Desert Kingdoms DLC Pack

[Alwyn]

So please stop saying that these are things only I consider important, cause it's untrue.

Where did I say that these are things that "only you" consider important? I don't believe that. Please stop misrepresenting what I have said.

You mentioned the AI. Like Daruwind, I use a mod to improve the AI. Presumably, not everyone shares my view that a more aggressive AI is better, since not everyone uses this sort of mod. As Daruwind said, different players value things differently.

And I repeat my question: If a big patch didn't fix any of these issues, why would a small dlc (mainly reskins) will? But i feel pretty safe to place a bet that the patch note won't contain "AI armies use less forced march now"

I imagine you're right, that the patch intended to add female leaders probably won't reduce the tendency of AI factions to use forced march.

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

...

I agree that sometimes AI factions struggle to maintain a decent food supply. In my Carthage campaign, defeating the Kingdom of Meroe was easier than it should have been because their units had suffered major attrition. While I could be wrong, I believe that a lack of food was the cause. ...

Yes you are right. Food was the problem, but not of AI shortcomings, but because of missing food building. Nearly a year ago i recognized the same problem. Meroe´s armies starving. I take a look at their start buildings. They started with a city building and a spice bazaar, which added no food. If the AI upgrade their buildings, it would run out of foods, the AI starves. Well, i thought, did the other factions have extra food buildings in their capitals. Yes barbarian, roman, hellenic. Only Easterns/Desertnomads not. Hmmmm, strange design decision. Was it always so? No, at release easterns had an extra food bazaar building. GERONIMO!

So i give the spice bazaar an extra food line.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=946706243

Hopefully this will be patched with desert kingdoms, its obviously a problem. if not, mods have a good reason.

And now just gimme the prize!

[Daruwind]

So i give the spice bazaar an extra food line.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=946706243

Hopefully this will be patched with desert kingdoms, its obviously a problem. if not, mods have a good reason.

And now just gimme the prize!

Ye! I did something similar for my personal mod. I added hidden AI food bonus. Just small for all faction to have something like base food income. It helps a lot.

And there are many idea that could help AI. For example unit recruitment is tied to having specific buildings. If you allow all units to be recruited via main buildings, it helps a lot. And then these special military buildings might increase rate,slots for unit recruitment, adding bonuses and such. this is one way how to increase units diversity in AI armies as AI is often unable to get various unit due to system complexity...(BTW Ancient Empires is doing same things for Attila.)

And for AI, i´m using mods to increase difficulty, aggresivity...so hidden bonuses are not problem. I like challange. Sadly misproduct of this situation is a lot AI hickups are hidden or covered due to these bonuses. So I admit there are problems, yet I don´t yee them or feel them so much... But that is my way to play,to have fun...

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

Yeah many ways led to Rome. I took the buildings, because of players in mind. Plan carefully your buildings.

Edit: The downside of the recruitment via main building is that it also become easier for the players. But as you stated above thats a matter of personal taste.

[Welsh Dragon]

@Alwyn

Agreed. Different people want different things out of this (and any) game, DLC or patch. That one group dislikes something (a game, a mod, a patch etc) while another likes it is inevitable, but it doesn't make someone (whether CA, a modder, a player etc) wrong to like it or make it.

That some players and reviewers found Empire Divided "mediocre" or "bad" doesn't invalidate the fact that some particularly enjoyed it, and feel it is very good content that adds a lot to their game either. Nor visa versa. The same is true of other things like Desert Kingdoms or the patches and updates. Different players can and will have different opinions, even with the exact same basic data.

AI aggressiveness is another area where different people have different preferences and priorities. I've chatted with a lot of Rome 2 players over the years, and in that time I've talked with people for whom Easy or Normal is challenging, and others for whom even Legendary doesn't present them with the challenge they are looking for.

