Fans suggestion thread for future releases

**QuintusSertorius** · May 25, 2015, 04:10 PM

Doulkus Pontikis - if you're referring to 2.02c, I can expand on what you're finding. Note also that the recruitment changes have been applied to the development build too, they will be in the full summer release.

Pontos are considered a Hellenistic faction. Therefore you don't get phalangites of any kind easily. Just like the other Hellenistic factions, they get no Hellenistic/Greek units out of their factional government buildings - they need a Polis or Colony building. Try Pergamon or Epeiros or Makedonia or Bosporans or Ptolemaioi or Seleukids (or even Koinon Hellenon) - you'll find the same thing. It's an intentional change to the way they recruit which adds to the challenge and makes them different to playing other factions.

If you want Pantodapoi Phalangitai, you have to build a native garrison (Phourion Laon). They are the "eastern phalanx", by the way, there are no plans to create a separate, special phalanx unit for eastern kingdoms. The native garrison isn't intended to be useful everywhere - it has no pools in Greece or Galatia, which is why you're finding no options there. In those places you need an Allied Government if you want troops quickly.

As to the roster, yes it's a bit thin at the moment. We do have some concepts for new units, and there'll be some placeholders in the full release for customised units that will come later, so at least there will be more functionality in the roster. Chalkaspides are in the summer release - remember the tweet about Elite Phalangitai? Pontic Chalkaspides are one of those. Kataphraktoi are coming, too.

On province changes, still an ongoing discussion backstage.

**Roman Heritage** · May 26, 2015, 08:43 AM

Hello all guys, just wanted to say I've just downloaded it and it is, indeed, magnificent. Graphics are often on par - if not superior - to newer titles, there's depth in it, and definitively there's flavour. I must admit I'll be waiting the summer release before playing a dedicated campaign both because of Polybian units - I seem to remember that'sn when they'll be implemented, right - and the settlements' battle map lack of buildings, which I hope will be addressed since all the - mainly custom - siege battles have been hell so far. Anyhow, pitched battles are just mindblowing, the historical detail and stuff...yeah, truly feels like a completely new game.

My suggestion, though, is the following. I noticed some factions, Koinon Hellenon for example, have no family tree, and therefore have to rely on adoptions and stuff....like the Teutonics in Kingdoms. My question is, why not having this system for the Romans, too? Since they start out as a Republic, in which charges and titles were lended to people after elections, etc, it seems a little bit weird to me to have them "ruled" by a single family. If I can ask, why choosing them to be so, while one can easily have them "faimilytree-less"with that same script? I'm curious, as I think this would have been a nice roleplaying and authentical feature.

**Genghis Skahn** · May 26, 2015, 10:16 AM

Is there any chance of the Boii(or any other faction which suffers in this way) getting new ethnicities anytime soon? While I do personally like the Boii as an ethnicity for my generals(they prefer battle to many other things, which I'm fine with), I was a bit disappointed that every single one of my generals was of the Boii ethnicity. I loved the diverse ethnic backgrounds that each faction provided in EB1, are there any plans for new ethnicities being included in the summer release?

**z3n** · May 26, 2015, 11:35 AM

About secondary weapons- due to the way that animations work in MTW2 (skeletons + skeleton size + animation effect/range of weapon) the collision detection algorithms (hitbox i.e. effective attack area by one soldier on another soldier during a battle) are inherently broken within the exe. If the animations/hitbox registration could be improved so as to work together (which really isn't possible without a rework through memory editing) then we could put in swords + spears/swords + pikes.

We do have another idea floating about (pikes + shorter broken pikes with a different animation set) but I'm not sure whether we'll go through with it.

**Hummer** · May 26, 2015, 09:37 PM

Originally Posted by Roman Heritage

My suggestion, though, is the following. I noticed some factions, Koinon Hellenon for example, have no family tree, and therefore have to rely on adoptions and stuff....like the Teutonics in Kingdoms. My question is, why not having this system for the Romans, too? Since they start out as a Republic, in which charges and titles were lended to people after elections, etc, it seems a little bit weird to me to have them "ruled" by a single family. If I can ask, why choosing them to be so, while one can easily have them "faimilytree-less"with that same script? I'm curious, as I think this would have been a nice roleplaying and authentical feature.

