Otumba

[Malolis]

Just first off, I've been a lurker on these forums quite a while and it seems like a nice community you have here.

So anyway, my first post.

Has anyone else actually managed to win the Battle of Otumba yet? Before I played it I had heard a bunch of rumours concerning how great the AI is and all so I was a little nervous playing the battle.

However, once I got started with it, it didn't seem too difficult to win. I managed to get a clear victory on my first go at it despite the fact that the AI is admittedly better. Maybe its just because I've read a good 3 or 4 books on ancient and medieval military tactics but I mean for the veterans of Rome and beyond, I don't reckon its gonna be a challenge.

Xuy

[Laverick]

I was able to defeat the aztecs on my second go. I think I was so used to the extremely poor ai in rome that i was caught a bit offf guard by the responcive (to say the least) ai. However the ai is not perfect i dd notice that some of the units of the aztecs army just sat around doing nothing but maby this was due to the fact that the battel was scripted.

[CIaagent11]

Welcome to the forums. It is not much likely that the game will be challenging for most people who know the TW series well.

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

I have played Otumba 4 times.
I lost the first 2 battles mainly because it is a huge battle with alot of things going on so I couldn't keep track of everything.
3rd time I barely won with 15 guys left.
And my 4th time you can see in this thread
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...t=66164&page=2

However the ai is not perfect i dd notice that some of the units of the aztecs army just sat around doing nothing but maby this was due to the fact that the battel was scripted.

Yeah it is because of the scripts.
In the unscripted battles they don't that and is generally alot better then in the scripted versions.

[Lusted]

I've only played it once and got thoroughly beaten.

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

I've only played it once and got thoroughly beaten.

It seems most people did.
Not matter how decorated TW-vet you are Otumba provides a very good challenge.

[Big War Bird]

It seems everyone does.
Not matter how decorated TW-vet you are Otumba provides a very good challenge.

eh? I spanked the Aztecs the first time.

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

eh? I spanked the Aztecs the first time.

Good work
How many men did you have left ??

[Germanicus75]

eh? I spanked the Aztecs the first time.

Me too

[Big War Bird]

Can't remember the numbers but I lost around 30% of my force, including most of my cavalry. I just went straight for the enemy generals ,and after they were dead the battles was over.

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

Ah you followed orders
Well that's no fun .
Still nice work.

[Lusted]

I stood my ground, im guessing thats why i had my ass kicked.

[Gunfreak]

I won even tho i had forgot to sett my muskeers to fire at will, and i forgot to use the renforcements.

[Spart]

I think it was quite hard... Damn, they massacred me the first time. Second time Cortes died, but I would have lost anyway. Third time I pulled all my men to the high cliff and defended bravely, but those bastards wouldn't break!
I managed to get a victory, although only 700 kills, luckily I killed their general..
I mean, there is no way for me to beat them if I don't get to kill the general..
How do you pr0s do it?

Also I found out that they have lowered the high ground bonuses, now in Agincourt, those frenchies managed to kill half of my soldiers despite that I was on that hill (worked wonders in first demo). And, I'm still not quite happy about the fighting in some occasions, when my troops just stand around when I order them to attack. It caused some sticky situations when my soldiers got beaten up and when I ordered my reinforcements to help, only couple of men charged and rest of the unit just left watching the nice flowers.. Urrghh..

And about the performance: I really didn't see much difference here, in Agincourt there was a bit more frames per sec, but sometimes it dropped really badly for a very short time.. In Otumba, my frame rate was about 8-15, so yeah.. Pretty annoying. I turned down bloom and textures and shadows, but it seems to be my cpu that doesen't like those massive armies.

Hmmm.. Yeah, waiting for the full release now.

[Titus Atius Labienus]

I got a clear victory first time around. I had nearly all my musketeers left, Cortez, the reinforcement Conquistadors and around 40 of the mercenary aztecs. I would guess in the region of 200 survivors, although i paid more attention to the individual kill stats. Ive noticed that the infantry are a more effective killing machine but casualty inflicted figures, but obviously loose far more. I was expecting my musketeers, and to some extent my crossbowmen to be devastating, but they werent really. I think around 95 kills each for the musketeers, but over 130 for on Sword and Buckler unit.

The AI seems more responsive despite the scripts. They certainly hammered my right flank, even after pouring the reinforcements in. The just massed their heavy infantry (i.e. generals etc) there and picked at the back of the melee with missle troops whilst my cavalry was unable to get at them due to being tied down trying to roll their line from my left, their own right.

All in all i thought the Aztecs responded well, and despite reinforcing my own right at the start, shortening it in favour of retaining the high ground the response was still excellent. My line was engaged fairly evenly where it appeared sensible by the aztecs, and units did flank on my left as well. This tied up my cavalry who i had assumed would need to be a heavy strike force, wheras infact they were a battle saver in that they could just play intercept and slow. I sacrificed all my mounted conquistadors on that role, but i think it gave me time to react to what as many others have described it, the huge scale and pace of the battle.

Very enjoyable!

-edit: In regards to what im seeing about killing aztec generals, i finished one off fairly shortly in a messy action behind the line where i lost around one half of one of the conquistador units. I'd inteded to mess with their line and draw some troops off to prevent myself being overwhelmed, but i was simply held my two units, a bodyguard and some light infantry. I killed the other generals very close to the end, but, narcisistic was it sounds, when the balance had already tipped in my favour.

One thing ive noticed - the ai still uses excessive force to persue routed units. This is what gave me an opportunity to cut off some of their infantry, and in the process lose most of my cavalry. Was the ai drawn by my routers, or was the move inteded to draw troops away from the melee? I assume the first, as the second is just me perceiving intelligence, rather than it being a game mechanic.

[All_Your_Base]

I just played it and got a Heroic victory first time. 591 men remaining