Dawdling thru Steam and my games library i realised id only completed 3% of E:TW and 1% of N:TW and feel a bit ashamed really.
I see on Steam a few of you guys still dabble with ETW, are you just playing the vanilla game with a Darth mod or so or are you playing game changing mods that revolutionise the game entirely?
im really shocked i havent given the game the time it deserves and may consider jumping back in - but then theres CK 2 which im enjoying, and im still looking at Wargame:EE - need to watch a few gameplay vids on youtube
I'm playing an Ottoman vanilla campaign right now. The early game is still dreadfully slow but enough interesting events have occurred to keep me interested. If I do get fed up I just installed the newest Darthmod for NTW and will play either as Wallachia or Greece.
I just installed the latest versions of darth mod for ETW, NTW and Shogun 2...and i'm still hooked on stainless steel mod for medieval 2. I guess I'll start a campaign and go veeeeery slow with no time pressure. The total war series as you well described are just EPIC, I will always come back for more and more, best replay value with the ever growing modding community.
Stainless Steel is still my favorite mod ever, even years later.
Total War is generally tedious to play because of the mix of strategic and tactical. :(
I'm still playing campaigns in both ETW with the American Revolution mod and NTW with the Napoleon Total Combat mod and enjoy both greatly. Right now I'm trying to coax Spain back to greatness in ETW along with other saves and trying to finish-off France as Britain in the Penisular Campaign. I'm a sucker for new units and both mods add hundreds of them to the game. For M2TW its Third Age Total War mod for me and it's damned hard to beat. I have bad dreams at night about charging Dwarf heavy infantry.
i see theres a new darth mod due - 8, dear lord the last time i played it was 1b or something!
i may reinstall tonight - fancy some grand sweeping empire building - ill choose spain also
I'll most likely take some flak for this, but.....
I've been playing Total War since the first Shogun, and have Empires, Shogun 2 and Med II games in progress ATM. I have never ever used any mods on any of 'em. I'm obviously missing out somewhere. One problem is that there are so many of them, I'm not sure which ones are really worth the effort, although there are 2 which seem interesting, these being LotR and the Ice & Fire one.
Advice please, chaps.
i choose darth because it just improves the gameplay/AI/forces - it isnt a 'now you can play as the Sioux', or 'now you can choose the colours of the flags, hats and uniforms', it just aims to improve the vanilla experience
but if your a 'what if' kinda guy theres plenty out there
I'm expecting the Darth Mod for Rome 2 TW to come out any day(just kidding). The bad part is every new version, you have to un-install the old version first before you can install the new one. Kind of a pain. On the other hand, they do improve the games and don't just walk away from their mods. They must have quite a big team working at Darth. Anybody know any Darth-details?
Quote from: jomni on July 25, 2012, 09:26:32 PM
Total War is generally tedious to play because of the mix of strategic and tactical. :(
That's what I actually
like about them! I like that the extent of your victory (or loss) at the tactical level has repercussions at the strategic level. Most games treat battles in isolation, but TW gives them context in a way that matters to the player.
Quote from: Sir Slash on July 26, 2012, 10:20:22 AM
I'm expecting the Darth Mod for Rome 2 TW to come out any day(just kidding). The bad part is every new version, you have to un-install the old version first before you can install the new one. Kind of a pain. On the other hand, they do improve the games and don't just walk away from their mods. They must have quite a big team working at Darth. Anybody know any Darth-details?
it wasnt so long ago it was just Darth - a greek guy i think, and he 'retired' after rome, hence the 'i just couldnt stay away' leader on the empire darth mod page, but that was 2009, i think because he was on his own and was a modder he couldnt get his head around auto installers, and mod managers, and asked a few guys to help, then he added other peoples mods into darth and then came darth ultimate commander for the big battle look and it just steamrolled from there - i still get the impression its a greek guy in his office at home, talking to other guys in there offices all doing it in their spare time
I remember when he retired and then when he came back out of retirement. I should've mentioned that new versions require you to un-install the old version first but all the Darths I've tried have made downloading and installing very easy and the mods run without a hiccup which is more than alot of other mods do.
Empire I'm at 17% and Nap at 18%. Currently playing Portugal with Nap and the Darth Mod. Found the latest version of the mod a lot more stable, with my new campaign I had no CTD, and prev it crashed on a regular basis
Nap a more refined exp, with it's attrition in winter months etc. Shame they did not use make the regional map available as an option in NTW. Multi region map for NTW is one DLC I'll happily fork out for!
Quote from: bob48 on July 26, 2012, 10:10:26 AM
I'll most likely take some flak for this, but.....
I've been playing Total War since the first Shogun, and have Empires, Shogun 2 and Med II games in progress ATM. I have never ever used any mods on any of 'em. I'm obviously missing out somewhere. One problem is that there are so many of them, I'm not sure which ones are really worth the effort, although there are 2 which seem interesting, these being LotR and the Ice & Fire one.
Advice please, chaps.
If you have the Kingdoms Expansion pack for Medieval II, get the Stainless Steel mod, it it is an excellent mod.
Not sure why, but I thought Darth was German...
I thought he was from Sith. Oh you don't mean that Darth.
