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INTERNATIONAL TOTALWAR MULTIPLAYERS' ASSOCIATION
Tim Ansell
Managing Director of
The Creative Assembly, Weald House,
Southwater Business Park,
Southwater Nr. Horsham,
West Sussex
RH13 9JB.
Re: Rome: Total War Multiplayer Improvements
Gentlemen:
Greetings. Enclosed please find a Petition that has been submitted to and approved by a truly impressive number of concerned Total War players. I hope you will take the time out of your busy schedule to read and consider our concerns regarding the Rome: Total War’s multi-player interface.
We feel it is important to note this Petition has its genesis in the deep passion the signatories feel for the Total War series and that our only goal is to help you improve the multi-player portion of this classic series of games you have created. I hope it is obvious we would not go to such lengths as a community if we did not feel a very strong fondness for the Total War series, a strong desire to see the series survive and flourish, and therefore a strong vested interest in its commercial success. The enclosed Petition represents our passion for, and dedication to, the success of the Total War series as a multi-player experience and we feel the following issues must be addressed or the multi-player end of Rome: Total War will suffer and decline. We truly hope you will receive this Petition in the spirit of progress and cooperation in which it is delivered. Therefore, without further ado, we present to you the:
Formal Petition of the Multi-Player Rome: Total War Community to Activision and the Creative Assembly
We, the undersigned, humbly request the Creative Assembly address the following issues related to multi-player Rome: Total War, in order to create a superior multi-player experience.
Overview of Key Points:
I. Critical Bugs (these bugs are limiting or destroying gameplay):
A. No Protection Against Cheating-- It is currently possible to cheat in R:TW
B. Synchronicity -- Game states and replays are diverging from the actual battle
C. Lag / Memory Leak-- High end machines are experiencing significant lag in multiplayer; frequent reboots are necessary
D. “Failed to Connect” Error-- A number of players report an inability to host or join games
E. Grouped Units Refuse Orders -- Most commonly the run order, but there are also archer fire and movement problems.
F. Withdrawal/Rout function doesn’t work -- Defeated generals can’t withdraw or rout
G. Testudo Formation bug -- If two units in testudo formation touch, they will become uncontrollable
G. Control bug- a specific key sequence result in an unexpected army movement.
H. Stamina- Supposedly high stamina units are tiring too fast
II. Critical Feature Problems (these features are flawed and must be fixed)
A. Groups are “broken”– There are several issues with respect to moving and controlling the player’s army that should be addressed which are critical.
(1) Multiple groups cannot be moved in formation.
(2) Army cohesion is non-existent when using “G”roups
(3) No Groups within Groups
(4) No Single Unit Groups
(5) Run/Walk Keys as opposed to Toggle
(6) Suggested (partial) solution to Group Problems: Use existing MTW/VI control features.
B. Replay Information– Necessary for training and tournaments
C. Logfile Information— Necessary for tournaments
D. “Proprietary” player names – Necessary for tournaments, also desirable to encourage polite lobby behaviour
E. Game Spy Lobby Issues:
(1) Game information missing
(2) #Ignore and #Ban commands in Gamespy lobby are missing
(3) Private chat window is necessary
F. In Game Chat is Cumbersome – Difficult to use in fast moving battle.
G In Game Army Information is Missing– Players need a summary of the battle and their forces.
H We have found one specific instance of what we suspect is a control bug.
III. Assorted Annoyances (these are features that would greatly enhance the quality of play for us)
A. Fixed Denari -- No ability to customize denari on game setup. Needed for tournaments
B. Zoom to Death of General -- Is distracting, a toggle needed would be appreciated.
C. Unable to Chat in Host Screen after Selecting Army -- After selecting their armies, players are gagged.
D. "Spanish" faction historically inaccurate -- Iberian or hispanico better.
E. One faction Limit -- Per player is unnecessary and limiting.
F. Full Screen (no Mini-map) Option -- For a more epic look.
G. 4v4 not available-- even 5 v5 would be interesting with less units per faction.
IV. Requests for Information
A. Combat Equation -- Insight into combat resolution.
B. Request for Permanent Liason -- Someone from the Creative Assembly who we can officially talk with.
V. The Signatures- This Petition has been approved by many regular and veteran players of the game. All have a known reputation as dedicated players and lovers of the Totalwar series.
