Guard Dog

This is exactly what we were arguing about on the bioware board. Without the toolset and modding ability NWN would have been a dead flat failure that no one would be talking about today. It's graphics engine was below average, and it's OC was just terrible. Granated the two expansions were better but I bought them for the extra tilesets/creature/classes/ and toolset functionality. I will agree with you that MP was never a big deal, at least to me, but making and playing SP modules are what made that game. As I posted earlier, that is really all I (and a hell of a lot of others) care about for NWN2.

At the risk of reopening a 2 yr argument with Volurn, the 40 hr NWN1 campaign was really little more than a showcase of game content. The story ranged from all around bad at it's worst to simply uncompelling at it's best. The dialouge and charaters were poorly done. Obsidan's writing teams have produced some of the best charaters in any CRPG both at Obsidian and in other endeavors. In fact that was KOTOR2's only saving grace. I'd sooner take a 20 hour game that was complete and well fleshed out with good dialouge, characterization, and roleplaying elements, that a 40 hour game that brings back memories of the NWN OC. As another poster pointed out, NWN is really about the toolset. If the OC is a five hour hack and slash "fed ex" quest, I'd still buy the game for the toolset. And so should all of you. Heck I've got my first module laid out on over 120 pages of notes and I'll probably have at least 10 hours into building it before I even make my first OC character. If the OC stinks, maybe you'll like my mod better. If not then you can be certain there will be many and more some of which will surpass "professional" quality, just like NWN1. There are over 5000 modules on the NWN vault and granted, only 5% could credibly be called good. That is still 250 at an average of 2 hours a piece. You do the math. Mr Sawyer, you give us a complete, reletively bug free game with a working toolset and I'll be happy. If the OC happens to be good, thats just the icing on the cake.

Going off at a tangent here. Typically speaking, do developers realize a higher return on console games versus PC games? As a rule, which could be expected to sell more units? Actually are the two even statistically comparable? I read on the Bethesda forums that Morrowwind PC out sold the same console title at something like 3 to 1. Do you know (or can you say) how KOTOR2 for PC did versus the Xbox version? The reason I ask is that the root of these JE discussions (here and at the Bio boards) was that Bioware erred by not making a PC port of JE and cut their audience enough to hurt the game. I doubt that is the case and I also doubt that the JE project lost money but it's market performance seems to have been underwhelming to the folks in Edmonton and Redmond. Also, the desicion to make (or not) a PC port would be made by the publisher right? Anyone want to weigh in on these points?

After a near miss of a thread lock, we are aleady there.

My computer can handle RTW with huge unit sizes with most of the settings turned off. It's still nearing the end of it's life though at 3.5 years old. It was already low-midrange when I bought it. <_< Can't wait for the game anyway. Was there a projected release date given? I don't recall seeing anything about it. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> 4th Quarter this year. I'd bet on early December, late November. There was a big discussion on the TW boards as to what the next title would be. Most people wanted a M:TW remake. The other two that sounded good were Napolean:Total War and 1914:Total War. I hope they at least consider the other two ideas. Especialy 1914:TW.

It uses the R:TW engine, with probably a few graphic improvements. If you can play Rome I'd bet you can run Med 2. I'm already putting money aside for some upgrades. With Oblivion, NWN2, and Med 2 it sounds like at the least a new video card is coming.

If the entire graduating class could be wiped out by a handfull of weak goblins and a few lvl 1 mages they were not worth a crap and Neverwinter was screwed in any case.

Along that line I thought the Baldurs Gate concept was handled well. You live your whole life thinking you were ordinary the one day...Boom. I gather from reading the interviews the NWN2 protaganist is an "accidental hero". A person whom circumstance calls on to do great things and only becomes great by DOING these things. Am I far off?

Check out the next to last screenshot. The armor is reflecting the battle map background!

(w00t) New screenshots on the M:TW 2 website. Oh baby this game has bumped NWN 2 right out of my #1 most anticipated game spot. December cannot get here fast enough. Check out my OP for the link!

Yeah I know. I hadn't actually lost a battle though because of that mistake... " I only reloaded because I was so near the beginning. If I had been farther in I wouldn't have done so. I had three armies reinforcing my main stack which came under attack. Each army had a general in it. Each army was AI controlled. Each general decided to charge the enemy phalanx head on. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I believe there is an AI tweak mod that prevents player AI cavalry from attempting headlong charges into phalanx units. You notice the AI opponent never does that so your AI controlled reserve should not either. But I also agree with alanschu, reloading after a critical mistake defeats the pupose of your experiment here. You are the battle general, if you err, your men die. Lee did not get to reload after he ordered Pickett to charge the center of the Union line at Gettysburg, and watched a 15,000 man division get cut to pieces.

Heh. Another one sucked back in. " <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You are doing well Deraldin. Keep the updates coming. Still trying to revive the Western Empire myself.

Excellent start! If you can take Messina I would put it to the torch, and recuit as many peasants as possible to boost the pop in Syracuse. Then abandon it when Marcus Scipii comes calling. There are over 400 Hastati in Capua by the 3rd turn. You should reach out to Pontus for an alliance as well as the Selucids. They are usually willing and it will solidify you security in Asia Minor. Attacking Corinth right off was a bold move. I like it. The big question is if the Brutii have hit Theramon yet. If so you might find yourself with your hands full.

The problem with Greek diplomacy is that the first two Senate Missions handed out are for the Scipii to attack Syracuse and the Brutii to attack Theramon. You are in a war with Rome like it or not. Macedon views you as a natural rival so forget an alliance with them. You can get one with Pontus and Carthage in the first turn for all the good that does. What difficulty do you use?

Not that I've been able to find. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I sent you the file as boardmail Deraldin.

