Real Combat system vs Darth 1.4 b (or last version)

[marcius2000]

Which one is better? I heard some opinions that Real Combat is better, but maybe last version of Dakrh mode changed this?

[Rog]

AFAIK, they have different approach to the same problem. Realcombat has taken a mathematical way to simulate the difference between e.g. a knife and a longsword, a mail armor and full plate. I guess, the real problem is, if you are not using vanilla, you have to adapt the system to your actual unit roster and rebalance the game from scratch.

Darth Vader with his vast modding experience goes the other way around, balancing through manipulating of unit masses, etc.

So, at this point you can´t say which one is better... I think the best solution would be a combination of both.

[bandicoot]

The preference according to the poll appears to be tilted towards Real Combat, but I have only really used the standard DLV AI (I think that's UAI, right?), battle_01 and now Old Guardian's Total Conversion.

I'd have to agree in theory that the PERFECT battle AI would be a combination of DarthMod/Total Conversion and Real Combat so that weapon, unit and armour effectiveness as well as unit mass were all considered.

I have modded other statistically-based games before and would love to take on the project of tinkering with a HYBRID (Real Darth?), but I have to admit that I don't even understand which files are involved in determining battlefield AI.

If someone can point me in the right direction, I'm willing to take on this as a project (for the greater good, of course).

[Point Blank]

Unit mass is part of the RC system, and there is a guide included so that you can generate your own units.

[bandicoot]

am not so much concerned with creating new units as I think in some cases (merc elephant artillery ... gimme a break) there might even be too many units and there's been too much effort to play balance - some factions should be at a disadvantage and making it more difficult to play them as a faction is part of the challenge.

I'm more concerned with battle mechanics, but if the guide will help with all that then awesome!!!

Thanks, P/B

[Lumberjack]

If you tweak the game as you play you'll favor RC. Otherwise they just use a different approach (with regards to determining unit's damage/armor/price) to the same end.

I prefer RC.

[bandicoot]

Three questions re. Real Combat:

(1) are there some features that work don't work well with it (e.g., the Officer Mod, unit behaviour, skirmishing, etc)?

(2) if I am in the middle of a game using DLV 3.2 Bugfixer_2 with Total Conversion is it possible to switch over mid-game?

(3) can you report the link to the files for Real Combat

[Belgae]

If you tweak the game as you play you'll favor RC. Otherwise they just use a different approach (with regards to determining unit's damage/armor/price) to the same end.

I prefer RC.

I'd have to agree with Pinko on that...

Departing from the standard EDU in DLV 3.2(.2), I starting fielding units one-on-one in custom battle. In standard settings, Flemish pikemen beat Scottish dismounted feudal knights easy!
After working in EDU, I ended with a confrontation where my pikemen were wiped out with the dismounted feudal knights loosing about 40, most of those in the initial phase of the battle when the "phalanx" was still efficient...
Fielding the resultant pikemen against mailed knights cav, they still wiped out the horse without difficulty if charged head on. When fielded against spear militia, they would still win, but at a considerable cost... Normal, because they were meant to fight cavalry...

When I compared my resultant EDU parameters for the pikemen to those of available EDU's for DLV, I came closest to those of Real Combat, but I had added the sidearm sword for close combat...

One thing I might add concerning pikemen: I already mentioned the "invisible wall" bug which makes opponents charge endlessly in front of the pikes without casualties. After some testing, I suspect this is mainly caused by the 0.0 0.0 spacing of most infantry units.
Spacing the pikemen to 0.2 0.3 and the feudal knights to 0.3 0.2 gave very real results, with the knights initially getting stuck in the spearwall and loosing some men, but eventually getting close and forcing the pikemen to switch to swords. After that, the pikemen become chanceless...

Especially the difference in spacing between the units seems important to avoid the "wall" anomaly. Although it still happens in very rare cases in my current settings, it usually lasts for 2 seconds or so and most of the time happens only at parts of the spearwall...