Custom Battles

[RubiconDecision]

Will there be any pictures?

~Wille

Yes, tons of pictures, but only in the custom battle and tactics manual. You'll be able for the first time to actually see the terrain up close in the pdf, and then choose which area you wish to attack or defend from. Personally I like way more battles and less time spending on building infrastructure and troops.

I took the manual down because while it explained tactics well, it had very few custom battles... yet. Right now we're in the midst of a map update. When that happens, the map coordinates will change dramatically, so there's not much sense in documenting a certain map coordinate (appearance mostly) and then having to redo it all.

Expect all of the kinds of battles that were listed in the poll... and then some. Presently most battles happen during sieges, but the most varied battles are ones in which the terrain causes challenges. Say for example that you get pushed back around Wales into the mountains, you have to fight your way out in one: it's the only way to get back home as there is one location that only has one exit.

Sometimes you're fighting in knee or chest deep water. Maybe you're fighting in total woods, and you can imagine trying that at night and on cavalry. The way the battles are configured, the battle won't be locked, which means you can vary all the parameters.

Sometimes the terrain is very unfair, and in real life, only a fool might fight there (or the most brilliant tactician). The first to arrive at a battlefield got to choose the terrain, but of course that didn't mean that either side would engage. Battles were enormously expensive, and the longer you delay in the field, the more supplies get used up, and the men get "fat and lazy" [from the movie Gladiator].

Once the map gets locked down, I can include some pictures here. I did that before from two angles from the attacker and defender perspective. Actually within custom battles you can set it such that both parties are attacking, which is a lot more fun, but generally not always great for the AI. You want to mix it up so the AI (or you) can ambush and that means defending some.

At 4 pics per battle and probably way more than twenty, that's a lot of pictures. You additionally get the chance to fight on every settlement site, which means playing London as a field battle or any kind of fortification too. The only thing I can't do is program the special Britannia forts in the custom battle menu. Too bad as that would be awesome.

[RubiconDecision]

Since the map is staying in its current incarnation for awhile, I'll be posting some example custom battles here in the next few days. Look for a preview of the site characteristics and commentary on the challenges of the terrain, and some examples of how to deal with them. Then if you have your own ideas on how you would best deal with attacking or defending on one side of the terrain, post your own commentary. Obviously things like the unit composition, the era being played, or the use of ambush tactics will all facilitate a "win".

[RubiconDecision]

I found a bug for ranged combat, at least for archers/crossbowmen across all mods that I have tested so far. It's my guess that it's a limitation of the engine. In areas where you have archers/crossbowmen at a high elevation, and they could legitimately loose their arrow/bolts, the range might exceed the engine's depiction of them. Even though the ranged fire unit cards show that they are targeting, the actual unit animation doesn't. It also isn't using up their quarrels either, so nothing is essentially happening. If you encounter it, move your ranged units closer to their designated target and they will actually begin ranged combat at that point.

Naturally elevation offers a range advantage as it perpetuates the flight characteristics and lessens the affect of gravity to diminish the arc of it. It should in theory increase the velocity as they plummet downward, but since the descr_projectile has velocity limitations imposed, it probably doesn't. Too bad.

I'm sure that most experienced tacticians know this, but you should inch your archers up when their range exceeds the ability of the enemies. Watch carefully for the "green target in range" to switch from the red one. Halt your troops and deliberately choose which unit to target. Generally the AI is programmed to bring their ranged combat forward, and this means you should probably target them initially.

As long as any units are on the walls, ballista/cannon towers and robo archers will continue to pelt your troops. That's how it's programmed. The best strategy is to eliminate any units on the walls, and then pass a unit through the gate towers. At that point your troops have "taken the walls". A cavalry unit that is close enough can still activate the robo archers (unfair, I know), and so it's important to bring your own archers to target any cavalry at the base of the main gate.

[AJStoner]

I've noticed this too. I think its native to the game engine though. It IS annoying...

[RubiconDecision]

When running up to get ranged units within their respective areas of effect, it's easy to overshoot and go too far. Doing that could bring your archers into the range of the enemy's ranged units especially if the enemy is on elevated terrain. Watch for that. If you can imagine this in real life, while your ranged units might initially run to get into their staging area, they would undoubtedly slow down and gingerly place themselves as they got closer to it. Not grouping units helps as it slows down their placement as they try to get into position and avoid their teammates. Grouping is not recommended for ranged combat anyway as it interferes with targeting. I seldom use auto-targeting. As I whittle down a unit I am attacking, I will switch to a different target that is more juicy, whether they are all bunched up and thus easier to hit, or if they pose a greater threat.

I think the AI tends to target whoever is closer, since that makes that unit a higher threat (whether in fact it really is or not), and hence it can be to your advantage to send a unit closer to draw fire, especially if they are very fast and less vulnerable. It's a judgement call based upon say if the enemy ranged units are armor piercing versus standard arrows. Again you're also taking into account the slowness of the rate of fire of crossbowmen too.

Units hold their shields in their LEFT hand. That means you want to shoot from the right, and have your own units tactically placed to limit ranged combat (protect their left), if that makes sense. I know that's micromanaging, but those kinds of small details can make a dramatic long term difference in a unit's survival.

This also explains why enfilade shooting works better as this means more arrows are getting past the enemy's shields. See the tactical manual for a much better explanation.

[james.ep3]

I've started makeing my own custom battle maps and I've started to get the hang of It I would like to know If I could help in some way. The maps I make may be simple But I would like to help with such an awsome mod. And Here are some pictures from my raider map. In this map you play as an invading army raiding a small coastal settlement. In this example I'm a bunch of angry Vikings out for plunder and fame
Question: Would You like me to send you a copy of this custom battle for you to try out? If so how do i do that?