Divide and Conquer - Version 0.52 Released

[iAmTheTot]

So, what's up with Imladris faction? I'm a brand new player here, I have been playing TW games for a long time but literally just like a week ago found out about this insane mod and awesome sub-mod. I tried playing as Imladris and I remember a message in the beginning of the game telling me something about 10 years before our army would be able to properly mobilize. Okay, fine and dandy, but I'm 45 turns in now, 11 years past the start date, I can't recruit any new units other than the default ones, my economy is plummeting really fast because I cannot connect to any trade partners because I cannot recruit adequate soldiers to take any neighbouring regions. I wait it out, try recruiting more, but this just hurts my revenue even more and my economy is officially in the toilet. I'm going to have to start over as a different faction now which is kind of a huge disappointment because I've put 3-4 hours into this file just to discover Imladris is a really crap faction?

Or what am I missing?
Thank you in advance.

[Ravagers Prey]

After playing longer even with pressing spacebar the turn times are still a lot longer then they used to be. Anyway I can further increase turn speeds?

[iAmTheTot]

(Couldn't find a way to edit my previous post, so sorry for posting again)

Just wanted to add that I don't want my first ever post here to sound really ungrateful. The work you guys have done is incredible and finding out about this mod gave me a huge nerd-boner. I'm loving it, I really am. For now I've started another file with a new faction but if anyone knows what is up with Imladris or if it really is just supposed to be that bad of a starting faction, please let me know.

[Ravagers Prey]

(Couldn't find a way to edit my previous post, so sorry for posting again)

Just wanted to add that I don't want my first ever post here to sound really ungrateful. The work you guys have done is incredible and finding out about this mod gave me a huge nerd-boner. I'm loving it, I really am. For now I've started another file with a new faction but if anyone knows what is up with Imladris or if it really is just supposed to be that bad of a starting faction, please let me know.

Usually the military reform happens around turn 60. A good starting faction for beginners is Mordor tons of money, practically infinite reserves of orcs, no immediate enemies (except for Gondor) and amazing Nazgul generals.

[Infidel144]

I tried playing as Imladris and I remember a message in the beginning of the game telling me something about 10 years before our army would be able to properly mobilize. Okay, fine and dandy, but I'm 45 turns in now, 11 years past the start date, I can't recruit any new units other than the default ones,

As noted above, the reform happens later (turn 60 give or take).

my economy is plummeting really fast because I cannot connect to any trade partners because I cannot recruit adequate soldiers to take any neighbouring regions.

You should be able to take Ost-in-Edhil with just Elladan or Elrohir (either one), and get a heroic victory out of it. Either one can also take the rebels in Eregion by himself. The other can take Cameth Brin with two or three units from Imladris, as long as you avoid the trolls.

I wait it out, try recruiting more, but this just hurts my revenue even more and my economy is officially in the toilet. I'm going to have to start over as a different faction now which is kind of a huge disappointment because I've put 3-4 hours into this file just to discover Imladris is a really crap faction?

Or what am I missing?

You don't need more units at the start (successfully completing missions will often reward you with units). Take Ost-in-Edhil and Cameth Brin and build up your economy for the first 40 turns.

[Hummingbird]

So, what's up with Imladris faction? I'm a brand new player here, I have been playing TW games for a long time but literally just like a week ago found out about this insane mod and awesome sub-mod. I tried playing as Imladris and I remember a message in the beginning of the game telling me something about 10 years before our army would be able to properly mobilize. Okay, fine and dandy, but I'm 45 turns in now, 11 years past the start date, I can't recruit any new units other than the default ones, my economy is plummeting really fast because I cannot connect to any trade partners because I cannot recruit adequate soldiers to take any neighbouring regions. I wait it out, try recruiting more, but this just hurts my revenue even more and my economy is officially in the toilet. I'm going to have to start over as a different faction now which is kind of a huge disappointment because I've put 3-4 hours into this file just to discover Imladris is a really crap faction?

Or what am I missing?
Thank you in advance.

Right first thing you need to know are the elven factions, especially the High Elven factions, are a 'quality over quantity' faction militarily. Even your Quendi "militia" troops are better than most factions more professional units, especially the archers. You're harming your own economy by bumping out far more soldiers than you really need at this early stage.

