Suggestions

[Ngugi]

Cheers Templar, i'm still trying to figure out the ins and outs of the forum, but your reply was useful. One question is that when you use ships to block armies, does that stop them from moving into your own lands (i.e, Haradirm into Gondor) or can you only block them when they are inside their own ships??

If your ship is standing at a shallow/crossing where armies can pass over then the enemy shall be hindered from using it.
This is nothing that I've ever ended up testing for real (aka I never seen an enemy army not been able to pass, though perhaps they havent gone near because they couldnt go there with my ship in the way?) but that has been constantly reported and I thus acknowlidge it as a truth.
Edit: and welcome to the forum

 

[smoesville]

I'm the same, when a ship has been there i've never seen an enemy army go near it but they have crossed when ships weren't there. I would point out that the fact an army can cross a river without a ocean going fleet is acceptable, smaller boats and rafts could easily cross a river. Blocking the crossings also seems to bring another level to defending Gondor. It forced me to maintain a fleet to stop Harad 'landing' troops across the Anduin and defend the ships that guarded the crossing from the corsair fleet.

 

[Crispicus]

I think that Orcs of Gundabad should have more evil men units to make them different to Orcs of Misty Mountains, like Numernorians and stuff. Also dont know whether its meant to be but you cant put soldiers on walls of Minas Morgul. Also I think that the forces of good should be able to call an invasion (like a Last Alliance sort of thing) that would be good becuase all the evil armies get to unite so why not the good armies aswell.

 

[Macilrille]

I think that Orcs of Gundabad should have more evil men units to make them different to Orcs of Misty Mountains, like Numernorians and stuff. Also dont know whether its meant to be but you cant put soldiers on walls of Minas Morgul. Also I think that the forces of good should be able to call an invasion (like a Last Alliance sort of thing) that would be good becuase all the evil armies get to unite so why not the good armies aswell.

1. You think the proudest and most arrogant of the highest of men would serve mere goblins? Better give them more diverse trolls instead, or some Rhudaur Hillem/Easterlings representing allies/mercs.

2. Minas Morgul/Ithil cannot have soldiers on the walls, it is a feature of the custom settlements. But I believe it is being worked upon.

3. Check this mod. It might be included in an updated Vanilla, we can hope.

 

[Top_Kaiser]

Thanks Ngugi. I look forward to being able to contribute to the forums as much as possible. Now about your point, i'll give it a go because it sounds like it works and if it does that makes the defending a bit easier. Cheers.

 

[paradamed]

Also I think that the forces of good should be able to call an invasion (like a Last Alliance sort of thing) that would be good becuase all the evil armies get to unite so why not the good armies aswell.

Check this submod: Dúnedain Counter-Invasions 1.0

 

[Top_Kaiser]

I have another quick suggestion relating to Minas Tirith. Three things i would like to see if at any time in the near future the people who designed it could add.
1) More space to place units, not particularly on the walls there ok, i mean on the ground within the city streets. It takes me ages to get guys set up because of the lack of space within the city.
2) sort of a counter-point to the first suggestion, but i would love to see more buildings within the city, there is a huge section of land to the left of the gate (from the invading armies perspective) that could be converted into more buildings, just to add more weight and perspective to the city itself.
3) when you play in a non-custom made settlement the buildings get destroyed when struck by boulders from catapults, i would absolutely love to see that translate into custom settlements especially in Minas Tirith. Just having catapults fire into the city and smashing buildings would make it that much more thrilling and exciting (well for me anyway, not sure about anyone else).
Well that's about it. Would love to see these basic suggestions added, I really think it can add to the Aesthetic value of Minas Tirith. But even so Minas Tirith looks sick in this Mod.

 

[KnightsTemplar]

I'm the same, when a ship has been there i've never seen an enemy army go near it but they have crossed when ships weren't there. I would point out that the fact an army can cross a river without a ocean going fleet is acceptable, smaller boats and rafts could easily cross a river. Blocking the crossings also seems to bring another level to defending Gondor. It forced me to maintain a fleet to stop Harad 'landing' troops across the Anduin and defend the ships that guarded the crossing from the corsair fleet.

The AI is 'smart' in their own way - one that we can never understand.
They 'pre-navigate' the whole path, and check if there's any blockage or things that stop them on that path.
If there are, they just won't even start moving, until it's clear or a new path presents.
Same reason of the 2.1 Minas Tirith/Rammas Echor epic blockade.

The only exception is Invasion - they just keep walking (and create awkward moments like moving up and down forever).

