ATTN KAM: BAI-Friendly Battle Mod and Sieges

[GourmetGorilla]

So I'm playing a Rome campaign on VH/VH with Kam's BAI-friendly battle mod.

I just encountered my first siege, and...sniff...do I smell something burning?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dxpMxULHnA

Basically, I enjoy the challenge that sieges present. I tried to assail the walls around one of the gates with six ladders and a ram. The enemy has many tools at their disposal with which to swat my men on the approach. Missile units are very effective, as they should be, and towers are as effective as they need to be. This means that I need to screen my engines with tough units, and I expect them to take massive casualties. I think it was a smart move toning the towers down a bit to accompany the BAI-friendly submod. My suggestion is, if it hasn't been considered already, that the same be done for boiling oil.

The AI starts with boiling oil in order to discourage rushing the gate with torches. I very much approve of this. However, I wonder if the effectiveness of boiling oil isn't a BIT too high for the stat pack HP values.

Don't get me wrong, Josephus describes the use of boiling oil against Imperial legionnaires at Jotapata as being a TERRIFYING sight to behold, but it seems to me that although it was extremely effective, it could not stop an entire army for logistical reasons. Oil was an expensive luxury, even in Jerusalem, a city long-renowned for its production of olive oil. In addition, you just can't keep THAT much oil inside a gate. You can keep a couple of pretty big cauldrons, but that isn't enough to stop an entire army. But it was enough to cause panic and kill the forlorn hope.

Source is Wikipedia, so forgive me if I'm mistaken: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_t...eapons#Hot_oil

The fact that the AI pours oil continuously means that battering rams are effectively useless, since only about one in ten men make it through. If you haven't already, please consider giving these guys a fighting chance. My troops are getting chicken-fried!

[KAM 2150]

Yeah, I left boiling oil without changes, my bad

[rjacko10]

Yeah, I left boiling oil without changes, my bad

oh thank you!

this played a major part in my frustrating siege battles.

[GourmetGorilla]

Definitely an easy thing to miss, it's all good. Take your time, and thanks for putting all the effort into this submod. It's a lot of fun to use.

[Cromagnon2]

Definitely boiling oil is OP. rams are not worth it as casualties are too high. Kam's mod is a good thing.

[GourmetGorilla]

Got an ETA on that fix?

[KAM 2150]

New fix will be in few hours. I've also found probably the sweet sport for pike phalanx, so they are able to deal kills faster in the beggining (instead changing into human lawnmovers after few minutes), but are also easier to kill. So while units like Silver Shields will still be able to beat frontally units of similar quality if not attacked from flanks, weaker phalanx formation like levy pikes will stand no chance vs superior units even frontally, although will be able to hold their ground much longer then units of similar quality vs units of superior quality.

Also now finally stretching your pike phalanx too much will have negative impact on their performance.

[Alu10]

So my question, why wont you add this nice piece of patchwork into the main mod when it is so good?

[KAM 2150]

Because it is still in testing phase.