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Author Topic: Thrones of Britannia  (Read 32335 times)

Martok

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on: February 06, 2021, 10:34:38 PM
(Continued from the Warhammer 3 thread, so as not to further derail it.) 




I remember I wanted to play as one of the Welsh and Scottish factions but both were rated 'Hard' or 'Very Hard' so it scared me away.

Hmm.  One of the things I've started to pick up on these last few years, is that the faction difficulty ratings aren't always reliable.  If nothing else, they should be taken with at least a few grains of salt. 

This has especially been the case with more recent TW games, since they typically receive numerous updates, all of which make significant changes.  CA never goes back to re-evaluate/redo the difficulty ratings from when a game was originally released, regardless of how much time has passed.  While I can certainly understand why this is the case (it's probably not a good use of their time & manpower), it does mean that a game's faction difficulty ratings tend to no longer accurately reflect the current state of the game anymore. 


Which isn't to necessarily say that the Welsh factions in ToB aren't difficult, of course.  Given my own experiences so far, I'd say that Gwined is indeed more of a challenge than Mide.  I don't think they're masochistically hard, however.  And for someone like you, Gus, who has a good amount of previous experience with Total War games, I suspect you'll find it to be a similar level of challenge. 



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Martok

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Reply #1 on: February 06, 2021, 10:36:24 PM
As for myself, I may have to take a crack at Circenn now.  I'm curious to see what poor JD has been dealing with.  :) 



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Gusington

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Reply #2 on: February 07, 2021, 01:06:47 PM
Never realised that - they should make the faction difficulty ratings variable somehow. Makes sense now that you mention it.

All that said, I haven't won a TW game in years...I can't even remember my last win! The last time I got very close was in Fall of the Samurai probably 5 years ago where I weathered the Realm Divide, had one city left to take in northern Japan, and had my transport ships sunk. Nerd rage ensued.

Since then I have played but not won TW1 and TW2 campaigns, and have not yet fired up Thrones of Britannia or Three Kingdoms.

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judgedredd

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Reply #3 on: February 07, 2021, 03:01:58 PM
As for myself, I may have to take a crack at Circenn now.  I'm curious to see what poor JD has been dealing with.  :)
I can't remember whether I messed with the settings...you can lower the difficulty



Martok

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Reply #4 on: February 07, 2021, 09:04:50 PM
Never realised that - they should make the faction difficulty ratings variable somehow. Makes sense now that you mention it.

All that said, I haven't won a TW game in years...I can't even remember my last win! The last time I got very close was in Fall of the Samurai probably 5 years ago where I weathered the Realm Divide, had one city left to take in northern Japan, and had my transport ships sunk. Nerd rage ensued.

Since then I have played but not won TW1 and TW2 campaigns, and have not yet fired up Thrones of Britannia or Three Kingdoms.

Heh.  Well if it's any comfort, I'm generally not great with Total War games, either.  Warhammer II is especially brutal; I often struggle even on Easy difficulty. 


Still, I've found Thrones to be a bit more forgiving, for whatever that's worth.  That might be partially due to faction choice (as I mentioned previously), but I don't think it's any worse than, say, Rome II. 

It's also worth mentioning that I play ToB with a number of mods.  They generally mostly affect balance, pacing, flow, etc. than actually making the game harder or easier per se, but it's very possible they do end up affecting the difficulty in ways I'm not aware of. 




As for myself, I may have to take a crack at Circenn now.  I'm curious to see what poor JD has been dealing with.  :)
I can't remember whether I messed with the settings...you can lower the difficulty

Appreciate the heads-up!  Right now, I'm thinking I'll try out a campaign on plain old Normal difficulty for starters, and see how it goes from there.  If I'm getting my arse handed to me, then I'll see about turning things down a notch.  :P 



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Gusington

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Reply #5 on: February 08, 2021, 10:21:15 AM
What mods do you like for ToB? Right now I have just vanilla installed.

