How do you determine unit morale?

[morteduzionism]

Ok,

When a unit gains a chevron the unit gets an increase to: attack, defensive skill and morale. In addition to this, certain level temples give a boost to morale also. But is morale a numerical value somewhere?

Or is morale, for all intents and purposes literally the amount of time it takes for a unit to go from "eager" to "winded"...etc?

[florin80]

Are you referring to the mental status value from EDU?

type             rtr german archers
dictionary       rtr_german_archers
category         infantry
class            missile
voice_type       Light_1
soldier          german_archers, 40, 0, 0.8
attributes       sea_faring,hide_forest,can_sap,very_hardy
formation        1, 1, 2.4, 2.4, 4,square
stat_health      1, 0
stat_pri         5, 3, arrow, 90, 30, missile, archery, piercing, none, 25 , 1
stat_pri_attr    no
stat_sec         7, 3, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, spear, 0 , 0.4
stat_sec_attr    light_spear
stat_pri_armour  0, 5, 0, flesh
stat_sec_armour  0, 1, flesh
stat_heat        5
stat_ground      0, 0, 0, 0
stat_mental      5, normal, untrained
stat_charge_dist 30
stat_fire_delay  0
stat_food        60, 300
stat_cost        1, 298, 163, 52, 56, 261
ownership        germans

That`s where you set it. But maybe I didn`t understand your question.

[morteduzionism]

That`s where you set it. But maybe I didn`t understand your question.

what was all that? Vulcan?

lol...

no, i mean during actual gameplay...besides for on the battle map when you see the little "eager, etc" associated with each unit is there a way to tell a units morale?

i know values on the card change (i.e. upkeep cost, armour rating, etc) does the morale change also? i've seen some units(don't remember which ones) that had lower levels of morale...if i retrain those units in a city with the big temple of jupiter(which gives a boost to morale) does their unit cards change to indicated the higher morale?

or...is the only 'noticeable' change in morale demonstrated by the actual time(i.e. if a 1 chevron unit goes from "fresh" to "winded" in 30 secs; a 3 chevron unit would do it in 90 secs) it takes for a unit to get "exhausted"...

i hope that clears it up a little bit

[CiusFortius]

Morale is hidden. Units have base morale which is seen in their description, for example: excellent, poor, good, etc. The morale controlls how quickly the unit goes from eager, to steady, to shaken, to wavering, to routing. These type of descriptions during battle are morale related descriptions. A units freshness is seperate and is what you describe as winded. It goes from Fresh, to warmed up, to tired, to winded, to exhausted. An exhausted unit will loose morale faster however so even though freshness and morale are seperate issues, freshness does effect morale. Morale though has no effect on freshness except when a unit routes as then the unit runs and will loose freshness over time.

Freshness is also effected by armour type of a unit. Heavy units like cataphracts will loose freshness a lot faster than light cavalry for instance.

Morale is maintained by limiting losses, and inflicting losses on the enemy. Units in your force are aware of the general tide of the battle. If you have lost 50% of your force and the enemy has only lost 5% your units will know this and even units that have not lost a single unit yet will take a morale knock.

Other major factors to morale are:
General dying
freshness (as mentioned above)
enemy units on the flank
secure flank
proximity of general
command stars of general
relative size of opposing force
unit experience

So for example in my ideal battle I will let the enemy come to me and make him walk as far as possible, and preferably up hill to tire him out. I would then have archers and slingers in my force to inflict as many kills as possible on the enemy. I also keep horse ranged and light cav behind him to make sure the force is concerned about their flank. When the enemy arives they generaly are tired, have taken many losses while I have almost none, and sometimes have lost their general as I focus fire on him. This leaves their morale very bad and they route very quickly after engaging my fresh front line.

[Darth Caesar]

elephants too are bad for morale, especially when they attack you in the rear, LOL, dont ask

[Maximus Lazero]

elephants too are bad for morale, especially when they attack you in the rear, LOL, dont ask

On the flip side, elephants, even when near friendly units, have utterly abysmal moral. Archers may not be as effective at killing them as skirmishers, but they sure know how to drive elephants crazy >_>

[CiusFortius]

elephants too are bad for morale, especially when they attack you in the rear, LOL, dont ask

Er, yes, I won't paint the picture I saw when I read that line quickly.

Anyways, that is a major one. Some units have the ability to scare other units. Chariots, elephants, and camels are some of them. I'm sure some of the barbarian infantry also has some form of intimidation. Having never played as Germania or another barbarian faction someone else will have to confirm that one for me.

[Maximus Lazero]

Yeah, there are other units that help morale.

A First Cohort, for example, has a legion eagle that inspires troops (kinda like a mini-general unit)

Barbarian units generally have the War Cry ability, which is a big rousing cheer meant to pump them up and intimidate their enemies (kinda like a general's horn, only the armies close so fast you never really do get to use it much)