
Originally Posted by
Yukon Cornelius

Originally Posted by
Seasoned Alcoholic
If you want a core of specialist heavy infantry, the Germans are probably the best choice since they have effective shock troops (Night Raiders), misc (Screechers), as well as close-combat specialists (Chosen Axes, Beserkers).
Eh, you seem a bit off here. Chosen Axemen and Berserkers are better shock troops than Night Raiders while the raiders are more likely to survive a prolonged melee. The former both have crazy high attack but pitiful defense (though the 'zerkers do have multiple hit points) while the latter has strong attack (14 IIRC, which matches Urban Cohorts) but tolerable defense as well (10-ish instead of the 5 or 6 of the others). Note that the raiders have armor and shields, unlike Chosen Axemen and Berserkers. Armor counts for a lot more than "defense skill" since armor is non-directional while shields bring arrow protection ("defense skill" and shield points are about even in melee -- both protect the front and one flank, the only difference being which flank).
Yeah I see your point, perhaps if it was re-phrased as "...a specialist core of heavy infantry...", rather than "a core of specialist heavy infantry", this makes more sense.
However, I use Night Raiders as shock troops because of the 'frighten_foot' attribute they both have in the script - essentially they may demoralise opponents when used correctly since they possess this attribute.
I'd originally modded my copy of vanilla 1.2 to improve most of the existing units defence skill / armour ratings / hitpoints in order to prolong melee. Tbh, the Very Hard difficulty setting shortens the length of SP battles against the AI. From memory the AI and human player receive combat bonuses of +4 on this difficulty level. This results in shorter battles, and typically results in the AI / human's army routing almost soon as melee is underway. Another TW forum highlighted that Medium battle difficulty settings were more challenging, as battles lasted considerably longer compared to Very Hard.
From the original text files:
Chosen Axemen
PHP Code:
type warband dhaxe german
dictionary warband_dhaxe_german ; Chosen Axemen
category infantry
class heavy
voice_type Heavy_1
soldier warband_dhaxe, 40, 0, 1.5
officer barb_standard
attributes sea_faring, hide_improved_forest, hardy
formation 1.2, 1.2, 2.4, 2.4, 3, square
stat_health 1, 0
stat_pri 18, 9, no, 0, 0, melee, blade, piercing, axe, 25 ,0.87
stat_pri_attr ap
stat_sec 0, 0, no, 0, 0, no, no, no, none, 25 ,1
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 0, 6, 0, flesh
stat_sec_armour 0, 0, flesh
stat_heat 2
stat_ground 2, -2, 3, 2
stat_mental 12, impetuous, untrained
stat_charge_dist 40
stat_fire_delay 0
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 1, 580, 200, 60, 90, 580
ownership germans
Night Raiders
PHP Code:
type barb night raiders german
dictionary night_raiders_german ; Night Raiders
category infantry
class heavy
voice_type Medium_1
soldier barb_night_raider, 40, 0, 1.2
attributes sea_faring, hide_forest, frighten_foot, hardy
formation 1.2, 1.2, 2.4, 2.4, 4, square
stat_health 1, 0
stat_pri 14, 8, no, 0, 0, melee, blade, piercing, axe, 25 ,1
stat_pri_attr no
stat_sec 0, 0, no, 0, 0, no, no, no, none, 25 ,1
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 3, 2, 5, leather
stat_sec_armour 0, 0, flesh
stat_heat 3
stat_ground 2, -2, 3, 2
stat_mental 10, impetuous, untrained
stat_charge_dist 40
stat_fire_delay 0
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 2, 540, 130, 60, 90, 540
ownership germans
Beserkers
PHP Code:
type barb berserker german
dictionary barb_berserker_german ; Berserkers
category infantry
class light
voice_type Heavy_1
soldier barb_berserker, 12, 0, 1.5
attributes sea_faring, hide_forest, frighten_foot, very_hardy
formation 1.2, 1.2, 2.4, 2.4, 2, horde
stat_health 3, 0
stat_pri 19, 8, no, 0, 0, melee, blade, slashing, axe, 25 ,0.87
stat_pri_attr no
stat_sec 0, 0, no, 0, 0, no, no, no, none, 25 ,1
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 0, 5, 0, flesh
stat_sec_armour 0, 0, flesh
stat_heat 2
stat_ground 2, -2, 3, 2
stat_mental 16, berserker, untrained
stat_charge_dist 40
stat_fire_delay 0
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 2, 840, 120, 90, 130, 840
ownership germans
You might decide to utilise Night Raiders in sustained melee and / or to commence an attack (or however you deploy them) due to their improved defence values. Tbh, I find the superior offensive values of the specialist attackers (Beserkers, Chosen Axemen) much more devastating toward enemy formations. They can simply bring down enemies at a swifter rate, even if they may reasonable casualties due to wearing next to no armour.
Beserkers and Chosen Axes (due to their poor armour ratings) make good targets for opposing archers / missile troops. I've seen many MP battles where people have tried to keep these two units as a reserve, only for them to realise that they are easy archer fodder. You might as well use Beserkers and Chosen Axes to carve a path through the enemies' lines before the opposing archers / other missiles get a chance to soften them up before they engage in melee. Then as the enemies' morale is weakening, throw in the Raiders who will literally 'shock' opponents with the 'fighten_foot' attribute. Depends how you play the game though...
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