Don't immediately go after Dunland or the Orcs, they have more immediate and aggressive threats and will usually ignore you at the start; keep Elrond and a few units in Imladris and the Orcs will usually be intimidated out of trying anything stupid. Instead take Cameth Brin to the north-west and Ost-in-Edhil to the south. Elladan and/or Elrohir with perhaps one unit of Quendi will be enough; those rebels are really terrible quality troops and your Imladris Ranger bodyguards are awesome

After you've taken those two start building up your economy in those two settlements: mines, roads, farms, markets (get Trade Rights with Dunland and Bree too) and town halls for free unit upkeep slots. Those two settlements are actually very good money makers with their trade routes and valuable resources. After that you can start thinking about building up your forces more and expanding into the other factions territories.

The military reform happens around turn 60 which unlocks your elite units' structures. But even before that the Tulkas Faithful units are crazy powerful; if very, very expensive to maintain. The council likes to award them for missions too.

[Arachir Galudirithon]

Playing as and there are no major problems--a couple of CTD's, but that might be due to my giving modding Amon Sul and (hopefully) Annuminas by giving them garrisons. The mod is great--almost a new game. A lot more depth imo and the work that went into it is amazing (check out how huge the campaign script is for example).

Only one minor bug I've encountered--the ND's body guards rally horn doesn't sound. I'm pretty sure all the other factions do. Does anyone know a simple fix for this?? Maybe copying a line of script from another faction who's rally horn works? Just a minor thing but I'd like to fix it if I can.

The fix will be an edit to the huge sound file, unfortunately not within my expertise range and not a simple fix either. For now you will have to struggle through. Sorry.



Rightio, there are a fair few bugs that I can fix and a very major problem with our names files so I intend to release a small download that will help clear up these initial and fairly simple bug problems. After that it will be a while before a new download is released so do stay tuned. I don't like to rapidly release downloads as it ruins your save games but there are some fairly large bugs that need fixing.

[Davek]

Edit: so I tried to respond to somebody that experiences slow turn times in DaC, however my browser seems to enjoy sending me around, hence this post here.
Edit 2: Silly me I was not reading on the last page of the forum.

@Ravagers Prey:

If you have to press space bar to speed up unit movement during end turn, it might be helpful to have unchecked follow AI movement. Unfortunately I believe you have to do this before starting a new campaign, or if you are lucky somewhere in the in game option menu.

[Elem]

Timescale is on 0.25, but I think version 0.2 of DaC had about 6 or 12 turns a year? Is this change intended?
Will the charcters age proportional if I change the timescale manually in the descr_strat file or do I have to look at another file too?

Everything else is fine for me. I really love the atmosphere in "DaC-middle earth". Thanks a lot for your work!

[Paper Mache Warrior]

i don't know if this has been reported yet but stacks on the bridge to framsburg can not reinforce the settlement during sieges

[aragornsrevenge]

I ran the batch cleaner after installing DAC patch 3 but the batch file says " files not found " and i can not run the game, i get a CTD in startup screen... I tried to delete the files listed manually but they can not be found.

[BKB]

Did I read somewhere that the mod was replacing the current look of the Orocarni units to Leo's version from one of his latest patches? No disrespect at all to Leo's units at all (the guy's work is genius) but I absolutely adore the DAC Orocarni units, they have such a great look to them and it would be a real shame to see them go.

If I have that wrong by the way and have confused the issue my apologies in advance.

[Hummingbird]

Last I heard it was just the "Orocarni Nobles" elite Orocarni unit that was up for the new look.

[BKB]

Last I heard it was just the "Orocarni Nobles" elite Orocarni unit that was up for the new look.

Cheers for the clarification mate.

[rusty887]

i 'finished' my isengard campaign (rohan is defeated and gondor is near defeat) so i have a list of feedback, this is the first time i finished a dac campaign and it was really fun, 0.3 is a big improvement () dac team

please ignore my earlier posts about balance, i should have waited until i finished the campaign...i dont wanna be responsible for ruining balance lol. rohan/isengard balance is actually pretty good just needs minor tweaks
i mean helm's deep needs a larger garrison script but i dont think a helm's deep barracks is a good idea, rohan has a economic and troop production advantage, imo isengard's biggest advantage is its barracks in isengard. if rohan gets one too the advantage will be gone, i'd recommend a garrison quarters so it has something but still has to wait until the barracks event to get one
but if devs think its a good idea, go for it, i didnt do hours and hours of testing...


