1.3 useful and useless fractions

[LadyAnn]

Does Retrofit attempting to make from MTW2 MTW1? It just seems ridiculous, Annie.

If you think it is ridiculous, then may be it is. :D

Let me explain it a bit clearer. M2:TW balance (for MP) was broken, resulting to games with numerous rules (max 6 cavalry units and 3 horse archers, etc.) Although M:TW was played with some rules too (for example, no artillery), we could practically chose any type of faction or armies compositions without people start imposing rules (to limit exploits).

This is possible because an army composed of a lot of one kind (such as all cavalry army, or all missiles, or all infantry) is weaker than a composite army which has several types complementing each other. However, it wasn't a lot weaker than the "standard catholic" army, thus it was viable to bring variations to the battle field.

In M2:TW, single type army are either too weak or too strong. Given a game of "no rule" with sufficient florins, one can spam 20 units of heavy cavalry and beat the crap out of any one who didn't bring enough horses. Or you could bring a lot of horse archers to annoy the hell out of people.

So, I should have said "retrofit v1.0 brought M2:TW/K game balance back to the level of M:TW/Vi." Is it ridiculous? You tell me. After 3 years! :D

I do have hope that the modders of Retrofit would bring it to a better level with v2.0 (disclosure: I am not associated with these modders nor participate in their tests). I believe they could. I hope v2.0 will allow imaginative combinations of units that will give character to the factions (or a particular playing style).

M:TW/Vi(1.03) was not balanced either: the catholic army was still most optimum and adopted by many competitive players. That explains the preference for "high" era, because that's the era of pavise xbows, sword wielding heavy infantry, and lancer cavalry. However, as I said above, it was an acceptable "slight advantage" and some players would sacrifice that slight advantage for the fun of playing an unusual army, resulting in the fun of the unexpected.

Annie