Empire Realism | Feedback + General Discussion (until incl. 3.7, defunct thread)

[Legionary Titus Pullo]

and why do colonial militia have an upkeep almost double that of line troops

[JaM]

El Chupanibre: ER uses 2 rank fire system this is closer to reality than single rank fire. Anyway same principles work with it as you mentioned - if you stretch unit into 2 ranks, you will get more men firing, because third rank has limited FOW. With vanilla volley fire, first rank would only fire, second wont fire at all even if it has FOW.. ( i have tested this extensively)


Legionary Titus Pullo: Natives are harder to hit, as they are usually in open formation, while using some cover if available. In the future i plan to give them crouching animation instead of standing to better portray this. Practically all skirmisher units are this way, as they are supposed to take cover, which makes them harder to hit with massed salvos.

Another thing to consider when fighting natives is disorder effect musket fire produces. Normally you will be only able to deliver 1-3 salvos with unrestricted accuracy, anyway once disorder level increases to heavy, unit gets huge accuracy penalty (-80%) Therefore, if you want to get best results, its best to make your line units to march forward to close distance, and deliver few salvos. Most of the time, natives will break after first such salvo...

Regarding Militia units - i have mentioned this before, anyway - these men are composed of productive population of your provinces, therefore if you summon them, you are hurting your economy (as they are not working on their fields, or manufactures). But, as Militia, they can be summoned faster (1 turn vs 2-4 for proffesional troops) and their initial cost is much lower (about the same as upkeep 400) So, player has two options - spend more money recruiting professional troops which will cost you more money initially, but in the long run, due to their lower upkeep (they are recruited from volunteers, which have nothing better to do..) they will cost you less. Militia units are fine for short periods of time, when they can be recruited faster, while their recruitment cost is low. But after few turns they will be too big burden for your economy and are better sent home (disbanded)..

[JaM]

Few news regarding full version - I'm currently working on economy aspect, trying to make trading with resources very beneficial. Background resources supply will get reduced a lot, which will increase prices significantly. I also plan to reduce amount of resources gained from each trade node (original value 20 per ship, i plan to reduce it to 5-10), which will make resources gained from colonies more profitable. Overall plan is to give player and AI much more money to afford more units. CAI is already set for better economy development, but because of low initial profits, AI went bankrupt too often. (in new version, AI wont be allowed to overspend)

[Legionary Titus Pullo]

sounds good, and thank you for the response, it all makes sense now

[JaM]

Another small update: I intend to adjust AOR settings a bit with next (full) release. Currently certain region IDs are not set correctly, for example Russian_Home_regions doesnt contain Petersburg, which means Russians are unable to recruit infantry there.. Hopefully i will be able to add this (just found good tutorial how to do it

I will also adjust region ids for other Russian units too, for example, my intention is to give them access to Provincial Line Infantry, but only in European regions, so they wont be able to recruit them in Tartary or Caucasus, while Cosacs wont be available in those regions.

[El Chupanibre]

Are you planning to unlock some minor factions for the campaign and custom battles?

[JaM]

Minor factions are quite limited for campaign play, not sure it would be a good idea, especially for those which doesn't have large city in the province (requirement for full military recruitment right now)

[JaM]

Currently working on few modifications for Russian units. Cossacks will be using lances now, which will give them some extra punch in charges. Also Ataman Cossacks will be renamed to LifeGuard Cossacks. Ataman actually means something like "Commander" and Cossacks NEVER actually formed a unit of commanders... (lol) its just another example of CA failed unit research when they were developing this game...

Also Vybornyie Streltsy will be converted into Dragoon type cavalry. They will get muskets, and will be able to dismount - Their stats will be slightly better than normal streltsy, so they could be used as mobile infantry quite effectively.

[JaM]

ER 3.8 Full is in beta stage, if anybody is interested in beta testing, let me know and i will give you a link.

here are few changes done over weekend:

- adjusted farms output which now increases population growth more. Wineries are not as effective as standard farms, but they provide nice GDP bonus.
- Production bonuses were adjusted to provide profit based on tier of the building linearly. Steam Factories provide about 2x more than low tier factories.
- resources demand and costs were adjusted, trade is more profitable.
- Absolutist Monarchies are good with repression, which allows them to set tighter taxes and can keep provinces from rebelling slightly better.
- Eastern units got volley fire back instead of fire by rank, They now use mob formation and fire from more ranks,which makes them slightly more effective. Western troops still have advantage in firepower thanks to their flintlock muskets, as Easterners still use long barreled matchlocks, which have longer range and are more accurate, but are very slow to reload (flintlock musket has 2:1 approximately advantage is rate of fire) Anyway Elite Eastern units with lots of experience can be very deadly foe(as experience increases reload skill which reduces reload time and misfire probability)...