^Don't get saucy with me you scoundrel.
BTW just when you thought it was safe to uninstall Shogun 2, a new DLC pack, Saints & Heroes, has been released.
I totally reject your accusation of being a scoundrel sir. I'll have you know the only un-ethical thing I have ever done is to occasionally pick-up an expensive looking object or two at a vendor's shop in Skyrim. And only after I knocked it.. I mean it fell onto the floor. And that one time in CMBN when I called in an artillery strike on a group of surrendered Germans because my troops were too tired to go over and round them up. That wasn't my fault. I kept yelling to them to, "Come over here" but they just sat there with their hands up and wouldn't move. And then there's the incident in Silent Hunter 4 while sailing out of Pearl Harbor, I manned the anti-aircraft gun and fired at those army trucks that drive real fast down the docks to see if I could hit one. You can't blame me for that. They're Army and I'm in the Navy. On second thought, you maybe right. I am a scoundrel. But I-am-never-SAUCY, Sir!
I don't know I think you are a tad saucy.
My ETW is still a bit meh. I am trying to resist the urge to move onto a Darthmodded NTW and play as the Greeks.
And of course the new S2TW DLC is drawing me back to S2TW.
And then there are the 15 other titles I have...I need a drink.
Perhaps a-- tad. Trying to nurse Spain and the Ottomans along in ETW but everybody hates me. After looking over the ministers section, I noticed that my king and sultan both lose prestige every turn. Maybe thats why the whole world wants to declare war or refuse to trade with me. Now what do I do? Try to increase prestige, or just give-up on prestige and build armies and fleets? Many of the other powers don't have this problem as their rulers have no effect on prestige. Or do I try to assisinate my own king?
My guess it will be really difficult to do so.
So how long should I keep plugging away at the Ottoman campaign in ETW? It is just starting to get interesting and I am not as hated as I thought I would be...I even have France considering me as an ally.
Poland-Lithuania especially likes me because we are destroying the Austrians together, without being allied.
The pull of my other titles is strong though...
6 hours into a Holland campaign - marching toward the pirate Caribbean bases, just captured all the spots in the East Indies trade zone and had a 2 hour naval battle fighting off the last pirate fleet there (which had previously battered me and stolen 4 ships - now returned to the United Provinces!).
Westphalia is under siege on the mainland - once ive killed all the pirates off ill turn to India
I'm having a hell-of a tough time in my Ottomans Camp. Fighting off the Russians, Georgians, Persians, Venice and Morrocco. All declared war on me except for Russia( at war at the start) and Morrocco who invaded Barbary and I honored my alliance. Making some slow steady progress but nobody will make peace even to get back their territory. Playing the American Revolution mod and the Ottomans don't have very good infantry, none with morale above 5, and almost no cavalry except for camels and Tartars. They do have excellent arty-start with 12 pounders and organ guns and up to 18 pounders with an upgrade. And hordes of cheap-rabble infantry. But I wanted a challenge and running around putting-out fires is fun--- to a certain point.
Quote from: Sir Slash on July 30, 2012, 08:56:03 AM
I'm having a hell-of a tough time in my Ottomans Camp. Fighting off the Russians, Georgians, Persians, Venice and Morrocco. All declared war on me except for Russia( at war at the start) and Morrocco who invaded Barbary and I honored my alliance. Making some slow steady progress but nobody will make peace even to get back their territory. Playing the American Revolution mod and the Ottomans don't have very good infantry, none with morale above 5, and almost no cavalry except for camels and Tartars. They do have excellent arty-start with 12 pounders and organ guns and up to 18 pounders with an upgrade. And hordes of cheap-rabble infantry. But I wanted a challenge and running around putting-out fires is fun--- to a certain point.
A big problem with ETW, and maybe even NTW. The "Diplomacy". More like the lack of Diplomacy as most everyone in your vicinity moves towards hating you & declaring war. A lame way of increasing difficulty in grand strategy games IMO.
The only ones you can hope to keep somewhat normal are the ones you get Trade agreements with, so that you get that extra little bonus to your relations every turn to balance out the inevitable animosity towards you.
I am finding the same kind of tough going in my Ottoman campaign too Sir Slash. I have managed to secure my borders but I just can't make good inroads while on the offensive. The campaign is interesting enough to keep me playing to the end. After that I am probably going to start a DarthMod NTW campaign as Greece. Looking forward to that.
Agree with Nefaro too...trade is my friend in this ETW game.
I beat the Russians and took Kiev and offered to return it for peace but no go, nobody else wanted it and I didn't have enough troops to control public disorder so I gave it to Poland, forgetting Russia has access with them. But it seems to have confused the AI as the Russians aren't moving forward. Same with Venice, I took Morea and they refused peace to get it back so I kept it and now a revolt has broken-out. Georgia would only agree to a plain, vanilla peace even with me laying seige to their capital. Now I got a little breather to re-build my armies before we start round 2. Trying to build a decent navy to get the Venician navy away from Athens. Public order and economy are running well and your right about trade being a great asset if we can produce good goods and keep the sealanes clear. Might work-out after all. I miss being able to hire mercs like in M2TW.