Halberds are made for poking

[userfri3ndly]

Well, at least Halbbruders seem to think so. Within this spoiler lies their super ultimate poking attack:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

which also seems to be the only attack animation they ever do. Heck, he doesn't even connect in this picture.


How would I go about adding axe swing animations or those bill animations where the enemy falls down and the soldier swings down hard?

[Caesar Clivus]

The following should work...

To change the animations to those of a two handed axe, you'll need to edit the modeldb file (BACK IT UP FIRST!!!!)

Search for the entry for the Dismounted Halbbruder. Down at the bottom of the entry you will see the lines for the animations which should look like this:

1 4 None 
20 MTW2_Halberd_Primary 
22 MTW2_Halberd_Secondary 2 
17 MTW2_Pike_primary

You need to copy the animation entry from a 2-handed axe wielding unit such as the varangian guard or the berdiche axemen so that the entry looks like this:

1 4 None 
11 MTW2_2H_Axe 0  
1 
19 MTW2_2H_Axe_primary 0

Save and exit.

However, if I remember rightly (and I fully accept the fact that I might not ), the animations used in SS are part of the unit balancing system. So changing the animations may unbalance that unit.

[Point Blank]

The phalanx polearm animations haven't been changed, they are balanced OK. The 2H axe animations are woefully underpowered, and require attack values to be almost doubled to have much effect (which seriously borks autoresolve). The Janissary Heavy Infantry halberd animation might work, though I have some vague memory that I tried it with phalanx polearm units and it didn't (which is probably because I messed it up somehow).

[userfri3ndly]

Waaaait a minute, halbrudders are phalanx units? And by phalanx do you mean the ones that form spear walls? I'm pretty sure they don't do that.

[Point Blank]

No they aren't phalanx units, but the animation is the same I think.

[userfri3ndly]

I tried this code:

1 
4 None 
11 MTW2_2H_Axe 0  
2 
19 MTW2_2H_Axe_primary 
14 fs_test_shield 0

Halbbruders can now send enemies flying:


Then I did a couple of tests on battle statistics:

3 each against Billmen, all on Irish shore, Hard difficulty.

Pre-axe animation: (casualties, kills)
23 69
20 76
15 52

Post-axe animation:
19 55
18 60
22 55

Agh, I knew I should have paid more attention during Stat 101. I can't determine if the change in battle performance is significant enough.

But anyway, thanks for the help guys.

[S.P.Q.R. Praetorian]

You guys are right about the axes being underpowered. Last night the Eddessan guard hacked at least 20 times at a Ritterbruder without killing him. He owned like 4 of my eddessan guards. He wasnt killed until an axeman chopped his back to pieces.


They definitely need much more power in SS 6.1

[Inhuman One]

Most times the weapons dont connect sadly.

[CtrlAltDe1337]

Couldn't u use the halberd or bill militia animation?

[userfri3ndly]

I initially tried billmen's animation, but I didn't know what to do with the fs_test_shield line. I supposed it'd conflict somewhere since billmen don't have shields like halbbruders do?

As for halberds, apparently Halberd Militia are phalanx units (and shieldless), so I'm not too sure how clean the transition animation would be.

The varangian axe animation, on the other hand had a shield line so it seemed the most compatible one at the time.

[lesterthenerd]

is the axe death animation that makes an enemy flip around sideways still used in SS? cause i never see it being used. if not does any1 know the name of this animation so i can add it to some axe men following what was earlier mentioned.

[userfri3ndly]

apparently it is. It's the same one I showed as an example up there ^^

Quite cool, actually. Sweeps the legs, enemy flies, then swings the axe down again when the enemy falls flat on the floor.

Some animations miss at times though, but it was the same with the old poking animation.

[lesterthenerd]

oh i didnt take a hard look at that picture. seemed like he was on the ground but i realise now he is in the air lol xd. thanks. because they kill less with this animation it would be a good idea to slightly increase their attack right?

[userfri3ndly]

I guess so.

Now that would be another question. How do you modify unit stats?

[Caesar Clivus]

I guess so.

Now that would be another question. How do you modify unit stats?

To change attack values, stat_pri is the line you want. There is a description of what every line in an EDU entry does at the start of the EDU. Very handy

[Iscariott]

To change attack values, stat_pri is the line you want. There is a description of what every line in an EDU entry does at the start of the EDU. Very handy

I wish they were all so well self tutorial'd

[lesterthenerd]

export_descr_unit.txt in SS data file but dunno which line exactly. ive done it before though but dont remember... a quick search in the forums should give you the answer though.

[fieldmarshal]

I averaged the kill death ratios, and they dont really make much of a difference. The post-axe animation performed 3% better than the pre axe animation.