I think this is an excellent game and until now it's been constantly improving, and I'd hate for that good work to be ruined, so I feel that I have to express my opinion that this latest patch has produced an inferior game. The battles used to feel intuitive, challenging and satisying--now they're confusing and filled with frustrating micromanagement. The AI and the unit behaviours seem smarter than ever, and I like how the artillery seems more powerful but also more vulnerable, but there are certain things which have got worse.
The most important of these is the morale system.Morale is simply far too fragile. I like how units recover morale more quickly, because this theoretically allows you to let units rest and rejoin the battle later rather than being spent in their first combat, but the fact that morale drops just as quickly as it recovers means that this doesn't have any effect. You can rest a unit, but by the time it's back in the action its morale is in the 10-20% range. It used to be the case that two balanced units could engage one another for quite a while before either even considered retreating; I am now expecting my units to run quickly whether they are winning or not. I have seen units rout which were just holding the line and not under any attack; which had just repelled an enemy assault and were no longer threatened; after just a couple of volleys of fire from an equal-strength enemy unit attacking directly from the front. I've seen units run because the routing enemy has retreated round their flank, and units pursuing a retreating enemy rout as soon as the enemy reforms; and I've even seen units well behind the lines decide to retreat with no enemy units even in sight. I'm not sure whether this has been implemented already, but a system of morale boosts in certain cases could go some way to stopping units running at odd times, such as when they've just beaten off an enemy attack or just captured an objective. Units used to have staying power, but not any more, so it is much harder to form proper battle lines and you spend most of your time trying to persuade your troops to stand and fight rather than arranging tactical maneouvres to break the enemy line. There's no need for such tactics because the enemy run just as quickly as your men do--it's better to attack head on in a kind of attritional slogging match and hope the enemy break before your men do. There's no point trying any tactical ploys because the troops will be ready to rout by the time they are in position for their flank attack or whatever it might be. Generals seem to be vital for maintaining your troops' morale--the flip side of this is that any units that don't have a general nearby are next to useless, and these situations are inevitable because a general physically can't supervise all his troops at once, and rarely stays where you ordered him to go. When troops retreated they used to withdraw just out of the line of fire and reform--now they often run halfway across the battlefield before stopping. At times it feels like you're commanding a rabble who run at the first sign of the enemy rather than battle-hardened troops.
Battle speed is now a little too fast, but more important is the amount of unnecessary micromanagement which the changes in this patch have produced. At times it feels as if the game is punishing players who aren't able to micromanage everything at once. I liked how up to this point success seemed to depend more on the quality of my tactics rather than on my ability to micromanage. Aside from the aforementioned greatly increased frequency of units routing, troops now edge out of position in a way which they didn't used to, threatening the integrity of your line and requiring constant babysitting and judicious use of the 'hold' command to ensure they stay in position. Troops move faster, so there's much less time to react to enemy moves even when you spot them in (what used to be) plenty of time. Command units run to the rear at the first sign of trouble and constantly have to be ordered back into command range of the troops. It used to be possible to order units to move on a position and rely on them to fire or advance as the situation demanded--now they usually march right into and through enemy troops in column formation making no attempt to fight them unless you tell them to stop and open fire, which means every little advance has to be supervised. In general the amount of unnecessary micromanagement is greatly increased. When troops DO stop and start firing of their own accord, it's on those occasions where you need them to move up to capture an objective or plug a gap in the line rather than take pot-shots at the enemy from maximum range. Your troops can no longer look after themselves, so it's much harder to think about the progress of the whole battle.
Charges are more lethal, which is good, but they're made completely indecisive by the morale system. Even if troops get into contact with the enemy, which is unlikely because they usually rout long before that point, then they rarely succeed. Charging way always risky, as it should be, but could lead to great success if done correctly; now it is simply a good way to throw away an effective unit. Due to the way the troops now deploy charges are also less precise--the attackers and defenders charge in all directions which draws in nearby units and produces a big nebulous melee which is impossible to control. It used to be possible to mass a few brigades, carry out a charge, create a breach in the enemy line and send in units to exploit. Now that kind of tactic is worthless, since if your troops do not rout before they reach the enemy, they definitely will once you charge them in, and you will have nothing too show for it.
A couple of other annoyances: what is the point of the 'battle delayed' feature? I thought it was meant to extend the timer if victory objectives were contested, but it happens every time, even when there is no fighting over any of the objectives. I've never played a battle which hasn't been delayed. It's frustrating to take an objective, be told the battle is about to end, then watch as the timer keeps going and gives the enemy time to prepare a counterattack and retake it. I'm also missing the option to have troops conduct a fighting retreat along a route of my choosing--at the moment I can make them 'fallback' a short distance in a direction I have no control over, or have them march to the rear with their backs to the enemy which always causes a rout.
The game is not necessarily any harder than it was--I'm doing just as well as I usually do--but it's now much more frustrating to play. My honest opinion is that this last patch has been a major miss-step, which is a great shame because I thought the core mechanics were pretty much perfected already.
