[PUBLIC BETA] 1.2.5c Released! (Updated June 26)

[Iskandar]

Have the Cretan Archer mercs been changed? I don't have the fire arrows option available and I seem to remember having access to it the last time I played a Hellenic campaign.

[PrimoTw]

They shot heavy arrows.

Their role have changed to be anti armor units and are available in the Hellenic region.

[Falco]

Have the Cretan Archer mercs been changed? I don't have the fire arrows option available and I seem to remember having access to it the last time I played a Hellenic campaign.

There's a new mercenary unit of Cretan Infantry (archers are still in too). Maybe that's what you're using?

[SpardaSon21]

Speaking of heavy units and formations, is there a reason why the formations are so rare outside of Rome? I'd hardly say it should be given Roman heavy units have so many other advantages over the other ones such as Good instead of Poor or Low Stamina, above-average stats, and the pila. Its 1475 in custom battles for both an Athenian Thorax Sword and a Marian Legionary using the 1.2.5c pack, and the Legionary has 1 more melee attack, trades 2 damage for 2 AP, and has better morale, much better Stamina with Good instead of Low, pila instead of javelins and more formations available to it. Polybian Principes have three less armor, and Low stamina, and have light instead of medium pila, and are still incredibly cost-effective at 1375 since everything else is identical to his later Marian counterpart. Even the Clibanarri maintain that Good stamina despite being one of the heaviest infantry in the game, perhaps the heaviest.

[Iskandar]

They shot heavy arrows.

Their role have changed to be anti armor units and are available in the Hellenic region.

I am talking about the option to use the fire arrows instead of non-fire arrows, not the unit itself.

There's a new mercenary unit of Cretan Infantry (archers are still in too). Maybe that's what you're using?

No, I have the normal Cretan Archer merc recruited. It's just that when I tried to burn a camp's arrow towers down, there wasn't any option for fire arrows. Neither was it present in custom battle. For the the common Cretan mercs, for the Bactrian Katoikoi Cretans or for the Ptolemaic Neokretikoi...

My last Hellenic save is from 13th of April this year, from a Spartan campaign. I have just the one archer per army and it's a Cretan merc and I always keep at least one archer for access to fire arrows. Therefore, at that time Cretans must have possessed that ability. I was using the Experimental Battlepack and now I am using the Beta. Funny thing is, I can't remember or find anything in the release notes about fire arrows.

[Falco]

Oh like literal fire arrows lol, for some reason I thought you meant fire as in shoot arrows .

[PrimoTw]

They dont have FA, they are exclusively made to shot heavy arrows. Recruit normal archers for FA.

[Dresden]

Update

Battles
- Added Nisean mounts to Parthian cataphracts
- Lowered mass and speed penalties for fatigue from 10% to 5% per level of fatigue
- Removed "expert charge defence" attribute from the game and replaced it with better mass mechanics - expert charge defence was reflecting charge bonus back into charging unit from all angles, even if unit was routing, this caused long lasting bug where routing units were killing cavalry that was chasing them
- Spear units (excluding pikes and hoplites) get highest mass of all infantry, this means they are great at stopping cavalry charges and later deal higher casualties due to bonus vs cavalry; horses are still going to rear up when trying to charge spears frontally, not all of them are going to ride into pointy spears
- Unit quality and armour has much more clear impact on how charges work, cataphracts charging at levy and unarmoured spears will still be able to deal reasonable kills due to engaging light and disorganised enemy
- Ranged units have their virtual (visually they are the same) size decreased, this should make it a bit easier for cav to chase them since it wont slow down charging horses that much
- Militia hoplites have their speed fixed and are more in line with regular hoplites
- Slightly nerfed short pikes vs long pikes
- Pike and hoplite phalanx AP damage decreased by 1
- Increased shield missile protection by 5%
- Decreased lethality of pilum and slings
- Added small bonus vs infantry for all cavalry units, it does not impact them much in prolongedm melee vs regular infantry but adds a buff against ranged infantry
- Added new Late Sarmatian Cataphract unit.
- Added new look for Early, Late and Noble parthian cataphracts plus Dahae Nobles


Campaign
- Fixed new naval units missing population unit entries
- Fixed Scythian reforms not properly working when territory held requirements were met.



We plan on releasing this beta as a main mod update 1.2.6 in the coming weeks.

[Callicles]

Great news!

When you release the update, do you think it will include the Athenian updates you hinted at or will they come later?

Thanks again for all the work!

[Dresden]

No, those will come later. Hopefully in one of the updates after this one, possibly in a fix update. I am sure we will have quite a few after the release as usual.

[Dumanthis]

Awesome work, looking forward for the official patch release Found some missing body parts

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Also the Atropatkan Kardaka Arthesthar (Persian hoplite) still uses shorter "bowman spear" instead of hoplite/regular spear.

[Dresden]

Yes we are working on fixing that unit, something weird happened with one of the models. Thanks!

I will check out those hoplites.

[Gasmio]

Hello team i will like to say that Sarissa Lanchers are week in order to break unit line and the take so much damage !

[malachi82]

The sarissa lancers are godly when they rear charge a unit. You don´t use them for front attacks, do you?

[corsair831]

Hey guys, great news to hear so much progress on the update!

I've been thinking about starting a new campaign but prefer to play the officially released versions as opposed to the Betas, I was just wondering if this Beta we have at the moment is more or less the same as the official release will be?

Many thanks

[Falco]

Hey guys, great news to hear so much progress on the update!

I've been thinking about starting a new campaign but prefer to play the officially released versions as opposed to the Betas, I was just wondering if this Beta we have at the moment is more or less the same as the official release will be?

Many thanks

It probably won't be far off, but wait for KAM or Dresden on the final word.

[Dresden]

It will be very close to the release version. There will probably be some changes but I am hoping no major last minute changes so we can avoid any post release major problems.

[k123cp]

Have new units/updated visuals been implemented yet in the latest beta? I can't seem to find any changes in my game.

Edit: Noticed percentages for stamina and morale are not working as well. Any ideas? I'm definitely on the latest version (1.2.5b, 26 June beta).

[Iskandar]

Playing as the Antigonids, Hepteres should be available for recruitment at level 4 docks and level 3 unique docks (Rhodos, Alexandria). I haven't built level 4 docks yet, but at Rhodos and Alexandria sea regions the option for hepteres shows "No unit class key assigned!" when I hover over it. I could recruit them at Alexandria, but at Rhodos they are greyed out.

[Falco]

Playing as the Antigonids, Hepteres should be available for recruitment at level 4 docks and level 3 unique docks (Rhodos, Alexandria). I haven't built level 4 docks yet, but at Rhodos and Alexandria sea regions the option for hepteres shows "No unit class key assigned!" when I hover over it. I could recruit them at Alexandria, but at Rhodos they are greyed out.

Pretty sure they have a unit cap.