For more realistic american armies

[Resdulac]

It could be regrettable that the developers of Americas only reused plainly all game mechanics that were used in European conflicts. They gave to Europeans and natives almost equal characteristics for the strength, number and recruitment process of all their units. Its very far from historic reality ( see following post ) and above all its not as fun as could it be. Rather than endlessly repeat the same battles, why not consider new game mechanisms?

Let us imagine how :

Aztecs, Mayans, Tlaxcaltecs and similar peoples should be much more numerous, but mostly weak. It is absurd that naked warriors armed with clubs receive equal and often superior characteristics to those of ironclad soldiers armed with steel swords.

Spanish and other Europeans should be much less numerous, but stay very much stronger than the natives. They should not be recruited in towns (except perhaps in Havana) and only receive a few reinforcement by sea..

Apaches and Chichimecs could stay not so numerous, but come closer the fighting qualities of the Europeans, except that they have virtually no armor.

Mercenaries should be recruited only in allied or conquered countries. It should be allowed to recruit only units from the local nation.

In battle, survival of the general is essential. Native war rules as well as conquistadors allegiances require that a party is defeated as soon as its leader is killed or taken prisoner. (at Otumba, Spanishwere close to be crushed when a desperate charge of their last 13 riders succeeded in killing le tepuchtlato Cihuacoatl Matlatzincatzin, what has caused the Aztec rout. )


Is it not a nice goal for a "realistic Americas" mod?

[Resdulac]

Hernan Cortes
When he landed in Mexico (1519) Cortes had 16 horsemen (with 32 horses) 518 infantry, 32 harquebusiers and 13 to 10 artillery guns.
Narvaez came to arrest Cortes (1520) with 6 to 800 men with about 80 harquebusiers, 110 crossbowmen and 12 to 20 guns. Cortes beat him with 300 Spaniards and as many Indians.
After most of the Narvaez party rallied him, Cortes totalized 1300 men with 96 riders and 160 shooters (harquebusiers + crossbows).

Half of Spaniards were massacred during the "Noche Triste" (30 June 1520) and the flight out of Tenochtitlan. All guns were lost and the powder was wet, making firearms unusable.
At the decisive battle of Otumba (7 July 1520), about 600 Spaniards and 5000 taxcaltèques oppose 40,000 Aztecs. Victory is carried by a charge of 13 horsemen who slaughters the Aztec leader, causing the collapse of his troops.
After Otumba, Cortes keep 440 men (7 harquebusiers and 12 crossbowmen) and 20 horses.

He received reinforcements from Vera Cruz and the help of 200,000 Taxcaltèques and other Indians, with whom he besieged and conquered Tenochtitlan (May-August 1521) defended by 300,000. After the victory he remains 900 Spaniards, 80 horses and 16 cannons. (70 Spanish prisoners were sacrificed).

For dispatch to Trujillo (1524-1527), Cortes has 130 riders, some 250 soldiers with dozens of crossbowmen and harquebusiers and a war party of 3000 Indians.

Francisco Pizarro
1st expedition (1524-failure): 80 men
2nd expedition (1526-1528 - discovery of Peru): 92 men and 3 muskets.
3rd expedition (1531-1534 - conquest of Peru): 180 men, 37 horses.

Panfilo de Narvaez
Expedition to Florida (1527) 600 men falling to 300 (shipwrecks and desertions). 4 survivors.

Jean Ribault (France)
Colonization in Florida (1562) 150 men + (1565) reinforcement 600 men. All massacred by the Spanish.

Pedro Menendez de Aviles
Colonization of Florida (1565) 800 men: created Saint Augustine and massacred the French.

[Lazy-Hamish]

Yeah I agree, the campaign is too easy with the spaniards, once you can recruit conquistadors on the mainland it is way too easy, it would also be good if there were a couple more factions in the north of the map as well as the apache like cherokee or choctaw, (if they live in that area i'm not too sure)

[cupoftea]

Maybe the pueblo indians

[Surgeon]

Maybe I'm not quite getting the full intent behind these ideas, but didn't you just describe the Americas campaign as it is, bar a few odd details?

[Mythic_Commodore]

I agree with Surgeon - this sounds almost exactly like the original Americas campaign.

[fluffstalker]

I think hes more concerned about the unit sizes on the field. In All Mid Games the unit sizes for each side are different, which makes sense from a balanced perspective.

Heavy Infantry - 120 on Huge.

However it starts to get odd when as the spanish they can get blocks of 120 D Conquistadores. Sure they're more expensive to produce on the campaign map but due to the still buggy reinforcement AI the Aztects outnubmering them on the strategic map really doesnt make any difference. Ive attacked the spanish with three full stacks, usually either they get delayed or if they do come in they AI behaves like completete idiots and they might as well not be there to help.

Perhaps for kingdoms the number of soldiers per unit could be changed - aztec warriors are 200 or something, but lower their attack charactersitic. The Spanish gunpowder, steel and horses will make up for the numbers, as it should be.

[Resdulac]

Perhaps for kingdoms the number of soldiers per unit could be changed - aztec warriors are 200 or something, but lower their attack charactersitic. The Spanish gunpowder, steel and horses will make up for the numbers, as it should be.

That is exactly what I meant.

Mesoamerican units must be enlarged as much as possible and their forces must be flatly reduced. Maybe some native elite units can be keep such as, but with increased prices.

As against the European units must be much small.

Northamerican ( indians ) units size is to keep unamended, but their armour is to be lowered (they wore very tiny armour).

Unit size and strength are defined in export_descr_unit.txt. But i need help from a experienced modder to explain how to activate it.