This is interesting. I have thought of this myself a little too. Rome is a republic.... All roman offices were elected every year.... Technically there are no 'faction leader kings' like we use. Carthage was similar though, was it not? There was no king in the Carthaginian senate. Any discussion on this topic?

**Iaius Statius Laurentius** · May 26, 2015, 11:22 PM

Originally Posted by Hummer

This is interesting. I have thought of this myself a little too. Rome is a republic.... All roman offices were elected every year.... Technically there are no 'faction leader kings' like we use. Carthage was similar though, was it not? There was no king in the Carthaginian senate. Any discussion on this topic?

Families are relevant for the Romans though -- adoption, status in the patriciate or as a nobile, and the gens all matter and need to be inherited (so characters have to get married). Additionally, there will be an Augustan reform like EB1 (eventually) where there will be an Imperial family. Additionally, the Roman faction leaders in the game aren't consuls -- the faction leader trait is "dignitas," iirc, and basically represents the Princeps Senatus (though it can be a pleb too, like Dentatus the starting character).

You could conceivably have no consuls ever if none of your characters are eligible and went to Roma for election, but there's always a faction leader according to MTW2 mechanics.

Romans need family trees.

**madmatg** · May 27, 2015, 08:38 AM

Any chance you can add in an option to run in windowed mod? My computer turns sometimes take upwards of 5 minutes and it would be nice if I could do other things on my computer while waiting for the computer to finish it's turns

**_Tartaros_** · May 27, 2015, 08:44 AM

you can change this in your cfg file yourself. look at mods/EBII and open EBII.cfg with word or notepad and look for

[video]windowed = 0

change it into

[video]
windowed = 1

**QuintusSertorius** · May 27, 2015, 10:14 AM

The default options should have it running in borderless windowed mode, but Alt+Tab-ing is a very bad idea for M2TW generally.

If you have slow turn times, I'd recommend reading a book between, that's what I do.

**Barnabas** · May 27, 2015, 12:15 PM

How much does your slow and relatively fast turn times take QuintusSertorius?

**QuintusSertorius** · May 27, 2015, 12:22 PM

Originally Posted by Barnabas

How much does your slow and relatively fast turn times take QuintusSertorius?

Mine are usually 90-120 seconds, though occasionally up to 3 minutes. I usually go off and do something else between turn times, or have my laptop on, if I'm not reading.

**madmatg** · May 28, 2015, 12:23 AM

Originally Posted by _Tartaros_

you can change this in your cfg file yourself. look at mods/EBII and open EBII.cfg with word or notepad and look for

[video]windowed = 0

change it into

[video]
windowed = 1

Thanks!

**_Tartaros_** · May 28, 2015, 12:31 AM

no problem

**HaHawk** · May 29, 2015, 03:07 AM

Originally Posted by Genghis Skahn

Here's the part where you (or someone else) tells us noobies how to change that there projectile fade time. I love your suggestion, but I want to try it out for myself!

Originally Posted by QuintusSertorius

The file in question is the data\descr_effect_impacts.txt - you're looking for the fade_time under arrow, javelin and soliferrum impacts.

The key is "play_time". Fade_time determines the "visual fade" (how long it takes for the projectile to become transparent; 0 would make it disappear instantly).

Arrows were originally set at 5 minutes (play_time 300) in the initial release of EBII and are now set at 10 seconds (play_time 10) which is a bit fast for my liking but much better than 300! However, most of the javelins are currently still set at "play_time 1000" which is 16 minutes. In other words they are still permanent.

I have found that changing "play_time" to 9 seconds for javelins is more than enough to not break immersion while boosting performance tremendously. In the case of arrows, I recommend increasing the current value to 20 (play_time 20). For reference, in Vanilla M2TW, the arrow play_time was 5 seconds.

