Subscribe to download
Spectator Mode ABANDONED - 觀眾模式

Published a first release of Pure Spectator Mode:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3474366453

@Aten, I've been spending more time playing the game (with this abandoned mod enabled) than actually working on the mod. So far I've read through some parts of the script logic; and managed to import/export the contents to/from .pack file using the rusted pack file manager. So I have a basic work flow to create/edit a .pack file and load it manually into the game for testing.

Now the main missing component is understanding the details of the code objects being used in the scripts and why exactly the 3rd+ reinforcement army is missed out when granting AI control. There is a more recent version of Spectator mode in TW Saga: Troy, and I will most likely play Troy as well and then examine the scripts for that mod, use the ideas, and bring them to 3K.

@Qladstone - How far is your progress in total? I think option toggles for spectating are always good

If time permits I might dive into the Lua scriptis and iron out the kinks to make a 100% spectator mode that fixes any missing AI control bugs. My idea is to modify this to create a mod that is pure spectator mode where you don't have to do anything on battle start and AI just controls everything without needing to press any hotkey, unlike this one which let's you have intermediate options to control general-only or main army only etc. No promises on that though, since this abandoned mod already achieves the same effect about 95% of the way, and it might be too much effort without prior modding experience just to implement the full concept.

Overall the AI occasionally does stupid things with your troops, and I'm not entirely sure if the AI used by spectator mode and the AI used for enemies are exactly the same. (Maybe when I have time to dive into the scripts.) Most of the time the AI does decent and you will win battles if you are in an advantageous position most of the time. Although it is always a coin toss whether your AI or the enemy AI does the better manoeuvres overall. I would say I quite enjoy this experience where you get to watch the battle in real time without knowing for sure what the outcome will be, like watching a sports game. You will definitely want to set the battle difficulty to Normal mode since it's AI vs AI; no need to give the enemy any stat advantages.

Note on battle with reinforcements: you need to wait until reinforcements fully enter the battlefield (all the unit cards appear on the bottom) and then activate/re-activate spectator mode to grant control to the AI. I have encountered a total of 1 situation where this does not fully work. I suspect when there is more than 1 reinforcing army of your faction, spectator mode only grants control for the 1st reinforcing army and the 2nd one is left idle no matter how many time you re-activate spectator mode. This is not a common occurrence especially early/mid game, though it does limit your tactics or force you to manually control the 3rd and above reinforcement army, so you cannot have a 100% spectator battle game.

I've tested this abandoned mod as it it a bit on N/N on romance mode. The furthest I got to is Duke as Cao Cao, kind of slow since I've been learning a lot of the campaign mechanics some of which are quite different from previous TW games.

For the most part the mod seems to be working fine. The AI control is functional in both field battles and sieges, engages in duel mechanics, uses loose formation for troops when under missile fire, and uses active skills on generals. (However I did not pay too much attention to whether they use all of the general skills as most of the time I just sit back and casually watch the battles.)

Okay, I might play a campaign or two unmodded first to get a feel of the battles. I've played other total wars before but not this. After hundreds of TW battles I'm just tired of cycling the same old tactics to beat the mediocre AI. I find it more fun to execute strategies on the campaign map and just watch the mediocre AI battle each other and enjoy the show.

@Qladstone, you'll need to download the TW modding software, i forget the name but its online to download in Github, get a mod download like this or BattleBox and look at the scripts inside to get a sense of it, BattleBox on the workshop works by far the best for AI control.

Hello, I'm interested to take over this mod. I'm new to modding but am a professional software developer.