Para Bellum

[Sheridan]

While I'm working on this, what would you both think about a slight rework for naval combat? That part hasn't received any attention yet but quite a lot could be done there.

I'll give the experiment a shot, Demokritos. It sounds like it might just work. By the way, the general's rank did have an impact on the morale. At rank 5, a general adds 4 morale for nearby units and additional 4 I believe for all units, so 8 in total for those within the aura of influence. I adjusted this so that from level 7 and beyond a bonus of 1 morale will be applied, and from level 8 a bonus of 1 melee defense will be applied. Can be adjusted further later but for now that sounds good enough as even so small bonuses will have quite an impact on the battlefield.

[Demokritos]

Yeah, the ranking of the general ought to make some difference to the morale of the units, but I noted this feature was not enough to explain the behaviour of those slingers, as they fought with remarkable tenacity with a one star general, too.

Those new changes to the effect of a high-ranking general could be a good idea, especially if you keep the current base morale system in PB, but if you revise it along the lines of that experiment, it might not be necessary. If the base morale figures are to be upped tenfold again, however, then the requirements for a unit to be "steady" etc ought to be increased in similar measure, or we might get super-morale warriors all over the place.

[Sheridan]

Yeah, the ranking of the general ought to make some difference to the morale of the units, but I noted this feature was not enough to explain the behaviour of those slingers, as they fought with remarkable tenacity with a one star general, too.

Those new changes to the effect of a high-ranking general could be a good idea, especially if you keep the current base morale system in PB, but if you revise it along the lines of that experiment, it might not be necessary. If the base morale figures are to be upped tenfold again, however, then the requirements for a unit to be "steady" etc ought to be increased in similar measure, or we might get super-morale warriors all over the place.

To summarize what's happened today, it's basically been a staring contest against the seemingly endless tables. The experiment will be executed tomorrow since I really need a break now, having spent most of the day modding. Anyway, the general's rank table wasn't the entire solution - as anticipated. I did some morale changes in the campaign variables as well, but that combined with the other change could not explain the mysterious bonuses in campaign battles either. The original idea of removing the seemingly fixed bonuses did not work either. So, in spite of the progress, something hasn't been adjusted the way it needs. But with hundreds of tables it's going to take time to locate the right one. If the experiment is successful, a solution could be worked out from there - people probably don't subscribe to the mod for custom battles anyway.

So all changes that have been mentioned with the campaign have been added in an update today, along with patch 16 compability and the new Black Sea Colonies units. In addition to this there's been changes to the naval morale and some minor unit experience related things. That'll have to do for today.

[Sheridan]

I've looked through quite literally every table there is this morning and found a few suspicious ones. However, even after editing those, nothing really changed concerning the morale on high difficulty (and naturally VH/L). But as it happens, medium difficulty seems to work perfect. Whether this is due to recent changes with the "suspicious" files, or if it worked even before that, is up to speculation. Anyway unless we can find whichever table gives the morale bonuses on higher difficulties, which would be highly preferable, the only other solution would be to adjust the morale for each other difficulty level and release multiple versions - which for quite obvious reasons isn't very practical. However it's very probable that this solution doesn't work, as only the AI gets bonuses on higher difficulties meaning that the morale changes would be imbalanced for the player and thus still favor the AI.

Edit: Just found out the difficulty combat bonuses are hardcoded. So.. plan B.

Second edit:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Well there you have it. This hunt for the bonuses was a rather pointless venture. Make sure to adjust the battle difficulty to medium, once you've started a campaign, regardless of the campaign difficulty level.

[Demokritos]

What are you saying here, Philip? Why do those slingers fight for so long in PB but not in vanilla (with the given in-game settings)?


PS. Sorting this matter out is not essential. For gameplay, status quo is perfectly fine, as we like hard battles. It's only when we start to aspire for realism in all details of the battles that we might want to look further. But you don't have to draw the definitions of the mod like that. Many other things are more important for a greater enjoyment of it all. Like a proper hoplite fighting style, better rosters etc.

[Sheridan]

What are you saying here, Philip? Why do those slingers fight for so long in PB but not in vanilla (with the given in-game settings)?

Since PB was designed for medium battle difficulty, that's the setting you need to choose in the campaign too. Not for the campaign difficulty - you can choose whichever you want there - but once in game you can go to game settings and adjust the battle difficulty slider. So basically you can play on VH/M (campaign/battle difficulties respectively). (I didn't know this feature existed in Rome II since I thought the campaign difficulty setting determined both, which it does but you can still adjust the other later).