here's my feedback, its kinda long tho so read at your own risk lol

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Difficulty
first 15 turns- very easy, took helm's deep without much fight
after that- very hard, rohan launched a massive counterattack, retook helm's deep and had double the troops i did, i should have lost the campaign then but they moved all their full stacks to gineard (rohan-owned settlement) and just stayed there. it was like gineard was a black hole or something that sucked in their entire army lol. ill have to replay the campaign because this screwed up my perception of balance. anyway because of this i had time to build up my army, i took hornburg and edoras so rohan was basically done but they still had 3 settlements. i ignored them and was planning on attacking enedwaith or elves when rohan launched a full stack on edoras and almost recaptured it, thats wat i get for letting my guard down . by the time i took the rest of their settlements, mordor had already captured minis tirith (around turn 75) so gondor was essentially finished
Global balance
-dorwinion is winning the war against rhun, they were holding them off singlehandeldly and captured the settlement west of rhun's capital and also a settlement to the SW of it, however mordor got involved late and is helping hold off dorwinion
-dol guldur started a war with rohan which helped out a little bit, if rohan only has isengard as its enemy things will get ugly
-mountain orcs got crushed by vale & both dwarf factions, only have 1 settlement left
-at one point late game, every single one of gondor's armies that werent garrisoned were up north fighting me and endewaith; this happened even though mordor and harad were attacking & they were the greater threat. gondor would last alot longer if they didnt view the northern front as such a high priority
-endewaith and dunland are fighting each other instead of bree; endewaith expanded pretty far, took some gondor settlemts and pushed north pretty far until the dunland war which stalled their progress
-angmar is very strong, captured bree, they're the superpower in the north but late in the game lost bree and are getting pushed back by the surrounding factions
-dol amroth didnt seem to be doing much, as gondors 'elite force' i thought they would be more active
-umbar does absolutely nothing expect participate in sauron's invasions
-vale of anduin is very strong
-shadow of mirkwood is turtling hard, like 95% of their troops are garrisoned, the rest are sitting in their territory doing nothing
-also woodland realm is barely active as well, arent attacking anyone

i have two lists, random things that i liked and bugs, the bug list is longer but i'd fill up two pages if i posted all the things i liked lol

random things i liked-
love the trolls of the white hand, completely contradicts lore but i love them, before trolls i had nothing to break the op elves' defenses (evil face) and now i can take on mordor if i want to (time to kik some olog-hai ass lol)
like the buffed wargs, especially the speed, they're like cheetahs or something now lol
i've never played tatw or a tatw mod with turn times as fast as dac 0.3, someone must have seriously optimized the scripts..like in mos it'll take about a minute for turns late game, in dac the turns breezed by
its nice having lurtz and ugluk (even tho they hve weak bodyguards)
actually being able to build and recruit in castles before like turn 200 is great lol, i can actually use foldburg now
the saruman ring script is the best tatw mod ever

bugs/other feedback
-there is a lot of stack spam, barracks event helps somewhat but until then the stacks are like ants
-gineard (rohan-controlled) was like a black hole/rohan magnet, they just put like 3 full stacks there and kept them there until i attacked helm's deep and edoras, they should have crushed me but didnt
-hero get negative traits, irrc they didnt in previous versions? i kno theres a mod that does this (mos has it) and it'd be nice
-i had saruman in edoras and moved in some random general but he was the governor instead of saruman, i tried but couldnt get saruman back as governor
-rohan bodyguards are crazy, they're definitely op and it took me like an hour to kill rohan generals, one general stays alive for an eternity even tho he's surrounded by 400 troops lol
-rohan axemen seem a little too strong, good stats for the price and they have AP weapons but maybe rohan needs them?
-sometimes warg riders lose their blazing fast speed and revert back to their marching speed, i cant even get them to run normally they just march slowly
-very hard to get mordor to become an ally w/ isengard, take a very long time
-governors get the "poor with taxes" trait even when they're not building anything, taxes are low but in vanilla they only got the trait when a building was completed while taxes were low
-when fighting near edoras there were very very steep inclines on the battle map, made it impossible to fight
-isengard has 3 levels of troll buildings, but they all do the same thing (trolls white hand- max available 1)
-crash 9/10 times i play moria, happens late in the battle
-black numenoreans are silver, horses arent black either
-ents siege, next turn they withdraw and siege again and all of my troops have taken slight casualties as a result; also ctd upon battle start
-CTD when attacking gynd: battle map doesnt load
-umbar didnt do anything the entire game except participate in saurons invasions
-could give rhun back nehburkha, it provides good income w/ gold mines but its a khand starting province if you think dorwinion is too strong
-dol amroth doesnt do very much, they defended a little against harad late game but they were mostly inactive

