Ars Gratia Artis - Complete Battle Overhaul, v2.7.2 - Patch 7 ready (updated 15/11/13)

[Cidalsleepwalker]

Does this mod require the difficulty to be set to legendary? Or does the difficulty setting only effect the campaign map?

It's only a battlemod right now. It shouldn't effect the campaign map at all.

[loukylouk]

It's only a battlemod right now. It shouldn't effect the campaign map at all.

OK cool, so, then the difficulty is only for the campaign and not the actual battles themselves. right?

[Cidalsleepwalker]

OK cool, so, then the difficulty is only for the campaign and not the actual battles themselves. right?

Yes. I believe there is an option in the menus somewhere to change the battle difficulty though I can't remember where I saw it right now.

[Aethyr]

Its a shame these aspects cannot be visually represented, but doesn't matter. Loving the mod.

[Little Legionaire]

Its a shame these aspects cannot be visually represented, but doesn't matter. Loving the mod.

Because CA somehow tends to ignore or correctly likes to simplify the formations. However, ancient battles were highly organized and some even ritualisticly based on formation battles. Such as old school Hoplite battles. Diadochi wars etc. Battle formations ment a lot... Even it that crap movie named 300. What made the Spartans better first and Leonidas ignored that Ephialtes. He ignored him because he wasnt able to fight in a formation

I'd like to see more visually represented formations too but you know...

Something interesting... and wanted to share

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...halanx-FIX-Mod

[Selea]

Because CA somehow tends to ignore or correctly likes to simplify the formations.

It would be just something if the formations that are in the game actually worked and weren't broken.

Of the three active behavior animations (Pike Wall, Shield Wall, Shield Screen) not a SINGLE one of them works at is should and all of them have (in some aspect or another) huge bugs.

The three cavalry behavior animations are all poorly designed (especially Diamond) and work poorly.

The only one that works as it should is Pike Square, but it is just a damn square that doesn't let move. Hollow Square is broken too (no shields on first row; luckily they reappear when in combat).

I even wrote a post in TW Forums about this; it is about time that CA will fix the formations ffs. They are the soul of a game like this. Now with next version I am removing all the active abilities (you know, the World of Warcraft ones) so that formations are the most important aspect but with the state they are in it's really difficult to make them work properly and anyway there are always huge issues in them no matter what I do.

Let's see if this so much talked patch 7 will finally make them work correctly. I somewhat doubt it (it seems that patch 7 will bring new DLC and if that's true I already know that it will be the usual "candy" to keep people happy while nothing is really resolved; till they focus on DLCs instead of correcting the core issues the game has nothing will change) but one can always hope.

P.S: btw my two HDDs in RAID 0 died at me today. I lost all the changes I made on the new update and will have to begin anew. Sob... I did so many changes. I had reworked many formations as Hoplite Phalanx and Shield Wall to be truer to their real counterpart and it took a lot of time to do that.

[Cidalsleepwalker]

It would be just something if the formations that are in the game actually worked and weren't broken.

Of the three active behavior animations (Pike Wall, Shield Wall, Shield Screen) not a SINGLE one of them works at is should and all of them have (in some aspect or another) huge bugs.

The three cavalry behavior animations are all poorly designed (especially Diamond) and work poorly.

The only one that works as it should is Pike Square, but it is just a damn square that doesn't let move. Hollow Square is broken too (no shields on first row; luckily they reappear when in combat).

I even wrote a post in TW Forums about this; it is about time that CA will fix the formations ffs. They are the soul of a game like this. Now with next version I am removing all the active abilities (you know, the World of Warcraft ones) so that formations are the most important aspect but with the state they are in it's really difficult to make them work properly and anyway there are always huge issues in them no matter what I do.

Let's see if this so much talked patch 7 will finally make them work correctly. I somewhat doubt it (it seems that patch 7 will bring new DLC and if that's true I already know that it will be the usual "candy" to keep people happy while nothing is really resolved; till they focus on DLCs instead of correcting the core issues the game has nothing will change) but one can always hope.

P.S: btw my two HDDs in RAID 0 died at me today. I lost all the changes I made on the new update and will have to begin anew. Sob... I did so many changes. I had reworked many formations as Hoplite Phalanx and Shield Wall to be truer to their real counterpart and it took a lot of time to do that.

