Ranges and walking speeds

[Leeham991]

Ok, well in the battle of Zulu Dawn in the 18somethings, a British army got into a fight with an army of the Zulu tribe. The Zulu army was in a non-PB range of the British rifles for 20 minutes at a walking pace. This made me wonder... What about others armies of different times? I mean, how long would Roman archers be able to fire at an enemy before having to walk back behind their own lines; which got me thinking; hhmmmmm.... HOT DAMN the people in RTW walk too fast!

Just wondering if people in RS2 will still be damn fast

[Legionary Titus Pullo]

i think the effective range of a Baker rifle is slightly higher than that of a roman era Bow.

[Leeham991]

i think the effective range of a Baker rifle is slightly higher than that of a roman era Bow.

Of course, but if the oldskool rifle can keep an army shooting for 20 minutes, then surely a roman bow can keep an advancing army in range for 4 minutes. Just in game you're lucky if it takes 20 seconds between point of range and the hit on the frontline.

[Legionary Titus Pullo]

i think it might be down to an issue of relative scale, if you spent 20 min of each battle just getting to the enemy, no one would want to play it.....

[Leeham991]

i think it might be down to an issue of relative scale, if you spent 20 min of each battle just getting to the enemy, no one would want to play it.....

*facepalm*

Yes I know. I was using the 20 minutes safe range scale of the British army at the battle of Zulu as an example, it wouldn't take 20 minutes with an ancient army, like you already said so yourself.

[Kylan271]

It is the skeletons,depends on which is used by the model,affects campaign map speed also. For light armour I use fast skeletons down to slow for heavy armour types. Get your archers on 'fast_bow' with 'fast_dagger' to evade and fire more better. Some enemy walks and run quicker than others so avoid them if you can. With bow range 120..I am not sure how fast in distance stat wise per minute the diff units can cover?

[chaplain118]

There's an easy way to test this. Go to a field, have your friend stand far enough that he looks like a tiny dot. Put on about fifty pounds worth of stuff to simulate armor (the scutum weighed 25 pounds on its own, so 50 is relatively light). Now start at a comfortable marching pace towards your friend.

[Leeham991]

There's an easy way to test this. Go to a field, have your friend stand far enough that he looks like a tiny dot. Put on about fifty pounds worth of stuff to simulate armor (the scutum weighed 25 pounds on its own, so 50 is relatively light). Now start at a comfortable marching pace towards your friend.

I don't know much about pounds... But I did once wear 8 Stone of stuff and run up a hill. The manual said 4 stone, but it also said "should equal half your body weight" so.... I'm a big guy it was damn hard is the point.

Also @ Calvin: sources? I always thought that they had walked across two valleys in order to hit the British line at two points, like most of Zulu warfare, and were simply shot to pieces for a while until they reached the overstretched line and picked everyone off 1 by 1.

[Calvin]

What you must also remember is that the battle they are depicting in Zulu Dawn is the battle of Isandlwana. The British rifles could only keep firing on the Zulus for 20 minutes because the Zulus stopped moving towards them. The withering fire from the British forced the Zulus to ground where they hid under their shields to no effect. That is the main reason for the heavy casualties sustained by them. Once they did charge, they reached the lines of the British very quickly indeed, and the battle was lost for the Brits swiftly too.

[Calvin]

The Washing of the Spears

Zulu: 1879

Zulu

I could list more if you wanted, but those three are a great start for learning about the Zulu War. It's been my favourite campaign to study and learn about for the past 14 years

[Leeham991]

Cool thanks :+rep:

[Calvin]

You're very welcome. It's a truly fascinating piece of military history where tactical errors on the side of the British combined with the bravery and strategy of the Zulu's lead to a catastrophe for the British and galvanised the reluctant government and public into supporting the war. It's a pretty shameful episode for the Brits with the Governor of Natal forcing the war to happen against the will of Parliament. Contrasted by one of the most heroic episodes of the British Army in the defence of Rorke's Drift.

I'd suggest the Washing of the Spears to be a first port of call if you want to learn more as the whole first half of the book gives a good history of sub-Saharan Africa and all the tribes and wars before European Colonisation.

[Legionary Titus Pullo]

Calvin : Nicely put +Rep