TheDuBMod (Superior Campaign AI) Patch 8, 9

[Blitzkrieg80]

YEAH YEAH I'm spamming my own thread and talking to myself... WHAT

Patch 6 is compatible so far it seems...

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OK I made a new version of my Battle AI / HUMAN GRINDER MOD ... Steam rolled out early...

COMPLETELY REDESIGNED WEAPON / ARMOR / DAMAGE SYSTEM

Spears and Gladii no longer get so much free AP Damage! AP Damage now represents concussive / blunt force trauma which is the main reason why Axes and Clubs rule armor.... but Gladii should 'penetrate' armor easier than a longsword (style-dependent but also weapon design)... so now all swords and spears get +armorpenetration which HALVES armor ratings for damage calculations... and longswords now do AP damage (4) - longswords were best at blundgeoning lolz but can be blocked... and if you have no armor against a longsword, GOOD LUCK ;o) I did all this with almost 1/2 weapon damage too, so battles should really last long now and perhaps have some more tactical usage....

ALSO THIS SHOULD GO GREAT WITH THE NEW BLOOD MOD ;o) which is why I decided to release so quickly this fresh awesome GRINDY version

ill list the details of the change later... no attachments because the forum is being dumb

[Blitzkrieg80]

Since I am the only one who posts here, it shouldn't come to any surprised that I am bumping my own thread in a pitiable attempt to get attention LOLZ

I updated the PHILOSOPHY and Battle AI details directly related to that change in philosophy... cool stuff with the Battle Mod... I don't care if y'all ignore me hahahaha (j/k i'm really crying ;o)

PS ALSO UPDATE on Legendary Difficulty [HARCORE ONLY] (NOT RECC for current version)... I left a note... thanks to helpful feedback of the 1 tester I have lol

[Ashvin]

Blitz i have question , where in db i can fix that tax bug?

[rnesteruk]

What made gladius great in battles is also the fact that it is easier to kill fast with thrust than with slash or chop. Mail armor and linothorax one were great against slashing atacks but weaker against thrusts. Whats more it is easier to fight in formation with shorter weapon than with long one. Thats why spear infantry always shitched weapons in cq. Spearman is dead agains short sword in cq.

I also believe that thrust with gladius is as deadly as chop with an axe, while axe is way easier to avoid by dodge or shield action. If not we should have massive axes or hammer armed armies. If u look at history most of sucesfull infantry types of ancient were armed in thrusting (gladius, pilla, spears, pikes) and slashing weapons (kopis, - falcata almost the same design). As for longsword it is good in chopping and in thrusting. But no way gladius was worse in thrust than longsword. In fact it was better cuz shorter blade less strain on your muscles and easier to move fast. Longer blade means sometning when u need reach and when u chop but nothing when u thrust in shield to shield action.

[Blitzkrieg80]

rnesteruk, that's exactly right, although I sum it all into 'combat style' since close order is a similar aspect / pertains to the stabbing style... yeah the Celtic Longsword is probably the least effective weapon in the game to stab (on par with the club? lol) ;o)

YET, no gladius is EVER EVER going to be killing very many people very fast... it simply doesn't have the range or style to make it happen.

Also, Sword+Shield has always been favored best because the primary job of the Warrior (in his own mind) is staying alive, in order to keep killing the enemy... Dying doesn't help this. The sword is a defensive weapon which means the Sword+Shield Warrior has 2x the Defense! Axes, because of weight and design and because of style of attack, leave one entirely vulnerable. Sorta like you were just saying, there are important aspects of combat that involve defense that many overlook and yet it was probably more of a deciding factor than other factors.

