Roma Surrectum II Unit Browser

[Tyblitz]

Dear TWcenter community, and in particular, die-hard RSII fans,

I bring to you a simple unit-browser (for all factions) of Roma Surrectum II,
which is nothing more than a quickly patched together webpage that will run locally in your webbrowser of choice,
but allows for somewhat more flexibility and visual 'niceness' than an Excel sheet.

Features

• Complete unit lists for the 21 RS II factions
• All (most important) unit info can be consulted: defense stat details, morale details, full descriptions, and a special bonus in the abilities:
  units have been assigned traits: 'Suffers from heat/ Suffers mildly from heat/ Benefits from heat', when their stat_heat is resp. 2 or higher, 1, or lower than 0. Although the units do not really 'benefit' from the heat, they in contrast to 3/4th of other units do not have a fatigue penalty, which plays in their advantage.
• A search box (for unit names). Alternatively you can use Ctrl + F for global in-browser search
• View filters (buggy): Select whether you only want to look at infantry, cavalry, siege, or naval units, or melee vs. missile units, or faction-specific vs. mercenary units. This is somewhat buggy (the filters are reset every time you view a new faction + eg. turning on a filter for 'mercenary' while 'cavalry' is unchecked will show all mercenaries, also cavalry).
• Variable unit size.

Preview



Download Link (15MB, mediafire.com)

How to install

• Download the ZIP and extract (eg. C:/Users/%user%/Documents/RS_II_Unit_browser)
• (Optionally) To create an icon on your desktop, run 'create_shortcut.bat' (inside the extracted folder).
• Click on the shortcut (or if you didn't make one, on index.html in the extracted folder) and it will open in your standard browser.

Screenshots

How unit info is displayed

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Viewing only the Roman 'Legio XX [...]' units

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Viewing only the Belgae naval units

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Viewing the extended description of 'Legio XXII Deiotariana'

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Notes on use

• This tool will not work in Internet Explorer 8 or older. All other browsers ok.

Thanks to

• Vercingetorix for his PAK extractor tool
• Aradan for his comprehensive EDU guide.
• dvk901 for explaining (a year ago or so) how RTW looks up media assets

[Tyblitz]

I'm not allowed to edit my post, so here's a fixed link for the first image in the 'Screenshots' section.

How unit info is displayed

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Tyblitz]

Eh... wrong one again -.-; this time it's good:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[dvk901]

OK, that's really cool. I'm going to include it in the next patch if you're ok with that.

[Tyblitz]

Sure I am. I'd like to fine-tune a couple of things (like the half-buggy view-filters), but I think it already provides some value.
And I didn't know RS II was still actively being patched (nice surprise!); what is the latest one? (I use RS 2.6 on my pc)

[dvk901]

The next release is going to be RSIII....and oh yes, it will be even more awesomer than RS2.6. RS is long from dead...unless Steam and Microsoft succeed in killing it.
Let me know when you update this, and I will also update.

[Tyblitz]

Actually I already fixed it.
It fully works as expected now + added some features in top-right corner (faction-wide unit count, merc. vs faction-specific count, infantry vs. cavalry count),
and I also added a readme.txt with basic info on how to use.

Here's the new download link (mediafire)
(will update first post tomorrow, cheers)

[hittitechar]

This is a very cool program. Thank you for sharing it.

[Tyblitz]

Found a bug with the calculation of the siege type units: they only display the melee attack (which is the attack of the crew, not of the engines).
Also if anyone more knowledgeable knows the exact formula for the total defense in the in-game unit descriptions;
I just had a wild guess adding shield, armour and skill defense of stat_pri_armour
Fixing soon.

[Alavaria]

Hmm, does this show those units which do things like have a normal spear or javelin but a special armor-piercing secondary attack?

[Tyblitz]

Hmm, does this show those units which do things like have a normal spear or javelin but a special armor-piercing secondary attack?

