Loving this game + siege mod recommendations?

[Other Asterion]

I really got to say I'm loving Atilla, especially with FOTE and a few misc. mods (mostly Dresden).

Played Western Rome on Very Hard, ended up ceding Britannia within a few turns. Whole bunch of turns wasted trying to hold the "barbarians" off, trying to set up buffer client/tributary/friendly states, only to have the huns and misc. barbarbians crash through. Pretty much gave up all of Gaul (after "donating" regions to some Germans and Goths) and set up defence lines near the Alps and northern Hispania. My garrisoned veteran legions have managed to hold off any of the hordes that manage to get through ally states, with a few supporting the allied regions in the field. With my back somewhat secured I did the only thing I could think of -- attacked Eastern Rome. Broke through the western most provinces which were quite soft and basically unmanned, and ended up sharing a border with the Sassanids. Now I'm best friends with the Sassanids, although I'm at war with the newly independent empire of Armenia (basically traded ghassanids for armenians, but didn't work out for me). I'm also likely to face Sassanids in Africa as their agents are agitating constantly. God I love this, caveat being I'm not a great Total War player (and have just given up on naval battles, thank god for auto-resolve).

Right now what I'm looking for some seige mods. I'd like a mod that adds a few more deployables, not an absurd amount, but like 1 more deployable than vanilla/FOTE. Also, looking for a mod that would increase the health of barricades. Currently I'm using Subidee's better barricade mod, but its way too OP. I can normally rout the enemy before my barricades collapse (they last like 4 minutes). I tried to find Subidee's fixed/new version, but the mediafire link is down, and the only other barricade mod I found on Steam Workshop seems to suffer from the same problem. I'd like it to las tsomething like 1-1.5 minutes.

[Surg3on]

I know its a bit complicated but you can open the files of the mod you like (but think is a bit OP) and modify the values that that mod is changing. Check out the Total War Center mod forum for a link to the tools you will need.

[Other Asterion]

Originally posted by Surg3on-Kash:

I know its a bit complicated but you can open the files of the mod you like (but think is a bit OP) and modify the values that that mod is changing. Check out the Total War Center mod forum for a link to the tools you will need.

The main reason I didn't want to bother with modding it myself is that I might have to keep fixing it after patches (maybe atilla is mature/stable enough, but future DLCs might affect it), but... whatever. Any tutorials you'd recommend?

[Mephiston87]

honestly i couldnt play the game without all the Terminus mods and Radious mods(they work together really well). It completely changes the game, has Attila graphics and everythings the same but its back to a more medieval 2 setting, where every game mechanic works(in Attila most are broken or ignored). Starting a fresh empire with way more enemies and far greater diplomacy and great unit variety all looking legit as if they were in the origional game.

[Other Asterion]

Originally posted by Mephiston87:

honestly i couldnt play the game without all the Terminus mods and Radious mods(they work together really well). It completely changes the game, has Attila graphics and everythings the same but its back to a more medieval 2 setting, where every game mechanic works(in Attila most are broken or ignored). Starting a fresh empire with way more enemies and far greater diplomacy and great unit variety all looking legit as if they were in the origional game.

I'm a little iffy about using Radious.I didn't like it in Rome 2, or even Shogun 2. I preferred DEI and Darth Mod respectively. I thought about Radious since FOTE is still at a nascent stage and doesn't seem to be as far reaching even in design.

[Mephiston87]

Originally posted by Other Asterion:

Originally posted by Mephiston87:

honestly i couldnt play the game without all the Terminus mods and Radious mods(they work together really well). It completely changes the game, has Attila graphics and everythings the same but its back to a more medieval 2 setting, where every game mechanic works(in Attila most are broken or ignored). Starting a fresh empire with way more enemies and far greater diplomacy and great unit variety all looking legit as if they were in the origional game.

I'm a little iffy about using Radious.I didn't like it in Rome 2, or even Shogun 2. I preferred DEI and Darth Mod respectively. I thought about Radious since FOTE is still at a nascent stage and doesn't seem to be as far reaching even in design.

yeh in Attila its more of an overhaul, then a completely new game. Atm with standard Attila each faction plays basically the same as the next, Radious tries to break that and give each faction unique units and a bit more specific in strengths.

For example Roman legionaries are back to being tough, hardy and disciplined units, no longer does 1 naked hun unit have better every stat, same goes for many of the barbarian units. Barbarians have alot less armour but seem to have gotten a bit more speed and more damage.

Radious has also mostly fixed the AI, seemingly by removing alot of the options the AI have.

Terminus mod does an excellent job at having a "generic start" you start in a logical spot for your faction and start from there.

Not sure which of them fixed the diplomacy, but im like 50 turns in i have 5 allies(3 roman faction 2 barbaric) and im only at war with my neighbours, no longer does the entire map team up and work together(illogically) and try to squish me.

And Radious cinematic combat rocks balls, combat becomes epic especially using elite units.

[Other Asterion]

Originally posted by Mephiston87:

Originally posted by Other Asterion:

For example Roman legionaries are back to being tough, hardy and disciplined units, no longer does 1 naked hun unit have better every stat, same goes for many of the barbarian units. Barbarians have alot less armour but seem to have gotten a bit more speed and more damage.

I think this is one of my big issues. Radious has a different goal in mind, outside of certain fixes (e.g. AI), than what I want out of my Total War games. I want "historical realism" for lack of a better term, maybe "authenticity" would be a better term, but that's splitting hairs I suppose.

For example: The greatest advantage that the Romans had as a fighting force was discipline (i.e. morale), great logistical support, and the ability to adapt faster than any of their rivals. They weren't larger/stronger/faster/tougher soldiers, they had largely been able to defeat the "barbarians" solely through divide et imperia and outmatching them in set piece battles.

Around the time of TW:Atila, Rome had lost all of this. Their legions were weak, their legionnaires were weak (not necessarilly physically), discipline and morale were notoriously low. Their neighbours were actually winning traditional set piece battles and had adopted many Roman battle ideas. The Romans should feel weak, or otherwise ordinary. I should, ideally, be suffering from very weak morale constantly. My legions should revolt if I retreat from a battle more than twice within a year. They should be taking much harder foreign integrity hits, and the hits should apply within my empire. For example my legions should be largely unwilling to fight outside of their home regions, threatening revolt if I move the Rhine legions to fight on the western front of Dacia.

A subtantially gothic legion (i.e. one raised from a traditionally gothic area) should take a morale hit prior to the start of engagement. Any successful legions should start demanding exorbitant upkeep costs, etc.

This is what I was really hyped for when I heard about Atilla. I mean ofc, I didn't imagine CA to do most/any of this, but I was hoping for some complete overhaul mod to do this. Western Rome on Very Hard is still reasonably easy to win with, once you change your mindset. I want it to be impossible (I don't play on campaign legendary because IIRC it forces battle realism).