Rome II Total Realism : Previews
Originally posted by Jam here.
Because this has already appeared in our Facebook page, there is no point delaying it. I would like to mention that this is still work in progress and lots of things might change when mod is finally released. Warscape engine is very different from engine used for RTW, therefore all mods for Rome 2 require completely different approach to the same topic. Let me divide this preview into several parts:
Weapons
TWR2 uses different weapons system than previous Warscape games, in some areas it allows you to do things that were previously impossible. It also eliminates previous balancing, where weapons were not rated by effectivity but by the chance to hit/kill. As you know CA implemented weapon damage and hitpoints, besides the melee attack (or hit chance) and melee defense (parry chance). Also weapons now have two different damage types, normal damage and AP damage which practically ignores all armor. Anyway, there are also additional bonuses available, which can further specialize weapons (armor piercing,armor penetrating, shield piercing)To properly model weapons used in this era, we have looked at their usage and tactics. Where in TWR2 all swords were practically the same, only differentiating by damage values, in R2TR things are a bit different. We have created clear distinctive differences between slashing and thrusting swords.
Slashing swords as you all know required a lot of strength to deliver lethal damage, typical sword slash produced a lot of kinetic energy, which means that even if armor managed to deflect/stop such hit, there will be still noticeable blunt force trauma dealt with every hit. As noticed thorough our history by many, slashing and cutting was not considered as the most lethal type of attack, and it was definitely not the most effective one considering amount of energy soldier hadto spend to kill his enemy. This reflects into only moderate normal damage dealt by all slashing weapons. From tactical perspective, longswords due to its length would provide soldiers with a bit more standoff against their opponents using the shorter swords, therefore these swords would also guarantee small defense bonus.
Swords like Kopis/Falcata are also treated as slashing, yet they deal a bit more normal damage due to their shape, they also deal less trauma damage due to less weight. Also, their length (65cm) means they get minimal defense bonus.
Thrusting swords are completely different. Thrusting attack is the most lethal type of attack you can do to human body, and you don't even need too much strength to stab deep enough to be very lethal. Thrusting attacks are very efficient, no surprise Romans preferred them over slashing attacks. Yet, because these swords were usually thrusted underarm, their kinetic energy was relatively low (approximately half what is seen with slashing swords), therefore they don't produce significant blunt force trauma. (you need about 100 joules to fracture bones). Anyway because of their speed and energy effectivity, they are able to land several attacks in time soldier with longsword would score one hit. yet, they have to rely on their shields for defense, as shortswords don't provide that much of a defense bonus (even though difference is not big, as Gladius used by Republican Legions was not that much shorter from Celtic Longsword (75cm vs 85cm). Yet, there is another advantage shorter thrusting gladius have. It was much easier to manipulate with it even in confined space, where legionaries could use it to thrust into unprotected areas like armpit, femoral artery, groins etc. because of this, all thrusting shortswords get special melee defense bypass (enemy melee defense is reduced against them) which gives Romans advantage when fighting unarmored enemies.
Blunt weapons and Axes are modeled to rely more on blunt force trauma, but they are also usually shorter, which means they have to rely on their other defenses to keep enemy at bay. Anyway due to high blunt force trauma, they are ideal to deal with heavily armored enemies. Axes usually have higher normal damage, and they also have shield breaking ability, but same as clubs lack in defensive ability,therefore these units are better to be used as flanking force than using them for head on charges, even though their charge is probably the highest of all melee weapons, their lack of defense might be quite limiting. yet charging into enemy flank or rear, they can produce a huge carnage.
There will be several different spears in R2TR, based on different doctrine and tactics. First, you can completely forget what you know about spears from games. Spear was always considered to be the most effective infantry weapon, Heavy thrusting spears equipped with sauroter typically used by hoplites will be the most destructive spears. They will be heavy hitter with high damage, high charge and good melee defense due to its standoff length. Yet, these spears will not allow users to use any ranged weapons at the same time. Medium Spears will be shorter, have slightly lower stats than heavy spears, typically representing heavier spears used by Barbarians. Light spears (greek Lonchae), will be typical spears used by majority of spearmen, who can also hurl javelins. Greek Thureophoroi or Carthaginian Lonchophoroi and variety Celtic and Germanic spearmen units will use them. Light spears will be also used by practically all melee cavalry units.
Pikes are a bit different from this. They do share certain characteristics, anyway due to the way how pikes are implemented (sharing stats with swords) we had to improvise. Pikes only get their real bonuses with Pike Wall ability activated, if it is not activated, soldiers are supposed to use swords and their stats reflect that. Pike as it is, gives great standoff from enemy, and medium damage from thrusting (while both hands are used, thrusting speed is much slower, which results in only medium damage dealt by pike) Yet its strong point is not in killing everything in front of them, but by ability to fix the enemy so others could flank it and destroy it (more about this later)
Ranged Weapons
Ranged weapons damage depends on several factors. Normal damage depends on Kinetic energy dealt, while AP(trauma) damage is based on projectile momentum.All ranged weapons have several effects when they hit the enemy.Being hit by ranged weapons reduced movement of the unit, but increases the shield deflect chance due to the fact soldiers are expecting second salvo so they try to rise shields the most effective way. obvious is the morale drop for being hit, reduced charge is another symptom. Javelins can also temporarily reduce shield defense of enemy unit.