I think this is an excellent game and until now it's been constantly improving, and I'd hate for that good work to be ruined, so I feel that I have to express my opinion that this latest patch has produced an inferior game. The battles used to feel intuitive, challenging and satisying--now they're confusing and filled with frustrating micromanagement. The AI and the unit behaviours seem smarter than ever, and I like how the artillery seems more powerful but also more vulnerable, but there are certain things which have got worse. The most important of these is the morale system.Morale is simply far too fragile. I like how units recover morale more quickly, because this theoretically allows you to let units rest and rejoin the battle later rather than being spent in their first combat, but the fact that morale drops just as quickly as it recovers means that this doesn't have any effect. You can rest a unit, but by the time it's back in the action its morale is in the 10-20% range. It used to be the case that two balanced units could engage one another for quite a while before either even considered retreating; I am now expecting my units to run quickly whether they are winning or not. I have seen units rout which were just holding the line and not under any attack; which had just repelled an enemy assault and were no longer threatened; after just a couple of volleys of fire from an equal-strength enemy unit attacking directly from the front. I've seen units run because the routing enemy has retreated round their flank, and units pursuing a retreating enemy rout as soon as the enemy reforms; and I've even seen units well behind the lines decide to retreat with no enemy units even in sight. I'm not sure whether this has been implemented already, but a system of morale boosts in certain cases could go some way to stopping units running at odd times, such as when they've just beaten off an enemy attack or just captured an objective. Units used to have staying power, but not any more, so it is much harder to form proper battle lines and you spend most of your time trying to persuade your troops to stand and fight rather than arranging tactical maneouvres to break the enemy line. There's no need for such tactics because the enemy run just as quickly as your men do--it's better to attack head on in a kind of attritional slogging match and hope the enemy break before your men do. There's no point trying any tactical ploys because the troops will be ready to rout by the time they are in position for their flank attack or whatever it might be. Generals seem to be vital for maintaining your troops' morale--the flip side of this is that any units that don't have a general nearby are next to useless, and these situations are inevitable because a general physically can't supervise all his troops at once, and rarely stays where you ordered him to go. When troops retreated they used to withdraw just out of the line of fire and reform--now they often run halfway across the battlefield before stopping. At times it feels like you're commanding a rabble who run at the first sign of the enemy rather than battle-hardened troops. Battle speed is now a little too fast, but more important is the amount of unnecessary micromanagement which the changes in this patch have produced. At times it feels as if the game is punishing players who aren't able to micromanage everything at once. I liked how up to this point success seemed to depend more on the quality of my tactics rather than on my ability to micromanage. Aside from the aforementioned greatly increased frequency of units routing, troops now edge out of position in a way which they didn't used to, threatening the integrity of your line and requiring constant babysitting and judicious use of the 'hold' command to ensure they stay in position. Troops move faster, so there's much less time to react to enemy moves even when you spot them in (what used to be) plenty of time. Command units run to the rear at the first sign of trouble and constantly have to be ordered back into command range of the troops. It used to be possible to order units to move on a position and rely on them to fire or advance as the situation demanded--now they usually march right into and through enemy troops in column formation making no attempt to fight them unless you tell them to stop and open fire, which means every little advance has to be supervised. In general the amount of unnecessary micromanagement is greatly increased. When troops DO stop and start firing of their own accord, it's on those occasions where you need them to move up to capture an objective or plug a gap in the line rather than take pot-shots at the enemy from maximum range. Your troops can no longer look after themselves, so it's much harder to think about the progress of the whole battle. Charges are more lethal, which is good, but they're made completely indecisive by the morale system. Even if troops get into contact with the enemy, which is unlikely because they usually rout long before that point, then they rarely succeed. Charging way always risky, as it should be, but could lead to great success if done correctly; now it is simply a good way to throw away an effective unit. Due to the way the troops now deploy charges are also less precise--the attackers and defenders charge in all directions which draws in nearby units and produces a big nebulous melee which is impossible to control. It used to be possible to mass a few brigades, carry out a charge, create a breach in the enemy line and send in units to exploit. Now that kind of tactic is worthless, since if your troops do not rout before they reach the enemy, they definitely will once you charge them in, and you will have nothing too show for it. A couple of other annoyances: what is the point of the 'battle delayed' feature? I thought it was meant to extend the timer if victory objectives were contested, but it happens every time, even when there is no fighting over any of the objectives. I've never played a battle which hasn't been delayed. It's frustrating to take an objective, be told the battle is about to end, then watch as the timer keeps going and gives the enemy time to prepare a counterattack and retake it. I'm also missing the option to have troops conduct a fighting retreat along a route of my choosing--at the moment I can make them 'fallback' a short distance in a direction I have no control over, or have them march to the rear with their backs to the enemy which always causes a rout. The game is not necessarily any harder than it was--I'm doing just as well as I usually do--but it's now much more frustrating to play. My honest opinion is that this last patch has been a major miss-step, which is a great shame because I thought the core mechanics were pretty much perfected already.