Matrim
07-15-2008, 17:18
So. Last night, after a full 14 hour day and a couple of beers when I got home, I kicked on the M:TW campaign I've been playing. XL mod. Hard, High. Basically that's it.
Here's the scenario, without giving away too much: I was fighting a battle with upwards of 3000 troops on each side, and having a look at the amount/type of troops I would be seeing (pre-battle roster) I moved my troops around so I would be getting fresh troops when my other troops of that type were running low on numbers or on morale/energy.
I fleshed out my original force, about 3/4 heavy infantry, and 1/4 cavalry. I did this because my enemy had a missile-heavy force with a few tough nuts of infantry/cavalry mixed in. I then organized my reinforcements in increments of 4 (4 archers to begin, as I didn't start with archers, and then 4 cavalry, 4 infantry, 4 cavalry again, etc) as I expected to have need of them.
My first surprise came when my first reinforcements were Hobilars, not the arbalasts I had lined up. And then more Hobilars. And more. And more. And more.
As the battle raged back and forth, I had to do some pretty fancy hoof-work with the hordes of Hobilars I had, as my heavy infantry line had been whittled down and were vastly fatigued. So I had to hold the enemy with my light cavalry while my infantry retreated. A stead stream of Hobilars kept coming, replacing lost hobs and the infantry that left. Eventually I did get my arbalests and crossbowmen, but it was at the very tail end of the combat. Literally as my arbalests loosed their first bolts, the enemy fled the field.
So my question is this: During the Pre-Battle window where it shows the beligerents of the conflict, the leaders and their stars, the troop amounts, and the windows full of reinforcements... when I moved all those units around, why did they not come out in the order I had expected? It caused me considerable anxiety and loss of life. I believe I've run into a similar issue in the past, but it's been so long and I don't recall if it was vanilla or a mod.
It kind of screws the whole battle plan when you can't get what you need, ya know?
Here's the scenario, without giving away too much: I was fighting a battle with upwards of 3000 troops on each side, and having a look at the amount/type of troops I would be seeing (pre-battle roster) I moved my troops around so I would be getting fresh troops when my other troops of that type were running low on numbers or on morale/energy.
I fleshed out my original force, about 3/4 heavy infantry, and 1/4 cavalry. I did this because my enemy had a missile-heavy force with a few tough nuts of infantry/cavalry mixed in. I then organized my reinforcements in increments of 4 (4 archers to begin, as I didn't start with archers, and then 4 cavalry, 4 infantry, 4 cavalry again, etc) as I expected to have need of them.
My first surprise came when my first reinforcements were Hobilars, not the arbalasts I had lined up. And then more Hobilars. And more. And more. And more.
As the battle raged back and forth, I had to do some pretty fancy hoof-work with the hordes of Hobilars I had, as my heavy infantry line had been whittled down and were vastly fatigued. So I had to hold the enemy with my light cavalry while my infantry retreated. A stead stream of Hobilars kept coming, replacing lost hobs and the infantry that left. Eventually I did get my arbalests and crossbowmen, but it was at the very tail end of the combat. Literally as my arbalests loosed their first bolts, the enemy fled the field.
So my question is this: During the Pre-Battle window where it shows the beligerents of the conflict, the leaders and their stars, the troop amounts, and the windows full of reinforcements... when I moved all those units around, why did they not come out in the order I had expected? It caused me considerable anxiety and loss of life. I believe I've run into a similar issue in the past, but it's been so long and I don't recall if it was vanilla or a mod.
It kind of screws the whole battle plan when you can't get what you need, ya know?