Ducenarius
Make barbarian formations less organized?
Is it possible to make "barbarian" formations less organized and less clean than they currently are? In the older games formations were not as perfect, especially for barbarian factions. I liked this distinction between "civilized" factions and "barbarian" ones.
Artifex
Re: Make barbarian formations less organized?
That's something very easy you can do, where you're only really limited by your imagination. Hit up PFM, make a new file where you add the land units and unit_spacings tables. In the latter of the two, you create as many patterns as you wish - in theory you could give one unique organization pattern for each unit. The values for horizontal and vertical spacings you type in will basically determine how large the unit appears on the battlefield. There are quite a few ways to tamper with that. Additionally, you have the variation to fiddle with, which determines how organized the unit looks. For barbarians, you might want to go with values between 0.4 and 0.7 there, depending on the unit. The horde box can be selected to further put troops in disarray, it's essentially the same thing but you do still want to take advantage of the variation cells, or units will only get a disorganized look after moving (e.g. they begin in perfect order).
Keep in mind that you must also determine the loose spacing settings, or the game will crash upon switching to loose formation.
Campaign modder for Ancient Empires
Re: Make barbarian formations less organized?
Interestingly I suppose you could make "loose spacing" actually a little tighter for when cavalry is approaching. ( or not ? )Originally Posted by Sheridan
Ducenarius
Re: Make barbarian formations less organized?
In the unit_spacings table there seems to only be one barbarian row and it's for barbarian melee infantry. I don't see a way to change the spacings of all the other barbarian units without changing the spacings of all the other factions.
Are you saying that horde makes units look disorganized when moving?
What do you mean by determining the loose spacing settings? Do I have to increase the loose spacing by the same percentage as I increase the close spacing? Or do they have to be the same number?
Artifex
Re: Make barbarian formations less organized?
In order to bring more spacings to the troops, you simply add in more keys (and name them anything you wish - preferably something that is easy to connect to a certain troop or troop type). For example, you could add a key called "Germanic_Archers". Figuring which units, in land_units, that should use this spacing key would be pretty straight-forward then.
Horde makes units disorganized after they've first moved from their original stationary position. So, from the first time you move them, they'll be disorganized. If you want to do it with extra detail however, it's recommended to give them a disorganized spacing to begin with (as in, pick a reasonably high spacing variation for that same key that you want to be a horde). Otherwise, as said before, they'll start organized initially, which may look off.
Loose spacings can be anything, quite literally. But you must pick values, or the game will CTD when you or the AI switches to loose formation in the game with any unit. Generally speaking, loose formations should have a greater vertical and horizontal spacing than the close spacing (default) counterpart. You do not have to use them this way, however, but it's the best approach if you wish to make the loose formation button accurately correspond to what it's meant to - it might come at a disadvantage for the AI otherwise.
Campaign modder for Ancient Empires
Foederatus
Re: Make barbarian formations less organized?
For the lazy or incompetent, is there a mod that exists that already does this?
Protector Domesticus
Re: Make barbarian formations less organized?
You are of course entitled to do whatever you want, but from an historical point of view many of these Germanic confederations were led by 'kings/chieftains' that had served in the Roman army, also many of their followers had too. Further from the Roman Limes tribes had still contact with the empire, either through raiding or as serving in the army.
The Germans simply put were not rabble, admittedly we are not talking about well drilled professional soldiers either, they may of learnt a certain amount of organisation and tactics but they still fought in their own ways.
In short, I would not make them neat organised professional soldiers, but certainly not a disorganised rabble of unwashed barbarians.
Re: Make barbarian formations less organized?
Blackberry , your stuff is up on the workshop under the name Riekpo right ? I like what you're doing but I dislike using the workshop and the in game mod manager.
Would you be keen to post your mods here aswell ? This one for example
If you have time that is ....
Ducenarius
Re: Make barbarian formations less organized?
Yes that's right. I may post the mods here in the future if I find enough free time, but don't hold your breath. Why don't you like the Workshop? It's a lot more convenient to use. You can still use the community made mod manager with it.
Re: Make barbarian formations less organized?
Yes you're right. I thought it deleted non workshop mods when i ran it, but i see now that it doesnt do that, so no worries .
Thanks for the mods by the way .,
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
