[Feedback/Bug-Report/Suggestions @EB2-team] based on Taksashila campaign after 100+ turns

[Casual Tactician]

[feel free to move this post to the appropriate sub-forum. I wasn't sure where to post it, as it contains bug-reporst, suggestions and feedback]


First: All below is of course my personal opinion, though I’ll try to be as neutral as possible here - being the EB2 fanboy I am.
Second: For an initial release of a mod with EB2’s magnitude, I’m surprised how polished, and in my case also CTD-free, it is.
Third: On a more personal note – I’m so damn happy this mod is finally out, and playing it so far was far better, than I expected it to be. Though it still has some work ahead, imo.

Also please simply ignore all bugs, suggestions etc. in this post, which have already been mentioned elsewhere!



EARLIER POST

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...1#post14052856



FACTION PROGRESSION

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...1#post14062234



SOME QUICK PRAISE

- I like the fairly slow battle pace
- the the ‘scroll / UI away’ feature is great for making screenshots - love it!
- the general immersion is really good; having individual campaign map charcters is something even TATW doesn't have
- though the incoherent design of the building scroll images reduces the immersion
- I love the detailed campaign map with mines etc. shown as small models; something most TW mods really lack
- EB2 has astonishingly short end turn times; except for the first few turns they are well under 30secs for me
- public order is difficult to control!; I like that!
- rebel spawn is fair and neither too annoying nor too seldom, afaict



CTDs

- had one, while clicking through all the factions in the faction selection screen
- two while loading a battle
- otherwise none in over 100 turns; good job!



BATTLES/ UNIT STATS

- the ‘Laghu Asvanika (Indian Light Cavalry)’s voice mod, displays a rather insulting term in German (it sounds like ‘Laghu Arschficker’ = Laghu ass-'taker')
- the ‘Indian Chariot Archers’ are far too weak in melee; they lose heavy in melee even against low tier foot archers with no armour and knives; there is – other than for role-play – no reason to use them
- the red borders on battle maps are not shown
- units often fan out and lose cohesion on the battle map
- cavalry units seem to have a problem keeping their formation when charging; also the charge is mostly really underwhelming
- non-cavalry javelin units don’t use their javelins properly; ie. they simply don’t throw them properly
- havent used many phalanx units yet, but they seem bugged (probably a m2tw issue)
- elephant units can't knock down gates, afaik - bug or intent?
- BAI: enemy units often abandon the walls, as soon as ladders/towers attack – bug or intent?
- all in all battles in EB2/m2tw seem more like American saloon cars (late response, squashy suspension...), rather than the sharp and precise RTW battles (which are more like a BMW M5 or the like in comparison); but that's ok, I expected that - the advanced campaign gameplay and scripts make up for that



TRAITS & ANCILLARIES

- the ‘Exhausted’ trait doesn't seem to disappear, even after the general rests many turns in a settlement; also it seems to appear far to often (ie. many generals affected) -> image
- for Taksahila it would be nice, if temple buildings would explicitly state which caste(-trait) is best for a governour



BUGS / ISSUES

- after pressing ‘end turn’ / during the AI phase, there’s sometimes the sound of (Christian) bells to be heard
- the ‘Indian Chariot Archers’ unit card (on the campaign map) shows 75 men, though in battles there are only 45 men
- for others see 'some minor stuff in pics' further down


TAKSASHILA – INDEPENDENCE/ MAURYAN INVASION SCRIPT

Spoiler for DON'T OPEN IF YOU WANT A SURPRISE PLAYING TAKSASHILA: 

Sure you want to open this??

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

- the Mauryan invasion armies’ generals have Roman(?!) general models on the campaign map and in their unit cards -> image1 image2
- the generals of the invasion army have no command stars or traits, iirc
- the invading armies teleport to Taksashila and Sagala -> then siege/attack immediately (which is fine with me), but then just stand around on the battle map and do absolutely nothing
- the Mauryan invasion armies also have no siege equipment; perhaps they’d do better if given some?
- perhaps also add an explicit warning (a drop-down scroll with eg: “…heading for your core provinces…”), that the invading armies are heading to the core provinces, as it’s frustrating, to send your armies towards them, only to be nipped in the butt by that uncalled teleport
- during the siege battle: when attacked by me from their right flank (= I marched my units out of my besieged settlement and attacked the Mauryans), their formation didn’t change at all, but stayed put (ie. continued to face to now totally empty settlement in front of them); I simply moped them from their right flank; they routed more or less initially, as I had 3 general units in my army and their chariot general (with zero stars) was killed in the initial melee, because he attacked my ellies
- the battle AI of the Mauryan invasion armies is very, very passive and just stands in front of the settlements, waiting for an attack and even after an attack, it continues to not move (only units directly next to attacking units react)
- Generals of AI invasion armies should be elephant units and have good stats (not zero-star generals on chariots); also they need Indian campaign map characters (not Roman/Hellenic ones)
- I still get 'Mauryan empire invades' messages, though the invasion is over since many turns -> image
- though even with all the above mentioned flaws, the Mauryan invasion was real fun!

