Scary units

[antisocialmunky]

The standard 'scary' trait on naked units is rather ridiculous. The effect can rout units along the other end of the line by their crazy range. Is it possible to give them the bee/diseased stat instead on their primary weapons so they only scare the units they engage? This would be more realistic. Elephants can be seen and heard by everyone in the army and have an ability to kill the whole army but the scary infantry would only affect their immediate opposition...

[Blxz]

The standard 'scary' trait on naked units is rather ridiculous. The effect can rout units along the other end of the line by their crazy range. Is it possible to give them the bee/diseased stat instead on their primary weapons so they only scare the units they engage? This would be more realistic. Elephants can be seen and heard by everyone in the army and have an ability to kill the whole army but the scary infantry would only affect their immediate opposition...

Although if I was a farmer with a spear, shoved into battle the first time (or 10th time for that matter), I would find a bunch of naked screaming guys standing in the opposing battle line pretty scary. I wouldn't wait until they cut my buddy's head off before I realised "ohh, they are actually scary".

What you are suggesting might be worth tweaking a bit if range can be changed, but I think the bee thingy status would be the wrong way of going about it.

[The General]

If I saw a raging naked maniac tear a guy in two twenty meters from me, I'd be scared, even if he wasn't attacking my unit - he might be attacking us next...

[penguinking]

Big naked men standing fearlessly in battle, waving huge swords and shouting loud battle cries, seemingly unafraid of death... that strikes me as rather terrifying to the Roman soldier.

"Very terrifying too were the appearance and the gestures of the naked warriors in front, all in the prime of life, and finely built men, and all in the leading companies richly adorned with gold torques and armlets."
-Polybius

[antisocialmunky]

Yes, it should be scary if you're near it but if thsoe guys are a few hundred meters down the line, its unrealistic.

[The Celtic Viking]

Only the bee/diseased trait wouldn't be any more realistic, since that would only effect those attacked, when attacked. The naked guys scared the enemy - and not just the specific guys they attacked - long before that by their look, their sound, their reputation and their crazy, drugged up charge... not to mention their Superman-like stunts such as pulling javelins out of their chests and throwing it back before they charge.

The scare trait might not be perfect, but it is IMO the best option available.

[lobf]

crazy, drugged up charge...

No, dammit. No.

[Jolt]

If I saw a raging naked maniac tear a guy in two twenty meters from me, I'd be scared, even if he wasn't attacking my unit - he might be attacking us next...

Well, but then everything would be scary. In one hand, you have a naked guy that, sure, can scream a lot and has raging complexion but when in the middle of a battle if by chance you manage to do cut mildly his calf (Not that difficult with a medium-sized sword), at the very least, he'll be limping for the rest of the battle. On the other hand, you got a tank (A Dosidataskeli, for instance) which no matter where you try to cut him (By chance or not), he'll just plow through you, even though he doesn't scream very high or not. Or you get a random group of horsemen running straight at your fellow comrades, and you know wherever they crash, there will surely be dead men, despite anything you can do. I'd say any horsemen or walking tanks would be much more scary to me than a shouting man (Or a group of them)

[Aulus Caecina Severus]

Well, but then everything would be scary. In one hand, you have a naked guy that, sure, can scream a lot and has raging complexion but when in the middle of a battle if by chance you manage to do cut mildly his calf (Not that difficult with a medium-sized sword), at the very least, he'll be limping for the rest of the battle. On the other hand, you got a tank (A Dosidataskeli, for instance) which no matter where you try to cut him (By chance or not), he'll just plow through you, even though he doesn't scream very high or not. Or you get a random group of horsemen running straight at your fellow comrades, and you know wherever they crash, there will surely be dead men, despite anything you can do. I'd say any horsemen or walking tanks would be much more scary to me than a shouting man (Or a group of them)

Yes this is true!
I think the more impressive and scary units were the more disciplined and organized units fighting in dense formations.
In my mind, testudo can frightened a disordered group of men... much more than an open horde of naked men.
Gaesatae are a bit overpowered in eb1: they have 2 hitpoints(why?), high defence value(why?), high attack value (i agree), excellent morale (i agree) and frightened enemy(so so).
Right fear balance is a very hard thing to do...

[Jolt]

The two Hitpoints supposedly are derived from the facts that apparently they took numbing drugs before going into battle, so getting stabbed in somewhere where it doesn't hinder your mobility, but doesn't kill you, isn't effective.

[Paltmull]

Hey, if tweaking the "scare range" is possible, why not use both that and the bee/disease trait? The effect would be that they slightly scared the enemy around them but scared the hell out of those they attacked. Or does the "scary" trait already have that effect?

[antisocialmunky]

Ick, that would require a ridiculous amount of morale on all units as neither effect or range are moddables.

[Paltmull]

Oh. Stupid hardcoding. :(

[Rahwana]

Maybe we could have a better result if we put the levies' morale on "low" rather than normal?