[STIM] Silven Total Improvement Mod [Version 4.0] - DOWNLOAD HERE - Updated September 28th 2014

[Zerrigan]

I know there is some balance to be had between accuracy and gameplay. Just my opinion and I am talking about 2 turns per year not 4. There should definitely be scaling for whatever tpy you are using. I would like to see an option for scaling of research and build time also eventually.

[wrcromartie]

I like the idea of scaling for research and build time...but I think march distances are good. Just my opinion as well & you are certainly entitled to yours!

PS this type of preference disagreement is exactly why TW needs mods and optionality.

[chusta77]

good mod. I congratulate you because of all battles mod I've tried, which are many. this is where the best work the pikes. that's what I like about ningo of which I have tried before. thanks

[Garensterz]

Edited:

What I have observed in mod is that theres a problem in units trying to find there own spots when using the ability formations, which breaks their alignment and horrible to look at especially on legions. And (if possible) make all troops for the shield wall animation to be in a fighting stance instead of an idle stance. Because when they're fighting only the front men are in fighting stance. Also the unit spacing are a bit too loose I guess? I don't know, but at least (if I'm correct) it will take less damage from pike units. But the tight formation is more appealing to the eyes for me.

All in all it's a great mod, also the battle duration is perfect they more often fight to the death, and removing the special abilities is a big relief. I think I would stick to this for a long time. I only tested this in the custom battle, so more reviews coming soon for the campaign.

[Lt.Chris]

I have noticed when they go into def testudo the men at the front keep reset their positions, (kneeling with their shield and then stand up and repeat)

By the way will you be putting in the ability for the Romans to throw their missiles when stationary and not just on the charge?

[wrcromartie]

Romans throwing missiles while stationary is a vanilla bug...CA is looking at addressing in a patch soon.

[wrcromartie]

Silven - any thoughts on incorporating unit packs from other modders (assuming they gave permission)?

[jpinard]

I know there is some balance to be had between accuracy and gameplay. Just my opinion and I am talking about 2 turns per year not 4. There should definitely be scaling for whatever tpy you are using. I would like to see an option for scaling of research and build time also eventually.

Yes 1,000x. Silven maybe you could focus on 2tpy and scale everything based off that. I know some people like 4, but 2 fits the game best and doesn't stray too far from the original formula. But making buildings and research scale... maybe not a full 100% increase, but 75% would be fantastic.

Also as wrcromatri suggested,. including unit packs that give variability to factions would be amazing. wrcromatri - were you thinking about KLA's work or someone else?

[Silven]

-----VERSION 1.42 HAS BEEN RELEASED!!-----

As always, this is save game compatible with all previous versions of this mod.


-Hotfix for jittery/twitchy formations.

It was found that putting a unit into Shield Screen Formation, or Hoplite Phalanx, etc, would cause the front line and most of the unit to start twitching/jittering/shuffling about, as if they couldn't find their footing, and the front rank would keep dropping and raising their shields. This has been corrected.

-Several Roman Units that were still missing formations like Testudo were corrected.



That is all. Keep testing and providing that feedback. The next major Version will likely have a lot of content, and thus it will likely be some time before it is released.

[Silven]

@wrcromartie
I've decided that there is merit in reducing replenishment rates. Expect to see this in the next version. As always, the first series of alterations will be in moderation.

@Zerrigan
The problem with scaling build and research times to 2 or 4 tpy, is that the file that alters how many turns per year is separate from the .pack file. This would mean even MORE variants of this mod, and as it stands there are already 4 variants to maintain, and each one has to receive a certain amount of changes for each new version, which makes each release a big headache. This would raise the amount of variants that I would have to maintain from 4, to 12. Which is just insane, not to mention confusing as hell for people new to installing mods.

On top of all this, I've mentioned before that modifications to buildings are arguably the most time-consuming to make.

Until an extremely quick and easy method for making global changes like this is developed, I don't expect to include anything like this any time soon. But you are of course, welcome to make these changes to the mod for your own personal use all you want. I'm sure you'll quickly realize just how much work it is to make a change like this, even for 1 variant.

@wrcromartie again
Yes, I've mentioned my desire to include others Unit Packs mods with my own, but the author who's units I wanted to use told me he doesn't want to release his mod for use in others at this time.
This means I have to develop my own, and I will be very soon.

