Quote Originally Posted by Quilts
About no.s in phalanx units. When at full strength, I think their numbers were based on 16 (1 file) being quadrupled ie- 16 smallest, 64, 256, 1024, 4096 largest being deemed a 'phalanx'.

Did you consider a 9 per figure scale so each guy could represent a neat 3x3 arrangement? That way the space occupied by each figure could be consistent with 'known' spacings etc

Not too sure about the 'evolving' recruitment bit. Wouldn't that require tripling the no. of units in the game which I think is already getting close to bursting point.

However, I personally would be very interested in a mod where all factions can recruit their troops from the outset rather than just the levy options which most factions only have access to at the beginning.
Yes about phalanxes. At the moment, I have left them all at 1440, which is the Alexandrian Macedonian size. It is true that the evidence points to the successors using a binary doubling of 256, 512, 1024 etc. We could change them all to 1024, but we can't do 2048..not enough figures.

I did consider 9. I also considered 10 (nice and neat and easy to multiply), 12, 20 and other numbers. It turned out that 6 worked out well to get the balance of units right, especially for Romans and Greeks. Also, the scaling is nice, not too slow. If the number gets too big, the engine tends to not support it, for example, the minimum range is absolute at 20. You make a good point about spacings though. I COULD in theory, go through the spacing for each unit and change it to represent the fact that we have 3 guys wide by 2 deep. Basically, increase the width of everything by 50%. That would make it even more linear than it is now, but I am not sure if it will look good or wierd.

The tripling of units need only apply to some things. For example, if we take the basic 'spear warband' of the celts or similar, the more common troops in other words, I think they could be doubled, tripled (small, medium, large) or even more variations in size if desired. There is a problem that they will NOT be able to be mixed when they suffer casualties. The game will say 'warband small' can't be mixed with 'warband medium', which is a bit sad.

I don't want to take all semblance of 'progress' out of the game, but having to build for generations before getting the 'good troops' isn't really right. The reforms is another matter entirely...I think they are quite well represented...although it isn't true that things 'progressed' in the way that the game shows, and that later legionaries were just 'better' than republican (polybian) legions.

I am not sure how close we are to the unit limit. I thought we were at the model limit but there was still room for units? Dunno.

Cheers,

Hunter