Problem solved - I sure hope anyway.

[nicolae]

not work

[Sheridan]

not work

Apparently not, this is getting aggravating. We know it works on medium campaign difficulty anyway, so there's a very small possibility that it works on low battle difficulty with any given campaign level. I don't see why there has to be hardcoded combat bonuses at certain campaign difficulty levels when it's a completely different thing from battles. I could change the casualties needed at which units rout as suggested earlier - but that's probably not going to work anyway since it affects both you and the AI, while as opposed to it you don't get any combat bonuses. There is one solution and that is to increase the AI aggressiveness and overall strategical skill if you're playing on medium campaign difficulty. On the other hand it sounds like a lot of work that I'd rather not shoulder at this point, still updating certain things with PB.

For now, I fear the only good option is to pick medium campaign difficulty and try and enjoy that despite the somewhat inferior AI.

[leonardusius]

Sorry, what means ''1-HP system'' ?

[Sheridan]

Sorry, what means ''1-HP system'' ?

It means each soldier has one hit point. It varies in vanilla but soldiers roughly have around 30-55 hit points there (aka health). So this mod brings the combat part of Rome II closer to the classical titles.

[Hoplite of Ilis]

Tried the anniversary edition, but didn't like much the stuttering... I've seen this in other mods trying to tangle with the formations.

[Sheridan]

Tried the anniversary edition, but didn't like much the stuttering... I've seen this in other mods trying to tangle with the formations.

What stuttering?

PB is not about formations at all, so I honestly don't see your point here. It's not like we've added new ones - quite the contrary for a lot of units. I have encountered a lot of mods giving a pike phalanx like behaviour to non-pike units, calling it "shieldwall" or similar things, but this isn't the case.

[leonardusius]

It means each soldier has one hit point. It varies in vanilla but soldiers roughly have around 30-55 hit points there (aka health). So this mod brings the combat part of Rome II closer to the classical titles.

IMHO it's a big mistake.

[Sheridan]

IMHO it's a big mistake.

Would you care to elaborate why you think that's a mistake?

[Demokritos]

Tried the anniversary edition, but didn't like much the stuttering... I've seen this in other mods trying to tangle with the formations.

What "anniversary edition"? Para Bellum is not even a month old. You sure you've come to the right thread?

[fenrir]

I think he meant SSO Anniversary edition. I made that mistake too earlier, it doesn't help that SSO and PB uses the same mod cover image.

[Sheridan]

I think he meant SSO Anniversary edition. I made that mistake too earlier, it doesn't help that SSO and PB uses the same mod cover image.

Well sorry, we just updated SSO because people had requested it for so long.

There is no real point in subscribing to it now that PB is receiving all attention. Anyway, stuttering doesn't happen there either (it's the exact same mod, although I haven't updated SSO for a few days now as I have with PB). So.. there's that.

Now on to some interesting things. Antiqua Imperium just got a new modeller on board, which will speed up the making of the new hoplite equipment considerably. That means in a few days from now there'll be a few major changes to hoplites' appearance and function on the battlefield. In the meantime, a friend is working on new particle effects that will, if it's possible to, be similar to what they were like in Napoleon. So it could be a double update, we'll just have to wait and see on how things work out.

[Hunor]

guys, i need a help.
i play actually witch game version : v 2.0.0 build 13903.584483
(yes i dont updated to new vers via steam, bcs. my "old" campaign DEI)
i try to test PB. mod, but the mod version dont matched to me.
anybody can add a link from this mod earlier version? thx!

[Sheridan]

guys, i need a help.
i play actually witch game version : v 2.0.0 build 13903.584483
(yes i dont updated to new vers via steam, bcs. my "old" campaign DEI)
i try to test PB. mod, but the mod version dont matched to me.
anybody can add a link from this mod earlier version? thx!

A fair request. Luckily for you, the mod gets updated but also saved on a daily basis. Here you go, https://www.sendspace.com/file/8ecl8u. Should work fine with your version.

[Hunor]

many thx!
( i see som changes definition in land_units db, example "shirt" or unit spacing "roman_triarii" , "town_watch" etc. but dont find all changes i think)

thx. it works!