The Best Way to Play DeI

[Manningham]

I've decided to do something rather drastic and it has made my new campaign x1000% more fun, maybe some of you already do this or have even better ideas?

In all battles I fight, I'm turning over command of the army to the AI using the AI Group Attack order. I take care of maneuvering/positioning the army and timing the order to attack, but then I let the AI micro the army (including the general) while I keep one to four units for myself to control, generally the most pivotal flankers or reserves. I only control those units, even if we're being totally hosed.

Advantages:
+ Able to enjoy the battle from close to the action instead of micromanaging from above
+ Able to more effectively control the units I know will be pivotal in the battle without super micromanaging
+ Denies me the opportunity of exploiting AI's retardation (to an extent) resulting in more believable battle casualties and outcomes - prevents player from becoming the god of war.. Skyrim is better for that anyways
+ Enhanced immersion - battles are much more entertaining when you don't think you're going to win all of them. When you lose, you have to pick up the pieces on the campaign side and find a way to move on. You might even lose

Disadvantages:
- Group AI attack order can be funny sometimes.. I think it stops working for the whole "AI army" if you accidentally issue an order to one of the units in its group, meaning you have to reissue the AI Attack order. Is this right?
- Issuing the Group Attack or Defend order too early will have the AI change your formations, often to something really dumb (which could be what you want if you're roleplaying a dumb general) so you need to hold off on the order until the last few moments before the action begins. I think.. again I've just started doing this so I don't know exactly how the AI attack/defend orders work yet


So this is how I'm keeping it interesting. How about you all?

[Manningham]

By the way.. this is really slowing down my expansion which is neat. But the reforms will kick in for the computer players at their own time while I probably wont have the imperium levels to get them. Is there a way to disable the imperium level requirement for reforms?

[Richard III]

It's an interesting concept. I would be too afraid to risk relinqushing control on the battlefield for even mildly important battles. But I'll give it a try for my next rebel and/or slave battle.

PS: That's ballsy to put the general under AI control. They still get killed that way!

[Krieg_Boy]

Sounds fun!
And keeping 3 or 4 units to "ourselves" taking care of them and leveling them up, seems quite enjoyable.

Im going to try this on a easy battle and see how it goes.

[Manningham]

Yeah the generals do die quite often. I suppose you could keep them out of the fray if that's how you want to play it.

[Korvyr]

This isn't Shogun 2 generals are usually strong unit groups and in the Punic times, most generals fought.

[Mirozero]

By the way.. this is really slowing down my expansion which is neat. But the reforms will kick in for the computer players at their own time while I probably wont have the imperium levels to get them. Is there a way to disable the imperium level requirement for reforms?

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...criptorium#R04
How to Edit Reform Requirements
1. Download and unpack PFM.
2. Use PFM to open the DeI mod pack.
3. Find the lua_scripts section. Under that section will be a file called reforms.lua.
4. It should look like this:
Global Reforms section

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Player Reforms section

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

5. Find the reforms you want to edit. For example, for Rome the part should read:
-- MAIN ROME CAMPAIGN
_lib.requirements.main_rome.player = {
roman = {3, 40, 5, 100, 7, 210},
6. The first numbers are Imperium level, the second are turn numbers. So, if you want the first reforms to be Imperium 2 and turn 20 you would change the above line to read: roman = {2, 20, 5, 100, 7, 210},

[Manningham]

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...criptorium#R04
How to Edit Reform Requirements
1. Download and unpack PFM.
2. Use PFM to open the DeI mod pack.
3. Find the lua_scripts section. Under that section will be a file called reforms.lua.
4. It should look like this:
Global Reforms section

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Player Reforms section

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

5. Find the reforms you want to edit. For example, for Rome the part should read:
-- MAIN ROME CAMPAIGN
_lib.requirements.main_rome.player = {
roman = {3, 40, 5, 100, 7, 210},
6. The first numbers are Imperium level, the second are turn numbers. So, if you want the first reforms to be Imperium 2 and turn 20 you would change the above line to read: roman = {2, 20, 5, 100, 7, 210},

Oh my god, nice! I really wasn't hopeful there would be a solution for this.. this is really gonna help my Knossos campaign

+rep


edit: Wow, I've looked at that section so many times and skipped right over the whole 'how to edit' bit every time... am I high?