As long as you complete a campaign at all even a short one you can play the unlocked factions. I need to reinstall before I can go through as the romans. The stupid mod decided to boot me back to the menu even when choosing the romans. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> If you want to cheat to unlock the other factions quicker before every battle hit ~ to open the command shell and enter the command auto_win attacker or auto_win defender. You can win the short game with a few hundred peasants if you win every battle. If you want to unlock ALL of the factions, let me know and I'll explain it. You still have to win as the Romans at least once.

Let me know what your strategy was and how it worked out. I'd suggest you do Very Hard on campaign difficuty and Hard on battle difficulty.

What was so difficult about winning wars if you could win the battles? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> As I told you earlier, I could not build the economy to fight Rome and Macedon at once. And I usually had to. Have you ever heard the term Pyrrhic Victory? It comes from Pyrrhus, King of the Greek City of Epirus who won a great victory over an invading Roman army at the battle of Asculum in 279 BC. The battle was won but his army was utterly broken. He was quoted as saying "Another such victory against Rome and I will be undone". In the Greek games I have played I have invested heavily in keeping Theramon out of Roman hands. I have beaten off several Brutii attacks but they were Pyrrhic Victories beacuse the weakend city falls to Macedon when the come sniffing through the Dinirac Mountains. To date, to keep Theramon I must sell Syracuse to Carthage or abandon it to the Scipii and use the army there to defend Theramon. Syracuse is the Greeks best money maker in the early game. To keep it means using resources to fight the Scipii. That is bad but a Roman presence in the Balkans is worse. As for Sparta, leave it underdefended for a moment and the Macedonians in Corinth will come down to see you. I always play with the campaign difficulty set to "Very Hard." The AI is pretty aggresive. What about you guys?

I always thought the Eqytians were easy because you had rebel towns to your west and you overmatched the Selucids on the east. I think the first thing on Egypts to-do-list would be to take care of the Pathians by taking the lone Arabian city (can't remeber the name) and limiting their expansion. But with Egypt, distance to Carthage is your friend and you can spend the first few game years in peace building up for the inevitable clash with the Selucids and Parthians. My trouble with the Greeks was not winning battles, it was winning wars.

I've only had my guys routed once and that was because I had a 2000 man stack that had to contend with 4 others of the sames size. I could have won if I had unlimited ammo for my archers/onagers who ran out during the third wave. The 4th group was allowed to approach my battered Legionaires without coming through a hail of arrows. <_< <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I played egypt, and I was attacked when i had to reinforce my army, so my one unit (10 or so of man) of egyptan horse-bowman (chariot or whats the name) meets 6 units of spearman and one merc.horse archers(greek), what to do, I just runned, they runned too, but we had more horses =P So, after 1-5 min they were exhousted, in the 'runnin time' i had shot down the half of the enemy merc-s and with only 3rd of my man having any arrows at all I had them retreat (they lost forever the merc.-s and 2 spearman units) The funny was how i had routed the first unit what had the enemy fleein started: With no arrows i just had the egyptans turn back and runned trough with them into the enemy, they got the fear, and fleed. Now think about luck&strategy :D <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Who was that against? Selucids? The Eqyptians have really good military power. I played as the Selucids and defeated them by avoiding the major engagements you just desribed. I broke my armies into smaller 300-400 man groups and scattered them in a territory to block roads and harbors. When larger armies challenged I used heavy Caraphact Cavalry to deal with their archers and phalanx to deal with their chariots. The idea was to wear them out and damage them as much as possible. I'd position on the best ground closest to the edge of the map. Try to break the attack, then retreat. It was a war of attrition and it took years (game terms) but I did win.

How is BI? I've been meaning to pick it up, but I've been really busy lately with exam prep and just haven't had the time to really get into many games. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'm really into it. Religon plays a bigger role. A lot of the tactics that worked against the Gauls and Germainia do not work against the Goths and Huns. The Western Empire camaign is tough and there are morale problems with the units. It feels like you are trying to save a dying civilization. One thing is certain, you will not have to go looking for a fight if you are playing the West, it will come to you. If you have $30 US to blow, you will not regret getting it.

I used to play with the R:TR mod. At the time it was buggy and caused problems. I understand it is much improved these days. Once I learned how to unlock and play all of the factions I reinstalled and play without mods. I'm playing BI now and I think there are compatability issues with the RTW mods.

Good point. As I pointed out, they will have done a lot in the time they had. If it needs be pushed back, I hope they will rather than slap a label on it anyway. But I know many people have said that on the other boards.

You have my reply Deraldin. Usually in the second turn I get a determined attack on Theramon by the Brutii that even after I ward off, it leaves the city vunerable to a second attack or the predetations of Macedon. I've played the Greeks several times and usually have lost Theramon by the end of the 5th turn. I play with campaign difficulty set to "Very Hard" and battle to "Hard". This lets the AI play to max capacity but confers no combat morale bonus to AI troops. Playing as Thrace is supposed a pretty tough time also. But I did win the one time I tried. I made alliances with Macedon and won an all out war with Dacia and Scythia (war bands and cavalry against Phalanx, you gotta love it). By the time the Julii came sniffing I was more than ready. Numidia is a tough campaign because your units do not match up well with your natual enemy Carthage. I won with them by making common cause with the Scipii (historicly speaking Scipii Africanus defeated Hannibal with Numidian allies). To add too your question which factions did you find too easy? I'd say the Julii. If you cannot cruise right up to the civil war with them I don't know what to tell you. Your natural enemies are barbarians and they usually break against Triarii and Early Cohorts.

No this was anwered by Ferret over on the NWN2 boards. Development began in July-August of 2004. I believe the game was announced in December 04. The game uses the same Aurora engine and toolset as NWN with the exception being the graphics component. It has been totally redesigned.