Darkarbiter
11-27-2006, 07:42
Ok first off im so sick of people going anywhere and saying "this guys wearing a helm shouldnt that be 2 armour stat???" and then they go and modify the stat and find out the unit no longer works as it was intended.... anyway.
My examples are from RTR PE AE (although its relevent to any mod).
IMPORTANT: THIS IS A GUIDE FOR HUGE SETTINGS. I HAVE LITTLE TO NO EXPERIENCE WITH ANYTHING ELSE
Contents:
1. Defence/attack stats and attributes
2. Morale and atrributes
3. Mass/charges
4. Basic description of formations
5. Breif rundown on formation width and depth
1
There are 3 types of defence stats. Defence skill, sheild and armour.
Defence skill is melee defence from the front only.
Sheild is melee and ranged defence from the front only.
and armour is melee and ranged defence from all directions.
A common mistake is "this persons wearing xxx and xxx that meens he should have high armour". This is not allways true. As armour is the only defence from back attacks it should not allways be given low scores for anyone unarmoured. So let me get this straight giving 0 armour to a unit will make it vulnerable to flanking. The problem now arouses... what if a unit is good at melee defence from behind but not ranged or visa versa? Well not much can be done about that
apart from youll generally want melee stats higher then ranged stats so that ranged weopens are not overlly effective against low armoured units from behind.
Therefore when a singuler soldier is being attacked in melee from the front armour, defence skill and sheild are added together to calculate the chances of that soldier dieing and if their being attacked by range then its sheild+armour.
One must also be very carefull about whether a unit is given long or short spears if it is a phalangite. A long speared unit is much better if given the same stats especially versus short speared phalanx units. Also phalanxs in dense formation gain extra anti arrow abilities from the front due to their spears in the air.
2
Morale: The amount of morale you give a soldier depends on several things. What the soldiers role is and how likely you want them to be to rout. In general units with bigger sizes need a smaller amount of morale (for example barbarian factions in RTW) because they will outnumber the enemy.
Again holding units you will want to give higher morale then average (unless you dont want them to be very good ones) as they will likely be outnumbered some of the time (perhaps 30% higher).
Eagle units decrease nearby enemy morale and increase allied morale while units with scare infantry also decrease enemy morale. An eagle and scares infantry unit is VERY scary. Especially if the unit is of a big size. Do not use both often.
For a game with average unit size of 160 (barbs etc are 240 elites are 120 cavlry are 80) I suggest 17 morale as a base. Below is for huge btw
20% less for barbarians or anyone you want to have lower morale
20% less for 240 size units
20-50% more for elites (very situational)
10% less for infantry with scare infantry trait because the enemy will run sooner anyway.
20% more for 120 size units
10% less for eagle units (although you will probably only give this to elite units so if the unit is concidered to have high morale forget that)
35% less for generals cavlry
E.G. legions have 18 and first cohorts (eagle units) have 22.
While generals cavlry have 13 and warbands have 13
3
Mass was added in 1.3 patch (BI) and doesnt affect 1.2 mods. Having 1 mass for everything is like having 1.2 or earlier (i think). The actual stats is very situational too... for infantry though i wouldnt put anything below 0.7 and above 1.7
4
Phalanx: A wall of spears that makes it much harder for units to reach the unit and is very hard to attack from the front (depending on spear length). A unit may not run while in this formation.
Sheild wall: A very tight formation that makes the unit more resistant to arrows and generally more efficiant due to the amount of men in the small space.
Testudo: A formation that will render the unit ilvulnerable to arrows
Wedge: A pretty useless formation for cavlry that is designed to give them penetrating power but it is better just to use cavlry as normal unless on a smaller unit size.
Square: The unit is formed into a rectangle (main one used)
Horde: The unit is formed into a circle (mainly used only in BI)
Schiltron. Basicly a normal formation that faces all directions only really usefull if the enemy sorrounds the unit so for the most part its a looks formation.
5
Formation depth is perhaps one of the easiest and standardised but not messed with things in the game.
More later...
Feel free to add suggestions/comments.
formation soldier spacing (in metres) side to side, then front to back for close formation
followed by the same measurements in loose formation.
followed by the default number of ranks for the unit
followed by the formations possible for the unit. One or two of
square, horde, phalanx, testudo, or wedge
For infantry you will tend to give then 1+ metres width and depth usually 1-2 metres(Just put double that for loose formation unless you want something special). Width is the most important for any unit and depth is only really that important for a phalanx unit.
The default number of ranks for a unit will determine how thin/thick the formation is and again this is very important for phalanx units. Too thick and they will not be able to cover enough area. Too thin and they will get flanked too easily. Personally I think that most mods put thier units too thickly but then in multiplayer I allways use incredibly thin formations. The amount of units per area also affects morale so for mods with lower morale you will want the AI to use thicker formations.
Also one important fact you should note is that phalanxs with very long spears that are at least 8* men deep will have A LOT of extra missle protection. Hoplites or units with medium length spears should be at least 5* men deep to achieve their maximum missle cover. While short speared units only need to be 3* ranks deep. For the most part I wouldnt recomend having a phalanx formation 8* ranks deep though unless you planned on giving them low armour and sheild but giving them thick formations and good melee to balance it.
btw not putting units on guard mode and not on any other formation will make them ignore formation width and give them spacing of about 1-2 metres*
A lot of difference to gameplay can be made from altering this section!