Hey Alavaria, thanks for your interest.
It shows all units in EDU.txt. I don't really see which units you're targeting exactly.
Perhaps the units which have a 'prec' attribute in 'stat_pri/sec_attr' ? (from the comments in EDU.txt: "Missile weapon is only thrown just before charging into combat")

I'm conscious of some game mechanics but not all; A unit is converted from EDU.txt to the format required for this tool like so:
(orange = stat lines that were split into separate properties; red = involves some conditionals and calculus )

{
        "dictionary": "barb_peasant_briton",
        "category": "infantry",
        "class": "light",
        "attributes": [
            "sea_faring",
            "hide_improved_forest"
        ],
        "size": 60,             => from soldier (2nd stat)
        "heat_penalty": 2,
        "charge_distance": 30,
        "fire_delay": 0,
        "turns": 1,              => from stat_cost (1st stat)
        "cost": 150,             => from stat_cost (2nd stat)
        "upkeep": 100,         => from stat_cost (3rd stat)
        "def_armour": 3,         => from stat_pri_armour (1st stat)
        "def_skill": 1,             => from stat_pri_armour (2nd stat)
        "def_shield": 0,           => from stat_pri_armour (3rd stat)
        "morale": 0,               =>  from stat_mental (1st stat)
        "discipline": "low",       => from stat_mental (2nd stat)
        "training": "untrained", => from stat_mental (3rd stat)
        "charge_bonus": 0,      => from stat_pri (2nd stat) if the unit's stat_pri 4th stat ['missile type fired'] = 'no', else from stat_sec (2nd stat)
        "melee": 1,                => from stat_pri (1st stat) if the unit's stat_pri 4th stat ['missile type fired'] = 'no', else from stat_sec (1st stat)
        ("missile": 2),             => from stat_pri (1st stat) if the unit's stat_pri 4th stat ['missile type fired'] is not 'no', else from stat_sec (1st stat), or if both are 'no': omitted
        "ownership": [
            "britons"
        ]
    }

A def_total stat is added at run-time which adds def_armour + def_skill + def_shield.
I haven't verified yet that it is correct. Please feel free to point me at important stats that I have forgotten, or exception cases, and the likes.

[Ovidius Empiricus]

Very nice of you to do this. Thanks!

It shows all units in EDU.txt. I don't really see which units you're targeting exactly.
Perhaps the units which have a 'prec' attribute in 'stat_pri/sec_attr' ? (from the comments in EDU.txt: "Missile weapon is only thrown just before charging into combat")

Armor-piercing is ap in either stat_pri_attr or stat_sec_attr. Roman cohorts and legions have it, as well as all of the slingers and a variety of other units, like axemen, bastarnae, falxmen, scutarii, champions, elephants, lots of heavier cavalry and missile cav, generals....

It means that attack ignores half the armor (not skill or shield) of the unit being attacked. So, it's most useful against units with the heaviest armor (and of course even better from behind, to also avoid skill and/or shield). Don't know if it rounds up for odd numbers, or if it does anything when armor is only 1.

[LavaCreeper]

Awesome idea ! It's always nice to have an exhaustive wiki. It's pretty slow to load though, probably because of the many units ? (I use Firefox 41.0 on Linux)

[Tyblitz]

It means that attack ignores half the armor (not skill or shield) of the unit being attacked. So, it's most useful against units with the heaviest armor (and of course even better from behind, to also avoid skill and/or shield). Don't know if it rounds up for odd numbers, or if it does anything when armor is only 1.

That's cool, but I can't show it in the stats because it is relative to the unit's opponent.. Perhaps I could simply put it under 'Special abilities' as 'Armour-piercing' or, because it is relative to the weapon too 'Missile/ Melee bonus' or something? Any better suggestion?

It's pretty slow to load though, probably because of the many units ? (I use Firefox 41.0 on Linux)

Eh.. that too, but especially I haven't really bothered much with the code quality. I wanted something quickly wrapped up & if that worked I would refine it afterwards.
In effect, I have a local copy at this moment (not fully ready yet) which is much, much faster (and more stable).

Furthermore... (spoiler alert!):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

From the start the plan was that if it worked well for one Rome mod, the tool could be used as a base by ANYONE to create ANY mod's RTW Unit browser (with the help of some converters, batch files, & batch file editors). I've been eager to create something like that since 2013 (see this thread). I will soon post something about this in the Rome Workshop forum, but first I want the base design to be fully correct for one mod, and RSII is my fav so

[Alavaria]

That's cool, but I can't show it in the stats because it is relative to the unit's opponent.. Perhaps I could simply put it under 'Special abilities' as 'Armour-piercing' or, because it is relative to the weapon too 'Missile/ Melee bonus' or something? Any better suggestion?

Primary AP weapon
Secondary AP weapon

Something like that. Legionaries have their Pila (primary) which are AP but not their sword (secondary). Whereas the uh Scythian Medium Cavalry has normal javelins (primary), but an AP axe (secondary). And some other units like Armenian Cataphracts have a normal lance (primary) but an AP mace (secondary)

[Ovidius Empiricus]

That's cool, but I can't show it in the stats because it is relative to the unit's opponent.. Perhaps I could simply put it under 'Special abilities' as 'Armour-piercing' or, because it is relative to the weapon too 'Missile/ Melee bonus' or something? Any better suggestion?

