Middle Earth: Battle For Arda - Official Thread

epinikion

hi redrum,

well yes hard ai is one thing. the main problem is ofc that he does not go for the main important terrs. Gondor needs to close osgiliath heavy as long as possible. also i guess a really important ai problem is: calcing the reattacks. its not enough to win a battle. even when you gain 30+ TUV . when you loose 50 o r more in reattack its a bad deal. probably hard to explain to a machine

best, epi

epinikion

hi alkexr,

you think you can add description of unit abilities? I mean when you purchase you should know what unit is mountainwalker what is cave dweller and so on.

best, epi

alkexr

@epinikion If there are abilities like "cave dweller", that means you are playing Large Middle Earth; not the Battle for Arda. In that case, there is a smaller table near the start of the game notes explaining what every ability means.

In BFA, you should read the game notes, it should mention every single ability, although there is no quick reference to check (yet).

epinikion

hey alkexr,

a) i am playing bfa. cave dweller was obvious a bad example bc its lme, but the ability for mountainwalk is also in bfa. i see the notes and i find a description about all those kind of abilities. but how do i know what unit has what abilities/preferences? Its also not in the unit help.
example: i know that the warg_scout has mountaineer ability, while the ward_rides hasnt. Where do i find this in the notes?

b) invisible units: I am not sure if i like, that i cant see my own units. it happens really often to me that i forget them (builded last round, placed in city. forget them as invisible).

thx again,

epi

alkexr

@epinikion said in Middle Earth: Battle For Arda - Official Thread:

a) but how do i know what unit has what abilities/preferences? Its also not in the unit help.
example: i know that the warg_scout has mountaineer ability, while the ward_rides hasnt. Where do i find this in the notes?

There is no unit table in the game notes yet. But I think I know what the problem is. You are using a pre-release without the improved tooltips. Download a more recent pre-release (11000+), and everything should be displayed both in the "Unit help" menu and in the tooltips.

b) invisible units: I am not sure if i like, that i cant see my own units. it happens really often to me that i forget them (builded last round, placed in city. forget them as invisible).

Look at the very upper left corner of the map. If you see your units there, that means this problem too will be solved with a newer pre-release.

https://github.com/triplea-game/triplea/releases/tag/1.9.0.0.11665

zlefin

so how's the balance looking on this? I see quite a few changes since last I tried the map.
gonna tinker with it a bit this weekend.

alkexr

@zlefin said in Middle Earth: Battle For Arda - Official Thread:

so how's the balance looking on this?

We are in the process of figuring it out. https://forums.triplea-game.org/topic/990/battle-for-arda-2-0-6-alkexr-evil-vs-redrum-good

arntof

So this map is ready to play? I downloaded it, but can`t open a bot with it in the lobby?

prastle

@arntof It has not been added to the bots yet. You will have to host.

prastle

@arntof sorry it has been added I was incor

arntof

I saw it in the list and loaded it, but it wont let me actually start the map, telling me that it is missing.

prastle

@arntof read this link
https://forums.triplea-game.org/post/15553

Dr. Stein

Hi guys, i want to tell you all that you are doing really good job and i wanted to tell you big thanks. This map is easily the best of them all, its beautiful and worth of glory!!!

However, i want to ask a question of balance. I played a few games against myself and...is there a way of stopping or at least delaying angmar without using the freefolk? In LME i always used as much freefolk power as possible against isengard (to take everything west of isengard from them), like this rohan could hold isengard, and help lorien at the same time. The freefolk army could invade dol guldur or mordor. But now it sems to me that angmar can kill most arnor forces by itself and then start spamming dragons.

redrum

@dr-stein Depends. If Angmar focuses on Lorien then you probably have to use at least some of Freefolk's units to help them defend if you want to keep their cities. But if they focus further east on Northmen/Dwarves then you can head south with freefolk. My feeling is Angmar has a lot of options and Good has to mostly focus on countering where they decide to focus.

alkexr

@dr-stein I agree with @redrum in that while Angmar has the option to threaten Arnor severely, this leaves them qiute open to the Dwarves, and so I'm not sure the pressure on Arnor is sustainable. We'll see. (This is the strategy I'm currently trying, so we'll soon be wiser.)

alkexr

@epinikion said in Middle Earth: Battle For Arda - Official Thread:

i think i can help balancing the game later. also interested in any online or pbem game.

We can start a PBF game later, ATM the game against @redrum takes up a long time, much more than I expected when I offered 6 challenges at a time; not sure whether the reason is that I underestimated PBF games or that I feel outmatched in tactics. Also I already have things in the mind that need to be changed. I'll remember to ask you when I feel like I'm ready for another game.

Dr. Stein

@alkexr ok, ill try few more games and try to exploit the map as mouch as possible, ill write if i find something

Cernel

@alkexr said in Middle Earth: Battle For Arda - Official Thread:

b) invisible units: I am not sure if i like, that i cant see my own units. it happens really often to me that i forget them (builded last round, placed in city. forget them as invisible).

Look at the very upper left corner of the map. If you see your units there, that means this problem too will be solved with a newer pre-release.

https://github.com/triplea-game/triplea/releases/tag/1.9.0.0.11665

Hey @alkexr I see you are using the hack of putting the first placement spot, that with the latest prerelease always has the factory unit, somewhere else. Since, apparently, this map works using the stable, people using that still have the old ordering of units, where infrastructures are last. I suggest that you release soon a new version removing that hack and using the dont_draw_units=factory option in maps.properties, as per:
https://forums.triplea-game.org/topic/977/invisible-units?page=1
That way, people using the stable (the vast majority, comprising @epinikion) will just keep having the factories, that is surely better than missing units that need to be seen.

alkexr

@cernel The letters saying that you need xyz version are apparently not big enough, or there aren't enough exclamation marks after them. Maybe I should add something that breaks compatibility completely with the stable

Cernel

@alkexr For @epinikion, I gave him the latest prerelease to download, but he is having problems to install it, as his system refuses it as not secure (since very new and very few users).

Also, I strongly suggest you have the download link for the latest in the first post of this thread. The last one you gave is already getting quite a bit buried in the pages.