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The Legendary issue is with the last handicap (EDIT- on HARDCORE ONLY) on the HANDICAP DIFFICULTY table, its 10000 which I did just cuz I thought you guys wanted something crazy, but I didn't consider the Client State trickle down... I think I will roll out the fixed version in Steam tonight... was thinking reducing to 5000/6000 but I should test that too because it might still be too much with the Seleucids on the menu now


Thanks for posting... keep it coming! ;o)

[rnesteruk]

In fact gladius has style. Simple and deadly. U dont need katana fancy action just parry with shield or bash then close and stab. Often there is no space in formation clash to back to take another swing with long weapon. It is a deadly combo. U can train soldiers fast to fight in this style, u dont need masters just workers. Considering that and unit to unit model RTW2 has it is good to say that gladius has potential to kill fast and kill many. It is worth remember that thrust is always more deadly than slash or chop. It just causes massive internal damage and massive bleeding while energy and body action u need for that is way smaller than in case of axe or LS. It is just lighter and faster.

Longsword and club (mace, axe, warhammer or similar) they are the same in chop action. U swing and hope for massive blunt trauma. Sure LS is able to cut and to thrust but it is not a slashing weapon at all. By design and cut propability it should be way better in damage dealing than club.

Pehaps u use this line in diff handicap table

3 for legendary

rom_building_unit_experience_all

in_all_your_provinces

and number i use 3 on legendary setting.

it lets ai armies to be train at level 3 at start. Ai armies wont last long so even if u will give tham 100 points of exp gain per turn it is no sure that player will fight against 4+ rank armies. I think that it is better than flat bonuses to unit stats.

BTW great CAI mod it is fun to play with it. I use it allways with mods combo. It makes game great when player is active. On your legendary diplo if player is small no one even green faces want to trade with u. Other nice thing are aliance blocks which are formed after some time.

[WayneRooney]

I'm all for a challenge, I've been playing TW games since Rome and have a pretty good feel for the series. Having said that, your mod is grossly imbalanced for certain factions, one particular faction which is next to impossible to play on hard or normal is the Seleucid empire. With in 5 turns the Selecids are literally at war with 11 factions. Your tweaks to diplomacy make treaties with factions a frustrating and impossible feat, and given the fact early on Seleucids will only ever have enough money to field 2 full stack armies, you can't possibly defend against all of them.

Parthia, Cappadocia, Armenia, Bythina, Egypt, Dahae, Galatia, Cyprus, Sardis, Pergam, Bactria, Mainn, Nabatea, Medea, Persis, and the Atropatena nations will all go to war. There is no diplomatic maneuver which will get you out of it. They are coming in waves like a bad heart attack.

Money is impossible to acquire since getting trade takes massive money to promote. On my final attempt (I did 6 of them) I sacrificed Tarsus and Espes and just defended my one province (4 cities). This tactic would allow me to avoid spreading my armies so thin over the map. It was pointless.

I used your 'no love for AI' mod so I shutter at the idea of the other ones. I'm not sure if you beta tested with the Seleucid Empire, but it's not possible to play. I realize Seleucid should be a challenge but a challenge is still possible, your mod makes it utterly futile to even attempt victory.

[Blitzkrieg80]

thanks for the feedback

you're right that the Seleucids were never tested and are in-fact broken atm, but not for the reason you mentioned lolz... they get entirely too much money (10k?) on standard TheDuBMod from trickle-down from the AI money from Satraps (almost sounds like this would help your game). Carthage is similar but much less money, but they are NOT broken because they have so much money because they have no army.

if you choose to release your satraps... how is that difficult? if there is no reprocussions other than being weak, you could reconquer all that... probably more historical anyways..

also, if the game is too hard on Normal or Hard (therefore NOT Vanilla), ever think to try the easier settings since Vanilla Difficulty is BS to begin with?

I also have not tested any of the balance on the nerfed AI mods...

*- I keep hearing that the starting condition are a little messed up, like the mobs in town defenses, ect. because im not editing that out of the startpos.esf but am thinking I will go ahead and do some extra BS in that and get it all perfect for starting with the mod, and hopefully I can address starting armies / money to set certain things up better (like Eprius not always losing). I don't know if I can address money trickle-down without just removing the money... but I certainly can try and make the Seleucids in a better position for AI Aggro.