Javelins were thoroughly reworked as well. There are several different types available. Light javelins (200-250g) are usually used by cavalry, doesn't have too much of a punch, but due to its size, cavalry can carry more of them, they are easier to use from saddle and quicker to release. yet their damage while not that high, is still higher than from any bow in the game.Medium javelins (400-600g) have much more power. these light javelins were used with ankyle, which greatly increased their release speed, giving them more kinetic energy and range. There are several different types of Heavy Javelins. Barbarians use heavy wooden javelins similar to spears (usually 800-900g heavy) thrown before charge. their weight gave them good power, yet they lack the ankyle therefore their terminal effectivity is somewhere quite close to normal javelins. Iberians have special Iron javelin called Solifferum. This small profile heavy javelin was capable to penetrate shields with ease, yet due to its weight it has limited range similar to Roman Pilum.
Romans have several Pila available. Initially they use light pilum (1500g), which is getting improved at Marius reforms into heavier version (2000g) to be replaced again in Imperial times by heavy pilum (2500g). All three javelins have high penetrative ability and damage. It has the highest momentum,therefore these javelins are very deadly when they hit.
All javelins also have special bonus against Elephants. Usual accurate range for javelins is just 10 meters, so its best to get close.
Ancient arrows were not as effective as medieval arrows. Usually quite light arrows were used, average weight was around 35grams. These light arrows were quite good at short distances, yet lacked momentum at longer ranges to deal the damage. They wont be able to penetrate heavier armors and shields, yet they can deal with the lightly equipped skirmishers. Also all arrows have increased bonus against cavalry. Light arrows standard effective range is around 60metres, and maximum range around 120 meters. For longer ranges certain units use heavy arrows. These are usually 70g heavy, and while shot slower (45m/s vs 50m/s), they have additional punch. They can also cause small trauma damage. Anyway these arrows were not used for shooting at short ranges. Their purpose was long range, as they had higher momentum which increased chances for lethal hit. Again, their accurate range is around 60m, and maximal range is around 160-180m. Another important thing is the way they are shot.
Light arrows are shot directly at the target, where archers aims at the enemy directly. This means he is shooting slower as he has to take good aim. Heavy arrows are used indirectly to saturate certain area. They are shot much faster but with almost no accuracy. yet share amount of arrows will deal the damage especially against area targets.
Slings. Another type of weapon that differs greatly around the world. Simple slings used by Barbarians usually used heavy stones (100-160g or heavier) while their range was limited to approximately 80meters. These slings lack any accuracy, yet they carry much more ammunition than any other units, as they could just pick rocks from the ground.
More specialized slingers like Balearic also use stones, but they carefully selected their ammo. They usually thrown stones about 100g heavy at increased range with better precision (about 120m). Best slingers though use lead slingshots. While these are the lightest (85g) thanks to their superior shape have the longest range and best precision (150m). Slings similarly to arrows have special bonus against cavalry, and because of the sound they produce as they fly in the air, they have certain morale penalty to units they might fly over (soldiers hearing them would tend to cover themselves with shields) Damage wise, stones produce similar kinetic energy as arrows, yet, due to their weight they also deal trauma damage, which makes them more effective against heavily armored units.
Armor and shields
Due to the way how armor is implemented, we had to chose a bit different approach. Armor value doesn't represent solid protection, but instead it is always random value of 0-armor max. Therefore with armor 100, there is a 1% chance weapon will completely ignore it and cause full damage. Because of this, we decided to make armor represent not just the maximal armor, but also coverage. Therefore armors like Mail, with good coverage will have slightly better max value than plate armor with much less coverage. yet plate, will be better against projectiles, and blunt force trauma.
As mentioned in weapon section, Blunt force trauma is handled by AP damage. Several armors which were more Blunt Force resistant, therefore received special hitpoint bonus, which simulates higher resistance against blunt force damage taken. Solid chest plate armors receive minimal HP bonus, Bronze Breastplates or Segmented plates medium bonus, and Metal Scale or Lamelar armors receive high HP bonus. Now if you compare Mail with Segmented armor, Mail will have higher armor number, therefore will have slightly better chance to deflect hit (due to better coverage), Segmented armor will deflect less, but will make soldier survive a bit more when actual hit is scored.
Things are different with shields. They have several different abilities, which allow us to differentiate between them based on their usage. Main shield parameter in R2TR is shield melee defense, which is based on size of protected area, but also based on the way shield is used. Central grip shields have clear advantage in this area over double strap shields. Shield block chance is secondary stats which is very important against ranged weapons. It is solely based on every shield protected area. Shield armor is tertiary, heavy shields can help at reducing or diminishing damage, yet usually its better to deflect (defense/block chance) the hit than taking it directly.
Small shields are usually good in melee (adding to defense), yet they have limited chance to block the projectiles. Larger shields like Celtic Thureos are very good all around, yet they lack the resistance and coverage of Roman Scutum. Hoplite shields at the other side are the most resistant to damage, yet due to the way they were used, they are a bit limiting in close melee fights. overall, heavy shields reduce movement speed of unit, but they are usually quite resistant frontally. Roman Scutum will give Roman Legionaries solid protection that can successfully block the melee and ranged attacks, while Legionary could counterattack from behind the shield. Clashing with them frontally is never a good idea, yet they will be also limited due to weight of Scuta, especially when facing lightly armed enemies that will be able to outmaneuver them (Iberians).
Even lightly armored units equipped with good shield (high melee defense) can hold against heavily armored units. Biggest enemy of all shields are heavy javelins, which reduce shield defense bonuses for certain period of time. Being hit by salvo of Pila is something that can really weaken even strong defenses.
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. I gave up on Rome II for now, despite there being amazing work from modders already out that truly gave me some moments of enjoyment, the base game is unplayable and it keeps shining through. It's only more extensive patching and RTR that can bring Rome II back out from the catacombs.
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Originally Posted by JaM
