The most popular mod of Empire, Darthmod, is really bad.

[Coocoodas]

Here I said it. I think it's really bad. I've long heard how people say Darthmod is the most popular of of ETW war and claim it 'fixes' the game.

There are some good changes but two things alone make the mod unplayable for me. They are land battles and naval battles.

Ships sail at the speed of moving through molten lava. You will be sailing at least 5 minutes before you ever get a chance to fire your first shot. It's possibly the worst game design ever.

Then there is the land battle. The number of units are so large with the same battlemap size that your line infantry can line up from one end of the map to the other end with just 20 units roaster and you still have some units left. Yes, it means there can't be any tactics at all. All you do is line up your units across the map and that's what 99% of your battles are going to look like. There is even 40 units module and I can't even fathom how ANYONE can think this is fun. Each battle is excruciatingly long too without any tactics involved.

This is possibly the worst mod I've ever played because admist its minute improvements it essentially breaks the most important parts of the game. I tried Rome Darthmod and it made peasant rebellions worse since you can't recruit peasants to relocate population and the pikewall bugged out.

I'm not sure why so many people praises Darthmod to be the best ETW mod.

[Insaniac]

Because the people who download it are the type of people who mod games without even playing the base game (or people who couldn’t handle playing on easy). They then go on to tell other newbies to play it because it’s the most bestest thing ever. Rinse and repeat. It’s like a domino effect.

[HazardHawk]

One of the best true reviews I have seen in awhile. Unfortunately, it will get the fan boy worshipers coming in spamming false advertising and attacking you now because you just pointed out the only thing cool about it is the name which kids rallied around to be part of something with a cool name no matter how many problems it causes them.

[KeggeR]

Honestly it shouldn’t matter, mods are good or bad based purely on an individuals own experience with them. I put in hundreds of honors into empire before I even attempted using mods, I’ll admit that darthmod might be everyone’s cup of tea - however it’s the most popular due to its completion, options, and ease of use. Personally I prefer it over vanilla as it makes my experience with empire more enjoyable. That being said, darthmod isn’t really a single mod but rather a collection packed together as an overhaul. While I could certainly be more selective with each sub mod and incorporate them into empire myself, it just saves me time so I can spend more time playing and less time tweaking the game. Maybe if I was 13 and had nothing but time on my hands it would be different, however I’m busy and actually need to schedule time for entertaining myself and darthmod helps me jump into empire without burning hours that I didn’t plan for.

I don’t understand why people hate darthmod so much, honestly what’s wrong with another option? If it’s something you don’t like there really isn’t a reason to bash it, be thankful that you have another option and skip it, you might find yourself years down the road preferring it after the other options lose their appeal for you.

Unfortunately since empire was released such a long time ago it’s not like it has lots of options when it comes to mods or user created content. I actually enjoy imperious splendor probably more than darthmod, but as I mentioned it’s easier for me to get darthmod going for a cooperative campaign multiplayer game. I don’t have to get into technical minutiae with a friend who is non-technical that just wants to play empire and conquer the world together.

[HazardHawk]

Originally posted by KeggeR:

Honestly it shouldn’t matter, mods are good or bad based purely on an individuals own experience with them. I put in hundreds of honors into empire before I even attempted using mods, I’ll admit that darthmod might be everyone’s cup of tea - however it’s the most popular due to its completion, options, and ease of use. Personally I prefer it over vanilla as it makes my experience with empire more enjoyable. That being said, darthmod isn’t really a single mod but rather a collection packed together as an overhaul. While I could certainly be more selective with each sub mod and incorporate them into empire myself, it just saves me time so I can spend more time playing and less time tweaking the game. Maybe if I was 13 and had nothing but time on my hands it would be different, however I’m busy and actually need to schedule time for entertaining myself and darthmod helps me jump into empire without burning hours that I didn’t plan for.

I don’t understand why people hate darthmod so much, honestly what’s wrong with another option? If it’s something you don’t like there really isn’t a reason to bash it, be thankful that you have another option and skip it, you might find yourself years down the road preferring it after the other options lose their appeal for you.

Unfortunately since empire was released such a long time ago it’s not like it has lots of options when it comes to mods or user created content. I actually enjoy imperious splendor probably more than darthmod, but as I mentioned it’s easier for me to get darthmod going for a cooperative campaign multiplayer game. I don’t have to get into technical minutiae with a friend who is non-technical that just wants to play empire and conquer the world together.

Actual darthmod is dead and has been for years now abandoned by its creator. It was NOT a compilation of other mods. What is available now is compilations of additions to try and keep it going which cause more errors and problems and heartaches than any other thing people could put on their computer including deliberately installing a virus just so people who cannot handle playing the actual game can be able to play and win.

As it stands now, I know of one week, one week only one seven day period only which was this previous week out of more than the past decade where people were not in here fighting just to get Empire to run again after learning the hard way what garbage it is. When the fan boys start trying to sucker others in, then it is at times up to dozens a week in here begging help.

I could not care less if you have it working and having no problems and enjoy it, but please stop suckering in noobs who know no better into attempting to install trash who do not have the support available to get that crap back off their system so they can play Empire again.

The forum still exists at TWCenter. Go take it over and offer support so people have a place to go rather than always randomly and so near consistently begging help on a message board which has nothing to do with that mod.