TAKSASHILA GENERAL UNIT

- the general’s elephant unit is OP imo; I read, that using chariots for generals resulted in instant general’s death, but perhaps giving general’s chariots better stats is possible
- having generals as elephant units makes it unnecessary to recruit actually (expensive) elephant units
- or perhaps at least remove the ‘frighten_xx’ attribute from Indian general elephant units to reduce their OP
- or best: give Indian generals chariots, but with eg. 2 hp (for the soldiers) so they don't instant-die in melee; they could then also perhaps get skirmish mode enabled by default (for the AI), so they don't do suicide-attacks
- having elephant units for generals makes many battles too easy



TAKSASHILA - GAMEPLAY

- perhaps make a drop-down scroll that explains to noobs the shared UI with Eastern Hellenic factions; otherwise one might be disapponted/ confused by building options, event cards etc.
- Taksashila’s victory conditions in the FL’s traits differ from both the short and long ones in the faction selection menu
- the ‘Worshipper of Brahma’ trait says, the general will govern best in settlements dedicated to Brahma; the thing is: there are no Brahma temples -> image
- it’s not clear for Taksashila, what caste/religion-traits relate to what temple/religion-buildings
- the 'Indigenous Military Outposts' building's cultural conversion bonus is unclear -> http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...1#post14061579
- settlement growth is a problem for all non-Direct Mauryan Government cities, because they can’t build advanced farming buildings
- the ‘Direct Mauryan Government’ outside of India (ie. in provs without Forest Tribalism) doesn’t have any real punishment if used; eg. in Alexandropolis (Hauravatish prov) there is no incentive to use allied states, as DMG gives access to more units and more buildings (esp. advanced farming and mines); maybe it would be better to have the mali, that Forest Tribalism creates for the DMG, apply to all(?) foreign religions; otherwise there is no incentive to have allied governments
- perhaps give 'Military Occupation' more mali and make DMG much(!?!) longer to establish
- the corruption in Girnar, the most south east settlement, is incredible; here an example what happens when building mines there -> image
- other governments than Dircet Mauryan Government are far inferior: no mid or advanced farms, no strategic fortifications, no mines, no ports... you simply end up building DMG everywhere



GENERAL EB2 SUGGESTIONS

- free upkeep units need a disclaimer in their scrolls, to be able to see which units will have free upkeep
- the building's strategy section in the scrolls should be short and gameplay specific, only other sections should cover background and extra info; atm it’s very hard to find, what info actually relates to real gameplay stats
- the progress bar and cursor in loading screens are still vanilla m2tw, EB2 specific animations would really enhance immersion (only a minor issue though)
- corruption forces player to (only) build law-promoting temples in provinces distant to the capital; that’s not so bad, but it disables role-play
- please make it more clear in the building scrolls, how roads and strategic fortifications and markets etc. are intertwined; atm it’s a real mystic science (ie. it’s not clear what does what, and what is related to what)


SOME MINOR STUFF IN PICS

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

can't see costs very good:






unit image from EB1:

SUMMARY BASED ON TAKSASHILA CAMPAIGN

- Playing EB2 has truely exceeded my expectations. Apart from rather incoherent 2D building images and incoherent character portraits (esp. in the faction selection menu), it looks and feels very polished for a beta/ initial release.
- Building infos are more confusing than helpful at times. Imo there's need for a short section - a few lines only -, that gives the player all information related to gameplay and settlement development. Same, but less needed, goes for units.
- The government system, AOR and settlement development seems more simple and vanilla-like compared to EB1 (the only improvement is the use of religion percentages, afaict), which isn't a good thing imo. For Taksashila 'Dircet Mauryan Government' is simply the ultimate choice for nearly all provinces, as it has no downside once the inital public order issues are solved, as all other governments only allow for basic buildings.
- Battles, aside from general M2TW issues, are ok. The slow pace, imo, is fine - perhaps a little faster, but not much is also ok. Though skirmishing units are very bugged, which playing Taksashila isn't a big issue. But playing eg. KH, one of my all time favourites, I could imagine, that not having good akontistai and peltastai will be a major issue. Also cavalry charges are underwhelming.
- But that said, I'm really enjoying this mod. It's so far the best M2TW mod I've ever played!

[Rad]

I like your post very much!

I agree with you on:
1. Indian elephant general - how about lancers instead?
2. Free upkeep units should get a disclamer, easiest way to do this is to put it in the unit info - and there should be more of them. I am not 100% sure, but the Celtiberians don't seem to have any free upkeep units at all, despite having 3 free upkeep slots per city.
3. corruption is an issue, really negates income - I made a thread about it.
4.The exausted trait is a pain
5. Probably a few more things, but I am lazy to type

+Rep!

[LinusLinothorax]

- the ‘Laghu Asvanika (Indian Light Cavalry)’s voice mod, displays a rather insulting term in German (it sounds like ‘Laghu Arschficker’ = Laghu ass-'taker')

I swear it, i noticed this too, immediatly after first hearing them!

The chariots are indeed useless in Medieval, just because they dont move all the time like they do in Rome. That makes them an easy target even for low-tier soldiers.

Elephants are also pretty strange imo. I am wondering why ther charge attack is so abnormal weak. Often they dont kill even a single man while charging. I would say that the charge of an elephants is the more devastating then the actual "fighting" in melee.

[alin]

- the red borders on battle maps are not shown

Removed on purpose, they don't bring something useful(use map) and can ruin some screenshots and immersion.