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thought damage was too high on recent Waelwulf Battle Grinder... lowered damage, should be more balanced between weapons too

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rnesteruk, you remind of something else I like to remind people about concerning combat... FATIGUE - while in-game it is recognized, I hardly think people really understand how much effort / force is required for blunt force trauma death.... far more than a blade, esp a stabbing blade.... and if you're tired too soon, your defense are down, and voila dead. So, again, the urge to survive is strong (and logical, even from a Valhalla-seeking badass) just to keep doing the job... so axes are not ideal whatsoever in this case, thus they were not used... but again, NOT because they were comparable in AP dmg to other weapons lol

I experimented with start EXP and couldn't get it to work with other buildings and effects, so if you found one that works and just told me- THANKS!! will def look into implementing that hehe

[WayneRooney]

Um, the tone in my post was a bit harsh I apologize

I do like the mod, it worked well for Iceni.

[rnesteruk]

This start exp combo works. I use it in ur mods. I found it while poking into belly some mod. I dont remember which one. Not any of the big ones. No thanks needed just use it. There is lot of other combos u can set provinces training better units or worse ones. IE u can create badass legionaries from italy or weaker ones form other. I think with talent u have u can try to do that. Only problem i see is introducing province to effect bundles table.

[Blitzkrieg80]

I have a friend who picked Iceni (so actually very please to hear you say that) on Very Hard and said 'it seemed cheap' and never tried again... after I specifically told him NOT to use Vanilla Difficulty as basis for picking... so I was disappointed he set himself up to fail... I'm probably a little sensititve on that, so I also apologize if I seem overdefensive ;o)

Because I have so little feedback, I'm sure there are problems... but LETS WORK ON EM :O)
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wow, interesting idea rnesteruk... other people have been asking for a mod that lets you roleplay Roman recruitment better (sounds almost RTR / EB-ish) and I have to admit, I would love that... just def. a lot of work and I started more minimalist in RTW2 modding... but now that I've started changing weapon values, its all out LOL...

that's also very unique and sounds probably do-able... making troops available for FUN everywhere but way diff quality based on AOR area of recruitment... oh man though, i'm thinking i'd have to do that for every faction though... but I wouldn't mind making it, maybe I could get my own Hosted Mods thread ;o)

I wonder if the AI would know they weren't as good though and not build them in places they shouldn't? I wish I knew how bugged the AI was

[Meister-Vava]

Hey Blitzkrieg80. This is the best mod for Rome 2, i've ever seen; thank you so much!
Am I able to use the "High Aggro" and the "Campaign AI Hardcore" Mod at the same time? Does the "Historical Faction Balance" increase the difficulty for some factions? Because I'd like to get some real challenge. A fast reply would be really nice and helpful.

For now, thanks for this great modification: keep it up!

[Blitzkrieg80]

Thanks!

No, Hardcore contains HIGHER Aggro (tech. Very High) than High Aggro ... so it's only 1 file you choose from.

But similar to what you're asking, the Faction Balance mod DOES combine with the Hardcore to add a couple 2k-4k to major factions and leading faction competitors (mostly Thracians / Etruscan).. I believe I lowered highest cash on Hardcore to 6.5k on Legendary + 4k from Faction balance (for Rome and Parthia)... so 10k to Rome (if you are not playing as Rome) and that should be a challenge? :O)
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-btw released another patch for Battle mod that balanced better because Longswords were owning too well... now they're pretty similar to axes minus Armor Penetration..... also restored most ranged weapon damage (only nerf is some ap flat damage removed from javelines and composition arrows)... also restored artillery damage to only 1/2 normal... also increased anti-cav bonus on spears ect.. also reduced berserkr speed to medium infantry

-tried to add some more tallies in the Army Compostion % generator... the AI was making some weird combos at lower settings..

-don't know if I mentioned it but I reduced some diplomatic stuff to try and reduce strange 'easy alliance' behavior that I think might have been in last 2 patches or weird consequence of certain behaviors...
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i'm 50% under the impression that armor penetration and armor piercing didn't carry over from Shogun... anyone, please, fill me in, if you know something through testing or whatnot in concern to armor piercing...

