[CAMPAIGN] Split Army (WIP)

**hardballer** · August 07, 2016, 09:17 AM

Hey guys, I want to introduce today a new game mechanic that I've been working on lately, the goal is to give you back a way to split your forces.
Keep in mind it still early in development and may not be ready for our first release.

If you have some ideas you want implemented with this mechanic I'm taking them !

**Falco** · August 07, 2016, 09:58 AM

Wow, nice work!

**FieryMastermind** · August 07, 2016, 12:27 PM

Juno's

, great work!

The only improvement(s) I can think of this is if you could somehow select one unit from the main army to act as the command unit, or at least replace the unit card with something more generic rather than a general's portrait.
This command unit whilst allowing the main army to split up, wouldn't give the new army any bonuses like a normal general, similarly to how captains worked in Rome Total War.

I don't even know if that is possible, but it's an idea.

**Sir_Pee_Alot** · August 07, 2016, 12:32 PM

Awesome just AWESOME!...

**hardballer** · August 07, 2016, 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by FieryMastermind

The only improvement(s) I can think of this is if you could somehow select one unit from the main army to act as the command unit, or at least replace the unit card with something more generic rather than a general's portrait.
This command unit whilst allowing the main army to split up, wouldn't give the new army any bonuses like a normal general, similarly to how captains worked in Rome Total War.

That was what I was aiming to do but unfortunately that's not possible, I'm stuck with having to use a general.
We will create a specific bodyguard unit for that "captain" that will be less skilled to compensate.

**You_Guess_Who** · August 07, 2016, 12:55 PM

Clever, really clever. You, Scripters, are miracle workers of the TW modding community.

I wonder what would happen if you completely merge 2 captain-led detachments though? And can you split a captain-led detachment furthermore?

**hardballer** · August 07, 2016, 01:17 PM

Technically we can allow a captain to recruit another captain, it's more of a balance thing here.
Removing (disband or merge) the last unit of a captain's force will kill that captain, you won't be able to have a captain on his own walking around in the campaign map.

**Petellius** · August 07, 2016, 01:18 PM

Originally Posted by You_Guess_Who

Clever, really clever. You, Scripters, are miracle workers of the TW modding community.

I wonder what would happen if you completely merge 2 captain-led detachments though? And can you split a captain-led detachment furthermore?

I think it best to have the captains spawned from the general only, and probably limit the amount. You will be able to merge the detachments back again and the captain will be destroyed. At least thats one option of doing it.

**LEXI2016** · August 07, 2016, 01:59 PM

I'm guessing this is possible in Rome 2, nice job hardballer.

**King_of_Spoons64** · August 07, 2016, 02:03 PM

Would the AI be able to use it?

**hardballer** · August 07, 2016, 02:03 PM

Can't tell, I'm not familiar with the script functions available in Rome 2.
Concerning the AI no they won't, it's better they stick with big stack I think.

**Causeless** · August 07, 2016, 02:21 PM

Very interesting and ingenious idea! Really clever way of finding a middle-ground between the old and new TW army management.

Will this feature be available for multiplayer campaigns?

**hardballer** · August 07, 2016, 02:46 PM

We will go with an alternate version of the mod for the multiplayer campaign since a lot of yet to be announced mechanics can't be multiplayer compatible.
Concerning this one, there is good hope it will be include in the multi version but it require some test for me to be sure and I just don't have the time right now.

**Causeless** · August 07, 2016, 03:00 PM

Originally Posted by hardballer

We will go with an alternate version of the mod for the multiplayer campaign since a lot of yet to be announced mechanics can't be multiplayer compatible.
Concerning this one, there is good hope it will be include in the multi version but it require some test for me to be sure and I just don't have the time right now.

There's a good hope? That sounds good! Do you have any theoretical ideas about how you are going to make this feature multiplayer compatible?

I generally assumed that any features activated via custom script-created UI buttons wouldn't possible to sync across MP, so it would be helpful to know your ideas for bypassing that limitation.

**hardballer** · August 07, 2016, 03:20 PM

I'm assuming cm:create_force() is sync between client since CA uses that to spawn hun armies in random places, but that require test to be sure.
If it's not sync I'm afraid the split army will be a solo player privilege

**Causeless** · August 07, 2016, 03:46 PM

Originally Posted by hardballer

I'm assuming cm:create_force() is sync between client since CA uses that to spawn hun armies in random places, but that require test to be sure.
If it's not sync I'm afraid the split army will be a solo player privilege

I'm fairly sure that it's not synced, in fact I believe that none of the scripting is explicitly synced over the network whatsoever.

The reason cm:create_force() works is presumably because the random number generators behind the scenes are synced by being seeded to the same initial value. Due to this, even "random" numbers can be relied on to give consistent and equal results on both clients because of the deterministic nature of the game's scripting and multiplayer campaign mode as a whole.

**hardballer** · August 07, 2016, 03:58 PM

Alright thx, that will save me some testing time.

**Gongo80** · August 07, 2016, 04:03 PM

That's wonderful But...I See Naples as city in campania.....are You dure is The Best solutIon?

Puteoli or Capua were more important than naples in That time....And i speak as napolitan