[Infidel144]

-gineard (rohan-controlled) was like a black hole/rohan magnet, they just put like 3 full stacks there and kept them there until i attacked helm's deep and edoras, they should have crushed me but didn't

I've noticed this happening with various villages regardless of the faction that controls it.

-governors get the "poor with taxes" trait even when they're not building anything, taxes are low but in vanilla they only got the trait when a building was completed while taxes were low

If you leave a governor in a settlement with low taxes 4+ turns in a row he has a chance of getting that trait.

-umbar didnt do anything the entire game except participate in saurons invasions

This is a vanilla issue.

-erebor dwarves wont fight anyone until very late in game, u could make dwarves allies with dorwinion/dale at the start with military access? might fight rhun then. if that happens u could give rhun back nehburkha to balance it out, it provides good income w/ gold mines but its a khand starting province

That is unusual. In my play tests they expand both east and west, and generally stomp Rhun. They do start out allied with Dale.

[Infidel144]

Don't immediately go after Dunland or the Orcs, they have more immediate and aggressive threats and will usually ignore you at the start; keep Elrond and a few units in Imladris and the Orcs will usually be intimidated out of trying anything stupid. Instead take Cameth Brin to the north-west and Ost-in-Edhil to the south. Elladan and/or Elrohir with perhaps one unit of Quendi will be enough; those rebels are really terrible quality troops and your Imladris Ranger bodyguards are awesome

For Ost-in-Edhil yes. I take it with just one of the twins. I have their Sword Quendi unit follow behind to act as garrison. But Cameth Brin gets taken by an Angmar spawn of decent size. I've only been able to take it with three units and Elladan or Elrohir. I've come very close with 2 units plus the bodyguard.

[Jacob251]

Huge Improvement guys:-) Thank you:-) I’d like to report two minor bugs which i found out
-Gurhinen voice sound is missing
-Ugluk bodyguard units which is Uruk Raiders says it is a spearman unit in battles

I am playing with Galadhrim’s Realm at turn 62 and no major bugs yet:-)
Great job:-)

[Arachir Galudirithon]

Bug Announcement
Do not ask me how but something (or someone and I have an idea) has totally destroyed a key file that the game uses to assign names to characters, this was in the DaC Council's combined dropbox build and so has been sent out to you all. This is the reason many generals have no names and there are random CTD's dotted all over for many people.

This is a very major bug and so I shall release the fix right now, it will be included in the official hotfix that we release soon but this is the only major game ending bug so it should be fixed now.

You will need to do the following:

1. Download the following file - it is savegame compatible: Names File
2. locate your data directory found here: ...Medieval II Total War\mods\Third_Age_3\data
3. Once there copy or move the file you downloaded and overwrite the existing file
4. If it doesn't ask you to overwrite then you have put it in the wrong place.

Dear Yuilen
I would not be surprised if this is the reason Sauron didn't spawn. The game couldn't find his name and rejected his creation. If anyone wishes to test this then please report your findings.

Regards
Galu

[Agnostos]

First of all grat job everyone, many thanks!

Now, I wanted people's opinions about how to handle a situation in my game:

Playing with Lorien (still in the early game, turn 35 or something) and Angmar took Anuminas! My Council asked me to take Barketta (I think that's the name), wich is still held by rebels and I figured, since Anuminas would link Barketta to the rest of my realm and I am already at war with Angmar, to take Anuminas as well, so I sent an army to besiege it... (the whole truth is I also wanted something to keep me occupied until the barracks event... ) Anyway, the city is about to fall, the garrison is rather weak and my question is should I keep Anuminas or should I return it to my Dunedain allies? The latter would be more "lore accurate" and would also create a buffer between my land and Angmar but perhaps keeping it has other advantages... Maybe it yields a very high income or something... On the other hand, is there a possibility of "angering" the Dunedain if I keep it? I wouldn't want that...

So, what do you think? How should I handle it? I am leaning towards returning it, but I want to hear your thoughts...