[Blitzkrieg80]

sorry just gonna spam same info here in case this is where y'all check and am in hurry but wanna account for what

Ok posting new version (v3 for Patch6) because wasn't happy with damage / representation and esp I was experimenting with unit spacing and ive figured out one should really not do that... theres a reason the actual developers released the spacing the way they did in concern to animations and behavior.... just seems stupid to mess with it.. anyways

I restored hitpoints on ships... ai was getting itself killed easier and I also resolved the artillery issue by restoring damage dealt and reducing reload... I suppose i'll see if that helps (wasn't much to reduce in hindsight, but don't want to ruin their potential use)

projectiles are restored to full damage... and reload is increased actually... one should use skirmishers now to help their poor melee troops...

also increased morale for a lot of low-morale units across the board... ALOT

increased armor... think generally increased ap damage... increase hit chances slightly

I made the standard Gladius like a Longsword but slightly cooler :op (aren't double adjectives fun?).. gots the armor piercing so it tech. has stats like other gladii too just better chops... free pun w00t

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NEW update for No Mo Mobs Mod which is now a separate minimod

also NEW update on Campaign AI... slight tweaks, added experience (should really be challenging now) bonus to AI troops at recruitment... relaxed morale / melee def because of this

ill put more details eventually... pretty tired from going through too many lines of BS code with those Armed Citizenry tables... should be way more stable now tho

[Nesai]

Hi blitzkrieg i m testing your mod it looks nice, but can you please remove ''special abilities'' ? Thank you for sharing youre mod, and good luck.

[Blitzkrieg80]

UPDATED AGAIN... hotfix on Battle Mod 1.631 - artillery which is OP again even with lowest reload... switched all dmg to non-ap except 10... added 1 ap to slings...

also reduced melee attack speed for further grindage...

oh yeah.... new Alternate version : Full Historical Cohort Unit Sizes (x3) YUMMY (I hope you enjoy but please feel free to tell me all about it)

I messed with rank depth for awhile too to make it just right... arty is max 8 for 1 line so max 8 and not x3

[EDIT]
NO NEED TO BUMP FURTHER LOL

I am adding some new stuff! Real Roma Roleplay is a compilation which includes 4TPY COMPLETE + *new* FullCohortBattleAI + *new* HumansRomaRoleplay Mod (I am releasing by itself, will link from here)...
Some of it is not new at all- basically the Historical Faction Balance Mod for Rome but now it adds AOR! Rome can only recruit legions now based on Italian Citizenship and otherwise use Auxiliaries!

You guys should feel free to recommend potentially compatible mods for graphics / realism for the Real Roma Roleplay... although I have a feeling the 480 Unit is a killer and nobody will want to play it so why bother lol

[EDIT]
Also added x40 Melee Speed Mod

[adambajer]

Great mod. Thank you.

[TWCassius]

BlitzKrieg, I'd like to try the Superior Campaign AI (no unit bonuses) but Im not sure if it's compatible with patch 6 (it's Under patch5 description on the op)... and the diplomacy minimod too (the file name is easy peace or something like that, so Im afraid it's going to make the AI too friendly!?) Thank's for the great mod, I've already tried Superior campaign AI (no love for the AI) and it's cool, but Im looking for giving some more advantages to the AI BUT unit bonuses

[TWCassius]

I've just read a comment of other user of your mod about how impossible it is to play as Seleucid... maybe I've been lucky or something, cuz I was running a campaign as them and it was going pretty well. I've managed to have peace with Egypt and I erradicated all the threats on my northern frontier as fast as I can - I'm also allied with Pontus. After I work a bit on my economy and overall happiness on my cities and I finally begun my campaign to Southeast, against Parthia and its allies (a big block, really cool!!! Parthava and almost every other minor faction in the region were allied with Parthia, but Persia that has been wiped out) I'm using AGA and Dub no love for the AI... unfortunately something gone worng when I moved for the new AGA version and I cant load my savagame anymore... or it's beacuse I have added some new skin mods, whatever »I have to start a new campaign now

[Crappy]

Hey! I'd like to try out your mod, but all the files are overwhelming. I'm using AGA, and it reccomended your campaign AI mod. Which files would you recommend? Thank you!