BROKEN CRESCENT 3.0 PREVIEW - EDU and Battle System Preview and Release
BC 3.0 Preview
EDU and Battle System
Greetings Broken Crescent fans.
Today, I present to you a preview of the new Unit Stats and Battle System, that will be featured in Broken Crescent v3.0, as well as a video of a battle under the new system - and a special surprise.
Introduction
For those of you who have been around the Europa Barbarorum scene, you may already know me. For those who do now, I am gamegeek2, leader of the EB: Novus Ordo Mundi project and a member of the Europa Barbarorum 2 Team. You may also be familiar with Aradan, Fourth Age: Total War mod leader and expert on the Rome: Total War engine EDU - it is with a [heavily modified] version of his tool and a little hand-work that these stats are created.
Unlike the BC 2.0 EDU, the 3.0 EDU is not so much based on the classification of the unit as the equipment - while units certainly do have their individual roles on the battlefield, it is their training and equipment that defines their effectiveness, and this, above all, is what determines unit stats under the new system.
Class and Quality
Units are separated into four "classes" to represent their social background - this has an effect on unit size and cost.
Militia are units that largely fight for the defense of their area, whether levied into the army or volunteering for the defense of their town. They have reduced recruitment costs, though are a bit more to upkeep, than their counterparts.
Normal units are regulars, accustomed to fighting, but not necessarily full-time professionals; most "general issue" infantry fall into this category.
Professional units are full-time warriors; their job is war. They are more expensive to recruit than their counterparts, to represent the fact that they have additional training and are equipped by the state/government, for the most part; they also come in smaller units.
Noble units are either composed of nobles, or are almost exclusively royal units. They cost significantly more money to train than other units, and come in significantly smaller numbers.
The other main classification of unit is into what are effectively rankings/tiers, representing the overall effectiveness of the unit; they can be Levy (Levy Spearmen), Normal (Kypchak Tribal Cavalry), Trained (Sergeant Spearmen), Professional/Noble (Askari Nobles), Low Elite (Tadzreuli), or High Elite (Royal Kataphractoi). Each step up the ladder shows decreased unit size and increased recruitment costs and upkeep, along with increased morale, defense/attack skill, and charge.
Battle Guidelines
Heavy Cavalry
Traditionally the hardest part of M2TW to balance, the Heavy Cavalry still pack a battle-winning punch; the new stat system arrives at a balance via the lance charge stat and the light_spear trait. Upon examination of the unit stats, one notices a significant difference. For example, the attack stats of the Latin Knights:
stat_pri 4, 12, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_blade, piercing, spear, 25, 1
stat_pri_attr ap
stat_sec 7, 5, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_simple, slashing, sword, 0, 1
stat_sec_attr no
The lance's non-charge attack stat is significantly cut, but has the AP attribute, in order to balance its effectiveness against heavier units, which would otherwise absorb the lance attack much easier. Remember, the AP attribute halves the enemy's armour for purposes of attack calculation.
Now look at the attack and defense stats of slavic spearmen and slavic swordsmen
stat_pri 7, 3, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_simple, piercing, spear, 50, 1
stat_pri_attr light_spear, spear_bonus_4
stat_sec 0, 0, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_simple, piercing, none, 25, 1
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 10, 7, 6, metal
stat_pri 11, 3, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_simple, slashing, sword, 0, 1
stat_pri_attr no
stat_sec 0, 0, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_simple, piercing, none, 25, 1
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 10, 7, 6, metal
Though their defense stats may appear identical, the slavic spearmen have the light_spear attribute attached to their primary weapon. This means they receive a +8 defense bonus against cavalry, and a -4 defense penalty against infantry. This is in contract to the spear attribute, which lowers the weapon's attack against infantry by 4 and pumps it up by 8 against cavalry. The spear_bonus_4 gives an additional +4 attack bonus against cavalry.
