Slow Battles

[Cbvani]

Hi, I'm new on the forum and have been with EB since .80. I noticed, however, that battles seem to go slower than they do in RTW Vanilla. Not because of a frame rate slowdown; rather, my units seem less lethal than units in RTW. Fights between units take much longer to resolve, and in cases where I get trapped in bottlenecks (such as in sieges) even using my elite troops to brute-force my way through the enemy takes much longer than it seemed to in RTW.

Why is this? I read somewhere on the EB forum that different units have different weapon lethality ratings. Is this true, and how would I go about changing this?

I appreciate the amount of work and effort and realism in EB, and this is my only real gripe with it. I hope I put this topic in the right spot.

(No, it really isn't due to a framerate slowdown. I can run RTW vanilla at max graphics and experience noticeable slowdowns only during large sieges and very epic-sized battles.)

[Charge]

stat_pri         4, 4, javelin, 55, 6, thrown, archery, piercing, spear, 10 ,1
stat_pri_attr    thrown
stat_sec         12, 4, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, spear, 0 ,0.125
stat_sec_attr    light_spear

see this bits? This is lethality of which they was spoke about. And if you want to alter this go and change it for all units (missile leth. always 1) by certain percent in EDU.

[Cbvani]

Thank you! I understand EB is meant to be very balanced as is, but does anyone have reccomendations for a way to speed up the kills without messing up everything?

[mcantu]

Do you have battles set to medium difficulty? This is where it should be if you want balanced units...

[Charge]

As long as all proportions are same, you want mess it :)

Simply double all lethality stats to speed up killing rates.

that's alot of time though :D

[Puupertti Ruma]

That is intentional. The common opinion among TW players is that in Vanilla TW the battles are way too fast. With forces routing only after seconds of fighting, many tactical aspects are lost, for instance a well planned flanking maneuver loses it's point when the opponent routs as the battlelines meet. To remedy this situation EB has indeed toned down the lethality ratings of units to make the battles last longer.

To modify this yourself, go to the export_descr_units.txt and change the last number on the weapons line, but be warned, it will screw up the unit balance.

All things put together I highly recommend that you try to play without modifying the files. Instead, try to figure out ways to use this extra time in you're hands. You can use it to make a wise tactical maneuver or micromanager your troops without frantically pressing pause, or just zoom in on the frey and enjoy the beatifully modelled EB units in full action, which is best IMHO.

[Cbvani]

Hmmm - I found something new! I had never played Makedonia before (just hadn't gotten around to it.) And just started a new campaign as them. The battle speed seems to work perfectly for them - using phalanxes to pin down the enemy then circling around behind with cavalry and attacking - but not so much for a faction like Rome. (It may be because I have yet to find the best tactic for Romani battles. Brute force is usually what I end up using.)

[Paganist]

Use maniple (check wikipedia for more info)? Hastati first line, principes next and then triarii. With some good skirmishers (velites) + Mistrophoroi toxotai kretikoi (did I type it right?) with some decent cavalry support (equites extraordinarii just rocks). I always play like that with romans, and that works =).

And that ugly guy who posted above, is right too. After I went to EB, battles in vanilla rtw are just a nightmare. You can't even flank as you'll have to keep your general near your troops, ortherwise, they rout instantly.