 

[BeingDale]

Some ideas on increasing faction uniqueness

I must say the thing that I think could work really well in this setting is the Parthia or Britannia of Rome Total War in fact all the none Roman factions made you play in different ways, now I know this isnt a mod of Rome and the M2 brings a different faction base upon which the mod is built but as is clear from the wealth of different units that the modders have been able to create, there is a potential level of total uniqueness that while lacking in M2:TW itself has been well captured once more. Why was Rome so damn good? Well mainly because with Barbarian factions you had to fight quick vicious battles before you all routed, Parthia was a pure cavalry style, Eygpt and Selucids had the shock based units, and Romans, well they had bits of almost everything and that is leaving out the defensive and difficult hoplites of Greece.

Parthia in particular boasted a cavalry roster that I couldnt wait to get my greedy little hooves on but only one infantry unit, unfortunately said infantry unit were as effective at holding a line so you could use the awesome cavalry as a soft cheese. As a result you were forced to fight a skirmish style of battle until you pulled off your hammer blow of a cavalry charge. Even better your early-mid opponent Eygpt made you damn well work for those victories. Why is Rohan not the TATW equivilent of this faction? Now I know the battle of Helms Deep was not won due to a powerful cavalry charge from Gandalf and Eomer but Erkenbrand and 2000 foot troops alongside some angsty trees but they have far too many infantry options for what is made out to be a horse dominated society. Some weakish militia troops yes, the smorgasbord of infantry options you do get. Not so much. Now I know you can play without using alot of infantry but what makes factions unique for me is when you really have to play in a certain fashion and I think this mod misses some glaringly obvious opportunities to do this.

I could go on but I am not sure anyone would read a small essay on the matter.

 

[Macilrille]

Re: Some ideas on increasing faction uniqueness

This belongs in the Suggestions section.

While I agree in a way that the diversity and uniqueness of units is pat of what makes RTW interesting (though it has nothing on EB- you should try that). I have toi point out that it is made vary clear in UT that Rohan has a professional army, and that it is made up of both foot and horse. Very horsey- yes, but they are not dumb, they know the value of good infantry. Though much of it might be dismounted horse and though they have nothing on Gondor, Rohan has an effective infantry arm as part of their army.

 

[Elitewolf]

Re: Some ideas on increasing faction uniqueness

This belongs in the Suggestions section.

While I agree in a way that the diversity and uniqueness of units is pat of what makes RTW interesting (though it has nothing on EB- you should try that). I have toi point out that it is made vary clear in UT that Rohan has a professional army, and that it is made up of both foot and horse. Very horsey- yes, but they are not dumb, they know the value of good infantry. Though much of it might be dismounted horse and though they have nothing on Gondor, Rohan has an effective infantry arm as part of their army.

Yup. Most of their foot soldiers are either militia (who can't afford a horse) or dismounted riders (who dismounted and are therefore not on horseback)
Besides, compared to most other factions their infantry sucks. It lacks the quality of gondor and the numbers of the uruks they have to fight.

I think TATW has a lot of diversity. I mean, Elves focus on range, quality and arrows, orc factions on the other hand are very weak and melee focused (with some being more focused on trolls, and isengard has units which are a lot better but lacks trolls) Dwarves meanwhile are more like elves: They have a lot of quality and low numbers, but they focus on melee instead of range.

The races of men are more balanced but they too are different: Dale is archer oriented, Rohan is cavalry oriented, Gondor and Arnor have awesome infantry, Easterlings have some insanely tough units and Harad... Has mumakil?

 

[Warlord Skorr]

Re: Some ideas on increasing faction uniqueness

The races of men are more balanced but they too are different: Dale is archer oriented, Rohan is cavalry oriented, Gondor and Arnor have awesome infantry, Easterlings have some insanely tough units and Harad... Has mumakil?

That, Serpent Guard, and Troll-men.

Which adds up to two very good units that cause fear, exceptional General's Bodyguard, and poor-to-O.K. everything else. This results in an army that is very, very focused on breaking the enemy morale instead of killing them in a stand up confrontation. And an interesting game against Gondor.

I do think Rhún needs an AoR unit or two to give it's starting area a bit more character and the same for the Orcs of Gundabad and the Misty Mountains, but other than that I think the various rosters are differentiated enough as is.

 

[tank0fell]

I have a suggestion for units. In Middle-earth were also creatures called half-orcs and goblin men. Maybe good units for the "more orcish factions?"

 

[Top_Kaiser]

Each character, when playing the third age campagin have faces, however Eomer doesn't have one (not the correct one anyway). Not sure if anyone noticed this, but in all the campagins I have played hes not got a proper face. It may not be a top priority atm, but we be a nice touch to upload Eomers pic from the movie.