Detailed Comments:
I. Critical Bugs (these flaws absolutely must be addressed)
A. No Protection Against Cheating -
Currently it is possible for players to cheat in R:TW. The game should make certain checks before a battle starts to ensure that everyone in the battle is using the same unit stat files and has not spend more money than was set by the host, but unfortunately the game is not making these checks. Cheating is very damaging to the online experience--so much so that players subjected to it will often cease to play the game online.
Please ensure players cannot cheat when playing online. This isn't a request to make unit stats inaccessible since access to stats is needed to implement mods online. A CRC check of the pertinent stats for each joiner against the host's stats should be sufficient, and a similar check could be done for amount of money spent. Ideally, these checks should be done on the memory resident stats just before the battle launches, and some message generated if there is a mismatch.
B. Synchronicity (in Game and Replays) –
The initial release of R:TW was critically flawed in that the “game state” would “diverge” during multi-player battles. What this means is that the game being played on Computer A is different from the game being played on Computer B. The recent readme for the initial patch (v. 1.1) indicates “some” synchronicity problems have been resolved, and initial tests indicate the problem has been improved. However, since the patch does not purport to resolve all synchronicity problems we are making this request: please ensure that the game-state stays synchronized on all computers during a battle, and that if the game-state should happen to diverge for any reason, on any computer, the divergent player is immediately dropped from the game. Replays are also asynchronous and are displaying different battles from the ones actually played.
C. Lag / Memory Leak –
There are a number of reasons for in-game lag, some of which have nothing to do with R:TW coding– but many players with high-end computers are reporting significant in-game lag. If all players’ computer’s in a battle significantly exceed the minimum requirements there should not be lag, but there is. Also, there appears to be a "memory leak" because even players with plenty of memory are experiencing crashes and lock-ups after playing a few online battles without rebooting their computers. These are both major problem that needs to be addressed as soon as possible, or many players will quit in frustration and new players who read the gaming forums will hesitate to purchase the game.
D. “Failed to Connect” Error–
Many players have reported an inability to play and/or host online due to the “Failed to Connect” to host error. This problem seems to afflict certain players and not others. It is impossible for some afflicted players to play any games online–apparently they cannot join or host games, and for others it seems limited to an inability to host games (but joining seems to work). It does not appear to be a firewall or hardware compatibility issue as both avenues have been explored and rejected as the cause. We are at a loss to combat this error and humbly request your assistance in resolving this devastating problem.
E. Grouped units often refuse to take orders (most commonly the run order)--
This is a very annoying bug that requires the player “ungroup” the units, re-group them, and then re-issue the intended command. Sometimes this group and ungroup procedure must be done several times, wasting precious time, in order to get a response from the units. There appears to be a similar problem with archer's being ordered to fire on a new target, and sometimes unselected units (or even units in another group) will respond to a movement order. Again this discourages the use of groups (which are a critical army control tool). This bug must be fixed or players will have insufficient control over their armies.
F. Withdrawal/Rout function doesn’t work --
As in the game of chess, a defeated general often wishes to “resign” from the battle by conceding defeat. This saves everyone time, saves lives
, and saves the general’s dignity. This was always possible in previous TW games, but the function has been removed in R:TW. The result is that players who wish to “quit” a game quickly must simply “drop” from the game. When that occurs, the dropped players units remain on the battle field and must be “mopped up” by the remaining players–which can take quite a long time. Also, a general may wish to feign a retreat in order to draw the enemy in (such as at the battle of Cannae). Finally, a general may wish to withdraw tired or demoralized troops before they rout and effect army morale. Currently it is impossible to withdraw units from a multi-player battle, or even to order them to flee. This is a major inconvenience and seriously hampers gameplay. A related issue is that once a player has lost all of his units he should be able to view the battle from any angle–however, for some reason if the host has selected “restricted camera” even a fully-routed player may not view the battle properly; he is instead restricted to a small area of the map which is extremely frustrating given that the player no longer has any units to command and would like to watch the battle unfold. Please allow routed players to have an unrestricted view of the battle.
