinding issue that made river battles very slow. This has
been fixed.
* Improvements have been made to the AI when orchestrating Skirmish
Maneouvres.
* The AI will now use 'fire at will' with idle units so that they throw
pila at nearby enemies.
* The AI will now make a decision about throwing pila before charging into
combat based on the location of enemy units.

[trench]

Thank you Trajan! Sounds like for me it will be a somewhat "new game" with patches.
I fired up a new campaign about a week ago, do you think the patches will have adverse effect on it?
Or better yet, can i just have two versions RTW - should I just rename the folder or exe file or something?

[Trajan]

Your 1.2 saved games should work fine after installing 1.5 so there's no need to continue with 1.2. If you're paranoid, just make a backup of your Rome Total War folder and place it in a new folder called RTW 1.2 BKP before installing 1.5.