Two suggestions concerning combat

[HunGeneral]

1st, shooting with a bow is a much more strength-requiring and tiring job in real life than in game. For example, I remember reading in The Cambridge History of the Greek and Roman Warfare that the Seleucids chose the strongest of their recruits to be trained as archers, even so, after merely shooting about 10 arrows continually they would get fairly tired and their accuracy and range noticeably reduced. So I figure that an archer unit should become "exhausted" if they shoot all their about 30 arrows incessantly and their last 10 arrows should barely be able to hit anything except maybe an elephant sitting just ahead of them.

There might be something on that but don't forget that those were romans (b..). Most professional archers of the tiem were recruited from Hunters (nomads) who technically used a bow all there life. And yes being an archer is tiring, but in my experince most people who really use bows alot don't tire that quickly. Atleast thats my opinion.

Weren't the legionary animations in EB 1.2 already modified? They would stab whilst hiding behind their scutums...

I think that was done .. its in this short movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dDVy8eagJM

[Macilrille]

On the other hand Polybius (I think it is) tells how the Macedonian Phalanks advancing to engage the Romans is unnerved by the sight of dead countrymen from a skirmish before and hos their limbs were hacked from their bodies, etc. That might of course be post-morten mutilation for that exact reason, but my experience tells me that though the Gladius Hispanensis (which I have heard say was a large part of the reason that Scipio Africanus was so successful) is a fine weapon for stabbing; getting in close, locking the enemy's shield with their own and stabbing them in the belly, it is not bad for cutting either.

As for archery the almost mythical English longbows with their tremendous draw weight resulted in deformation of the skeleton of the trained archers (that is not a myth). These would carry no more than 72 arrows (but could be resupplied during the battle) and not shoot at the maximun rate except in the opening volleys probably. Drawing these staves strained the fingers drawing the string tremendously as well as exhausts the muscles we see enlarged by their training.

Now, I suspect that Welsh-English archers are a one-of-a-kind, to my knowledge there has been no skeletons found elsewhere with the deformations we see in them, so we might infer that other archers trained less and/or had bows with lighter draw weight. But if we go by the famous yeomanry of England, even they would tire and not fire at maximum rate of fire (10- 12 arrows/minute), but rather slightly slower (6/minute). So perchance archers should tire faster when shooting max RoF, or more RoF be available (but the RoF is probably hardcoded). Still makes the poor sods attacking at Agincourt and Crecy face 43.000 arrows/minute, even in the impenetrable proof-of-plate that cannot have been fun.

[A Very Super Market]

On the other hand Polybius (I think it is) tells how the Macedonian Phalanks advancing to engage the Romans is unnerved by the sight of dead countrymen from a skirmish before and hos their limbs were hacked from their bodies, etc. That might of course be post-morten mutilation for that exact reason, but my experience tells me that though the Gladius Hispanensis (which I have heard say was a large part of the reason that Scipio Africanus was so successful) is a fine weapon for stabbing; getting in close, locking the enemy's shield with their own and stabbing them in the belly, it is not bad for cutting either.

Probably also because limbs are skinny and difficult to stab, and chopping one in two probably saved a good deal of effort.

Why not simply have both animations?

[Julianus]

My apologize pals. It seems that my memory is more unreliable than I believed...
The original text in The History of Greek and Roman Warfare is "...modern archers lose accuracy and power after ten MAXIMUM pulls. In some armies the strongest recruits were selected to learn to shoot the bow."
I guess 10 maximum pulls with a powerful bow should be rather tiring, but can RTW engine distinguish a maximum pull from a half-way pull?

[Megas Methuselah]

My apologize pals. It seems that my memory is more unreliable than I believed...
The original text in The History of Greek and Roman Warfare is "...modern archers lose accuracy and power after ten MAXIMUM pulls. In some armies the strongest recruits were selected to learn to shoot the bow."
I guess 10 maximum pulls with a powerful bow should be rather tiring, but can RTW engine distinguish a maximum pull from a half-way pull?

Hehe, wake up and smell the coffee, brotha. RTW? EB2 is for M2TW, eh?

[GenosseGeneral]

Hehe, wake up and smell the coffee, brotha. RTW? EB2 is for M2TW, eh?

which has got a very similar engine...
i do not think that anything like archers firing only half range fire faster than ones firing at maximum range, or exhausting slower, or anything like that can be modded into the engine.

[Ca Putt]

probably the easiest way to implement this would be to make fireing with a bow as tireing as fighting in melee. if that is not possible all other solutions are unlikely to work aswell.