javelins too weak?

[Apázlinemjó]

I feel, akondistai and the likes are balanced fine as far as attacking armored/shielded foes from the front is concerned. However, I do not find it realistic that 120 men cannot score more than a couple kills while, at point blank range, throwing javelins into unprotected BACKS of 120 men who are frontally engaged with another unit. In reality, you'd have to try really hard to MISS in such a situation...

I guess it works like this because of the limitation of the RTW engine.

[WinsingtonIII]

I think part of the problem is that a lot of the damage that a massed volley of javelins would do in real life other than just kill the enemy is not represented well by the RTW engine. Obviously, there should be a big morale drop, which may be represented by the morale drop of being under missile fire in RTW. However, a major effect of javelins was to render shields useless. When a javelin became stuck in a shield, it made it pretty much useless, and the user would usually just discard the shield and go into melee combat without it, which of course, made them much more vulnerable. Of course, this cannot be represented in the RTW engine.

That said, I think the major problem is not the weak nature of javelins, because they will devastate many units, but the overpowered nature of phalanxes when hit by missiles from the front. They should of course be very resistant to missiles from the front, but in RTW they are practically invincible, which is ridiculous.

[seienchin]

I think part of the problem is that a lot of the damage that a massed volley of javelins would do in real life other than just kill the enemy is not represented well by the RTW engine. Obviously, there should be a big morale drop, which may be represented by the morale drop of being under missile fire in RTW. However, a major effect of javelins was to render shields useless. When a javelin became stuck in a shield, it made it pretty much useless, and the user would usually just discard the shield and go into melee combat without it, which of course, made them much more vulnerable. Of course, this cannot be represented in the RTW engine.

That said, I think the major problem is not the weak nature of javelins, because they will devastate many units, but the overpowered nature of phalanxes when hit by missiles from the front. They should of course be very resistant to missiles from the front, but in RTW they are practically invincible, which is ridiculous.

NO! Not in RTW, in Vanilla they die like flies against peltastai.

[WinsingtonIII]

NO! Not in RTW, in Vanilla they die like flies against peltastai.

I guess it's been too long since I've played vanilla, I thought they were pretty resistant to javelins in vanilla as well. Regardless, what I meant was that in EB phalanxes have way too much of a frontal defensive bonus against missiles, and that it is unfortunate that the RTW engine cannot represent one of the major effects of javelins, that is, to unshield some of the enemy.

[seienchin]

I guess it's been too long since I've played vanilla, I thought they were pretty resistant to javelins in vanilla as well. Regardless, what I meant was that in EB phalanxes have way too much of a frontal defensive bonus against missiles, and that it is unfortunate that the RTW engine cannot represent one of the major effects of javelins, that is, to unshield some of the enemy.

No, I used to knock out a whole phalanx by two javelinne volleys from two peltastai. One from the front, one from the side. they just died like flies and routed. I off course never use that tactic in EB

[vartan]

I guess it's been too long since I've played vanilla, I thought they were pretty resistant to javelins in vanilla as well. Regardless, what I meant was that in EB phalanxes have way too much of a frontal defensive bonus against missiles, and that it is unfortunate that the RTW engine cannot represent one of the major effects of javelins, that is, to unshield some of the enemy.

Only reason units 'die like flies' in "Vanilla" is because of the stats, if I'm not mistaken. They are in such a state that a volley of javs kills half a unit (minor exaggeration). In EB, none of the stats look like the ones in "Vanilla." Just take a look at the charge values for cavalry! VERY DIFFERENT!

[satalexton]

I think the general phenomon in EB is that if something is not 'working' or 'too weak', there's 90% of the time the user ain using it right.

Even with akonkistai, one can slaughter a unit of done correctly. Mind, these dude are merely your average urban poor given a knife, some pointy sticks and a shoddy shield.

If you want real javalin throwers, the iberians and getai the ones you should be looking for.

[WinsingtonIII]

I think the general phenomon in EB is that if something is not 'working' or 'too weak', there's 90% of the time the user ain using it right.

Even with akonkistai, one can slaughter a unit of done correctly. Mind, these dude are merely your average urban poor given a knife, some pointy sticks and a shoddy shield.

If you want real javalin throwers, the iberians and getai the ones you should be looking for.

I don't think that this is a phenomenon of something not working correctly, or being too weak, though. I think that for the most part, javelins are great, they do plenty of damage to most units, if used correctly. The exception to this is against phalanx units. A massed volley of javelins against units in phalanx mode is going to kill maybe two or three men out of a unit with 242 men in it. Let's be honest, that's a little ridiculous. The spears could deflect some missiles, but it's not like phalanxes had forcefields around them that deflected 95% of missiles away. As you say, Komotai are great units, they are one of my favorite low level units in the game, but against units in phalanx mode, their javelins seem to just bounce off. I'm not arguing that they should be devastating phalanx units, but two or three casualties from 200 javelins is putting too much faith in the phalanxes abilities.

Now, I'm personally fine with leaving this as it is, because there are still plenty of ways to destroy phalanx units, but I don't think it's correct to blame the user in this situation.

EDIT: These volleys don't even have to hit the phalanx from the front. Even if you flank, throwing javelins at a unit in phalanx mode will garner very few kills.

[Ludens]

IMy conclusion: it seems to be plausible that phalanx mode does increase the effective shield value.

That is suggestive. Maybe I need to run some tests as well.