G. Testudo Formation bug–
When a unit is in “testudo” (turtle) formation, if it touches any other unit, you lose control of the unit in testudo formation for the rest of the game. This is a bug that basically makes testudo formation unusable.
H Control Bug
We have so far identified one specific instance of a control bug. This concerns a move and rotate command which when cancelled results in an entirely different action by your army, the shadow indicating one movement and the army doing a simple rotate on the spot. At this time we suspect that there a more instances of this control bug but we have yet to able to fully document them.
I Stamina
We have 3 reports of high stamina units tiring fast, leaving ‘normal’ stamina units holding, in fact, the most stamina. In the interests of time we are adding this here but please recognise that we have yet to conclude full testing of this bug.
II. Critical Feature Problems (these features are flawed and must be fixed)
A. Groups are “broken”– There are several issues with respect to moving and controlling the player’s army that should be addressed which are critical.
(1) Multiple Groups cannot be moved in formation:
It goes without saying that a general must have a high degree of control over the movement of his army. Perhaps most importantly, the army must be able to stay in formation while on the move, and especially when reaching its destination. Unfortunately in R:TW multiple groups can not be moved in formation.
If the player has his army in a single group he is able to right-click and “drag” the army to a new location with the desired facing–this is good! But, unfortunately, if the player uses more than one group (which all good generals must do), this function does not work and his army loses all semblance of order. So, ultimately, we are close to getting the groups to work properly–but the “right click and drag” function doesn’t work with multiple groups. This problem appears to be related to the combination of numbered groups (CTRL-#) and “G” groups (visually grouped units). In M: TW we could visually “G”roup our armies in one unit, while keeping sub-formations in “numbered groups”; move the army in formation as a “G”roup, and then use the numbered groups to peel secondary formations off of the main force. Since these two types of groups have been combined we have far less tactical mobility–this is bad!
Try this: Divide your army into three groups. Select all the groups and try to use the “right-click-and-drag” function to move the army to a specific location and facing. The result is a jumbled mess. It appears that the combination of numbered groups with visual groups has destroyed our control over our armies.
(2) Army cohesion is non-existent when using roman-numeral “G”roups:
As you might imagine, a general may wish to organize his army into segments (for example, a right-flank cavalry group, a central infantry group, and a left-flank cavalry group). The grouping system in M:TW was excellent and allowed players to move their entire army in formation while also using these types of groups. Unfortunately, in R:TW, the grouping system has been radically altered. The critical problem appears to be a bug that treats each group as a distinct army–the result is that when a player attempts to move his entire army, and the army is in groups, the groups “forget” their relationship to one another (i.e. their formation as an army) and end up piling on top of each other after executing a move order. Each “group” is independently moving to the site of the move order and forgetting its place in the army–i.e. there is no army cohesion–all formation is lost and the groups attempt to stand on top of one another when they reach their destination. This essentially makes using groups a detriment to the player, since if the units are ungrouped they will remember their formation. This has also seriously hampered our ability to control our armies and is also considered a major problem by the majority of players. This problem is related to the “move while retaining facing” problem.
Try this: Divide your army into several groups. Select all the groups and simply right-click a move order. The result is, again, a jumbled mess.