So, fighting against horsemen, the Slavic spearmen's stats are effectively this:
stat_pri 11, 3, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_simple, piercing, spear, 50, 1
stat_pri_attr no
stat_sec 0, 0, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_simple, piercing, none, 25, 1
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 10, 15, 6, metal
Instead of giving a large attack skill bonus, giving the spearmen a large defense bonus makes them resist a charge better, rather than take more damage from a charge, but deal more damage back to the enemy. This is fitting, given the general role of spearmen as a defensive unit. Thus, our Latin Knights are going to have a hard time cracking these Slavs (tests will show 10-15 casualties from a proper frontal charge). You'll need elite cavalry to compete with regular spearmen, if you're going for a frontal assault, and such troops are probably better spent anyways.
However, heavy cavalry will crush standard issue non-spear troops; they will perform well against many professional non-spear troops as well, and will smash anyone with a charge to the rear, and tear into enemies from the flanks - this is by far the best use for them.
Other Cavalry
-Swordsmen Cavalry tend to be superior melee fighters to their lancer counterparts; they lack the same devastating charge, however
-Light Spear Cavalry will deliver a smackdown to light troops, but their charge will have little impact against most quality troops, due to their lack of an armour piercing lance charge
-Javelin Cavalry pack a punch with their many javelins, but must be managed carefully to keep out of melee
Missiles
Missiles will seem overall less effective (for the most part) than they were in BC 2.02; however, they still are an essential part of any army, and keep light troops in check.
-Javelins are the most powerful missile (apart from siege units); generally, skirmishers will have the most javelins, but the least penetrating power; armour piercing javelins are the most powerful, but require moving in the most
-Crossbows and Close Bows are excellent tools against armoured units, but overall less efficient than arrows against lightly armoured units-
-Arrows are great against light units, but are poor against well armoured ones; higher quality archers have greater accuracy and somewhat better penetration power; horse archers tend to have less penetration power than infantry archers, come in smaller numbers, and are more expensive, but are, by being mounted, faster and more flexible
Infantry
Infantry forms the core of most armies, and a good mix of infantry will be key to most armies
-Spearmen are, as previously demonstrated, the primary tool against cavalry; however, they may not be able to crack some of the more heavy horsemens' defenses, though they will be able to defend against them well enough; however, they are at a disadvantage against other infantry of the same quality
-Swordsmen are great for taking down infantry with low armour stats, though they will have a tough time cracking well armoured troops
-Axemen and Macemen are strong against armour, though less efficient than swordsmen against light troops
-Two-Handers are monsters, and will hack through almost anything; but rely more on armour than other infantry, since they usually lack a shield value; this makes them vulnerable to AP weapons, including many lancers' charges.
Defense
-Armour stats are assigned based on the equipment of the unit (and its mount) in question, and this alone. Most shields that are strapped to the back of missile units count as a lower armour value instead of a shield value (as shield value is only from the front and left, and doubles against missiles from the front, whereas armour value applies from all sides). Compared with previous iterations of Broken Crescent, armour values are quite high, and having armour piercing weapons at your disposal will be key.
-Defense Skill stats are calculated based on how much armour the unit wears, its skill level, classification (Foot/Mounted/Foot Missile/Mounted Missile), and other specialization (Religious, Bodyguard, etc.)
-Shield stats are calculated based on the size and material of the shield in question; cavalry shields have decreased effect since they can't cover much of the horse, and aren't as strong of a frontal defense when mounted anyways.
Video
Courtesy of Neige Noire, we have an awesome video to show you guys, demonstrating much of the new battle system.
Special Release
Last, but certainly not least, one may have noticed a file attached to this post. It is a version of the Broken Crescent 2.02 EDU, but redone under the new stat system. To use it, back up your export_descr_unit file (under broken_crescent/data, where M2TW is installed) somewhere, then download the new file and copy-paste it into the same section (broken_crescent/data). Do the same for the descr_projectiles file.
NOTE: This will NOT invalidate current saves - it should be fully compatible. If any problems arise, post them in this thread or contact me via PM. (LAST UPDATE: 4/5/11, 10:29 PM ET)
At some point in the future, I intend to release a tips and tricks for units under the new EDU (as I've played a lot with it) - however, I would like you guys to test it out for yourselves, and give me feedback, so that I can improve on it.
Have a Great Day!
-gamegeek2
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Re: Broken Crescent 3.0 - EDU and Battle System Preview
Originally Posted by Babygod22
