DoM Faction Previews

[Bercor]

Plus, I don't think most of the LotRTW's models would fit on FATW, but, then again, you could argue the same about the vanilla ones.

[MasterOfNone]

Custom cities are no simple task. Even M2TW *just* adding outer walls messed up the AI - one of the things that really put me off that game (along with the unresponsive units). Not only must models be created, but they must be impassable in the right places and the AI pathing has to work and they have to be practical and they have to work well with the player's field of vision, and ... well, you get the point.

[Basileos Predator]

Yeah, you're right Master, it's complicated, but no matter, I am confident that by the release, the team will manage something in this area as well, who knows, maybe they'll surprise us somehow.

[insolent1]

Nice preview, so Rohan recieves no new units or unit changes? I would like to see them use some throwing weapons(i know the RotM have jav's but not many and they charge after) ie a dedicated javelin cav and/or the axe unit or their elite variant getting some thown weapons. Is there a picture of the new campaign map? I seen mention of it in the screenshot thread but could not find the picture.

[CountMRVHS]

Yeah, pretty sure it's in that screenshot thread. It's somewhat hard from that map to see Rohan's settlements, though. The main thing, as Aradan pointed out above, is that there is no longer an Aglarond settlement behind Helm's Deep.

I don't suspect there will be any major changes in Rohan's unit lineup, but other team members could correct me if I'm wrong. As for jav cav, I'm not so sure they're needed. The Rohan Riders, as you say, have a couple of throwing spears. I can't recall anything in the books suggesting that Rohan had a large presence of skirmishing cavalry, apart from some horse archers.

Rohan does still have spear-throwing infantry, too. (Shields of the Mark, I believe)

[insolent1]

Thx for the reply, i'll have a look again for the picture.

[Elphir of Dol Amroth]

Rohan's unit line-up seems pretty complete to me in TNS, no need to make to many changes in that one. Some very good cavalry, with overall somewhat limited infantry, but there are still elite infantry units like the Helmingas and Guards of the King's House available to a certain extend.

[insolent1]

I find I only ever use 2 types of cav(spears & cavbow) and 3 types of infantry(archers, axes and SotM), the helm's and GotK are not very good as they lack numbers and take 2 turns to build.

[Thangaror]

Well, GotKH could use some javelins and the Axemen might do well with some franciscae. Though I don't remember any evidence for throwing axes.
I guess the Riders of Rohan could also be converted to skirmishing cavalry, or at least another pair of javelins should be given to them. And the "precursor" attribute is quite annoying for cavalry.

[CountMRVHS]

No, I don't think there's any evidence for throwing axes in the books. As for skirmishing cav, Rohan is too tough to skirmish! Seriously, though, the Riders of Rohan are set up as a melee unit with the benefit of a couple throwing spears - when I think skirmishing cav, I think of the jav cav you can recruit down in Harondor.

Is 'precursor' the javelin icon that comes up when you aim those guys at an enemy? I can see that being annoying. What I do is keep the Riders of Rohan grouped separately from my other cav, and make sure they have Fire at Will turned on. Then I'll either

a) run them up & down the flanks of the enemy army while my melee cav charges and the Riders of Rohan toss their spears; then have them charge the flanks; or,
b) charge them with alt+click at the enemy. If they throw spears during the lead-up to the charge, great; if not, they'll have them for later.

[Ryoga84]

Definitely, Riders of Rohan rides flanks the enemy troops while the Riddermark Spears or some other "heavy" cavalry, charge them from the front. When the Riders finish the missile barrage, they charge from the side.
Usually, not even Gondor Spearmen can hold for much time.

[Thangaror]

"prec", short for precursor, is the tag in the EDU that makes the unit "Throws a missile weapon before charging".
But, noooo, not now! Argh! You fools! Crap.

You know, like the White Company shooting one volley and than charging all across the battle-map... LOL

[CountMRVHS]

Ah, right. I'm so used to letting them fire at will that I never think to tell them to attack with their spears.

Next up for a faction preview: Dale!

[Bercor]

MoN's pride and joy.

[MasterOfNone]

[athanaric]

Rohan's unit line-up seems pretty complete to me in TNS, no need to make to many changes in that one. Some very good cavalry, with overall somewhat limited infantry, but there are still elite infantry units like the Helmingas and Guards of the King's House available to a certain extend.

The issue is, at least with TNS rosters: no javelin unit (with skirmish mode) = no chance against elephant units. Especially with Mumakil whose HP and speed exceed those of normal elephants. "Prec" units don't have enough javelins and are terrible to handle; foot skirmishers might not be fast enough.

[CountMRVHS]

How effective are any of Rohan's horse archers vs Mumakil? I've rarely played Rohan-vs-Mumakil battles myself, but that's probably the way I would go. I know that Khand's HAs can handle Mumakil, but it is usually after the elephants catch and maul a unit of HAs.

[Feanaro Curufinwe]

How effective are any of Rohan's horse archers vs Mumakil? I've rarely played Rohan-vs-Mumakil battles myself, but that's probably the way I would go. I know that Khand's HAs can handle Mumakil, but it is usually after the elephants catch and maul a unit of HAs.

I don't think using cavalry against Mumakil is the best of ideas. I don't remember facing them often, but when I did I shot from afar with archers, which also was the preferred strategy in the books. But I suppose the RK and Adunabar have the luxury of having good archers.

[Basileos Predator]

Yes, the long range of the archers of rk and adunabar allows them to easely handel mumakils, but rohan has a pretty hard time dealing with them.
In my usual strategy I managed to withstand them as Rohan by holding them in place with a unit of infantry, and have my foot+horse archers fire volley after volley at them(after a previous full cavalry army having been easely overpowered on the field of battle by an army with mumakil ).

[Mystery123]

Cant wait for the elvish preview. Would like because of elves in other lands than their homeland being able to recruit men , have some half elven rebellion if you let those lands too low public order and/or a half elven faction , i know are rare but logically considering how low the elfish population is in middle earth by fourth age it would make sense to have some hot steaming night with humans . Also they could act as a buffer faction. Would also love in the victory conditions of elves to take down dwarves