As for Forced March. Does the AI use Forced March more than it maybe should? Yes, sometimes. But then so do I. I've been caught out a few times by the AI hitting one of my armies in forced march stance, because I've either misjudged the deployment of the AI's forces, have taken the risk because getting my army to a location was more important, or the AI has launched a sneak attack/unexpected declaration of war. I am by no means a perfect player, so I sometimes makes mistakes, and so does the AI. That doesn't mean this isn't an area I'd like to see improved, but neither does it mean it's an area I feel must be prioritised to the exclusion of all else. Having a politics system that many simply ignored was in my view of a much higher priority, and was largely addressed in Power & Politics in my view. Others disagree? Fair enough. Maybe you'll get your wish next time (if not in this game, then in another.)

The same is true of under-defending a settlement, it's something I am equally guilty of. And sometimes what can at first look like a bad move by the AI is sometimes quite brilliant... As people will be able to see shortly in my AAR. (I'd also argue Rome 2's AI is probably more "human like" than the games that came before. It can make mistakes, be stubborn, seemingly hold grudges, sometimes act irrationally, catch you by surprise and basically play like something other than a perfect thinking machine that always makes the right choice.)

*

@Daruwind

Again agreed. We're all different. For example I prefer Rome 2's beach landing system (where the ships land and stay landed, and you have limited suitable beach to make your landing) to the Attila system, because I think it makes things more challenging and believable. While you prefer the Attila system. Each has advantages and disadvantages, so which to implement is ultimately a design judgement call with no universally correct answer.

*

@Marcus_Iunius

That's very interesting. If the AI food shortage issue is most common in Desert and Eastern factions, that may help explain why it's one I have only very rarely encountered, as the factions I play tend to be in the Northern and Western parts of the map. I also wonder if difficulty level may be a factor, as I tend to play Hard/Hard, so if the AI gets bonuses to it's money on higher difficulty levels, perhaps that means it's building more food requiring buildings.

*

Ultimately some people are going to like Desert Kingdoms DLC + Female Leaders FLC, and some aren't. But I think we owe it to everyone, especially ourselves, to at least give it a chance before we denounce it when we haven't even had a chance to play it yet.

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

[The Wandering Storyteller]

All this makes me wonder how much total war are we going to play hahaha, they're releasing:

TK - Released and well worth the money
Three Kingdoms - Wait and watch, but so glad for a non-European setting and CHINA!!!
Thrones of Britannia - not so much my interest but I watch Vikings
Araby - Potentially - not sure.
Desert Kingdoms DLC - Will wait.

All I can say is I want more RII DLC on the scale of Warhammer 2 campaign DLC such as the TK.

RII - Port city battle maps - most of them are the same, and don't hold much diversity and not enough chokepoints, except for the one port opening. I'd love if it RII could get new port city maps, at least five templates or so to show more diversity.

I'd love RII to get more new city battle maps. More city battle maps with multi-level cities,.

I would like it if RII could get some brand new cinematics similar to Shogun 1 and 2.

This is a game I didn't like at launch yet with DEI I play it vigorously. I've got 1357 hours on it.

I REALLY WANT NEW MUSIC WITH RII DLC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TK had it for Warhammer.

[Ygraine]

I've already explained how mediocre Empire Divided was and how easily it could have been improved in another topic.

It was the first DLC that I skipped over, Desert Kingdoms will be the second one. Three of my friends that also play this game also have no plans to buy either Empire Divided nor Desert Kingdoms. Granted we all play the game heavily modded and these two DLCs don't really bring anything new for us and thus we have no interest in giving support by purchasing them.

On the other hand if CA decided to fix some of the major issues/lack of important features on the long list of stuff that people have requesting for years - I'd buy them both in a heartbeat just to show my support.

[eXistenZ]

It was the first DLC that I skipped over, Desert Kingdoms will be the second one. Three of my friends that also play this game also have no plans to buy either Empire Divided nor Desert Kingdoms. Granted we all play the game heavily modded and these two DLCs don't really bring anything new for us and thus we have no interest in giving support by purchasing them.

