Zulu Mod!!!

**dclare4** · 04-02-2005, 08:40

By the way, I don't think I ever expressed my appreciation to The Mark for his sterling contribution for the Buffalo formation. Thanks very much!!

Formation-wise there's not really very much we can do I think besides the buffalo, horde, regimental line, regimental column and regimental square formations. I think most fighting (skirmishes and minor battles at least with the Euros) will be between irregulars which would be spread thin on ground and taking advantage of cover.

Cheers,
Harlechman (Clare)

**Sundjata Keita** · 04-02-2005, 09:06

There was the Zulu crescent formation and the other native tribes used the skirmisher line formation (I think it was just two lines). One other thing we must include is being able to hide in long grass, when two native tribes fought together it was mainly different regiments that would go off and approach the enemy in different ways, some might hide others might charge etc. It was very disorganised and I think it will suit the AI in RTW perfectly

**dclare4** · 04-05-2005, 11:50

" I think it will suit the AI in RTW perfectly "

HAHA! I love the bitter irony behind that line ;)

I think the ability to hide depends on what kind of unit it is and what animation it has? I see some RTW troops crouching. But actually I wonder if it's possible for us to have a special ability "crawl" for the African factions?

For the Euros I'm thinking the special ability would be normal fire and (instead of flaming arrows) short range rapid fire equivalent to "Independent! Fire at Will" (will try to get old Maurice Micklewhite to say this for us) - maybe 1000-500 yards distance rapid loading and firing at cost to accuracy.

Here's what I was wondering though, guys. What exactly DO the screaming women or general types do? What I want to do (if possible) is to make 'auxilliaries' invaluable to an army's ability to fight on the field. For the Africans these would be required:

Herd of Cattle - like Sundjata's idea these would be like the 'war dogs' except they're not really meant to fight.

Tribal Women - these would actually be the women and children of the tribe that would accompany an army out to fight. Fighting between tribes of the time usually involved more intimdation than actual killing. These were inconclusive affairs marked by showers of thrown spears. When Shaka's innovative and aggressive use of the iklwa changed tribal warfare their presence on the battlefield proved tragic. When the army they were 'rooting for' broke and ran they were slaughtered!

For the Europeans... We have the following fellows:

Supply Wagon Train - These actually should function like the mobile battering rams but are for providing protection like a wagon laager. They would hold the supplies of the army. If this is not possible they could be represented by service personnel (also so we could make good use of those cool auxilliary figures that Sundjata created).

Coralled Horses - These would be similar to the 'Herd of Cattle' for the tribes. These would be the armies mounts and carriage horses (for artillery, wagons, etc.) They would be under the watch of 'horse holders' and such.

I don't know how exactly but armies should be given some sort of a penalty if they're not present. The question is, how to make them present for battle? The only unit present for every battle is the 'general' unit but I'd rather give the general a command staff type unit. But if we have to work within the game and there's no choice...

What do you think guys?
Harlechman

**Myrddraal** · 04-05-2005, 12:29

Hm I don't think you'll be able to make a crawl animation where they stay hidden...
You get revealed when you move in RTW

**Sundjata Keita** · 04-05-2005, 13:02

Shame about the crawling it would have been very good, I wonder what the WW1 mod is going to do then. What about if the crawl was a special ability and that it reduced the chance of them getting hit by spears/bullets to zero. The ai would know they were there but would have to attack them with a melee attack.

The normal fire ability sounds good to me and so do the auxilliaries. I will get to work on the cattle model now, it looks difficult.

BTW did I mention to everyone that we will be releasing the historical battle Gqokli Hill in the next couple of weeks. There will be 4 different types of Zulu regiments on show and a cattle herd for the auxilliaries (in the real battle these played quite an important role). There will be 4 different types of Ndwandwe regiment on show and if I get round to it some tribal women (who came to celebrate the Ndwandwe victory before the battle begun).

Remember the Zulu proverb - don't begin the meal before the water is boiling

**Epistolary Richard** · 04-05-2005, 13:09

Originally Posted by dclare4

I think the ability to hide depends on what kind of unit it is and what animation it has? I see some RTW troops crouching. But actually I wonder if it's possible for us to have a special ability "crawl" for the African factions?

The hide ability depends on the unit attributes set in export_descr_unit (hide_forest, hide_anywhere etc.) but as Myrddraal says moving reveals the unit. But perhaps instead of being concealed they can have a higher protection against being shot, similar to the testudo.

Originally Posted by dclare4

What exactly DO the screaming women or general types do?

You can find some investigation of unit attributes and general in the below threads:
Effect of unit attributes
What do command stars do?

Basically though, units with command, druid or screeching women are all about giving morale boosts to nearby friendly units or morale nerfs to enemies. General (apparently) adds to attack ratings as well.

I've tried to work in some 'invaluable' units (eg, mercenary captains) to one of my mods but with little success. The unit attributes are very limited in scope and while their area of effect hasn't been measured I can't believe it's that far. Recruitment can't be made dependent on the presence of units, movement will always be limited by the slowest, unit attrition (like the defenders during a siege) isn't open in the text files AFAIK. Perhaps something can be done with scripting but that's out of league at the moment.

My only promising avenue of development appears to be general's traits and ancillaries. It would be straightforward to invent new ones to govern movement speed, morale factors, battlefield healing etc. etc.

Of course RTW was going to have a whole supply line thing as well but they ditched it. RTR mentions supply lines re: recruitment for v6.0 so perhaps one of that team can explain further.

**Sundjata Keita** · 04-05-2005, 13:19

Looks like I beat you to the crawling fix idea by about a minute

Is there no way to make it so that units have bonusses attatched to them, don't siege weapons improve morale amongst your troops? We don't need to make auxilliaries neccesary, just advantageous.

Also is there a priority setting for the killing of certain units? The enemy always seems to go for my general and I want it so that the ai goes for the cattle so they can be used as a distraction.

**Myrddraal** · 04-05-2005, 13:36

Sorry ER, It seems I deleted your double post just as you edited it, but I had a feeling that would happen, so I copied your text before I did it. I've now edited you post to contain the original message.

**Epistolary Richard** · 04-05-2005, 14:00