[jpinard]

That's why I suggested just one mod everything based off 2tpy

[Defensore]

Downloaded 1.42 and will continue my Macedon campaign with it.

I think you might find this useful: this mod

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...lls-Initiative

managed to keep hoplites in phalanx formation when the unit is ordered to attack the enemy, even when the units clash. It's my understanding that your mod so far only keeps them in phalanx formation up to the point of contact, then they lose it; in fact, I just tested both and that's what happened (I've downloaded Black Scrolls just to test the hoplite feature.)

Will keep using STIM as it more of my cup of tea . Thanks again for your effort.

[Garensterz]

There's still a bit of alignment issues in the shield wall and non piked phalanx though. unlike in the previous update(v1.4) the alignment was perfect. And about the spacing of ranks? Is it ok to make it a bit closer to each other? It's a bit too loose.

[jpinard]

Silven, I was thinking of offering to do all the buildings for you and your mod for 2tpy, doubling their cost. But the more I think about it and play, the more I believe it would cripple the AI. As far as I can see, public disroder does not care about how many turns there are per year. TI's calculated on a turn by turn basis (correct me if I'm wrong). The AI already starves itself and suffers too much unrest so increasing building times would just amplify that issue. So the better prospect is to only double the build times for building lines that are not here to offset public disorder. So the military line of buildings would be doubled, along with Ports, Industry, & agricultural. Or I could just go through and double every single building that does not increase public order? or increase them by 50%. I have the time to make 500 individual edits. Then of course increase build times for military units and research times.

What do you think?

[Misantropia]

I think buildings should be scaled as well as recruitment time for the best units.

Also, any plans on making other factions playable (seleucids maybe?)

[jackal263]

Silven, i noticed that 1.41 ver (quite perfect in my opinion) is better than newer 1.42 (troops merge better during close combat).
I didn't tested any battle with phalanxes, so i can't give any feedback about them.(i think CA never did a good job with pike units, in all previous titles.. infact my preferred solution would be a mod that completely removes pike units (adding eventually other hoplites to compensate), even if not historically correct ...but much better that a bugged behaviour)
.
Naval combat needs some optimization ..
less sniper missile units..
less damage from missiles..
longer close combat in boarding ...
much more resistant navies..

But overall this is probably the best mod (i can't decide with newer LoB 2.0), at least until 1.41 ver.

[Vinicam]

Silven, look at this thread, especially from the 2nd page and forth: http://forums.totalwar.com/showthrea...r-shield-works

Lots(ok, not that much) of in depth info in this mechanic, that shows exactly why Testudo wasn't working as intended. I don't know what was your solution, I have never met the Romans in my campaign, but it could help your plans on making new units and such. Sorry if you already know everything posted there... :p

[Vinicam]

Silven, look at this thread, especially from the 2nd page and forth: http://forums.totalwar.com/showthrea...r-shield-works

Lots(ok, not that much) of in depth info in this mechanic, that shows exactly why Testudo wasn't working as intended. I don't know what was your solution, I have never met the Romans in my campaign, but it could help your plans on making new units and such. Sorry if you already know everything posted there... :p

[wrcromartie]

Silven - nice work, I look forward to checking out the new version this weekend. I think you're making a smart decision not messing too much with building / research as CA has indicated they will be tweaking it in patches anyway. The most important thing really is that CA needs to teach the CAI how to properly feed and maintain low squalor levels in AI factions...until that happens I think your time is better spent elsewhere.

Just an FYI - I did read that you can copy + paste values from the DB editor to MS Excel in a column. You can then create a formula column adjacent to it where you can globally adjust values by multiplication or division, etc. If this doesn't make a ton of sense I can try to track down the forum post that explained it. I'm still too lazy to crack open the DB files...probably will soon though.

RE: Unit packs...I didn't really have anyone in particular in mind. I've been looking at all the various unit packs that are being released, some are good, some are OK, some are IMO not that great.

Silven, I bet other authors will be willing to let you incorporate their work as you gain more of a following. I think that philosophically your ideas are great, and as long as you are able to continue to refine the implementation you will see some good success.

[XMasterDaveX]

Hi Silven,

it would be aweseome if you could allow Vialabos Imperial Survival Kit, to work as a submod in your Mod. As he focuses heavily on the Campaign, to help all the famous nations to survive and get stronger to be a real thread for the player, while your mod mainly focuses on perfect battles.

Together it would be the Rome2 we all wanted to see at release day!