.
*Okay, in answer to your previous question in the beta thread, I think that the young spiders should have high numbers of troops with low skill. It would be as if they just hatched and the lil' bastards are everywhere. As time goes on the spiders die off a little and we are left with mid-tier units, but less of them. They have honed their skills over time, and are better. We then have the top-tier units; these are the big spiders you find in your garage that seem to have established a territory. There aren't many, but they are big and obviously know what they are doing. This formula probably applies to most units in the mod. Small = Many Unskilled, Medium = Few Skilled, Big = Rare Assassins. *On a different note, Soul Reapir and Alreadyded were discussing what weapons would be effective against spiders. Any weapon that would get you close to a spider would also get you killed (Frodo couldn't hit Shelob with his sword easily). Arrows would probably mostly bounce off the exoskeleton as the exoskeleton is amazingly hard. Fire arrows and spears would probably be the best options for killing the spiders. I've burned enough spiders to know that fire works great, and I can't fight the undeniable urge to be as far away from them if I have to kill one. *Horses should be afraid of them... I think they have a fear of camels trait in the game so maybe this is possible. *Alreadyded, since your lady is gone for a bit, and mine is too, you need to get some more models out for testing. It's the rare times like this that I can think long enough to participate in these kind of activities
I wasn't aware of this "Exoskeleton". Fire arrows then I guess would work better. And yeah the spiderlings should really suck ass but be in large numbers, while adults medium power/numbers, matriarch low number but immense power (Make matriarch be able to kill spiderlings and adults one vs. one. They should be the best spider unit, not just individuals)
Yeeeeah budddddy, an "exoskeleton" Like people, spiders move by contracting muscles attached to a skeleton. Instead of a skeleton covered in skin, spiders have an exoskeleton (outer skeleton). The exoskeleton is like armor plates. If you can picture a sheet of plywood, each piece of it being made stronger by the overlapping smaller pieces, then you have an exoskeleton. Or, just think of a crab shell, as it is the same principle.
I agree with you both on troop numbers and stats, but i also think that the black and brown spiders stats should differ slightly (e.g. brown more attack less defence, black more defence less attack) because it would then add more variety in the spiders. In the way of balance, i think spears should be good against them, but not super powerful because all of the army will consist of spiders, so all you would need to take them down is a couple of units of spearmen. It would make you have to use more strategy when fighting them than just sitting your spears somewhere and waiting for them to run into them.
I was thinking, shouldn't spiders have really low moral? last time i looked, giant or not, spiders are just that, spiders. So fear of the flame should make atleast the younglings run in fear after the second volly, but having the Matriarchs nearby prevents this. It allows tactical use of the Matriarch which will be fewer in number. But can act like a cross, ie boosts moral of nearby troops.
Good idea, I will try it out. I don't know if the "command" and "druid" attributes work or not though, and I am pretty sure that is the only way to go about that. Matriarchs already frighten frighten foot and mounted units.
Youngling spiders shouldn't frighten nearby enemys because they are small and young. a Stout warrior shouldn't be affraid of a smallish spider. Maby make them a bit smaller to reflect this. Also i don't know if this is possible. But to make the brown and black ones different make the brown ones a range version somehow spits acid or somthing. I know you can make a custom projetile as theres a mod that lets Ent's throw actual rocks like in the movie. So making a custom projeticle that's effective against armour (Javalins) isn't impossible.
Make this projectile as acid is impossible as far as I know. The Ents use the rocks from a Catapult. Thats also a reason why Dwarf Axethrowers throw javelins and not axes. (As far as I know)
Amon Amarth is right. the ents in ozzmosis' mod use catapult rocks. modelling a new projectile requires advanced modelling which exceeds my knoweledge and taking into account that dwarven axethrowers still throw javelins in 2.0, it has to be really difficult. i think some other m2tw mods have created custom projectiles though
You might be able to use the fire from the byzantine flamethrowers and change the colors to look more acid like. That would probably take up a lot of time and it would look kinda unrealistic though.
Good point.
The wolves seem a bit overpowered. The larger wolves took down Swan Knights pretty easy. The charge of the swan knights didn't seem to do much damage. I'm going to do more testing and post again when later. Also the animations for the wolves are fantastic.
I think the spider matriarchs are a bit too powerful. They went up against a unit of Eorling axemen and took hardly any casualties. Yes, I know that spider matriarchs are supposed to be the most powerful of the spiders and therefore should be good against a simple unit of Eorling axemen, but they should probably take more casualties. Realistically, I don't think spiders even stood a chance in open battle. I think spiders used stealthiness to catch their prey, if they came out in mobs and attacked soldiers out in the open they would probably not win. Spiders aren't supposed to have a strong exoskeleton, they should easily be killed with an axe I believe. Thoughts?
I imagine if a spider were to become the size it is in these mods then the exoskeleton would be thick and as hard as an inch of plywood... maybe more. It would break, and you could get into the insides, only after repeatedly bashing it hard.
There is a bug with the axe men. Any soldier with a one handed axe can't seem to kill my creatures, it is as if they can't reach them. I am still trying to fix this but I haven't found the cause yet. I thought it was an animation thing at first, now I am beginning to think it has something to with the radius.
I think the wolf matriachs/patriachs are slightly underpowered at the moment, their balance is fine against almost everything, except for large units e.g orcs/goblins. A single unit of orc band completely wiped out a unit of wolf matriachs/patriachs and lost less than half their men. I know the wolves are supposed to be weak against spearmen but that is a bit too weak in my opinion. Also, I think that both wolves and spiders should be less weak to spears. They should still have a weakness to spears, but not as large as at the moment. I know this is not completely realistic, but if you are going to have armies consisting entirely of wolves or spiders, all you would need to take them down would be spearmen. I only think that the weakness should be changed because it might make people use more strategy when facing them. I also agree that the wolves should have higher attack, but lower defence than spiders, so that it is more realistic and so there is more variety. I also think they should be slightly longer in the leg, but it's probably too late to change that now, and it's not a very big problem. The only other problems i have with the wolves have been mentioned (animations/lack of animations etc), and apart from these problems, the wolves are amazing, and i can't wait to see (and test) the rest of the creatures. I will continue testing the wolves (and spiders) and will provide further feedback soon.
After more testing of the creatures against orc bands, it was the orc band's loose formation that caused them to win. When in loose formation they beat every different type of creature in single unit combat. I tend not to use loose formation in battles so i am not sure of how effective it usually is against cavalry etc. so I don't know if this is normal or not. If it isn't, it could be to do with the way their attacks push units to one side, so they have to turn to face them again every couple of attack when the enemy are spread out (this also becomes a problem when the enemy unit is reduced to very low numbers). If this is a problem, increasing their turning speed would probably fix it (if that is possible). Of course the majority of this post is a moot point if loose formation is supposed to be that effective. If so, please forgive my ignorance.
Both spiders and wolves still have a little too much defense.
None of the animations are 100% complete so don’t bother commenting on them, I am aware. Adult and Young types will be added after the Patriarchs are balanced. Balance List (in order best to worst): This is about how it should be balanced, when all is done. Uruloki (Great Fire Drake)- No fire breathe yet. Golden Fire Drake- Not in game yet. Plated Red Drake- No fire breathe yet. Red Drake- Not in game yet. Great Cold Drake Iron Drake Sand Drake Horned Drake Blue Drake Yellow Drake Silver Cold Drake Green Drake Golden Cold Drake