(3) “Groups within Groups” were an important tool that has been omitted --
In prior versions of Total War there was always two forms of groups. There was a visual grouping of units that was achieved by hitting the “G” key, and there was a non-visual method of grouping units by use of the CTRL-SHIFT-# keys to define the group and CTRL-# to recall the group (i.e. “numbered groups’). Neither of those methods was mutually exclusive, and using them in conjunction gave the general a very precise degree of control over his army. Unfortunately, both methods have been combined in R:TW so that now the # groups are the same as the “G” groups. The result is we can no longer have “groups within groups,” which was a critical tool for rapidly responding to threats or exploiting opportunities (for example– I might wish to group my heavy cavalry into two groups–one for responding to cavalry attacks, and one for fast flanking manoeuvres; depending on how the battle unfolds, I might use one group or the other).
(4) Single Unit Groups --
Another problem is that we can no longer have one-unit groups, which was an additional unit control tool we miss. For example, if your left flank cavalry was composed of three units, and you wish to move two of them back to your main army-group, you will lose your group "hot-key" for the remaining cavalry unit.
(5) Run and Walk Keys as Opposed to Toggle --
To make matters worse, the fact that there is only a run “toggle” and not a run-key and walk-key makes it difficult to give orders to grouped units, because if some of the units in the group are already running, hitting the “R”un key makes them walk, but makes the other (previously walking) units run!? We should be able to command the group to run as a group or walk as a group, which is currently impossible. Again this discourages the use of groups
(6) Solution (at least partial) to Group Problems --
The solution to many of these grouping problems appears to be to bring back the two types of groups– a visual group that is treated as a distinct army, and a numbered short-cut group that is used to select specific units within a visual group. That way we could at least keep our army in one big visual “G”roup, and it can be moved in formation with the “right-click-and-drag” command, and if we need to break sub-groups off we can use the numbered short-cut groups. Although this solution is less than ideal, in that it would be much better to allow the use of the “right-click-and-drag” command with either visual groups, or numbered groups, or both, it may prove easier to simply restore the old numbered groups system (which was really more of a shortcut for selecting units). It appears that the visual groups system is the problem.
In any case, a solution must be implemented which will allow the general to move his entire army in formation while using more than one group. Currently that is impossible.
B. Replay Information–
The replay function is an invaluable tool for learning from one’s mistakes and also for training newer players, but it is a critical tool for community tournaments. The reason is because the rules of tournaments often disallow certain types of in-game behavior (such as remaining stationary at the top of a very large hill, or wedging one’s army in a corner [“camping”]). Also, occasionally a player will lose his connection near the conclusion of a tournament match and the tournament director may need to determine the result of the match by viewing the replay. In any case, it is critical for a thriving multi-player community to be able to view the replays of important matches. Currently the replay function is fatally flawed in that it displays a battle other than the battle that was actually fought. This makes the replay function useless. Also, the replay lacks any information regarding the types of units, the players controlling them, the fatigue level of the units, etc. So even if the synchronicity problem is fixed, the replays themselves will be virtually impossible to decipher because the unit information (the information a player obtains in battle by hovering his mouse over the unit) is missing. Neither of these issues were problems in M:TW.
C. Logfile Information--
Likewise, many tournaments have rules about which units may be fielded (or how many of a certain type may be fielded). The “logfile” is the tournament directors only way of determining whether the army selection rules have been followed, and is also commonly used to calculate a winner (by determining how many men each side fielded and lost). This information should be contained in the logfile of the battle. In M:TW the logfiles displayed detailed information about the units fielded by each player, the number of men in each unit at the conclusion of the battle, and the results of the battle. In R:TW this information is simple non-existent. The R:TW logfile is not accessible and does not have this critical information, and so it will be difficult or impossible to administer tournaments until the replays and logfiles are returned to M:TW standards. If a player alleges that his enemy has “cheated” in the tournament, the tourney director currently has no way of investigating or resolving the complaint.