It seems like it would be okay in "Special abilities," although it would help to know if it's referring to the primary or secondary attack. Many units have two melee weapons, not a combination of missile/melee, and only one of them is armor-piercing (always the secondary in those cases). So it wouldn't be clear which one it is, if you simply referred to "melee" for them.

If you could somehow squeeze "AP" in the attack column next to the appropriate weapon, that could work too. But really, if you're going to the trouble of doing this... it's also helpful to know whether a unit has a spear or pike (+8 def vs cavalry, -4 def vs. infantry), or if it's some other kind of weapon like a sword. For that matter, there's also bonus vs. elephants and chariots, for most skirmishers (units with "thrown" attribute). So, perhaps it would be nice to have a small column next to attack for AP as well as characterizing all of the other weapon-types.

I suppose you could also mention differences in range/ammo, but that's generally pretty obvious in the game. Also not too important to me: units which are all melee (cavalry or infantry) have two different charge bonuses for their different weapons. I wouldn't say that stuff is as important as seeing how misleading the raw attack numbers can be in a side-by-side comparison, since they really don't all mean the same thing. With that in mind, here's a list of the basic types of weapons:

Arr
Stones - AP (or a better name for slingers?)
Jav
Jav - AP
Melee (i.e., anything that's not spears, pikes or AP)
Melee - AP
Spears
Pikes

It seems fairly self-explanatory, but you could note that scorpions and repeating ballistas are similar since they can't hit walls, whereas those which can take down walls are ballista, stone-thrower and lithobolos units. (I guess that could be "walls" or something, if you're using another column anyway.) Or if you don't want to fuss with any of that, I'm sure nobody would be confused.

Just to give a clearer sense of how useful this info can be for choosing between different units. It's usually not very obvious in the game. Some examples....

Archers and Skirmishers:
Mardian Archers - Arr / Melee
Arabian Archers - Arr / Spears
Nubian Archers - Arr / AP
Insubres Peltasts - Jav / Melee
Veneti Skirmishers - Jav / Spears

Infantry (with missiles):
Illyrian Light Infantry - Jav / Melee
Thureophoroi - Jav / Spears
Agrianian Infantry - Jav / AP
Celtiberian Caetrati - Jav-AP / Melee
Iberian Scutarii - Jav-AP / Spears

Infantry (no missiles, 1 or 2 melee weapons):
Cherusci Axemen - Melee
Belgae Axemen - AP
Arevaci Spearmen - Spears
Massalian Hoplites - Spears / Melee
Akantion Infantry - Spears / AP
Levy Pikemen - Pike / Melee

Missile Cavalry:
Alan Horse Archers - Arr / Spears
Aetolian Aspidophoroi - Jav / Spears
Thraikan Hippeis - Jav / AP
Scythian Medium - Jav-AP / Spears

Melee Cavalry:
Nakharar Cav - AP
Horoli Cav - Spears / AP
Lonchophoroi - Spears / Melee

[ferike_2007]

Awesome idea ! It's always nice to have an exhaustive wiki. It's pretty slow to load though, probably because of the many units ? (I use Firefox 41.0 on Linux)

Off-topic question: what kind of Linux are you using, and are you running RTW/RS on it?
Thx.

[Tyblitz]

@Ovidius thanks for the nice round-up.

I am a bit reluctant to create a second column for attack stats because of consistency (all other stat groups use only one column) but also time & effort required.
I do have two other proposals which, as you suggested:
- Display the weapon types
- Display which weapon type is AP (if any)

The first changes the 'missile/melee' stats to 'primary/ secondary' (with AP added if it is);
the problem with this approach imo is that players who aren't all that much into RTW might be put off/ confused..



The second adds AP to the Missile/Melee stats, and adds a 'weapon' row with 1st/ 2ndary weapon;
I see no problem with this one as it allows not-overly-involved players to not be confused + allows 'vets' to connect the 'weapon' property with the stats mentioned on Missile/Melee.
For units with 2 melee weapons, I could have a 'melee' and 'melee (2nd)' stat.

[century x]

This is amazing.
Thank You

[_Tartaros_]

this is looking nice and clean!
well done - all my needed are fullfilled - do you have plans to expand your project?