[Rabidnid]

Best decision I ever made was to download Rust Pack File Manager and learned to mod to make the few minor changes I thought the game needed. Which basically amounted to making the ottomans suck less for the first 20 or so turns.

[pgeerkens]

Originally posted by Rabidnid:

Best decision I ever made was to download Rust Pack File Manager and learned to mod to make the few minor changes I thought the game needed. Which basically amounted to making the ottomans suck less for the first 20 or so turns.

Try this for Ottomans on the first turn, playing vanilla:

• Sell Armenia to Persia for 7500 + Alliance + Trade Agreement.
  
• Sell Bosnia to Morocco for 7500.
  
• Sell Serbia to Austria for 7500 + Trade Agreement. Yes, Austria will break the agreement on Turn 1 or 2, but who cares. That just provides an early opportunity to kill Eugene.
  
• Sell Moldavia to Westphalia for 7500.
  
• Leave all this in place until at least after conquering Italy. Morocco cannot recruit north of the Mediterranean, so Bosnia will not be manned unless after a Revolution or Morocco sues for peace with Spain.

The Ottomans are now imminently playable, even on Very Hard

[Perc]

Ships move at realistic speeds; the horror.

[HazardHawk]

And just as I said above, the DM fan boys have arrived making fake posts of where can I get in order to advertise without breaking forum rules openly. As a warning, in about a week of this the moderators will show up and start cleaning house with suspensions. Darthmod fan boys and mod discussions will be their target. The pattern has not changed in over the past decade.

[AdmiralPiett]

Originally posted by g0dd:

Ships move at realistic speeds; the horror.

This.

Also he's mad about....line infantry being line infantry

OP: Go back to COD or CSGO noob, let us have our historical strategy free from your toxic misunderstanding of Napoleonic warfare

[Coocoodas]

Originally posted by g0dd:

Ships move at realistic speeds; the horror.

Perhaps you would also like to have battles last 8~9 hours as they did in history? Indeed the horror!

[Insaniac]

It’s not like it moves any faster in vanilla, to be fair. That’s just the nature of the beast.

[Coocoodas]

Originally posted by AdmiralPiett:

Originally posted by g0dd:

Ships move at realistic speeds; the horror.

This.

Also he's mad about....line infantry being line infantry

OP: Go back to COD or CSGO noob, let us have our historical strategy free from your toxic misunderstanding of Napoleonic warfare

To think I majored French revolution & Napoleonic era at college and having played TW for 14 years, lol

Historically battlefields didn't have red boxes limiting your men from getting out. Most battles weren't two straight parallel lines of two entire armies shooting at each other without any maneuvers.

[AdmiralPiett]

Originally posted by Coocoodas:

Originally posted by AdmiralPiett:

This.

Also he's mad about....line infantry being line infantry

OP: Go back to COD or CSGO noob, let us have our historical strategy free from your toxic misunderstanding of Napoleonic warfare

To think I majored Napoleonic era at college and having played TW for 14 years, lol

Historically battlefields didn't have red boxes limiting your men from getting out. Most battles weren't two straight parallel lines of two entire armies shooting at each other without any maneuvers.

You can attack if you want nothing's stopping you

Also if that is an issue it's not specific to darthmod it's in vanilla too. I often sit on my ass in battles it's not a darthmod thing

Are you mad that darthmod doesn't "fix" this because if so that's grasping at straws pretty hard

[Perc]

Originally posted by Coocoodas:

Originally posted by AdmiralPiett:

This.

Also he's mad about....line infantry being line infantry

OP: Go back to COD or CSGO noob, let us have our historical strategy free from your toxic misunderstanding of Napoleonic warfare

To think I majored French revolution & Napoleonic era at college and having played TW for 14 years, lol

Historically battlefields didn't have red boxes limiting your men from getting out. Most battles weren't two straight parallel lines of two entire armies shooting at each other without any maneuvers.

What's your point? That's literally the premise of every Total War game & has nothing to do with Darth Mod in specific. If you don't like it go play Ultimate General or something.

[Coocoodas]

Originally posted by g0dd:

Originally posted by Coocoodas:

To think I majored French revolution & Napoleonic era at college and having played TW for 14 years, lol

Historically battlefields didn't have red boxes limiting your men from getting out. Most battles weren't two straight parallel lines of two entire armies shooting at each other without any maneuvers.

What's your point? That's literally the premise of every Total War game & has nothing to do with Darth Mod in specific. If you don't like it go play Ultimate General or something.

Was I not clear enough in the OP?

The point is while the map limitations are okay in other total war titles since units size is smaller, Darthmod's unit size is too large for the battlemap that's unchanged from vanilla that tactical maneuvers are made pointless since lining up your army from one end to the opposite end is the most effective tactics. It's aggravated since it's a gunpower total war with longer engagement range, making the map even smaller.

Your unit depth won't be even thin which means your very simple line is not even vulnerable to cavalry charges from the enemy. Imagine flooding a chessboard with 24 pieces instead of 16 on each side. That's how DM battles feel like. It looks large but lacks substance. There isn't enough room to maneuver your units around which ultimately makes battles easier against larger armies(since they can't flank), just lasting longer. If Darthmod wanted bigger battles the battlemap should have been made bigger too.