D. “Proprietary” player names –
One of the greatest aspects of multi-player Total War is the reputation for honour and skill that players can develop with practice and by winning tournaments. Unfortunately in R:TW anyone can masquerade as a top player simply by stealing that player’s name. That was not possible in previous TW games, since player names were linked to CD keys. Currently anyone can log on and pretend to be the top tournament player, and in the process make all sorts of obscene and degenerative remarks, play poorly, and tarnish the real-player’s reputation. This makes it almost pointless to compete in tournaments or attempt to establish a reputation as a honourable and skilled player– since any little ‘punk’ can ruin your reputation by masquerading under your name. The effect is to actually discourage the best players from seeking fame and glory in the community, which is detrimental to community growth (and sales).
Game Spy Lobby --
E. Gamespy Lobby Issues
(1) Game information missing –
It is impossible to tell whether a game you have joined is in “arcade” mode, or whether the host has chosen “heavy rain”– both options have a significant effect on the types of armies a player will choose for the battle, and not knowing what settings the host is using is a major disadvantage for all players who join the battle. Also, unlike in previous TW games, it is impossible to tell whether a person listed in the lobby player list is “in a game” (i.e. fighting on the battlemap) or whether he is in the lobby and able to chat. In previous TW games the players’ names would “grey out” when they went in a game so that their friends in the lobby would know they could not be reached by chat.
(2) #Ignore and #Ban commands in Gamespy lobby are missing–
Unfortunately modern life involves dealing with some very rude and obscene people. The R:TW Gamespy lobby is no exception, and the streams of obscenities that some people spout are truly shocking and offensive. It is currently impossible to ignore those people and their degenerative remarks (while it was possible in previous TW games). It is also impossible to ban them from joining your games (once they join you can “kick” them, but they can just rejoin, ad infinitum, to be a pain). Please bring back these two important lobby functions.
(3) Private chat window is necessary–
It is impossible to tell whether someone is chatting at you in private or in public. This makes it difficult to respond to someone who says, in private, “hi, would you like a game.” More likely than not their polite invitation will go ignored and unanswered because of the large volume of lobby chat and no indication that the speaker is talking directly to you.
It is also impossible to see whether private chat is staying private or if it is going out to the lobby. Please bring back the private chat window.
F. In Game Chat is Cumbersome –
In order to chat within the game a player must now hit a minimum of three keys, first a key to open the chat interface, then a key to determine who the chat is addressed to, then a key to determine whether the message will be “pre-recorded” or “custom”, and then finally the actual message. In the heat of battle it is difficult enough to hit one key in order to chat, let alone three. The result is that players are no longer chatting in battles. We need some sort of “quick chat” function, as in MTW (“T” was chat to all, “Y” was chat to allies; it required hitting only one key). The chat interface is now so frustrating that it is not being used during the heat of battle, which is a shame as it was invaluable in previous releases.
Our suggestion is to use the “V” key to access the new chat menu, and to restore the functions of the “T” and “Y” keys to be “Chat to All” and “Chat to Allies,” respectively. This would be a simple matter and would please everyone.
G. In Game Army Information is Missing–
In prior releases, the F1 key would show an overview of the battle– the teams, their designation as attacker or defender, the players on each team, the factions selected by each player, and also a list of each unit in your army together with its unique unit statistics. That invaluable information is no longer available to players within the game. It is now difficult to tell which side is attacker and defender and what factions/players are on each team. There is no reason why this information should not be available to the players. Also, during the deployment phase, it is impossible to tell who has deployed their army (and is waiting to begin) and who has walked away from their computer without deploying. This is extremely frustrating as it is impossible to tell who is holding up the completion of the deployment phase (in prior versions it was always possible to tell). Please bring back this in-game information. Also, many players report having difficulty in telling which unit icons are selected because the “highlighting” for a selected unit icon is only marginally brighter than a non-selected unit. Please increase the contrast between selected and unselected unit icons.
