rome total war gameplay idea - add agents to battles

[iamli3]

here's an idea i came up with the other day , add the agents to the battles for enhancing overall gameplay

im not really concerned about agents in the overworld of the game , so i thought about their place in the game and i think there's room to expand their involvement in the game
so here's what i came up with for their abilities , subject to change for balancing of course

diplomat - if in melee range of an enemy unit they can attempt to bribe the unit

assassin - can try to target kill any soldier on the battlefield perhaps with a ranged attack
- can sap gates and perhaps walls and buildings in real time

spy - can mark nearby agents for the player to see

you would manage your agents with a secondary unit card stack that can be retractable or something
i think this would add a whole new level of unit spacial awareness to formation gameplay and gives the agents a new breath of life to the masterfully integrated gameplay that is roma surrectum.....
(now if only rs3 would get out of beta so i can play it :c ....)

[Searry]

DOesn't sound possible with the engine the mod uses.

[St. Imperator]

There isn't a point to any of these.

diplomat - if in melee range of an enemy unit they can attempt to bribe the unit

First, the diplomat would just get slaughtered. If not by a couple hundred dudes with spears, then by a couple hundred javelins. Even then, why on earth would you need to bribe a unit? What purpose would that serve? How would this even work technically?

can try to target kill any soldier on the battlefield perhaps with a ranged attack
- can sap gates and perhaps walls and buildings in real time

So...like archers or peltasts? Like most infantry units or siege units already do? Why would you need to kill a single soldier? If a unit gets down to a single soldier, it'll have long since been routed, and has probably been ran down with cavalry.

What you want is technically impossible and adds nothing but exceedingly pointless micromanagement for little gain.

[iamli3]

diplomat would work the same way it works on the world map , you have money , units cost to bribe , units wont auto attack agents , the player needs to be aware of their existence and location at all times

yes like most other units , except you can target , so actually not like any unit in the game at all , can you go be 'smart' somewhere else plz?....

>Why would you need to kill a single soldier?
>generals and captains and other agents aren't important to a battle at all......

[Agrippa19]

I hate shooting down ideas as they should always be encouraged, but this is really just nonsense.

[iamli3]

provide a reason

[Agrippa19]

It's just too arcade like for a historical driven simulation.

Fair enough if this was warhammer total war.

Maybe a scripted diplomacy scroll opening before a major battle as a last resort between two major powers scrapping at each others throats. A diplomat bribing a general on the battlefield isn't even credible. Would Vercingetorix, Jugurtha or any other enemy switch sides through a glitchy diplomat with a big bonus as could be represented in this game? (On the battlefield that is, not the campaign map).

An assassin like something out of assassins creed running through the battle lines to get at the leader seems just as comical. Stray arrows are a possibility already.

And spies 'unveiling' enemy spies? Would the enemy spy shine orange or something and what's the point? It just kills immersion and resembles some sort of final fantasy comparison.

[iamli3]

no scripted scrolls to interrupt gameplay it just happens automatically like it does when you click to bribe....

if you don't think generals should be able to be bribed in battle then don't let them be bribable non of this is hard to figure out :l ....

stray arrows that know to fly at the assassin , but if they don't know aka aren't told to attack him and you don't move the assassin into a line of fire then there's no problem again....

oh for crying out loud just have then hold up a flag so they are spottable by the player! you know , the thing you already have in the battles for the units for the players to look at to readily identify them!!!......

>compares an assassin infiltrating enemy lines to carry out a single target assassination to ff where total war sized armies are taken out in single attacks

man i thought this place was supposed to be way cooler than this.....

[St. Imperator]

Bribing an opposing faction's general and the stack in tow is one thing. It's a viable, worthwhile thing, obviously so since CA made it a feature to begin with. Trying to do that on the battle map, where I'm trying to decide the best course of action for the battle, is another thing. And it's a stupid thing.

