0.9 - First Impressions

[Ano2]

Hey guys figure it might be nice to have a first impressions thread since this patch brings so many changes. So Here's what I think after 25 turns as playing as the Romani.

Firstly the new AOR system is fantastic. Having to supplement my legions with local levies really adds another strategic layer to the campaigns and battles. So far I have recruited Italian levies and ligurian levies and it's really nice to have army diversity without having to pay the high upkeep that mercs require.

Secondly I like the agent success rate changes. My spy is level 3 but still only has about a 30% chance to poison supplies. On the one time I have succeeded it only did minor damage to two units - no more agents deciding battles which is great. Haven't recruited a governor yet, but the champion and spies seem a lot less powerful, again fantastic.

Thirdly it's nice to see that the early Roman units are a lot less OP - their infantry seems to be on a par with the barbarians I've been fighting which is really, really nice.

My only potential criticism so far is that morale seems to be a bit of a problem. Units seem to break very, very quickly now, even my hardcore principes and triarii, so far I haven't had a combat last more than a couple of minutes (normal battle difficulty). Could be that this is just a case of bad luck, will have to test some more to see if this is a recurring trend.

Overall loving the mod (especially now that I have the Rome 1 music) and I just want to thank the DEI team for all their hard work and dedication, they've really bought new life with this patch.

So feel free to post your thoughts!

EDIT: Okay so the morale problem seems to have been caused by using the small unit size. I just restarted the campaign with normal unit sizes and battles are lasting much, much longer. A bit annoying given my laptop's limited capabilities, but glad to know it's not a problem with the mod.

[Darth_Revan]

By what you have written it sounds like a great update, but the only thing that has me worried is the units breaking very quickly.

[Dresden]

We haven't changed anything about morale between 0.85 and now, so hopefully that was a unit size issue.

[Ano2]

We haven't changed anything about morale between 0.85 and now, so hopefully that was a unit size issue.

Yeah it was, forgot that I played my last campaign on medium size

Also have you guys changed the campaign AI at all? I've never seen it be so aggressive... and smart. In my now aborted campaign, I took out the ligurians and then the Insubres offered me non-aggression - I rejected it and attacked them, losing the battle. They then counter-attacked and took Geneoa (sp?) and then invaded my northern town. I was pleasantly surprised by this aggression!

[Saurus]

Hey,

I just registered to participate in this subforum.
First of all: your mod is brilliant! I'm enjoying it so much! Especially after playing vanilla RTW2 for the last couple of month, the game just feels complete now.

But I also want to point a few things out, which i noticed in my now 37turn Romani campaign.
I'm playing with rtw music and mitch major faction mod:

1. Germanic tribes are getting smashed like hell.
Suebi lost against the Boii (that should not have happened with mitch major faction mod), the Marcomanni got beaten by the Sequani, the Cheruski and Frisii vanished due to the Nervii and so on.
As I said I'm in turn 37 now and the only germanic tribe left are the Rugii but that being said - they did not fight a non-germanic tribe yet.

2. Sometimes I'm able to choose the Cohors Evocati as my general bodyguard on newly raised armies (Which should not be possible during camillian reforms). This is a bit weird because it happened in 2 out of 4 cases. But that might be a problem on my end, not the biggest of bugs anyway...

3. In my opinion mercenarys are really underwhelming right now. I don't know if it is intended but I was fighting the spartans with a mercenary army and my (veteran) hoplites got beaten up by some regular spearmen (periok... can't remember the name). Might have something to do with difficulty but my regular troops and auxilliary did quite well on the other hand. Regarding the price there is no real reason to hire mercenarys now anyway. But I guess thats just fine-tuning beeing needed.

Thank you for your hard work and sorry for my english (it's not my natice language after all =/ ).

[Meneros]

Hey,

I just registered to participate in this subforum.
First of all: your mod is brilliant! I'm enjoying it so much! Especially after playing vanilla RTW2 for the last couple of month, the game just feels complete now.

But I also want to point a few things out, which i noticed in my now 37turn Romani campaign.
I'm playing with rtw music and mitch major faction mod:

1. Germanic tribes are getting smashed like hell.
Suebi lost against the Boii (that should not have happened with mitch major faction mod), the Marcomanni got beaten by the Sequani, the Cheruski and Frisii vanished due to the Nervii and so on.
As I said I'm in turn 37 now and the only germanic tribe left are the Rugii but that being said - they did not fight a non-germanic tribe yet.

2. Sometimes I'm able to choose the Cohors Evocati as my general bodyguard on newly raised armies (Which should not be possible during camillian reforms). This is a bit weird because it happened in 2 out of 4 cases. But that might be a problem on my end, not the biggest of bugs anyway...

3. In my opinion mercenarys are really underwhelming right now. I don't know if it is intended but I was fighting the spartans with a mercenary army and my (veteran) hoplites got beaten up by some regular spearmen (periok... can't remember the name). Might have something to do with difficulty but my regular troops and auxilliary did quite well on the other hand. Regarding the price there is no real reason to hire mercenarys now anyway. But I guess thats just fine-tuning beeing needed.

Thank you for your hard work and sorry for my english (it's not my natice language after all =/ ).

Regarding the mercs specifically. We had intended to revamp the merc system for 0.9, but because of issues getting it to work as well as some scripting problems we postponed it. Our current plans are to do the revamp for 0.95, together with an overhaul of the garrison system for all factions. Essentially what will happen is that we will scrap the entire vanilla merc system and rebuild it. In conjunction with that, we will also have a closer look at balancing issues with them. Ultimately, we want mercs to be expensive but capable units.