On the other hand if CA decided to fix some of the major issues/lack of important features on the long list of stuff that people have requesting for years - I'd buy them both in a heartbeat just to show my support.

Same. I'm not just a basher. People confusing being skeptical and realistic with bashing. If things are good, I'll say it and applaud it.


However the last few years we have had very little to applaud concerning the historical front, as a majority of the commnity (and their requests) were/are being ignored. I'm fairly confident 3Kingdoms will be something to applaud, but I'm also fairly confident this dlc will be, to put it bluntly, fairly .

[KamenLily]

Same. I'm not just a basher. People confusing being skeptical and realistic with bashing. If things are good, I'll say it and applaud it.


However the last few years we have had very little to applaud concerning the historical front, as a majority of the commnity (and their requests) were/are being ignored. I'm fairly confident 3Kingdoms will be something to applaud, but I'm also fairly confident this dlc will be, to put it bluntly, fairly .

I'm pretty happy with the new additions.
I was asking for female generals since... well, since the first Rome I think.
So, the FLC is REALLY REALLY promising for me. Took so long, but finally CA is listening me!!
And the faction pack looks pretty interesting. I'm always happy to have more factions to play.

And by the way I don't play with lot of mods. Just some which adds units and some minor tweaks. (Like removing units limits and things like that).

[Welsh Dragon]

I'm pretty happy with the new additions.
I was asking for female generals since... well, since the first Rome I think.
So, the FLC is REALLY REALLY promising for me. Took so long, but finally CA is listening me!!
And the faction pack looks pretty interesting. I'm always happy to have more factions to play.

And by the way I don't play with lot of mods. Just some which adds units and some minor tweaks. (Like removing units limits and things like that).

You aren't alone in liking the new additions, nor in being someone who doesn't use much in the way of mods. And there's the thing. It's very easy reading forums (especially one with such a passionate modding community as Total War Centre, which is also home to some of the major overhauls like DEI,) to think most players play with tons of mods. But that's probably not the case, as this interesting little titbit from one of the new Blog Posts highlights:

One problem we’ve been wrestling with at CA for a while now is the interaction of mods with our games when an update lands. As nearly a third of users use mods for ROME II, there’s quite a high chance of an out-of-date mod causing issues within the newly updated game.

(Yes, yes, the source is CA, so we each give it as much or as little weight as we feel it merits. Still it's an interesting statistic, as that third includes everything from DEI to minor tweaks. So even if they are underestimating it quite a bit, still means there's a lot of players playing vanilla or near vanilla.)

And here's a link to the latest Blog Post. Looks like this update will also have a new tool for dealing with mod related issues, which as someone whose helped a lot of people with those in recent years is much appreciated.

We also have a very short blog on the new Achievements, the most noteable feature of which is that it corrects the issue with the ones revealed on Steam at the weekend. Namely it's "a campaign" not "a Desert Kingdoms campaign."

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

[Daruwind]

New Patch notes for Desert Kingdoms - https://www.totalwar.com/blog/desert...ms-patch-notes

There is a good amount of things...guard mode, fixes to diplomatic mission to get critical success,AI responding to wall/gate breaches...I´m pretty happy. Honestly now i would love to get announcement for bigger DLC like Alexander/Diadochi Wars. Just to get more fixes and so ...

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

And modding informations:

https://forums.totalwar.com/discussi...rmation#latest

[eXistenZ]

While the patch notes adress some issues (although I think just rolling dice to get your hands on a region has very little to do with either history or TW), that arent adressed usually in faction dlc, it still feels as too little too late. How long have people been asking for a merge button and the guard mode? Ever since 2013 I think. Meanwhile the political system is going to stay very barren., and the addition of just one more dilemma or female generals aren't going to change that


Just as this isn't going to bring back a revival to the modscene. It feels like building a small dam when the town has already flooded and most people have left to somewhere else

[KamenLily]

While the patch notes adress some issues (although I think just rolling dice to get your hands on a region has very little to do with either history or TW), that arent adressed usually in faction dlc, it still feels as too little too late. How long have people been asking for a merge button and the guard mode? Ever since 2013 I think. Meanwhile the political system is going to stay very barren., and the addition of just one more dilemma or female generals aren't going to change that


Just as this isn't going to bring back a revival to the modscene. It feels like building a small dam when the town has already flooded and most people have left to somewhere else

Hey, better later than never. As I said I was asking for female generals since... what? 2004/2005?