 

[Crispicus]

New idea, "fell beats" for Mordor, the dragon things that the Nazguls ride.

 

[Top_Kaiser]

I would love to see that, but i don't think it is possible. I'm not sure they have any flying units in Medieval Total war. Then again, you never know.

 

[mhz1000a]

I would love to see that, but i don't think it is possible. I'm not sure they have any flying units in Medieval Total war. Then again, you never know.

fly fly

Spoiler

 

[mhz1000a]

fly bird

Spoiler

 

[Top_Kaiser]

AND SO IT SHALL BE WRITTEN MY GOOD FELLOWS THAT I TOP_KAISER STAND CORRECTED. FELL BEASTS 2012!!!

 

[smoesville]

They don't actually fly, they still take up an invisible column below them. Also they can't fly over buildings and sometimes they are quite buggy.

 

[Top_Kaiser]

Is it at all possible to have "grond," the huge ram from the movies? It would be cool to see. Also is there a way to make gates strong, like it takes less damage from rams?

 

[Incredible Bulk]

Is it at all possible to have "grond," the huge ram from the movies? It would be cool to see. Also is there a way to make gates strong, like it takes less damage from rams?

From rams? No from goats yes

 

[mondpeiler]

a little suggestion to think about:
concerning starting-population, town-growth, recruitment.

I've just started a new campaign with High Elves (but this is not the only faction, I've this problem
with). Isenguard is at its end, the Orcs of the misty mountains are now on my agenda and I'm still
fighting with the standard militia. those are the guys I fight nearly all my campaigns with. It is(for
me) impossible to get higher-tier-units into early combat - and nearly whole my campaign is "early
combat".

so what I suggest is, perhaps you could look over the system of the city-population again. I know
it is made like this to show the low spread population over middle earth, and second to make it a
bit more difficult for the players. that is in a way understandable, but it's a bit boring to fight the
real hard battles with militia and lateron, when your empire spreads over half the map you simply
just play on to achieve units like Mithlond Nobles only to see them (and there is simply no enemy
near the recruitement-point to battle with anymore).

It would be great if the main cities (those which lateron produce AOR-units) could start with a
(much) bigger population, so that you don't have to wait 200+ turns untill you can fight with real
soldiers.

don't get me wrong, I don's want an absolutely simple game, but what I liked at M2TW was the
use of diversified armies and in TATW I havn't diversified ones at 80% of the campaign.

so in contradiction to it I suggest to adjust the advantage of the higher population in special towns
you could lower the starting population in others and you could make the AOR- and higer-tier-units
more rare by raising the recruitement- and training-time in a massive way (or the recruitement costs).

So you could use special units from start on (not only those you have and can't retrain untill turn
200+) but must still rely on mostly militia. I personally would like it more to be abled to use high-
tier-units early but in lesser numbers.

would be cool if you think about it.

 

[Muffer Nl]

You would still have to wait for the barracks events in turn ~150. The idea behind these AOR units is that you actually move them to your front lines.

 

[mondpeiler]

my point isn't about AOR-distance to front.
I only mentioned the AOR as an example.
the problem is: I am abled to train proffessional troups only after achieving victory. that's the matter.
I don't know if I'am to fast or have the wrong building-policy, but I simply can't use 75% of the verry nicely created units in the game.
(only if I play long after achieving victory against rebels or allies - what is somehow feeling wrong or simply boring.)

 

[Crispicus]

fell beasts all the way! also, I love all the new custom settlements but I think the main one still hasn't been done and is probably the most nessery, Barad Dur. This looks the least like the medieval settlements and would therefor be the best one to make. When I attacked it as dale it is just a normal castle.

not a bad idea

Is it at all possible to have "grond," the huge ram from the movies? It would be cool to see. Also is there a way to make gates strong, like it takes less damage from rams?

would love to see that ram!

 

[Top_Kaiser]

would love to see that ram!

Yeah it would be good to see, however due to the size of the Ram itself, i think gates need to be bigger. It would look werid otherwise. I also hope that Barad Dur is made as well as you suggested. That would be awesome. I wonder if the eye will be at the top looking down upon the enemy.

 

[The Mouth]

fell beasts all the way! also, I love all the new custom settlements but I think the main one still hasn't been done and is probably the most nessery, Barad Dur. This looks the least like the medieval settlements and would therefor be the best one to make. When I attacked it as dale it is just a normal castle.

I'm almost certain its being worked on; we saw pics of it sometime ago

 

[Macilrille]

No, as you can see in the "Custom Settlements" Thread, I just fought over it and it was not yet customised.

 

[smoesville]

Yes but the custom settlements thread is only Leos work, we don't know what KK might be up to.