[spab]

I will start on 3.8 shortly. Any control points I should look-for to verify proper installation of 3.8?

Any changes to democracies because they do not get the repression bonus?

[JaM]

Just copy it all into data folder, overwriting all files. ( think new ones are still named same, but if not, delete old version first.) campaign folder can be overwritten - it contains adjusted startpos files so its quite important to have those..

[El Chupanibre]

I have some suggestions for Minutemen that I think make them more accurate:

- They should be 100 not 200 men, same as other militias
- They should fight in a looser mob formation, not neat ranks
- They should not have the square ability

Minutemen were not well trained by any standard, they were not a regular force, they didn't have uniforms and were basically farmers who got together every few weeks to train with their guns. During the Revolution commanders couldn't rely on them for much and just placed them somewhere where they could at least delay the enemy before they broke and ran. But they could be anywhere rapidly and were very necessary before the Continental Army was formed. I also think in the campaign they should be free, but you can only recruit a certain number of them.

[JaM]

Actually i spend some time researching Minuteman, have few Osprey books about them, and i think the way they are modeled now is pretty accurate - they were just simple militia Americans used initially, nothing special. Anyway they were deployed in battle line like other units, and while most of the time were not very reliable, they had their moments. While i agree they shouldn't have square formation, other things will stay, as they were supplementing line battalions wherever needed, so they have standard 3 line deployment. But also they are militia force, which means their cost is same as upkeep, which means they are unnecessary burden to your economy in the long run, and you will be far better off with regular force instead of them. They are sized as all line units, as 100men size is reserved for skirmishers and specialist troops, and Minutemen were none of those.

[spab]

ER 3.8 Beta Test - Short Campaign, Great Britain, H/H - Comments, Bugs, Suggestions and Annoyances, #1

Turns 1- 4
(1) Downloaded, unzipped and installed five files and one folder into Data:
· campaign folder replaced the old one
· proper_militia replaced spankys_proper
· ER_3.7_Essentials and _Main replaced old ones
· ER3_Graphics replaced old one
· Mod_bsm_4.1 replaced old one
(2) In NER, you can "ambush" on the campaign map. Since I do not see this in ER, I assume it is not an ER feature
(3) On the campaign map, could the review panel background color be a little more grey and less bright white
(4) Your change to the starting units costs so that you do not have to disband units is appreciated
(5) You addressed this before, but I will include to keep on list - the recruiting and per-turn maintenance costs in the text boxes for starting units and those to be recruited at the barracks are different.
(6) While holding cursor over James Whitson/Rake darkly charismatic a screen wide, narrow text box with ”””” pops-up
(7) Research of Improved Supply Dystem is mis-spelled
(8) During the first turn, Prussia had, what I thought, was an very unreasonable trade proposal - East Prussia and trade agreement for Ruperts Land, Ireland, and trade agreement
(9) In the Barracks text box for recruitment, the GB light inf (1200) cost more than the chasseurs brit (1000) but the only two advantages the light inf has - more ammo and better cohesion ability . Both have same morale. Is cohesion an ability the player can not view and therefore the extra cost is justified
(10) The GB light inf (1200) cost more than the line inf (1125), should line have better melee and charge, and also cost more. Also, light inf can hide in buildings, whereas the line inf abilities does not include that - I assume the line can enter buildings but just not hide
(11) On the Barracks text box, comparing the stats and costs of the hvy cav (early), dragoon guards and dragoons:
· researching improved cav drill produces significantly better stats and lower cost in the dragoon guards than hvy cav, but researching carbines gives you dragoons that are more expensive and have lower stats than dragoon guards, therefore, researching carbines and paying for dragoons versus dragoon guards does not seem to be worth it
· what is the garrison bonus for dragoon guards
(12) Is it possible to change the ratio to 1:1
(13) GB caribbean fleet - second battle with pirates - the campaign map shows different ship guns than battle map 50 vs 58 and 14 vs 18
***************************************************************************
The following occurred on my first game after installing 3.8. I started a new game with exactly the same starting conditions and they disappeared.
(14) On campaign map, the fleet icon has significantly thicker bars for each unit in the fleet
(15) The text boxes of the starting GB land units located in Philadelphia and Boston show their upkeep cost is a long negative number and the review panel icon shows a “0” versus actual units of 400. The land units in GB show a “1” versus 400. However, my turn 2 budget did not appear to be corrupted
****************************************************************************

Off-Topic - haven’t played Shogun 2 yet, any mods you would recommend. Update - I was reading DaVinci posts regarding S2R+ and understand that it is no longer compatible with the recent Steam patches. So revising my question, are there any mods that have a primary emphasis on realism that you would recommend?

