My Review So Far :)

[SargentBoston]

Hey everybody, after long times of playing this I have come to many conclusions. Overall it is a great game and I loved playing it. But I still find some problems in this mod .

1. There are far too many factions in Greece, and there needs to be either; 1 more faction in Far East, or less rebels.

2. As I've said before, Barbarian Archers and Peltalsts(sp) are a huge pain for calvary challenged factions.

3. All the Greek factions all look the same :X, They all have Hoplites that have black shields, they have those guys with the red shields. Making them the same but looking different would be nice(Briton's Warband; white hair, blue pants. Gaul: red hair striped pants). Same with most other Factions.

4. This one kind of connects with 3. I have currently been playing as the Maghad Empire and they are by far my favorite Faction. The reason? There units are NOTHING like the other factions, they are unique and have their own ways. That is what people(or atleast I) look for in the difference in factions, how they look different...and sometimes location.

5. Egypt's units, this is probably just me, but they are very annoying to play against. There names are incredibaly stupid looking, they look like unfinished file names.

6. Victory Conditions. As I said I have been playing the Maghad(sp?) Empire, and I find their Victory Conditions a little bit odd. Wouldn't make much more sense to make their conditions, Bahlk and Parsa? Balkh and Mada just does not seem militarily logical...But I'm unfamiliar with their history so if this is what it says. Leave it .

7. The Lost Cities of Arabia and the Libyia. I find it odd that there are regions that are always rebel controlled. With the help of the lack of Fow, I found they you have put in 4 small cities in the Libyian Desert, on the very southwestern map. However none in the Arabian Desert or the desert on the very top right(which is a beautiful piece of terraining and would be nice to be able to take over) But you cannot access it. Is there a reason for this?

This concludes my review on Rise of Persia: Total War, possibly one of the best Rome Total War Modifications EVER.

[SargentBoston]

No comments? Disagreements? *shrug*

...looks like these forums are dead...

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I am but a fan but here are my comments/disagreements/additions.

1- I think there should be more in Greece, each city was its own nation afterall. Though I have also thought that maybe it should be one faction (ala "Greek Cities").

2- Barbarian Peltasts and Archers seem to be placeholders all over the place and hopefully will be reduced in prominence in future releases.

3- Varied skins would be nice...

4- Many factions are uncompleted and have their neighbors units as placeholders.

5- I agree, Egypt seems a bit lacking and weak. As far as their names:

Those are the egyptian names I've mentioned above.
The ssmt are horsemen, according to this thread. How we actually pronounce those names, I don't know, but they're spelled in the ancient egyptian form as good as possible.
Again, we might put up a patch where you can choose between indigenous and english names.

7- The unconquerable cities are there to represent areas that are just that, unconquerable. Places like the Sahara and the Arabian Desert do not support urbanized populations and no empire ever controled them or even wanted to. The areas on the top corners are unimportant to the time period. I love the unconquerable territories, and I wish more mods would use them. I hate seeing a huge city in the middle of Arabia or chasing the Carthaginians though the desert.

And yes these forums are quiet. I think I made ten out of the last fifteen posts here.

Some of my own complaints/comments.
a- I wish that more factions could recruit elephants. It was said:

Only Indian faction will be able to recruit elephants, the Persians started using them much, much later - without notable effect, I may add.

I argue that Persia didn't use elephants until later because they hadn't expanded into India yet. And if they had taken India sooner, as you can in game, they could have used them sooner. It would also be cool to see African elephants, if only in that nearly hidden/overlooked province.

b- Unfinished factions / unvaried rebels / no mercenaries. Though I can't complain, it is a beta (a good beta). I love open betas. Not only do you get to enjoy it sooner, but with patches and releases you get to see the progress. But since most of my comments would be related to the fact it in unfinished, I will not complain.

c- Question: Why is Lydia so very Greek-like? I know little of them, but they seem just like Greeks with eastern cites. (I'm assuming you got it right though.)

[rez]

Thankyou SargentBoston for your review.

MA nicely answered many of your points but ill elaborate on some of the comments made.

1. there needs to be either; 1 more faction in Far East, or less rebels.

We simply don't have any other factions to add into the far east that were feasibly powerful enough to warrant entry. And the rebels will be cut down as we add in more completed factions.

2. As I've said before, Barbarian Archers and Peltalsts(sp) are a huge pain for calvary challenged factions.

As they were in real life.

3. All the Greek factions all look the same :X, They all have Hoplites that have black shields, they have those guys with the red shields. Making them the same but looking different would be nice(Briton's Warband; white hair, blue pants. Gaul: red hair striped pants). Same with most other Factions.

Whilst the Greek factions were made alog similar lines i do not believe this applies to any of the other factions. Could you elaborate on that? And there is a chance we may enhance some of the Greek units if we get the resources and time.

4. This one kind of connects with 3. I have currently been playing as the Maghad Empire and they are by far my favorite Faction. The reason? There units are NOTHING like the other factions, they are unique and have their own ways. That is what people(or atleast I) look for in the difference in factions, how they look different...and sometimes location.

I can guarantee you then that you will be very, very pleased with the upcoming Indian faction we have finally finished. Make sure to look out for the preview!

No comments? Disagreements? *shrug*

...looks like these forums are dead..