III. Assorted Annoyances (these are features that would greatly enhance the quality of play for us)
A. Fixed Denari Amounts--
In previous versions of TW, the host was able to customize the amount of money available to each player to be spent on units. In R:TW the host has a limited number of monetary selections (5k, 10k, 15k, 20k, etc. per team) and no way to allow one team to have more money than another (which is an invaluable handicapping tool). It is also impossible to standardize a florin amount, when (for example) five teams are playing, and a sixth player wants to join, or when players would like to take 5k each in a 3v3. Please allow us to customize the amount of denari per team. This is also necessary for Tournaments.
Also, it would be good to provide the host with an 'accept' button so he can lock in the team and faction choices so players can not change their faction or teams after other players have finished purchasing units.. Alternatively, simply removing the option to back out of the army select screen to the faction/team select screen might suffice, but the host should have some indication that all the players have proceeded to the army select screen.
B. Zoom to Death of General–
Many players are distracted by the repeated changes in battle view anytime someone’s general dies. A player may be in the midst of a complex group movement command when his view of the battle is suddenly altered and he is taken to a view showing an enemy general’s death. This is distracting and frustrating for many players, and we would prefer to be able to toggle this as an option.
C. Unable to Chat in Host Screen after Selecting Army--
For some reason it is impossible to chat with other players in the game after you have selected your army and hit the lower-right “ready” arrow. This is very frustrating in that you are unable to communicate with allies or players who are dawdling in army selection without becoming “unready” which indicates to other players that they have more time to select their army because you aren’t ready. This is very frustrating and results in extended delays, especially when newer players are involved.
D. “Spanish” Faction
Several Spanish players have taken exception to the characterization of the hispanic faction as "Spanish" and they are requesting a change to "Celtiberian" or "Iberian" or "Hispanic.” This is regarded as a major historical error in that “Spain” did not exist until 1300 AD.
E. One Faction Limit
We recognise the difficulties in providing more than 1 faction per game but it would be a desirable feature. 'This means it is impossible to have Carthage vs. Carthage (civil war) or three Carthage armies against three Roman armies (for historical re-enactments of large battles). Please allow us the option of toggling this limit on and off.
F. Full Screen (no Mini-map) Option
Many players find the R:TW minimap to be of little or no use and instead find that it takes up valuable screen space. Please allow us to toggle the mini-map and other interface clutter on and off.
G. 4v4s–
The lack of 4v4 matches is a major concern in the community, but we realize it is a command decision the developers have made, and that it may be related to the lag problems. At the very least, please allow those of us with high-end computers the OPTION of having 4v4 battles. With normal unit sizes and a good computer it should be possible. This feature was a mainstay of Total War for years. Instead we now have 3v3's with 20 units per player (120 units total) whereas before we had 4v4's with 16 units per player (128 units total). We don’t understand why this huge leap backwards has occurred. We would be happy to take only 10 units per person if we could have 5v5s– so please at least allow us the option of having 4v4's (even if we have to take less than 16 units to make it playable). The team cooperation and camaraderie that is built in a 4v4 is unparalleled and it is now gone completely.
IV. Requests for Information
A. Combat Equation–
In order to determine what tactics will be most effective, we must have some idea of how combat is being resolved. What is the effect of adding one unit of valor? What is the effect of having 22 defence as opposed to 20? We currently have no idea how the unit stats relate to one another and how combat is being resolved. Please provide us with some insight into how combat between two units is being resolved.
B. Request for Permanent Liaison–
We also request that the Creative Assembly appoint an employee to act as a liaison between your company and the multi-player community so that we can address these concerns in more detail and help to avoid similar debacles in the future. There are other possible bugs we have not included because at the time of writing we have been unable to accurately define them. We are willing to contribute incredible quantities of man-hours to the beta-testing, focus grouping, and overall improvement of the Total War series which we believe will increase its success for your company. We can be reached en mass at either
www.totalwar.org or
www.totalwars.net.
Thank you very much for taking the time to understand and address our concerns.