Why do Harad's armies move so fast?

[Bardha]

In my Eriador campaign I came into contact with Harad's armies in Gondor's homelands (which had largely been overtaken by Harad by then). I fought some very tough battles with Harad, and eventually I pushed them back and out of Gondor, but one of the things I never understood is why the movement range of their armies is so huge. My armies could never move far enough to attack theirs, but their armies could easily move beyond even my own armies, and yet we were both using the same roads (Gondor's)! I am not talking about invasion armies, I know that they move fast, I am talking about regular armies. They weren't cavalry armies either, just the normally balanced infantry/archery/cavalry armies you usually encounter. Does anyone have an explanation for this?

[Funeh]

Yes I found this too. In my (MOS) campaign, it seems some enemy armies move very fast too. I dont know if there are some coded bonuses for AI movement points, or if the enemy generals get big movement bonuses.

[King of the Ring]

Harad is supposed to have ,,lighter'' troops.
Surely the mumakil strongly disagree.

[Withwnar]

export_descr_character_traits.txt...

Trait Ai_Boost
    Characters family
    Hidden
    ...
    Effect MovementPoints 8

8 = +40% movement range.

All AI faction generals get this invisible trait. Other traits/ancs can give a further bonus here so if Harad seems to move further than other factions then maybe Harad is more likely to get those other traits/ancs or has some that other factions don't.

[Bardha]

export_descr_character_traits.txt...

Trait Ai_Boost
    Characters family
    Hidden
    ...
    Effect MovementPoints 8

8 = +40% movement range.

All AI faction generals get this invisible trait. Other traits/ancs can give a further bonus here so if Harad seems to move further than other factions then maybe Harad is more likely to get those other traits/ancs or has some that other factions don't.

Interesting knowledge, I didn't know about this. Still, it remains strange that only Harad's armies seem to move very fast. I never saw it with another faction, but maybe that's because, as you indicate, Harad's generals easily gain other movement bonuses through traits/ancillaries. Still a bit weird though...

And indeed, it was deep into Gondor (almost in Rohan actually), so Harad's roads have nothing to do with it.

[Withwnar]

... Still, it remains strange that only Harad's armies seem to move very fast. I never saw it with another faction, but maybe that's because, as you indicate, Harad's generals easily gain other movement bonuses through traits/ancillaries.

If you're curious enough then you can use this submod: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...v-minor-update

It shows the total movement bonus of any general and is save game compatible.

It is designed only for the player faction but can be changed to include AI by making these changes to the export_descr_character_traits.txt file...

;### Movement...
		
;------------------------------------------
Trigger tepi_Movement_trait_removal_trigger
  WhenToTest CharacterTurnStart

  Condition CharacterIsLocal
    and IsGeneral
  Condition IsGeneral

  ;reset both to 0
  Affects tepi_Movement_Plus_Trait -10 Chance 100
  Affects tepi_Movement_Minus_Trait -10 Chance 100
    
;------------------------------------------
Trigger tepi_Movement_Plus_trigger_1
  WhenToTest CharacterTurnStart

  Condition IsGeneral
    ;and CharacterIsLocal
    and Attribute MovementPoints == 1

  Affects tepi_Movement_Plus_Trait 1 Chance 100
    
;------------------------------------------
Trigger tepi_Movement_Plus_trigger_2
  WhenToTest CharacterTurnStart

  Condition IsGeneral
    ;and CharacterIsLocal
    and Attribute MovementPoints == 2

  Affects tepi_Movement_Plus_Trait 2 Chance 100

  ...and so on for the rest of them...

(Note that the "and CharacterIsLocal" lines are commented out with a ; )

[CatoTheYounger]

Don't forget Harad also has top tier roads. This was covered in another thread. So if you are referring to them showing up quickly from Harad that may play a part as well.

[Withwnar]

True, except...

... and yet we were both using the same roads (Gondor's)!

[Funeh]

Yeah I had this problem with Orcs armies... :/ I like challenge, I play only VH/VH, but I think movement bonus is kinda too much