infantry bracing????

[Iasonis]

I have seen some of my units do this, "bracing" before a cavalry charge. Is thier a way to make spearmen brace or can only pikemen do it?

Also does anyone know what to edit in the export_descr_unit.txt to give spearmen a bonus vs cavalry i would appreciate it, thank you.

[dopp]

Bracing is automatic when the enemy approaches and your unit is not moving or fighting. You can command it manually by clicking the 'defend' command and your unit will brace if there are nearby enemy units. I'm not sure if bracing without the 'defend' command is less effective than bracing with it switched on. I think units also defend better in melee if they are spearmen because they keep formation better (and maybe get hidden bonuses) but their attacks will be even weaker than normal. If you don't brace you will most likely be killed instantly by cavalry charges unless your unit is very heavily armored.

Spearmen already have a massive bonus vs cavalry. The two attributes that affect this are the 'spear' attribute and the spear_bonus_6 attribute. These are found in the file 'export_descr_units' in the 'data' folder of Stainless Steel:

stat_pri 4, 3, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_blade, piercing, spear, 30, 1
stat_pri_attr spear, spear_bonus_6

Spear gives +8 attack vs cavalry and very high charge resistance (also depends on your unit's armor and formation) but -8 attack vs infantry. The spear bonus is additional attack bonus vs cavalry. You can increase this bonus by using 'spear_bonus_8' or 'spear_bonus_10'.

Another way is to add a line 'mount effect':

type Croat Axemen
dictionary Croat_Axemen ; Croat Axemen, l
category infantry
class light
voice_type Light
banner faction main_infantry
banner holy crusade
soldier Dismounted_Gothic_Knights, 48, 0, 1
;officer northern_captain
mount_effect horse +2, camel +2

This gives attack bonus vs any unit that rides on horse or camel. Elephant is also an option. You can also use negative values (for example, all horses are -4 against camels).

[Iasonis]

thanks for the great response!