MTW Pocket Mod: Units, Buildings and Unit Stats

[gollum]

Hi,
a suggestion that springs from the 1.0.9 beta playtest i did and need to post before i forget;

LOCAL UNITS - flavor versus stack balance and battlefield balance

CA gracefully provided a number of extra *local* units in the VI unitprod file that are used/barely used/not used.

This in my opinion should be taken advantage in order to use the new info pics/sprites to add units that are faction/homeland specific rather than units that can be recruited by *everyone* that occupies the regions they can be built.

This includes many cases you are aware of as the javelin units and the Slav Warrior units.

The problems with such units are;

1. They are very weak in the field and autocalc and get weaker as the ages change

2. The AI preffers them, so they affect stack composition. Its really very easy to fight stacks full of javelins or stack warriors and the *flavor* is not worth this downgrading - neither the *the player enjoys the javelins so put loads in anyway* argument.

3. The AI fails miserably to use them in the field. As with most hybrids the AI does not protect javelins with say spears against cavalry and their short range and skirmish use by the AI turns them into headless chikens once cavalry is unleashed.

You have addressed this problem with eastern hybrids - desert archers are very resilient to medium charger cavalry (at least in deserts) and only knights can round them up like sheep as in vanilla.

Consider addressing it for javs too - the vanilla Murabitins can be an excellent basis on which to base javelins; they should be units that are nearly immune to archer fire - large shield/pavise (but suffer from xbows and guns); units that can partially self resist cavalry (spear attribute that immunes them to horse charges) and also semidecent light infantry so they can be engaged by the AI and be felt.

Increasing javelin range and desreasing ammo should also help in making them more useful to the AI - by the time they empty their loads faster than usual (since longer range and less ammo increase the possibilities of that happening) the AI will use them in melee sooner than he does and in this way they may actually help turn the tide of battles.

4. Availability and upkeep. Two more achilees heels for these units. They are too easily recruitable and cost nothing to get and maintain. So the AI spams them as all know. By making them better fighters (see above) you can justify an increase in their cost and upkeep so that they are built as an icing to a besic force of spears/swords/cavalry/shooters by any faction that can use them and not their bread and butter.

In essence only units that are recruitable in 1 province work well in this way - say the Swabian swords (decent but from single province) or the Avars in vanilla (again decent only 1 province) or the Alans.

Units that need such treatments are the javelins, the slavs, woodsmen etc - the so called junk units.

!it burnsus!

[ULC]

It may just be me, but unit rosters need to be reworked in my opinion so we the AI always has some form Spear/Sword/Shooter/Cavalry combination. Units such as the "Woodsmen", "Archer", "Spearman", and "Medium Cavalry" (all just examples) could be considered the basic level of unit production for European states, modified by that factions exclusive units. As to the Arabic and African nations, I am not sure what one would consider "basic" among them - Desert Archers, Bedouin Camelry, Arab Infantry, and Spearmen?

[caravel]

It may just be me, but unit rosters need to be reworked in my opinion so we the AI always has some form Spear/Sword/Shooter/Cavalry combination. Units such as the "Woodsmen", "Archer", "Spearman", and "Medium Cavalry" (all just examples) could be considered the basic level of unit production for European states, modified by that factions exclusive units.

This ties in well with what I'm actually trying to achieve. I have renamed Archers to "Foresters" and I may extend the availability of woodsmen somewhat. At the moment, as you have hinted, there are gaps (some of which are huge) that need to be filled.

As to the Arabic and African nations, I am not sure what one would consider "basic" among them - Desert Archers, Bedouin Camelry, Arab Infantry, and Spearmen?

Yes, along with Berber Camels, Nubian Spearmen and Desert Horse Archers.

If you have any input as to the correct structure of the unit rosters I'd be glad to read it.

[caravel]

Well I'm not happy with the tech tree as it stands so it's probable that in the next version I will be reverting an earlier model, more similar to 1.06. I will then probably work from there reassigning units and removing redundancy.

-Edit: Does anyone have 1.06 by any chance?

[naut]

I have 1.07, but not 1.06.

[caravel]

Gah... oh well back to the drawing board then. Thanks anyway.

I am open to suggestions for the improvement of the tech tree. As you know I tend to admit when I've got it wrong and I think I've got it pretty wrong this time. The huge gaps between units becoming available are very off-putting and the amount of useless buildings I find myself constructing equally so.

The only thing I like about the current setup is the ribat/nomad camp and the muster field/inn. I'll keep these as they are.

I think I will have to go for a tech tree roughly based on the former one, but with only one building per unit for infantry and two for cavalry and knights/elite cavalry.