*=I am unsure of this section and clarification would be glady accepted.
My examples are from RTR PE AE (although its relevent to any mod).
IMPORTANT: THIS IS A GUIDE FOR HUGE SETTINGS. I HAVE LITTLE TO NO EXPERIENCE WITH ANYTHING ELSE
Contents:
1. Defence/attack stats and attributes
2. Morale and atrributes
3. Mass/charges
4. Basic description of formations
5. Breif rundown on formation width and depth
1
There are 3 types of defence stats. Defence skill, sheild and armour.
Defence skill is melee defence from the front only.
Sheild is melee and ranged defence from the front only.
and armour is melee and ranged defence from all directions.
A common mistake is "this persons wearing xxx and xxx that meens he should have high armour". This is not allways true. As armour is the only defence from back attacks it should not allways be given low scores for anyone unarmoured. So let me get this straight giving 0 armour to a unit will make it vulnerable to flanking. The problem now arouses... what if a unit is good at melee defence from behind but not ranged or visa versa? Well not much can be done about that
apart from youll generally want melee stats higher then ranged stats so that ranged weopens are not overlly effective against low armoured units from behind.
Therefore when a singuler soldier is being attacked in melee from the front armour, defence skill and sheild are added together to calculate the chances of that soldier dieing and if their being attacked by range then its sheild+armour.
One must also be very carefull about whether a unit is given long or short spears if it is a phalangite. A long speared unit is much better if given the same stats especially versus short speared phalanx units. Also phalanxs in dense formation gain extra anti arrow abilities from the front due to their spears in the air.
2
Morale: The amount of morale you give a soldier depends on several things. What the soldiers role is and how likely you want them to be to rout. In general units with bigger sizes need a smaller amount of morale (for example barbarian factions in RTW) because they will outnumber the enemy.
Again holding units you will want to give higher morale then average (unless you dont want them to be very good ones) as they will likely be outnumbered some of the time (perhaps 30% higher).
Eagle units decrease nearby enemy morale and increase allied morale while units with scare infantry also decrease enemy morale. An eagle and scares infantry unit is VERY scary. Especially if the unit is of a big size. Do not use both often.
For a game with average unit size of 160 (barbs etc are 240 elites are 120 cavlry are 80) I suggest 17 morale as a base. Below is for huge btw
20% less for barbarians or anyone you want to have lower morale
20% less for 240 size units
20-50% more for elites (very situational)
10% less for infantry with scare infantry trait because the enemy will run sooner anyway.
20% more for 120 size units
10% less for eagle units (although you will probably only give this to elite units so if the unit is concidered to have high morale forget that)
35% less for generals cavlry
E.G. legions have 18 and first cohorts (eagle units) have 22.
While generals cavlry have 13 and warbands have 13
3
Mass was added in 1.3 patch (BI) and doesnt affect 1.2 mods. Having 1 mass for everything is like having 1.2 or earlier (i think). The actual stats is very situational too... for infantry though i wouldnt put anything below 0.7 and above 1.7
4
Phalanx: A wall of spears that makes it much harder for units to reach the unit and is very hard to attack from the front (depending on spear length). A unit may not run while in this formation.
Sheild wall: A very tight formation that makes the unit more resistant to arrows and generally more efficiant due to the amount of men in the small space.
Testudo: A formation that will render the unit ilvulnerable to arrows
Wedge: A pretty useless formation for cavlry that is designed to give them penetrating power but it is better just to use cavlry as normal unless on a smaller unit size.
Square: The unit is formed into a rectangle (main one used)
Horde: The unit is formed into a circle (mainly used only in BI)
Schiltron. Basicly a normal formation that faces all directions only really usefull if the enemy sorrounds the unit so for the most part its a looks formation.
5
Formation depth is perhaps one of the easiest and standardised but not messed with things in the game.
More later...
Feel free to add suggestions/comments.
formation soldier spacing (in metres) side to side, then front to back for close formation
followed by the same measurements in loose formation.
followed by the default number of ranks for the unit
followed by the formations possible for the unit. One or two of
square, horde, phalanx, testudo, or wedge
For infantry you will tend to give then 1+ metres width and depth usually 1-2 metres(Just put double that for loose formation unless you want something special). Width is the most important for any unit and depth is only really that important for a phalanx unit.
The default number of ranks for a unit will determine how thin/thick the formation is and again this is very important for phalanx units. Too thick and they will not be able to cover enough area. Too thin and they will get flanked too easily. Personally I think that most mods put thier units too thickly but then in multiplayer I allways use incredibly thin formations. The amount of units per area also affects morale so for mods with lower morale you will want the AI to use thicker formations.
Also one important fact you should note is that phalanxs with very long spears that are at least 8* men deep will have A LOT of extra missle protection. Hoplites or units with medium length spears should be at least 5* men deep to achieve their maximum missle cover. While short speared units only need to be 3* ranks deep. For the most part I wouldnt recomend having a phalanx formation 8* ranks deep though unless you planned on giving them low armour and sheild but giving them thick formations and good melee to balance it.
btw not putting units on guard mode and not on any other formation will make them ignore formation width and give them spacing of about 1-2 metres*
A lot of difference to gameplay can be made from altering this section!
*=I am unsure of this section and clarification would be glady accepted.