Conquest! (v0.70 released July 3rd)

[kt0]

Thanks, man

 

[TalonAquila]

just an absolutly brilliant mod, kt.  i'm at day 15 and wondering if i'll see day 16... i spawned in Khergit territory so life up to now has been a hard ride, so to speak.  managed to lose 3/4 of my newest Kherg recruits to steppe bandits in first skirmish... lmao.

the npc ai seems to be very well tweaked... i hate sea raiders in vanilla and when they team up with mercs as they have so far, it's bad chili (heh).

i have GE2.5 installed to run for all mods, and no problems have cropped up so far.  the variety of equipment and horses is a definite plus... the economy is about as good as it can be i think, although i haven't yet done a quest to see what the pay-offs are.

again, well done.

P.S. if i can help, let me know, please.

 

[vadermath]

I have joined the Swadians as a mercenary, and I am keeping a small, but trained army of 30 Swadian men at arms by my side, and I help in the conquests. Quite fun. Did you do something to the battle AI? It could be just me, but now it's making proper lines and orders, not just charging in like a retard...

 

[kt0]

I have joined the Swadians as a mercenary, and I am keeping a small, but trained army of 30 Swadian men at arms by my side, and I help in the conquests. Quite fun. Did you do something to the battle AI? It could be just me, but now it's making proper lines and orders, not just charging in like a retard...

I haven't touched the battle AI, at least not intentionally.  One of the dumb things it does is generate battle lines wider than the field of battle.  The Khergit in particular have issues with this if their forces get bigger than, oh, 200 or so which happens pretty often.  Wait till you start doing siege defenses.  I've had some truly epic battles in the last few days (250 vs. 1000 is pretty typical for late game sieges).  If only my poor machine could run the battle sizer at more than 200 

just an absolutly brilliant mod, kt.  i'm at day 15 and wondering if i'll see day 16... i spawned in Khergit territory so life up to now has been a hard ride, so to speak.  managed to lose 3/4 of my newest Kherg recruits to steppe bandits in first skirmish... lmao.

Thanks, man.  Steppe bandits are rough if you're not an archer.  For some reason the Khergit patrols don't attack them very often so they tend to rampage around.  Other fun bugs include Scorchers not joining in on battles but I haven't been able to figure it out yet. 

i have GE2.5 installed to run for all mods, and no problems have cropped up so far.  the variety of equipment and horses is a definite plus... the economy is about as good as it can be i think, although i haven't yet done a quest to see what the pay-offs are.

Does GE have any performance implications?  I figure it does, but don't know the game's bottlenecks well enough to say (seems like it's texture thrashing a lot).  Once I finish my current game off, I'll probably see if the L&R seige ladder stuff will work (should) and give GE a shot. 

P.S. if i can help, let me know, please.

I think I've got something for you.  I'll write it up this evening and PM you.

Thanks for all the feedback!

 

[TalonAquila]

Does GE have any performance implications?  I figure it does, but don't know the game's bottlenecks well enough to say (seems like it's texture thrashing a lot).  Once I finish my current game off, I'll probably see if the L&R seige ladder stuff will work (should) and give GE a shot.

performance hits on my comp are grass and trees... big surprise, i know... but turning the grass down in game options helps kill the frame rate loss nicely.  only help for trees is not use so many in one location on the map... kills the esthetics of woodlands, but there's not much to be done i don't think.

 

[kt0]

Important safety tip:  don't send companion parties to defend a center.  If they stop at the center, they'll get into a bad state and you won't be able to select them.  Patrolling around a center and following your main party should be fine.  If people get companion parties bugged and need a fix, PM me and I'll send you a patch.

Such is the life of a programmer.

 

[Wu-long]

Important safety tip:  don't send companion parties to defend a center.  If they stop at the center, they'll get into a bad state and you won't be able to select them.  Patrolling around a center and following your main party should be fine.  If people get companion parties bugged and need a fix, PM me and I'll send you a patch.

Such is the life of a programmer.

What do you mean center?

 

[kt0]

In this context, a center is a castle or town.

 

[Wu-long]

In this context, a center is a castle or town.

so it cant defend a castle or town T_T

 

[kt0]

I haven't tested it but I suspect that the party would properly join a fight at the defending town once in the bugged state.  Subsequently it would probably bug out even more adding the leader twice. 

I'll either fix the bug for next version or remove the "protect a center" option.  Until then:  use with caution.

 

[Wu-long]

I haven't tested it but I suspect that the party would properly join a fight at the defending town once in the bugged state.  Subsequently it would probably bug out even more adding the leader twice. 

I'll either fix the bug for next version or remove the "protect a center" option.  Until then:  use with caution.

alright thanks ofr the warning 

 

[vadermath]

With my help, the Swadians have crushed almost the entire Rhodok kingdom. I love this mod.

 

[kt0]

You want epic? 

Spoiler

Damn that Delinard...

The aftermath:

Spoiler

Mighty satsifyin' to wipe that smug grin off his face with a military pick.

Higher res title:

Spoiler

Done with paint.net and a crappy 5.5"x4" tablet despite having CSR2 and a 12x12 wacom.  Airbrush over rough pencil scans.  Should be "paintbrush over rough pencil scans."  As much as I love paint.net, it has no airbrush tool or pressure support.

 

[vadermath]

I had a similar defence siege, with slightly smaller numbers (enemy and mine), at Grunwalder Castle. Anyway, what is your next plan for the mod, since this is the 0.5 version?

 

[kt0]

Short list of stuff for next version (aiming for 2-4 weeks):
- some stability issues need resolving (think I squashed some last night)
- further improvements to companion party AI including fixes
- further improvements to strategic AI including lords building improvements
- some economy adjustments
- changed how reinforcement waves work in tactical combat (still vetting)
- tightening up the gear range for top tier troops (too many choices; they lose the nice uniform look too much IMO)
- many fixes for lords
- new buildings
- patrol fixes
- +2 lords when you strike out on your own
- other recruitable lords in the land

I'm also looking at late game pacing; seems awfully slow when you get down to two or three factions.  I might kill a faction if it's down to a handful of lords and under 100 troops or so.  If anyone has additional input/feature requests, I'm all ears.

Some of the above might not make it in; depends a lot on what I find and how busy I am.  I'd prefer to stick to a regular release schedule and push features/fixes to the next version rather than waiting until some arbitrary list of stuff is complete. 

edit>  almost forgot!  L&R siege stuff. 

 

[vadermath]

This is probably hard-coded, so I in no way expect you to include it, but I was always bummed about the way all the AI lords get troops. It would be cool to see them actually gathering troops, just like the player.

 

[kt0]

This is probably hard-coded, so I in no way expect you to include it, but I was always bummed about the way all the AI lords get troops. It would be cool to see them actually gathering troops, just like the player.

Actually, it isn't hardcoded.  Lemme think on that.

 

[Wu-long]

so is it possible they use the recruiters kit? (Enemy lords)

 

[kt0]

They could be made to use the recruiter kit, probably, but I'd much rather run them around to all the nearby villages to pick up recruits.  There are some balancing issues and higher level AI issues that it would bring about either way. 

 

[vadermath]

Well, if a feature like this could be implemented, together with your improved AI, it would make quite the wargame.