I kindly request that the devs consider making this a default change to help improve performance during battles. In the meantime, anyone who wants increased performance can also do the following steps manually (it only takes a moment!):

Step 1: Under ...\Mods\EBII\data folder, open the file descr_effect_impacts.txt using "Notepad++" (I recommend not to use regular Notepad, it may corrupt your save game)

Step 2: Search for the following entries and replace them as directed:

Code:

FIND and REPLACE ALL: "play_time 300" change to "play_time 30" 
FIND and REPLACE ALL: "play_time 200" change to "play_time 9"
FIND and REPLACE ALL: "play_time 1000" change to "play_time 9"

To increase arrow time from 10 seconds to 20 seconds, search for the line effect_set arrow_impact_ground_set and replace:

Code:

"play_time 10" to "play_time 20"

Hope this helps people boost their FPS!

**madmatg** · May 31, 2015, 11:57 PM

I don't know how possible this might be but it seems like usually after a big battle involving large numbers of different countries forces they would very soon after have some kind of settlement reached paying tribute or giving up territory etc. (I'm not historian, just from reading what history I've read, so if I'm wrong just tell me). With that in mind could there be some kind of script whereby if this army is like ___% of a nations forces and it's defeated they will automatically pop up with a diplomacy window and favorable terms for peace?

**HaHawk** · June 01, 2015, 04:17 AM

Originally Posted by madmatg

I don't know how possible this might be but it seems like usually after a big battle involving large numbers of different countries forces they would very soon after have some kind of settlement reached paying tribute or giving up territory etc. (I'm not historian, just from reading what history I've read, so if I'm wrong just tell me). With that in mind could there be some kind of script whereby if this army is like ___% of a nations forces and it's defeated they will automatically pop up with a diplomacy window and favorable terms for peace?

I actually encounter this sort of situation often with EBII's current campaign AI. It seems like every time I finally gain the upper hand against another faction, they will pester me incessantly for a ceasefire.

However, the problem is that — like you said about historical treaties (involving large transfers of cash or territory etc.) — the faction in question is invariably "bankrupt" and has nothing to offer me. So I nearly always reject their requests for peace. If I suggest the AI to give me a settlement for a ceasefire (in which case I also offer to provide tribute), the diplomatic window says that the offer is "very demanding".

So I guess they don't want a ceasefire so badly after all...

**QuintusSertorius** · June 01, 2015, 07:12 AM

Originally Posted by HaHawk

I actually encounter this sort of situation often with EBII's current campaign AI. It seems like every time I finally gain the upper hand against another faction, they will pester me incessantly for a ceasefire.

However, the problem is that — like you said about historical treaties (involving large transfers of cash or territory etc.) — the faction in question is invariably "bankrupt" and has nothing to offer me. So I nearly always reject their requests for peace. If I suggest the AI to give me a settlement for a ceasefire (in which case I also offer to provide tribute), the diplomatic window says that the offer is "very demanding".

So I guess they don't want a ceasefire so badly after all...

For situations like this, there is Force Diplomacy. Rather than destroying a faction who no longer have any meaningful ability to fight back, better to use FD (which is bundled in with 2.02c, incidentally) to make them accept something they have to or die. If you also put in Trade Rights, combined with their lack of armies, they should recover economically, and might even be a threat again later.

**Koshi III** · June 01, 2015, 08:24 AM

I'd like to see all land bridges removed. They are unrealistic and IMO don't contribute much to the game. For me as a main Seleucid player, the land bridge between Thrace and Bityhna is irrigating. Remember the Sieges of Konstantinopel in the early middle ages. It was imperative for them that no one could cross bosporus and hellespont without a proper fleet. So I want to see all land bridges removed!

**Darkan** · June 01, 2015, 09:02 AM

It could be a good idea, but we have to take into account the effect it might have on the AI. If combined with better AI sea invasions, it could work.