New Guy to Do Unit Balancing...

[Drtad]

Since the, ahem, incident with Angel, I believe RS needs a new stats man. I thought I could take a stab at it but I just do not have the time to do it... anybody else think they can tackle this job or could I ask around to see if I can recruit someone? I have somebody in mind so its not like I am blindly going to PM somebody.

[DR. Hobo. PHD.]

Since the, ahem, incident with Angel, I believe RS needs a new stats man. I thought I could take a stab at it but I just do not have the time to do it... anybody else think they can tackle this job or could I ask around to see if I can recruit someone? I have somebody in mind so its not like I am blindly going to PM somebody.

two years ago i could, but not now, perhaps we should make a thread for recruitment for the mod?

[aja5191]

I mean, I thought DVK was adjusting it as he went through putting in the units.

We can suggest tweaks, but I wasn't under the real impression that Angel was really doing something imperative - it was a nice side add-on, and it seemed that all he and DVK idd was fight.

I think we're okay, and we'll make minor adjustments when we beta-test.

[dvk901]

I tried to give Angel 'free reign'...with the understanding that I had the right to make adjustments. I liked a lot of what he did, however, he was not focused enough on it, and kept disappearing fro weeks and weeks. We can't get things done or respond as well as I wissh to if you don't at least visit often and keep up to date.

I have spent a lot of time on it since, fixing inconsistancies, keeping what I liked about his stats, and removing what I didn't, or just plain needed fixing.
I actually believe you will find the Hotfix I'm working on for RS1 better balanced than before, and I've carried that over into RS2. And, since I've spent more time working with it, I've been able to add some little 'tweaks'.....just little things like making similiar units not all the same 'stat-wise'...but a little better offense here, better defense there, better moral, etc. Very small variances that will make similiar units 'alike', and yet still different in some way.

I'm not knocking what Angel did....he had good ideas and I really prefer his 'interpretation' over others I've seen and played. But you have yo keep at it..test a LOT...and pay attention to what the players say (not always, because people have different abilities) concerning a 'trend' or repeated problems with a unit. Angel just wouldn't stay around.

So I don't think this is a problem. May be wrong, but I don't think so. I'm actually more concerned that we'll get RS2 all done.......and still be wondering what symbols to use for Parthia.... :

[The Black Reaper]

what other kind of members do we need to work on... i can put a ad in the recruitment thread for spots we need people to fill up

[dvk901]

Dang...guess I've been fired.

[pseudocaesar]

Well, all our units already have an equivalent in RS1.0 basically dont they? we would only need stats for the unique new ones.

[The Black Reaper]

oh.. whoops i already put the add up

[tone]

One of the things I think we do need to do is weaken missiles particularly arrows a bit more.

[dvk901]

I have already done so. I have also weakened all javelin and pilum a little as well, and 'standardized' them more than they were before. So every missle throwing horseman, for instance, is going to have the same stat as far as the missle goes. I figure this is reasonable since you can only throw a javelin so hard, and your chances of hitting something are equal.

Same with arrows. Some units, like the 'archer' oriented cultures (Sarmatia and Parthia) will have more of them...but the effect if much the same.

[icydawgfish]

I think that egypt's units need to be strengthened as the seleucid's usually steamrole over them within the first few turns in the current version. Egypt still recovers, but it makes playing them very difficult.

[cherryfunk]

So every missle throwing horseman, for instance, is going to have the same stat as far as the missle goes. I figure this is reasonable since you can only throw a javelin so hard, and your chances of hitting something are equal.

I'd argue otherwise -- skill with a missile weapon comes down to practice. So a people that grow up riding horses and hunting from horseback, like the Numidians with javelins or the Parthians with arrows, are going to be more skillful than a people who select a small group of men and train them for war, like Greece or Rome. Part of why Roman cavalry sucked was that they had no widespread cavalry tradition.

So if we were to take Greek light cavalry, throwing javelins, and Numidian light cavalry doing the same, man for man the Numidians are going to pwn the Greeks.

In terms of stats, I wouldn't make this a huge disparity (i.e. give the Numidians twice the missile attack value), but I would give them a slight edge.

[tone]

I agree with cherry here....about cultural differences
In terms of recruitment, Roman_man was mentioning that he knew some people that could it. It'd be good to free up DVK to allow him to focus more on the stuff he needs to do.

[cherryfunk]

There does need to be a certain standardization. A javelin attack should have a 'regular' value across the board, which can then be modified up and down by culture and unit. I'm concerned about things becoming so diverse that all logic and consistency is lost... and the way Angel was working I have doubts about how 'solid' our base is at the moment...

[dvk901]

There does need to be a certain standardization. A javelin attack should have a 'regular' value across the board, which can then be modified up and down by culture and unit. I'm concerned about things becoming so diverse that all logic and consistency is lost... and the way Angel was working I have doubts about how 'solid' our base is at the moment...

RS2 isn't going to be all that different from RS1...I'm not certain I understand the concern? As far as missle units and stats....in real life Numidians may be better than Greeks, but RTW doesn't really give you a way to 'configure' a unit that practices a lot, as opposed to one that doesn't. You only have attack value, bonus value, range and number of ammunition. There is no 'accuracy' setting. So all you can do is give a supposedly better unit a slightly better bonus value.

As for the base, it's no different than RS1, and even the 'new' units aren't some mystery....they have new skins and names, but the same stats. The only complaints I know of are slightly over-bearing missile stats, which I've adjusted down a bit for the Hotfix in RS1, and will be in RS2.

[Squid]

Actually I think there is an accuracy settings in descr_projectiles.txt, so if we could link different units to different versions of the projectiles (and I don't know if that's possible) then different missle unit might be able to have different levels of accuracy.

[dvk901]

Actually I think there is an accuracy settings in descr_projectiles.txt, so if we could link different units to different versions of the projectiles (and I don't know if that's possible) then different missle unit might be able to have different levels of accuracy.

The settings in 'descr_projectiles.txt' are global. Apparently you can add new or different projectiles with different settings, but this would need a lot of experimentation by someone with the time to dedicate to it.

[tone]

Except that you could call the projectiles...e.g. scythian_arrow, greek_arrow, etc - give them the same graphics but different stats.
You then reference them like that in the EDU

[dvk901]

I notice you can also add plumbitari, and francisca...whatever those are....from BI...you could just copy the graphics to RTW. But what are they? Anyone know? Also cross_bows....... :

[tone]

And flaming javelins, as already mentioned