How to fix the "melee bug" from vanilla ETW?

[p.jakub88]

Hello everyone,

I read somewhere that this is possible, but i don't know how to do this.

I think, that there will be need of modified groupformations.bin file.

Then edited kv_rules, kv_fatigue and battle_entities + maybe other db tables (like morale).


Enemy AI prefers running, even when they aren't under the fire --> so this is senseless and make them tired.

I don't think, that i.e charging is senseless (AI perform it quite well in land battle).

Running across half of battlefield looks somewhat stupid (i wonder if this was ever possible with such big unit as company or bigger...).


I' m quite familiar with PFM 1.13 and DB Editor, so no problem with that.

I would like only to know, which particular columns in tables i need to edit to get rid off this "melee bug".

Thanks in advance for any help!

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[p.jakub88]

I have made a field test in the custom land battle and i had a battle where the enemy performed quite well - without the "melee bug".

I don't know, if this depends on infantry units type used in battle.

I had 2 cannon fixed batteries (sakers=900m) and 4 line infantry companies (4 x 110 men) and one general staff (32 horsemen).

Enemy army was the same size and type as mine + no experience (like my soldiers).


I was surprised, that the enemy soldiers were marching almost all the time under my cannon fire and they didn't performed a running races.

That is called "discipline" .

The fire fight was interesting (from about 250m), but i changed the kv_rules table --> so the musket fire was very inaccurate (low casualties when distant).

Enemy performed a bayonet charge, when run out of ammo (i have vanilla ammo quantity for units).

Enemy line infantry units were broken few times, but later regrouped and attacked once more with less soldiers in unit (about 60/110).


So to sum up: the melee bug isn't visible in all Empire: Total War battles.

Of course, i tested the modded Empire: Total War (i have made few changes to morale, fatigue, kv_rules, battle entities, etc).

I didn't make any changes to groupformations.bin (i don't use any mods which changes that file).

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[p.jakub88]

My another impression about the enemy AI in the custom land battle:

When your forces are deployed nearest the enemy as possible (closest to the "forward player deploy line", during the deployment process), the enemy seems to perform better.

The enemy artillery choose most important targets, enemy infantry keeps the formations almost 90% of the time.

This happened in custom land battle, where the forces of player and enemy were equal in strenght, size, experience and other stats.

Keep in mind, that i' m not playing the vanilla Empire: Total War 1.5 version (i 'm using few mods).

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[p.jakub88]

I had another custom land battle and i tried to look closer into the AI behavior once again.

This battle was in the "early period", so only plug bayonets were available from all bayonet types in ETW.

Strenght of my army: one unexperienced line infantry - 110 men, 250m range.

Strenght of enemy army: one unexperienced line infantry - 110 men, 250m range, other stats the same as mine.


The battle began and the enemy start marching (not running, so sounds good ).

After few seconds i gave an order to my men to fix the plug bayonets (the distance to enemy was about 2 times bigger than their max range; so i was about 500 meters away from them).

Then i waited, unless my unit get into the enemy fire range (250m from my position, since my men were stationary all the time).

Enemy line infantry unit opened musket fire (but only few volleys) and they killed few men in my unit.


After that, they have made something unbelievable and stupid --> they fixed the plug bayonets too!

Moreover, they started running into my position to perform a bayonet charge!

What a damn AI fools; they could kill my men from safe distance, instead of getting tired and defeated in melee fight.


I know, that there was a general in enemy line infantry unit (the same as in mine), but this is not an excuse for such banzai attacks.

What pissed me so much, was that i was defenseless to range attacks, but the enemy unit chose a bayonet melee attack instead of killing my men from distance...


The result of such "wise enemy tactic", was a massacre of the enemy units, because they were more tired than my fresh units (i waited all the time in idle to their charge).

Maybe the AI doesn't know, that the plug bayonets prevents the infantry from delivering fire?!

Thanks to God, big scale battle are a bit better when talking about enemy AI....

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[p.jakub88]

This time i edited the kv_rules and kv_morale table (using Pack File Manager 1.13 beta).

I changed the morale bonuses from charging and bayonet stats (if anyone is interested i could tell which particular values).

I had a custom land battle: player line infantry vs. enemy grenadiers (no fire by rank or platoon fire used).


The results were very realistic in comparison to the vanilla Empire: Total War.

Both units delivered fire from max distance, until they got rid off ammo.

Both units suffered some casualties, but the fire combat was "even" for most the time.

Then my line infantry unit fixed plug bayonets and i tried to defend my position.


How i was surprised, when the grenadiers did the same!

So i decided to charge, instead of doing nothing...

I had 100/110 men in unit, the enemy grenadiers 60/80 men per unit.

My decision about charging was a big mistake!


My line infantry unit was slaughtered in melee...

Results: enemy about 45/80 men left, my unit massacred...less than 40/110 left.

That is called a heavy beating from the enemy!


At least the enemy grenadiers perform like they should.

This behavior looks promising, so i will do some further testing to get an answer how we could permanently disable this horrible melee bug.

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