When considering time differences and the fact that the team cannot constantly monitor these forums it would be wise to wait more than three hours before getting too impatient with a lack of response.

I wish that more factions could recruit elephants.

Have faith in the AoR system

c- Question: Why is Lydia so very Greek-like? I know little of them, but they seem just like Greeks with eastern cites. (I'm assuming you got it right though.)

Flieger can give you a real answer but simply put, look at the geography. Lydia was developing next to and almost surrounded by Greeks. Having also developed along the same lines of an urbanised workforce means the middle class heavy infantryman was predominant.

[Yura92]

[quote=MarcusAureliusAntoninus;1373485]I am but a fan but here are my comments/disagreements/additions.

I think there should be more in Greece, each city was its own nation afterall. Though I have also thought that maybe it should be one faction (ala "Greek Cities").
quote]

lol you mean like the 1st helenic war?
mmm...i douuno about that
i think it would be good to make more melee units
cuz there are 2 many range

[FliegerAD]

There are not two Hoplites the same in RoP. Although a small number of models are shared among the Greek factions – after all, they all used the same equipment more or less (Korinthian helmet, Argive Shield, bell-cuirass etc.) – the skins are always different. No shield blazon can be found twice apart from the popular Gorgonaion, and even that is made in different artistic styles reflecting the different origins.
If you wanna see more diverse units than hoplites, get your ass out of Greece dammit! In the near/middle east, there are railed chariots, box chariots, heavy lancer cavalry, horse archers, mounted elite javelin throwers, storm troopers with huge battle axes and long mail coats, archers using composite bows, or simple self bows, heavy armoured archers with long swords, mail clad tower shield bearers, armoured elite slingers, levies of all classes, wicker shield bearers, light battle axe swingers, the dreaded Persian immortals, half naked Libyans with leather shield and short spears … and more, much more. Yes, even the damn hoplites. All of them have unique models and skins.
Yes, the less important periphery has often place holder units and yes, there is not much diversity in Greece. The first is due to lack of time, the second due to historical correctness.

The Indian units currently used are more or less fantasy and will be replaced by historical better fitting units, which look great.

I argue that Persia didn't use elephants until later because they hadn't expanded into India yet.

I argue along the same lines and Nero is happy to code some elephants as AoR.

Why is Lydia so very Greek-like?

1. Similar development of the cities, 2. Acculturation, 3. sources we have are Greek.
If you are interested in more:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=58619




We are happy, that people play our mod and appreciate feedback in every form. Critics is good as it can help improving. I am just a bit bored hearing that "all the same" stuff by people playing the Greeks, especially as we worked so hard for making a unique mod with unique units such like the ones listed above. Please don't take it personal. :-)

[SargentBoston]

Thanks for comments (btw i editted that 2dn post about 6hours after post but sorry if i was acting rude) And about 3. you said you didnt understand what I was saying. What I was saying was, refer back to RTW. Both the Gauls and Britons had the same unit, Warband. Though they were the same in name...and I beleive stats, they were still different like; Britons, blue pants and white hair, while the Gauls had red long hair and striped green pants. Even the Greek Hoplite Spearmen looked the same but had their colors on their shields. It just adds some diversity, ya know? And sorry if I was being a lil too impatient

Double post deleted - Nero666

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Yea! Elephants!

[Nero666]

We understand your point about the Greek factions. But as has been said, the greek factions historically didn't have very much variation - and therefore factions like Lydia, Babylon, Egypt or Persia are much more fun - and there is a chance we will enhance the Greek units, depending on our time and resources.

[Soggius Chippius]

I'm a massive fan of this mod, and would have to say it's about the best RTW mod around (at least it's unique rather than yet another rise of rome mod) but I have one minor issue with the battles. A lot of the infantry seem incredibly flimsy, and seem to die en masse very easily. It even happens when they're matched against another identical unit on even ground. I can only say so far that it happens with hoplites, as I've only tried Ionia, but within seconds of engaging another infantry unit, they'll either rout, or be cut down from 80 to 10 men. I'm personally a fan of mods that allow you to hold a line easily (Been a while since I played it last, but I think EB does this nicely) so I was wondering if you guys were going to have a look at this.
It's certainly not enough to put me off, since the rest of the mod is stunning, but it is mildly irritating during large pitched battles.

[Nero666]

I can do nothing but agree with you on that. Battles should last longer.
Of course we will do our best to fix this, but some help would be greatly appreciated since I (only coder) am working hard on implementing new features to the mod, and on rebalancing the campaign map, which both are working out quite well. Babylon isn't steamrolling anymore - though Lydia still needs some extra touches.

[Daminios]

Darths Formations would make battles last longer & the AI moves & strategy much more intelligent !!!

[Turk]

Hmm i saw that the greeks has nearly all the same units too(especially plumes of the elites)
And in general more units for some factions would be really good

And i thought that the egypt names were bugs

More suggestions comes

[Zenith Darksea]

Well of course the Greeks have nearly all the same units. What do you think happened historically? We only put units in when they're historically accurate, and so we don't make up soldiers just for variety.

[Praetorian Captain]

Well, i don't really have much to say except that it's looking good, and for this beta it's pretty nicely done though i have puttin more info in depth on subject.

But my review thus far is an excellent, but only an inch from being superior!