[JaM]

Currently considering completely remove USA as reemerging faction from standard main campaign, so there wont be any chance for USA in early 18.century just because of some natives couldn't hold the region.. USA will be playable faction for RTI campaign episode 3 and 4 only. (USA wasnt playable before anyway)




spab: thanks for feedback

[Mjarr]

Minor factions are quite limited for campaign play, not sure it would be a good idea, especially for those which doesn't have large city in the province (requirement for full military recruitment right now)

But it could provide interesting challenge for a change.

[El Chupanibre]

Here's my suggestion for playable factions to add:
Bavaria
Denmark
Venice
Mughals
Persia
Portugal
Mysore?

[JaM]

SOme of them sounds good, especially Portugal. I will probably enable some of them in next release, anyway current priority for esf change will be to remove USA as emergent faction in main campaign.

Also, i plan to increase costs for new buildings considerably, especially for higher tier buildings so player will be able to spend all those money they can earn now..

[JaM]

Ok, so, from next version USA wont ever emerge in main campaign no matter what. Instead of them, if those provinces rebel, Thirteen Colonies faction will emerge instead.

[JaM]

Next version will also contain small military technology reorganization:

- Former Fire and Advance research will be renamed to Improved Infantry Training, and will decrease misfire rate at cost of increase of unit cost. It will also enable light infantry behavior for skirmishers. (Light Infantry Tech will just enable advanced Light Infantry units)
- Live Fire Training will be moved one tier lower because of Square formation
- Hollow infantry square will return, but as late military technology.

Naval Tech Tree reorganization will contain:

- Improved Naval Guns tech will be moved to second tier, but will require Blast Furnace to be researched first.
- New second tier tech will be Flannel gunpowder cartridges which will increase rate of fire and reduce misfires.
- Carronades will be moved to third tier due to their historical late 18.century invention.
- Flintlock mechanism will be the last tech in naval gunnery tree (same reason as with Carronades)
- 32 gun Frigates will be not available from the start (except few pre-placed ones) for all factions except French. you will need to research Naval Architecture Advances to get them.


Also i have made small adjustments to howitzers. While i enabled bouncing from the ground for explosive shots (they used burning fuse, not modern contact fuse... shells often rolled around if fuse was too long), i have increased reliability for shells a bit. Originally you had to be lucky for shell to explode correctly.. now it will cause more damage,so howitzer battery will be comparable in effectivity to standard arty battery..

And of course after good feedback provided from testing, i have adjusted cavalry costs, especially for Dragoon Guards, Dragoons and Light Dragoons. Dragoon Guards will be costly heavy dragoons with good experience (2 exp), while normal dragoons will be of same quality as standard infantry (1exp). Light Dragoons are special, as they are more like mounted Skirmishers, with good experience,but less effective on horseback than normal Dragoons or Dragoon Guards.

Another change for naval units will bring more crew for every military ships. I will increase number of Marines and Sailors so ships will now have full rosters. (1.rate crew will increase from 267 to 335, while 6.rate Frigate will go from 95 to 117 men.) Number of gunners will stay, as it defines number of guns ship has available (all 50 gun ships have more than 50 guns available, but they only have crew to handle 50 guns)

Also i plan to do some adjustment to trade ships after i got inspired by Bethencourt idea - Plan is to restrict number of trade ships available to smaller number (5), while increase the amount of goods each ship will provide (vanilla value 20, intention is to increase it to 100). Each faction will have very limited amount of trade ships, without reducing the amount of trade from trade areas.. I'm also considering adding another trade ship with higher recruitment limit, which would be linked directly to higher trade post tiers, to simulate increased trade in late 18.century.


Another thing i'm considering is to change scale for cavalry units. Cavalry is quite effective now, can destroy any infantry unit during charge, expecially because their number is not that far behind to infantry size (120 vs 200), Thing is, Infantry is now formed in battalions, which was the smallest tactical infantry unit independently used on battlefield, but Cavalry size is too big to represent cavalry squadron, while too small to represent Cavalry regiment (which had about similar size as Infantry regiment). Therefore I'm considering to reduce cavalry unit size to represent Cavalry Squadrons, reduce cavalry prices a bit, while increasing numbers of specialist units. Single cavalry Regiment had about 4-6 cavalry Squadrons, so instead of having 1 unit available before, now there will be 4-6 units available for recruitment. It would also allow me to place all cavalry units into 2 rank formation, which would make them much less susceptible from artillery fire, while keeping the initial impact 120men formation had deployed in 4 ranks. Smaller cavalry unit numbers would also mean these units will be easier to wipe out in case of incorrect use. (new cavalry squadron size will be 60-65 men, while unit cost will be halved) Cavalry will also lose "fatigue resistant" trait, so it will be more susceptible to disorder if ordered to run long distances. (walking wont increase fatigue/disorder as before)