ITW fight system

[Monkwarrior]

(From a report by Idibil in the Spanish forum: http://www.celtiberos.net/modules.ph...ewtopic&t=6054)

Hi ITW fans.

The new fight system of ITW is the result of a deep study to reach the maximum offered by the RTW engine.:hmmm:

The starting idea was to make the AI an enemy difficult to defeat, and also to make the MP battles more complex and funnier, not for arcade players but for strategy lovers. We have tried to accomplish these requirements by studying manuals of battles and strategies of the historical period, as well as the different classical sources that make reference to this points. Also we added the "experimental archaelogy" of clanmates in the exercise of throwing javelins or using slings. No animal suffered and no public good was damaged during those tests.

The realism was intended to be the way and the transport, trying to approach us, in the limitations of the engine, to the historical situations of the generals in that period.

What does it mean? In principle the movement of our army will vary much more depending on the terrain, and also depending on the units. A phalanx should be very slow, but the light infantry should move quickly and easily.

Each unit has been worked in different aspects. Heavy infantry will behave as heavy infantry, with good defense, but slower in atack and manoeuvring. The same for the rest of units.

Several parameters have been taken into account, as the lethality and reaction time of each weapon, and they are now different. A knife can be terribly rapid, but not very dangereous, mainly depending on the armour of the enemy unit. It cannot be the same thing trying to trespass a mailchain or gutting an almost nude slinger. Each weapon will give advantages and disadvantages. A heavy sword will give a certain advantage in charge, but is less efficient in close melée fighting. A short sword, on the contrary, is not the best weapon to charge with, but is very lethal in close combat.

Each armour and shield has been also treated with specific stats.

Projectile is another point drastically transformed from ITW 1.5. These units are no more machine guns, but the casualties will depend more on the position related to the objective and we have tried to adjust casualties to the data obtained from ancient battles. They are a good tactical element if used properly, as they can reduce the moral of the enemy, making charges more efficient.

Moral. There are no units without fear, fighting to death. This is very epic but no real at all. In ITW the soldiers will be rather noob, and hence impredictable. They can fight as lions or, more probably, to rout quickly in a difficult moment. The use of this kind of troops in battle makes necessary a strong organization of our troops.
One of the effects obtained in this way is the possibility of winning the battle in a zone of the battlefield, whereas the other side of your army breaks because you was not able to close lines in due time.
If you want to bring veterans to battle, you will have to invest money, and it is your choice, either less amount of high quality troops or more units full of noob soldiers.

In any case our goal is that the battle will be won by the best general, that knows how to take advantage of his troops, their moral and the terrain in the best way, not by the general with the most powerful army (urban cohors have disappeared ).

We think that the AI is notably improved with those changes, being a harder enemy. However, more tests are needed in this aspect.

Finally another positive point is that we will have the chance of having success with any kind of tactics.

All these improvements, soon in your PC.

[cherryfunk]

Can't wait! This is going to be all kinds of fun to play...

[Idibil]

Thanks you, MonkWarrior

[CrayonVonCaesar]

lethal , any more news?

[Monkwarrior]

lethal , any more news?

Now the fighting system is in testing phase, both in single player and in MP. The fine tunning is in process.

We have detected mainly some misfunctions when the new system, optimal for open field battles, was tried in siege battles. The moral bonus of the defending units near the settlement plaza and the reduced casualties number (according to historical sources) made "bizarre" effects, as defending victory because of time, even with only 2-3 soldiers remaining alive.

I hope this and other problems will be quickly solved.

[Siegebreaker]

Well, I guess I'm not going to be recruiting archers or slingers with this mod.

[Siegebreaker]

What about javelins?
Are they still lethal?

[Asdrubal_Barca]

Historically, javelins and archers were better in lossing enemy morale than in the enemy causalties number. All historical fonts are agree with this concept.
These units will be good for this important tactical thing in the battlefield.

Two roman factions in some campaigns in the mod have been choosen for the best development of IA. In roman general campaing, Senate was necessary for senate missions, but there isn´t civil wars. In roman provincial campaign there is only one roman faction. In the other campaigns, two factions are necessary for right development of roman IA in Iberia and against Carthage.

[Marrz]

I have got to say, after playing this mod it makes it hard to go back to the old arcade style mods. It just feels so more real! I wish there was another campaign with the east using this battle system.

[Idibil]

Thx u Marrz

[Marrz]

An idea for missile units they seem to have too much ammo; I doubt there going to be carrying around 20+ throwing spears! Maybe you could make them have higher damage with less ammo.

[Idibil]

Missile caused most damage to moral or avance that kills. What unit have 20? light infantry should have 8 most or less, heavy infantry two.
There special units that can have most, cantabrian cavalry by example, but they was famous but it.

Slinger and archers have most also, but it is normal.

Un saludo.