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Martok

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Reply #6 on: February 08, 2021, 12:35:10 PM
For mods that directly impact gameplay, these are the ones I most recommend: 

1.) ToB Enhanced Campaign
2.) ToB Enhanced Battles
3.) Extra Skill Points
4.) Global Weapons and Armor Upgrade

While it doesn't affect gameplay per se, it's also worth checking out the Better Camera Mod, as it allows you to zoom both closer in and further out during battles. 



Should you also be interested in mods that enhance the game's atmosphere and/or immersion levels: 

1.) Immersive Shields and Armies
2.) Shields Down While Marching
3.) Variation Pack Reborn



Enjoy!! 



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Gusington

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Reply #7 on: February 08, 2021, 02:13:27 PM
Thanks man! Should I not bother with vanilla and just mod up?

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Martok

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Reply #8 on: February 08, 2021, 02:52:19 PM
You're welcome, Gus!  Glad I can help. 


As much as I really wants to say you should play around with vanilla first, honesty compels me to tell you, yeah, go ahead and mod up.  The first two mods (Enhanced Campaign and Enhanced Battles) alone make the game a better experience, both in terms of balance and flow/pacing. 

(As an example, the EC mod allows you to start researching technology right away, rather than needing to first jump through various hoops to unlock access to specific techs.  It's maybe not quite as realistic, but it's a *lot* less frustrating.) 




Before I forget, there's one other mod you might be interested in (depending on how your experience with the game goes):  Minor Town Garrisons.  You can probably guess what it does.  ;) 

I admittedly have mixed feelings about the mod myself (I had it installed at one point, but later removed it), but a lot of Thrones players love it.  Much depends on how quick or slow you feel the game's pace is.  Either way, it's good to have options, and this is one I figured you'd appreciate.  :) 



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"I drastically overpaid for this existence." - bbmike


Gusington

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Reply #9 on: February 08, 2021, 03:39:48 PM
Thanks again! Will mod up later. Hoping to finally play my first campaign in a few weeks after I get my traditional winter eastern front fix (WWI and II) out of my system. Going to pair it up with an AssCreed Valhalla playthrough, also my first.

Always do what you feel is best.


Gusington

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Reply #10 on: February 08, 2021, 08:43:45 PM
Just modded up and wouldn't you know it at some point in the dim past (last three months) I had subscribed to about half of the mods you listed above, Martok. Thanks for suggesting the other half...I've subscribed to all of them.

Always do what you feel is best.


Martok

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Reply #11 on: February 09, 2021, 03:26:37 AM
Ha, most excellent!  And you're very welcome, my dude.  :peace: 

 

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bob48

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Reply #12 on: February 09, 2021, 06:23:00 AM
Would you class this as being one of the better additions?

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Martok

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Reply #13 on: February 09, 2021, 10:52:35 AM
Honestly, yes, I would.  Of all the modern Total War games, Thrones is my 2nd-favorite (after Rome II). 



Although I will say that with ToB in particular, how likely you are to enjoy the game probably depends more than usual on what you like about the TW series (especially the historical titles), and which aspects are important to you. 

As a prime example, Thrones is often criticized for not having a great deal of variety between the various factions' army rosters.  However, anyone with at least a cursory knowledge of the time period knows how warfare was generally dominated by the shield-wall.  Therefore, most factions' army rosters are going to consist of mostly infantry -- a fact that I appreciate and enjoy. 

Likewise, Thrones sometimes gets criticized for having "boring" battles.  Again, however, when you have opposing shield-walls grinding against and hacking at each other, it's not exactly as if there's always a lot of finesse to it. :P  Which doesn't mean that other unit types and good tactics (holding the high ground, flanking the enemy, etc.) don't still matter, obviously, but they aren't quite as crucial compared to most of the other series' entries. 


I guess what it boils down to is that one of Thrones' main critiques is that the game is *too* historically accurate, not that anyone ever actually phrases it that way.  And in reality it definitely isn't "overly" accurate -- there's plenty of realism that was left on the cutting room floor, so to speak -- but it's funny to think about it in those terms.  ;D 



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Sir Slash

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Reply #14 on: February 09, 2021, 11:21:34 PM
STOP making me want this game.  :nope:

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