Aw man that sucks. I love your mod man, please keep up the good work. Hopefully this will (eventually) turn into the most incredible overhaul made for this game.

[Épaminondas The "Oblique"]

Hopefully we saved everything from the graphical addon from our side with Kymmuriel. We will help Selea to recover quickly !

[Little Legionaire]

P.S: btw my two HDDs in RAID 0 died at me today. I lost all the changes I made on the new update and will have to begin anew. Sob... I did so many changes. I had reworked many formations as Hoplite Phalanx and Shield Wall to be truer to their real counterpart and it took a lot of time to do that.

Good god! How unfortunate! Two HDD in RAID 0... It's the most secure RAID formation,

I got one SSD and plus two extra HDD as backup partitions. But those PC's are problematic beings. Hope you recover fast and so sorry to hear that,

But as you said the formations part is so broken. Yesterday i was testing my last update as Seleucids Vs Arvernii. Phalanx mate was so broken so unresponsive in many ways. Still can't believe this terrible state of the game. To attack a unit sometimes i was clicking a dozen of times. Even if they move they werent properly engaging the enemy ranks. What you're doing is Fabio is so essential for the game. As you posted so many times to CA forums... Yet they still they releasing DLC and such It's kinda joke but anyway

[jamiedp88]

To the graphics guys, please no smurf hate pls, I know its not historically correct but god smurf and mushroom hats are becoming too abundant, limit them and throw in some thracian or corinthians for the poor greeks with them ><

[Stefankollers]

Hi just wondering if anyone has thought about doing a "winter uniform mod" Apparently the uniform the Romans "including Auxilieries was less than uniform". The trousers for Auxilieries were obtained locally. All the soldiers appear to have worn native tunics under the Armour. The only item of "warm clothing which was uniform" was the Red cloak.
Unfortunately I cannot find any pictures and just read up on "Re enactor web sites. They seem to give the impression that the bare arms and bare legs was not quite how the Romans dressed to combat the cold. Especially while on Garrison duty in the wilds of Northumberland in winter time. I thought it would give a more realistic feel to those snow covered maps.
I lack the knowledge but I'm sure some of you fine modders out there could produce a few units with loads of variation........Anyway thanks for reading. I put this proposal in the relevant section yesterday..........Sadly no replies, sadly I lack the knowledge and expertise to do it myself. I thought it would add a new dimension to the game.
I do play this battle mod a lot. Given that it is the best so far. And seems to be improving by the day, like the idea of new unit sizes, anyway keep up the good work.

[NiKuTa]

Small update of my SUBMOD "Better Roman Reforms" for AGA

- Better centurion crest
- Little rebalance of camillian units.

Downloads:
Main file -NiK_Roman_Better_Reforms_AGA
Optional File - NiK_Changes_for_AgA

[SgtNase]

Is there a 2tpys version of this around ? I love the idea and the features of this mod but want to play with the 2tpy-mod.

[Marsus]

Is there a 2tpys version of this around ? I love the idea and the features of this mod but want to play with the 2tpy-mod.

Yes, download it from the first post and you can choose your TPY. You will have to use TPY from this mod and not another.

[Cope]

Hey selea I love what you did with pila very much, I think the extra micro needed to use it offsets its power. One suggestion I would make is that there should be no cool down time, but instead, that there should only be two rounds available to each unit. I made a video on tw forums trying to sell it to people because it is very good.

I feel sorry for you with the other formations. I can see you're trying but you can't fix CA's mess. As you do, I hope they sort them the out in the next patch.

[Cope]

Also in my opinion archers are pretty underpowered. They do no real damage whatsoever against averagely armored units, especially by comparison to javelins.

[jamiedp88]

@Leving

Also in my opinion archers are pretty underpowered. They do no real damage whatsoever against averagely armored units, especially by comparison to javelins.

I disagree and agree.

