Question For Chariots

[artavazd]

is there a way to mod the chariots in the game to be more leathal. They dont kill the troops they just knock em down. it gets very annoying. If any one can help i appricated
thanks.

[Shadar]

well, the problem is that chariots being more lethal is a little stupid, since they will stuff you up when you're using them and they run amok, or they will stuff you up when the computer is using them.

If you want to make the chariots more lethal, maybe add in a unit or so of disposable horsemen to run behind the chariots? That may not directly increase your chariot kill rate, but it will increase their lethality since scattered infantry is lunchmeat for a buncha cavalry (unless they're uber like those CRAZY spartan hoplites... crazy buncha guys can slaughter anything they want, anytime they want).

[artavazd]

i know having horsemen runing behind the chariots is a good tactic, but what i wanted to know was is it possible for chariots to kill the troops instead of just knocking them on the ground.

[Oaty]

It might be possible to remove the falldown/get backup animation. And if so the soldiers only choice when they get hit is death.

[artavazd]

u have any idea how thats done?

[Lochar]

Hmmm, what faction are you playing?

I am currently playing selucid now and the sycthe chariots have those spiked wheels, I do plenty damage with them. Matter of fact, I wasnt paying attention and parked them behind my phalnx near my general and next thing I know they ran amok and killed all my generals bodyguards but 4. Some like the missle chariots tho , do more knockdown.

I dont use them alot due to that running amok feature, same with elephants, or if I do its when they are out in the open and my troops arent around, but its usually my bad fortune to get them routed right thru my troops.

[artavazd]

im playing as the britons. The generals chariots are just like the lighter archer chariots in that they just knock other troops down

[Shadar]

I mucked around with the Egyptian chariots and those seem quite good, although they are NOWHERE near cavalry in terms of crashing into the rear of an enemy formation.

In the case of the Britons, i would just use the general's chariot to knock down infantry in (very) thin formations before my infantry/cavalry fall upon them, since that would make said infantry easy prey for any supporting troops. But you need to be careful since a formation thats too thick would bog your general's unit down, which is suicidal, or at the very least, get some of your chariots stuck and then killed.

[Shadar]

oh. and forgot to say about the making them more effective..

Perhaps change the mount of the chariot and its secondary stats?

Check under the "export_descr_unit.txt" file in the Data folder, and compare the different scythed chariots with the british light chariot - look at the Egyptian chariots especially. I can't figure out how they're different. Maybe just changing the chariot mount type to a scythed chariot will do?

[LegolasII]

wat i think is stupid is how they knock the enemy troops over yet they loose control and run amok eventually and if they even touch ur troops they start dying and u cant stop them..... and it sucks even after ive won a battle and was killing suriviors they started to run amok for no apparent reason and killed several of my troops while i chased away the enemy.... y does it seem if one group runs amok the others usually seem to follow?

[artavazd]

well the egyptian chariots are not very effective either. The chariots in the game are almost like eye candy in the sense that they look pretty nice but are generaly useless. If there are any experts taht know how to change the mechanism of the chariot attack to actualy kill the enemy instead of just running them down that would be great.

[katank]

Chariots are very powerful at busting up enemy formations. The Egyptian chariot general is overpowered.

The key is to follow chariots with a cav charge and always charge behind the enemy so the chariots push through.

Seleucid combo of first eles, then scythe chariots, and then cataphracts can bowl over practically any force. I rarely need to move up silvershields to engage as that force already did the trick.

The problem is that the Britons don't have cav. While they didn't have very strong horsemen like the Gauls and Germania, they should at least get vanilla barbarian cav though not noble cav.

In the interim, buy barbarian merc cav any time you can when the Britons and use them carefully as they are worth their weight in gold.

[Oaty]

u have any idea how thats done?

I do'nt know how it's done but asking the question in the modding section will get you there. Of course removing the fall-down animation is no guarantee for successful or desirable results. So before you mod, make a copy of the original.

[Epistolary Richard]

Of course removing the fall-down animation is no guarantee for successful or desirable results.

It'll certainly yank the cord of everyone who has more than one hit point!

Chariots, yeah! As Shadar said, you'll want to play around with their sec_attack in export_descr_model and maybe some of the factors in descr_mount. My own personally trained chariots can do stuff like this...

Play with Hillmen



Play with Legionaries (they ain't no real legionaries!)



They can get a bit carried away, though, and start trying to crowd surf... oh the humanity!... and the horsanity!



We're here all summer, catch us if you can!

[Kraxis]

Notice in the second shot the giant SS (pun intended) Legionary standing off in the distance. He doesn't look happy! RUN AWAY!

But let me guess, you just added the elephant attack to the chariots?
What happens when the chariots are standing still? Do they still throw people around?

[Epistolary Richard]

Not even that, that's their natural attack (though the chariot and the elephant attack have virtually the same _attr). As the chariot attack (as opposed to the rider's) only occurs when it's moving, no one would be launched if they were caught while stationary.

The only change here was that these chariots had the mass of an Oliphant. But for all that, it didn't change the lethality of the chariot attack as all the legionaries got up again!

I got far more lethal results just by changing them to:

stat_sec         63, 28, no, 0, 0, melee, blade, slashing, none, 25 ,1

But while they killed quicker, they still got bogged down and destroyed like vanilla chariots. So, as I say, to improve the chariots significantly one would have to mess around with mass, defence as well as attack.


BTW after the battle I changed the mass back to normal. Then I watched the replay and blow me down, the chariots got pounded! They were back at their original mass, trying to follow orders that they were given when they were smacking people around like nine-pins. Obviously the replays aren't just recording the visual information, they're sourcing some info from the game files to recalculate some of the actions taking place.

[Craterus]

those screenshots are really cool but i only use chariots for charging into the back of infantry and chasings things down as they run away...
i prefer chariot archers