And not all people cares about modding. It's not Skyrim... and even talking about Bethesda games plenty of people play them vanilla.

That being said, if they add a family tree in the future, I will not complain, that's for sure.

[Daruwind]

While the patch notes adress some issues (although I think just rolling dice to get your hands on a region has very little to do with either history or TW), that arent adressed usually in faction dlc, it still feels as too little too late. How long have people been asking for a merge button and the guard mode? Ever since 2013 I think. Meanwhile the political system is going to stay very barren., and the addition of just one more dilemma or female generals aren't going to change that


Just as this isn't going to bring back a revival to the modscene. It feels like building a small dam when the town has already flooded and most people have left to somewhere else

But point is, CA decided they would return to older games like a year ago and these DLCs are here as soon as was possible. They had to decide which game,how to return, get together team...so overall ED was in production like 6 month at best. It is not Norsca where they had trained team pretty confident they can do unplanned stuff and yet we see problems in WH2 with implemtation ;-)

And second point. Either you play game and then it is not too late or you don´t play and don´t care. We are glad CA is fixing game for those still playing. Plus you said that "you are not expecting fixes" in loose wording...Clearly now we see CA is willing to fix at least something. So my my idea that small DLC = some fixes, bigger DLC = more fixes is probably quite right. So if you wish to see more fixes in future,you should also hope for yet another bigger DLC...because these fixes will be free even without buying any more DLC...OR at least you cannot say that there won´t be any more fixes..period. That´s not simply true..

[Avarice1987]

@CA i hope you fix this:

"The Status Quo achievement is not currently attainable"

[romanius24]

Wow this is really great. R2 has the most fun vanilla i have played so far.
If the player numbers stay high, i hope they will support the game more.

[eXistenZ]

But point is, CA decided they would return to older games like a year ago and these DLCs are here as soon as was possible. They had to decide which game,how to return, get together team...so overall ED was in production like 6 month at best. It is not Norsca where they had trained team pretty confident they can do unplanned stuff and yet we see problems in WH2 with implemtation ;-)

And second point. Either you play game and then it is not too late or you don´t play and don´t care. We are glad CA is fixing game for those still playing. Plus you said that "you are not expecting fixes" in loose wording...Clearly now we see CA is willing to fix at least something. So my my idea that small DLC = some fixes, bigger DLC = more fixes is probably quite right. So if you wish to see more fixes in future,you should also hope for yet another bigger DLC...because these fixes will be free even without buying any more DLC...OR at least you cannot say that there won´t be any more fixes..period. That´s not simply true..

I care and still play, thats why I had a nice balance of mods... which were also free, and its painfull to say, but a lot were of beter quality.

And yes the game gets fixes and updates. Are it the most important fixes and updates? not really. thats what I call a cheap bone to keep fans happy, and if possible, get them to pay for it

Again, not the only one who is saying it, but Empire Divided is mediocre and they can do way better

[Noble Lancer]

A late fix is a fix. Why shifting the goalpost from "CA never bother to fix xyz" to "CA fixed xyz too late to my liking"? If this fix is not a positive thing to the Rome II community, I don't know what is. Money or not, I already decided to "punish" CA of sort by only picking up Attila on sale. Still haven't bought ED or even any WH. That's the kind of thing you do if you are unhappy about a product. I don't actually see anything positive about complaining all the time while it is quite clear that the bug fixes and additional content benefits the community in one way or another.

[douglas]

Liking this a lot.