Red Harvest
02-06-2005, 05:46
I've been wanting to quantify the impact of various missile units in "combat conditions" in RTW. Now that friendly fire is fixed we can use units properly in skirmish mode (horse archers have some issues, but they aren't plugging their own anymore.) So now seems a good time to get a feel for the innate missile capability of typical units. I came up with a rather simple formula to use as a rough index of a missile units relative strength. It factors missile attack, range, and skirmish/reaction zone.
It is a relative scale for determining how much damage a missile unit can be expected to cause vs. an advancing enemy before it is forced to withdraw. Melee is not considered, nor are any special abilities, nor ability to flee and re-engage with missiles, etc. Pila units are not included since they have armour piercing and are melee units. (The basic relationship even holds for armoured and shielded units, although the kill rate falls about four fold going from 0/0 armour/shield to 4/5 in some tests.)
It is fairly easy to calculate:
Missile Attack Factor = missile attack rating * unit size * (max range - reaction zone)
Reaction zone is assumed to be 30
The Factor is then converted to a Missile Attack Index by using the weakest missile unit, Libyan Mercenaries (5 attac, 50 range, 40 men) as 1, the baseline. Divide all values by the factor for the Libyan mercs. and you have the unit Index.
Here are some sample Index values:
Libyan Mercs = 1
Peltasts = 1.2
Heavy Peltasts = 1.4
Skirmisher Warband = 1.8
Slingers = 2
Merc Slingers = 8.1
Archers = 6.3
Egyptian Bowmen (oversized unit) = 9.5
Archer Auxilia = 12.6
Cretan Archers = 15.4
Chosen Archers = 16.8
Pharaoh's Bowmen = 19.6
Forester Warband = 21
Scythian Horse Archers = 4.3
As you can see, slingers are really shortchanged vs. archers. And all of the long range units have a lot of killing power. I did a test with archer auxilia (9 missile, 170 range) vs. chosen axemen and the axemen were nearly eliminated before reaching them--falling from 82 men to 23. The new shield usage while marching has noticeable impact on archer accuracy though since hastati only declined from 81 to 71 vs. the auxilia.
Note: This is not a pure killing potential measurement, it doesn't factor in the number of missiles available, nor armour piercing.
It is a relative scale for determining how much damage a missile unit can be expected to cause vs. an advancing enemy before it is forced to withdraw. Melee is not considered, nor are any special abilities, nor ability to flee and re-engage with missiles, etc. Pila units are not included since they have armour piercing and are melee units. (The basic relationship even holds for armoured and shielded units, although the kill rate falls about four fold going from 0/0 armour/shield to 4/5 in some tests.)
It is fairly easy to calculate:
Missile Attack Factor = missile attack rating * unit size * (max range - reaction zone)
Reaction zone is assumed to be 30
The Factor is then converted to a Missile Attack Index by using the weakest missile unit, Libyan Mercenaries (5 attac, 50 range, 40 men) as 1, the baseline. Divide all values by the factor for the Libyan mercs. and you have the unit Index.
Here are some sample Index values:
Libyan Mercs = 1
Peltasts = 1.2
Heavy Peltasts = 1.4
Skirmisher Warband = 1.8
Slingers = 2
Merc Slingers = 8.1
Archers = 6.3
Egyptian Bowmen (oversized unit) = 9.5
Archer Auxilia = 12.6
Cretan Archers = 15.4
Chosen Archers = 16.8
Pharaoh's Bowmen = 19.6
Forester Warband = 21
Scythian Horse Archers = 4.3
As you can see, slingers are really shortchanged vs. archers. And all of the long range units have a lot of killing power. I did a test with archer auxilia (9 missile, 170 range) vs. chosen axemen and the axemen were nearly eliminated before reaching them--falling from 82 men to 23. The new shield usage while marching has noticeable impact on archer accuracy though since hastati only declined from 81 to 71 vs. the auxilia.
Note: This is not a pure killing potential measurement, it doesn't factor in the number of missiles available, nor armour piercing.