Way to tighten up units that should fight in a "shield wall" by editing unit density?

[mlc82]

If anyone can tell me if this is possible and how to do it, I'll give it a shot. I'd like to tighten up the unit formations to where spearmen and such appear in much closer order, and move and fight as if shield to shileld instead of as individuals. Someone did this for hoplites in Europa Barbarorum for RTW, and it made me wonder if the same could be done in M2 (and Chiv 2 is the only way I play M2!).

Here's the hoplite density mod link: file:///C:/Program%20Files/SEGA/Medi...descr_unit.txt

With the above mod, hoplites in EB no longer mill around in formation, charge in a mob, and fight individual, but instead appear to move in close order, charge with shields locked, and keep in a very tight formation while fighting. Not sure if it terrorizes the unit stat balance, but it looks much better IMO, and tighter formations might help a bit with the clunky M2 unit movement/pathfinding as well.

Like I said, if anyone has any suggestions, I'll try to do it myself- I've tried changing some unit formation stats (in the export_desc_unit file) from "1.2" over to anything from "0.6" to "0.2", but it doesn't seem to change anything, and when I quit the game and check, the stats just revert back to "1.2"...


Edit: I don't want to just go in and add the shield wall ability to a bunch of units, as I'm unsure as to what exactly it does stat-wise, and the AI doesn't know how to use it anyway.

[mlc82]

Sorry, I wrecked the link above, this is the correct one.

http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showth...hlight=density

[SicilianVespers]

I have been experimenting with this a little. Since the Ai refuses to use shieldwall, we will probably see something like this, that the shield wall formation.
If you mod the export_descr_unit.txt, make sure you use the "k" option to start the mod. Using any other option will overwrite the basic EDU with _dark or _early.

I use this method to test alot, as does not permanently change anything.

[mlc82]

Thanks again for this incredible mod!

Won't using the "K" option end up ruining the event system mid campaign? Or would it work fine with the default late period?

[SicilianVespers]

Thanks again for this incredible mod!

Won't using the "K" option end up ruining the event system mid campaign? Or would it work fine with the default late period?

"k" just keeps the last configuration you used, from the last time you played. Basically, it skips the configuration , and continues with what you used last time.

[DaVinci]

I have been experimenting with this a little. Since the Ai refuses to use shieldwall, we will probably see something like this, that the shield wall formation.
If you mod the export_descr_unit.txt, make sure you use the "k" option to start the mod. Using any other option will overwrite the basic EDU with _dark or _early.

I use this method to test alot, as does not permanently change anything.

It is possible to make the AI using shield_wall (via ai formations and edu codes). But imo. shield_wall messes up in most cases the unit behaviour and balance.
The other way (imo. better way) is just to mod the unit spacing and widstand vs. cavalry charges via edu alone.

[xeryx]

I think you should talk to Naimad, he knows how to make this work well. Not sure if the AI will uses them. Maybe there needs to be a tweak made..I will look into this.