Adding swimming units

[iamphet]

Vanilla bridge battles look too unbalanced for me so I'm thinking of adding swimming capabilities to some units.
What I don't want to do is to review each and every unit so I would prefer to do this automatically based on category, class and mass of the unit.
E.g., light and missile infantry and cavalry look like good candidates to swim unless they are too heavy or their stat_pri_armour is too high.

The extra good point is that in fact can_swim does not require BI

Any comments, ideas or even ready implementations?

[Diamondj]

I would say that the skill should be particularly common in barbarian units

[AngryAngelDD]

hmm, i would say swimming should be possible for units without heavy armor.
so nearly all NON ARMOURED skirmishers(akontistai etc.) should be able to swim.
heavier troops (Peltastai-class and up) should not be allowed to swim.

light cavalry (illyrian, german light, hippakonstistai etc.) would also do.

perhaps some light infantry (non-skirmishing ones) should receive such trait.
perhaps the roman Antesignani (from later reforms) might get this, to give them an edge over the other heavy roman infantry.


to summarize i would decide on these conditions:

scale/mail-armoured troops not possible.
none/clothes/leather armour could/should be able to swim.
linothorax(hardenend hellenic linen) perhaps, depending on unit and other factors.

heavy shield (greek aspis, roman scutum etc.) should not be able
light shield (caetra, small roman round shields etc) could be able
medium shields (thureos) perhaps, depending on other factors.


my 2cents
AADD

[I of the Storm]

Regarding the performance of swimming units in BI or other mods, I'm afraid it won't help much, since swimming is so exhausting and it seems to me that the swimming feature is somehow broken or not quite perfect. By the time they reach the other bank they're exhausted and will probably rout instantly. When they receive one or more well placed volleys while still swimming it's even worse, they rout in the water and drown. You could counter this by increasing their stamina but I'm not sure about that balancing-wise.

Apart from that, bridge battles aren't that bad in EB. When faced with proper heavies I remember having a hard time (or two) holding a bridge, even with phalangites.

[Diamondj]

I think it is purposely exhausting for the units otherwise it would be too easy, and it would almost be like not having a river at all. What you have to do is order your units swim upstream or downstream from the action and then rest on the other side of the bank.

[Pharnakes]

No archers should be able to swim. Even armoured elephants should be able to, though. An elephant can carry its own weight in water and still swim.