[Igor85]

Great version so far, wlthough I got a game freeze during AI turn. And I think AI is expanding too fast atm.

[DeltaBGhost]

I have always had a hard time with Roman soldiers and Barbarian warriors. Maybe it is the difficulty. The thing I noticed in my game is that I can now get Marian and Imperial Reform Legionarii as my area recruitment. Unless that is what your swordsmen and reformed swordsmen are. But I am still in turn 15 and Camillian system.

[DeltaBGhost]

They also say restricted to prologue. Wouldn't that make them unavailable to appear in the Grand Campaign then?

[Ano2]

They also say restricted to prologue. Wouldn't that make them unavailable to appear in the Grand Campaign then?

That means you have a mod conflict/buggy version of DEI. Delete the .pack and re-download, or unsub then resub if your using steam workshop. TBH much better to get the standalone version.

[DeltaBGhost]

That means you have a mod conflict/buggy version of DEI. Delete the .pack and re-download, or unsub then resub if your using steam workshop. TBH much better to get the standalone version.

I am using the Steam version. DeI is the only mod I have for Rome II. It was fine until the new 0.9 update.

[KAM 2150]

Restricted to prologue means simply wait for the reforms You have them shown because they will be avaliable from that building level once reforms hit. Unless you can recruit post camillian units already then there is something messed up. I always use standalone version, steam one has lots of bugs.

[Akhenaton The Great]

Just one thing, my game when starting a new campaign takes much longer than before?! is it because its heavily scripted!

[Dresden]

Yes, unfortunately 0.9 takes a long time to load. Also, when a reform hits the game will lag for a moment.

We are pushing the boundaries probably on what is possible, but hopefully our 1.0 version will streamline some of these issues.

[Phil2]

New fresh Roman campaign with 0.9b and so far no crash (turn 12).
Playing battle difficulty normal and campaign very hard. No other mods than DeI (except French trad - but now new units names are missing)
Didn't noticed any slow down in loading times strangely...
Love the new auxiliares recruiting depending areas!
Waiting for recruiting governors in place of dignitaries.

[Dresden]

Hopefully the latest version has solved the crashing issues. If not, please report it in the crash thread I started.

[Summary]

Before I give my impressions of Divide et Impera 0.9, I would like to thank the team of modders who have spent countless hours perfecting this mod and delivering to the community a game that outclasses the vanilla version in almost every aspect possible.

DeI 0.9 is amazing for several reasons:

1. Overall unit balance is very reasonable. There is an increased benefit of flanking and position when compared to the vanilla version of the game.
The only downside of the balance in DeI is that horse archers are completely God-like. They deal enough missile damage to wipe out entire units of shield equipped infantry, while at the same time take in minimal missile damage considering that they have no shield. Horse archers should be more vulnerable to missiles in comparison to shield equipped infantry. A volley of missiles launched at horse archers should strike more targets and inflict more casualties, than if it were to be launched at shield equipped infantry, especially super heavy infantry.

2. Routing is too easy. Yes this is a good thing. In reality armies never fought to the death, with the exception of Spartans who never retreated (I can even go as far as to say that was very foolish of them, brave, but foolish). Most battles in history have minimal casualties, around 10-20%. It is very human to not want to die, They will rout once an obvious disadvantage is acknowledged, like being attacked in the rear or the flanks. Soldiers will not stick it out till the end, unless they are completely surrounded and have no escape route.
The only downside about routs is that it almost certainly yields the same result for the losing army, complete annihilation. Routing and retreating served a purpose, survival. Yes, they would be easier to kill, but not so easy to completely exterminate as the game so often dictates. What is the point of routing if death is certain anyways? Armies rout because that offers the chance to live on and regroup. In Rome 2 and DeI, routs result in the complete destruction of armies. Yes it should be easy to kill soldiers that are routing. But it shouldn’t be easy to wipe them out completely, unless you are already positioned well to do so, like during an ambush.

3. The diplomat to governor transformation. Amazing just amazing! This reduces the reliability of using generals as governors. This allows freedom to use more generals as army commanders. Facilitates quicker more thrilling expansions.

4. Fixed the gravitas and influence. Yes DeI 0.9 makes the player experience a stronger control over directly impacting gravitas and influence. It is wonderful. No more scratching our heads wondering why a general who has conquered vast acres of land has gained so little influence for your faction’s ruling party. Generals who serve as governors also grow in rank, and have skills that compliment the management of a province.

5. Wide variety of building structures and units. DeI 0.9 adds a variety of well rendered and well purposed units and buildings to the game.
It would be nice if they were able to incorporate their relative information in the game’s encyclopedia. It helps not having to Alt+Tab to view honga.net and the game guides on twcenter.net from time to time and having all information and tooltips readily available in game.

[clshieldsvt]

There has been one strange thing I noticed up through 0.9c. I'm playing as the Romans and all of the unit cards in my Navies that have a unit on it appear to be negatives. It's only the units that look like this, the ship is colored normal and if it's a scorpion or ballista they also appear normal its only the units. I'm playing on a saved game so I don't know if that matters or if anyone else has experienced this.

[Don_Diego]

Will check this, these are Marian legion naval units right? I made new marines so maybe a problem with cards. Anyone else get this? Seemed fine for me?

[clshieldsvt]

Yes they are Marian units. I haven't tried any battles with them, I always auto-resolve naval combat so I can't say if the actual units are negatives as well or just the unit cards.