Patch 14 Beta Notes

[crawe1]

Well it seems like congratulations are in order for CA! Yes, 10 months late, but it looks like they've done some really good work here, particularly regarding the sieges.

[Altimis]

Not working for me

I try Port Assault - Alexsandria

Rome AI send General unit to knocking the gate and died ... EPIC FAIL LOL

[Ganossa]

Not working for me

I try Port Assault - Alexsandria

Rome AI send General unit to knocking the gate and died ... EPIC FAIL LOL

How many and what siege equipment did you give to them?

[Stívarðr Reynitré]

Can't wait to fire up the rig and download this tonight...

[mr mojo risin]

played 20 + siege battles this morning / afternoon...
although there are some improvements there is still a hell of a lot of silly stuff going on with the AI...
verdict :siege AI still needs lots of work.

[alQamar]

@Altimis

How many and what siege equipment did you give to them?

played 20 + siege battles this morning / afternoon...
although there are some improvements there is still a hell of a lot of silly stuff going on with the AI...
verdict :siege AI still needs lots of work.

yep guys would be interesting to know when the AI fails in you both experience. Thank you for a more detailed description of the situation and the issues you have.

[Epic28]

- Campaign AI is now more likely to defend settlements instead of running away. This should lead to bigger and more frequent battles.

- Improved Campaign AI siege behaviour - Campaign AI now tends to maintain sieges longer and construct more siege equipment against major settlements when besieging.

These two points along with the Siege AI fixes (if they legitimately work) are some big changes that can return me to playing Rome 2 again. Please people post up more siege results (I'm in the office for another 9 hours) but actually in depth results. No childish responses.

[ABH2]

The tests that matter most to me occur during campaigns. So, the question is whether the AI is capable of building equipment and conducting a proper siege outside of custom battles where it is provided with the tools already.

[alQamar]

I have not played RTW2 since around patch 8 after i raged against being led to wait for nothing.

However, the significant notes on the Siege AI have raised my jaded eyebrows a little. However, in no way am I going to give CA any kind of kudos at all until I run and test this Siege AI for myself once it has been released.

I wait to see what will happen very guardedly.

p.s. However I am very concerned that the removal of torches has not been mentioned. It is important to remove this if the fixed AI is as fixed as they say.

I have no evidence they are completely out of the game, but the AI did not use it for my battles as it had better alternatives. Perhaps the assignment of usage is now working correctly for the first time, them used really as a last resort HW.

The tests that matter most to me occur during campaigns. So, the question is whether the AI is capable of building equipment and conducting a proper siege outside of custom battles where it is provided with the tools already.

I have to admit, that I really do not feel besieged in both battles instead it seems more like I was stormed by the AI. I did not test the campaign siege AI and I think someone else should do that for sure.
The AI in the custom battles did not use the archers to besiege me. Perhaps they fear the still strong and deadly aiming towers. So in both games it felt more a like a rush. I have to admit in Rome 1 / Shogun 2 sometimes a rush is reasonable instead of besieging and trying to kill the enemy archers in a far battle. A little con was also they used the archers in melee instead of firing on my units from the walls.

[Pheidippides]

Wow if this pans out legendary campaigns are going to be impossible now. No more waiting for the AI to waste itself against your walled cities.

[warman222]

I wasn't sure where to post this but there's some other stuff implemented into the game now not in the patch notes. They have somehow figured out how to give elephants AOR effect and the infamous trunk animation as the same time! There's still other charge animations that they should add, but this is a great start! I'm uploading a video showing it in action, i'll update this post when it's done processing.

EDIT: Here it is:

[alQamar]

I wasn't sure where to post this but there's some other stuff implemented into the game now not in the patch notes. They have somehow figured out how to give elephants AOR effect and the infamous trunk animation as the same time! There's still other charge animations that they should add, but this is a great start! I'm uploading a video showing it in action, i'll update this post when it's done processing.

EDIT: Here it is:

amazing. A certain file of false advertising is now closed. Thanks for testing that! Hope this undocumented patch will also be a part of patch 14 final.

[Humble Warrior]

amazing. A certain file of false advertising is now closed. Thanks for testing that! Hope this undocumented patch will also be a part of patch 14 final.

Indeed amazing. I have never seen elephants do that before and they didn`t... until now.

makes me wonder why CA couldn`t have said, "Well it`s there but we forgot to program it in, we`re working on implementing it right away. Sorry.` Instead of telling it is working when it wasn`t.

[Butan]

We getting there, still a lot of work in front of us though.

[Garensterz]

It took 14 patches to fix the damn game... Still not worth to reinstall.

[Humble Warrior]

Ironically, I`ve been playing Steam-free Age of Wonders 3 (which does a sieges fine for a fantasy game, better than CA did) and my Rome box was chucked in the cellar. Now I`m reinstalling for the 1st time in ages since I think it`s worth testing to see if they fixed those sieges among other things. I am of course sceptical, but I think after 9 months it`s worth a look see.

[stevehoos]

Ironically, I`ve been playing Steam-free Age of Wonders 3 (which does a sieges fine for a fantasy game, better than CA did) and my Rome box was chucked in the cellar. Now I`m reinstalling for the 1st time in ages since I think it`s worth testing to see if they fixed those sieges among other things. I am of course sceptical, but I think after 9 months it`s worth a look see.

Same here, if nothing else it will be interesting to see if they could finally make the game what is was supposed to be at launch; a working game that is as boring as watching bread toast.

[Garensterz]

Can the AI now attack at every gates when you give them enough battering rams like the in Rome 1? If not. This patch is useless.

[alQamar]

well still patches are patches and no new / revamped games. We all know other developers do handle this differently. Firaxis with Civ 5 for example. Grinding Gear games with Path of Exile, War Thunder. But it may be not fair to compare those 2 MMO games as they are usually developed in another way to classic games.

I do not believe that any future patch will include new stuff - or better game mechanics / revamped design decisions - for free. I am happy they finally manage to get the game in shape it should have been nearly a year ago. I don't say this very often as you know me, but I am quite happy with this beta patch.

[johan_d]

And the NAVAL battles? how did that go ?