Again, yes there is a problem. Why on Gaia's green earth would you NEED to kill one single soldier. Why. Why? By the time that unit is down to one, odds are the battle's all but over, it's been ran down with cavalry at some point or another, and you're just mopping up at this point. There's absolutely no need for a single assassin on the battle map. Like the diplomat, he'd just get slaughtered. End of story. Another stupid idea. Great. You've stabbed one peasant in the face. Good luck with the next 119 of them.

generals and captains and other agents aren't important to a battle at all......

Are you twelve? Do you have no idea how Total War works? Do you not know how armies in general work? Generals' serve as a huge point of morale. He's the glue that's largely holding your army together. If he dies, your stack's morale is going to plummet considerably, and that could be it.

except you can target , so actually not like any unit in the game at all

So completely and totally unlike the action of clicking off fire at will, and then right clicking on a specific unit, with say, archers? Wouldn't it be cool if those archers, oh I don't know, then fired on that one specific unit? Get the out of here with this.

Again. What you want adds absolutely nothing but incredibly distracting, pointless micromanagement to battles, for no gain. There's no point to any of this. They're first of all, impossible from a technical point of view, and secondly, redundant. I'm done humoring stupidity. Come back next week with something worthwhile.

[iamli3]

are you actually trying to be an ? saying the diplomat is the bribe a general but the assassin has no good targets? i thought this kind of wasn't allowed i always get banned off of forums when i do that...........

and then im left even more completely confused when you acknowledge the importance of the general with "Are you twelve? Do you have no idea how Total War works? Do you not know how armies in general work? Generals' serve as a huge point of morale. He's the glue that's largely holding your army together. If he dies, your stack's morale is going to plummet considerably, and that could be it."

>archers?

yes because archers can single target soldiers (like your general) which is what you're replying to , oh wait no they can't...

>Again. What you want adds absolutely nothing but incredibly distracting, pointless micromanagement to battles, for no gain. There's no point to any of this.

again "players aren't really concerned about agents in the overworld of the game , so i thought about their place in the game and i think there's room to expand their involvement in the game , this would add a whole new level of unit spacial awareness to formation gameplay and gives the agents a new breath of life to the masterfully integrated gameplay that is roma surrectum....."

>I'm done humoring stupidity.

good riddance don't come back next week or any other week let some cooler people comment on this dynamically valid proposition....

[Agrippa19]

I just think this suits a single player RPG. Being honest do you think when 2 armies in the game 2500 vs 2500 face off it's a good idea to have a unit dedicated to a diplomat walking around the map bribing people? I'm sure most people would take up the offer of a lump sum and to run away from the battle but it just isn't realistic and feels like an arcade game.

And the assassin as I said doesn't seem like it could be represented on the battle map. It would have to be something like the single soldier hero units in the mod aristea total war, and that's based on mythology. It feels strange to have a single unit able to power around the battlefield without ever really being in danger.

And the spy to highlight them also doesn't fit properly. I agree with you that there should be more ways to utilise the agents but I don't think it should be on the battle map.

[Alavaria]

Shogun 1's kenshin unit...

[St. Imperator]

Shogun I and Rome I are different beasts with different capabilities and incapabilities.

[ur-Lord Tedric]

Errrrrrrr - No........

[iamli3]

>I'm sure most people would take up the offer of a lump sum and to run away from the battle

than you for agreeing

>And the assassin as I said doesn't seem like it could be represented on the battle map.

he doesn't need to be represented he just needs to serve a purpose and that purpose is supposed to be a mobile unit that can target kill.....OH , THAT'S WHY NOBODY HERE CAN GRASP THIS , you all play grand strategy games (this one happening to include some real time gameplay) where i also play real time strategy games , so i can immediately identity the value of having high micro managing harassing units that are slippery , that pompous guy with the lincon pic stated repeatedly that he couldn't identify any use for the assassin where as i can think of countless ways in which to utilize such a unit to my advantage.....

>It would have to be something like the single soldier hero units

the assassin doesn't need to kill all the units just enough to turn the tide of a skirmish....

>And the spy to highlight them also doesn't fit properly.

it fits perfectly with form and function....

[dvk901]

provide a reason

The main reason is simple...RTW won't allow it. Agents are very limited, and hard coded to do only what they do. Sorry.

[Alavaria]

The perfect line to wrap-up with.