Firstly, I think archers are fine, I believe it's the fact that javelins are overpowered. More so the fact that armies tend to spam the lowest form of skirmishers which use basic javelins. These javelins in their own right are very powerful. Maybe changing it so precursor javelins keep there damage and AP (its a one off thing before a charge), maybe decrease the ap slightly of elite javelins eg. Javelin_Improved, Iron and maybe the pilum and then greatly reduce the damage of basic javelins eg. Javelin_wood (I think there's more) and slightly decrease their range and AP as these are the javelins used by inexperienced or basic troops, not your usual well trained peltasts etc.

The other option for a nerf could be somehow decreasing their accuracy or increasing the spread.

Just my opinion, javelins OP. Archers are balanced quite nicely especially when general traits and army traits and research tech boost them.

[Kasswok]

@Leving



I disagree and agree.

Firstly, I think archers are fine, I believe it's the fact that javelins are overpowered. More so the fact that armies tend to spam the lowest form of skirmishers which use basic javelins. These javelins in their own right are very powerful. Maybe changing it so precursor javelins keep there damage and AP (its a one off thing before a charge), maybe decrease the ap slightly of elite javelins eg. Javelin_Improved, Iron and maybe the pilum and then greatly reduce the damage of basic javelins eg. Javelin_wood (I think there's more) and slightly decrease their range and AP as these are the javelins used by inexperienced or basic troops, not your usual well trained peltasts etc.

The other option for a nerf could be somehow decreasing their accuracy or increasing the spread.

Just my opinion, javelins OP. Archers are balanced quite nicely especially when general traits and army traits and research tech boost them.

Yeah pretty much.. I can't autoresolve because I have elephants.. and even when I attack a town with garrison only troops... I'm still very careful because of javelins, they're just so strong! In a way its good because its not a faceroll, but at the sametime I should be able to just faceroll against a garrison when I'm using full stack elite units =P

[Selea]

Btw, a little teaser on what to expect on the new version:

• Reworked individual units sizes to their realistic counterparts for factions.
• Removing of the active abilities so that positioning and formations become the fundamental aspect. This is possible for the sizes that balance factions without needing of active abilities.
• Reworking of many of the formations as Hoplite Phalanx, Phalanx, Shield Wall and Fulcum (after some bit of research, this is how it was called the Shield Wall by Romans) to work much more similar to how their historical counterparts really worked. As an example Shield Wall will be a defensive formation to save fatigue to exhaust enemy units and then counterattack.
• Full reworking of Cavalry to be much more historical accurate. No more powerful melee cavalry; all cavalry will be in different measures good at charging (depending on the length of the weapon) but not able to sustain melee for long. Also skirmisher cavalry will have a place that goes beyond the mere skirmishing and entails also scouting and chasing routers.
• Reworking of some units' speeds to be more historical accurate. For example Phalangitai were not the very slow unit the majority of people think they are.

And then, naturally:

The excellent new version of the texture add-on that is very beautiful. Btw now the texture add-on is no more a compliaton as it was at the beginning and instead is something unique to AGA and for this there's no more reason to put it as separate, also because in the step after this one (the one that adds new units) the textures would be needed anyway.

[Durador]

Btw, a little teaser on what to expect on the new version:

• Reworked individual units sizes to their realistic counterparts for factions.
• Removing of the active abilities so that positioning and formations become the fundamental aspect. This is possible for the sizes that balance factions without needing of active abilities.
• Reworking of many of the formations as Hoplite Phalanx, Phalanx, Shield Wall and Fulcum (after some bit of research, this is how it was called the Shield Wall by Romans) to work much more similar to how their historical counterparts really worked. As an example Shield Wall will be a defensive formation to save fatigue to exhaust enemy units and then counterattack.
• Full reworking of Cavalry to be much more historical accurate. No more powerful melee cavalry; all cavalry will be in different measures good at charging (depending on the length of the weapon) but not able to sustain melee for long. Also skirmisher cavalry will have a place that goes beyond the mere skirmishing and entails also scouting and chasing routers.
• Reworking of some units' speeds to be more historical accurate. For example Phalangitai were not the very slow unit the majority of people think they are.

And then, naturally:

The excellent new version of the texture add-on that is very beautiful. Btw now the texture add-on is no more a compliaton as it was at the beginning and instead is something unique to AGA and for this there's no more reason to put it as separate, also because in the step after this one (the one that adds new units) the textures would be needed anyway.

Great news! Can't wait to play with this update