RFC Europe: Small bugs/fixes

[AbsintheRed]

I tried and failed to make it loop. I was modifying an existing animation, and do not know enough to make it do more fancy things. In fact, it only goes through part of the tapestry anyway. Since (I think) the DDS file in question has to be square, the tapestry DDS already is a large file.

Unfortantely I have no experience in these things, so I cannot help
Hopefully someone will have an idea how to solve this

I completely agree that a better and more interesting background would be good. I'll make a few other options and post them to let people voice their opinions.

Sounds great!

 

[merijn_v1]

Instead of a title at the top, we can also use this image.

 

[sedna17]

Instead of a title at the top, we can also use image.

Hmmm, yes, a bit of visual continuity with the loading screen would be good.

Last night (before I saw this suggestion) I mocked up one possibility featuring one of my favorite castles. I'm not entirely happy with it. The tapestry (in my opinion) has to sit on a neutral scroll-like background in order not to look like it is floating oddly. Therefore, many background images require some sort of transition to this background. I have attempted a simple one here.

Oh well, I said I would post a few possibilities for people to comment on. Here is possibility #1.

 

[steerpike_swe]

Pikes get a very small bonus against light cavalry. Pikes have hard time against Keshiks, Pistolers should just kill them.

Star Fort bonus applies to all units and cannot be bombarded. Basically Star Fort gives you +20 fixed bonus.

To be honest, the Civ4 concept cultural defense; and of attacking cultural defenses with cannons was always strange to me... Cannons should be used to destroy city walls... And without cannons, city walls plus any cultural moral booster should apply. Though maybe walls could have reduced effect (but I don't believe it).



Try attacking a city defended by longbowmen with gunpowder units.

Actually you make some very good points here, especially for our medieval mod
We shouldn't see an army with only line infantries easily take a fortified city
Without cannons they should suffer heavy losses, exactly like knights and macemen suffer heavy losses without trebuchets

What is even more strange is that light cavalry is the best type of unit for attacking a large fortified city... They are actually even better than Karolins or Tercios for this.

I have been playing RFCE & SOI for about 8-10 hours/day this last month. As the AI on Emperor level builds units so quick a traditional siege is suicidal. While I move in my mighty stack of siege and infantry with 1/move/turn and then spend a few more turns bombarding city defences the AI uses these turns to build an even larger counter stack.

However if i build a stack of about 10-12 light cavalry, level 2-4, with Flanking and Drill promotions, I can usually take out several cities before the AI has time to react.

Light cavalry (or missile cavalry in SOI) has nearly no units that counter them. They already have a good chance to withdraw from attacks, add a couple of flanking promotions to increase this further which also makes the unit immune to first strikes. Mix in some first strikes of your own as a nasty surprise for your enemy..

After this just command the light brigade to charge against those pesky city walls and that puny castle where the entrenched enemy is hiding and doing their filthy "cultural" stuff. Surely those sissy foreigners will fold at the first taste of your cold steel...

Some of your units might die. But most of them will withdraw from the battle. And the "winning" defending unit will be damaged aswell. As long as you have more units than the defenders you will wear them down. And after winning the battle most of your units will be bruised but ALIVE. The health of your units will be partly restored when you promote them after the battle. Give one of your veterans the medic promotion and a few turns later you another enemy city will fall.

Since your stack move 3/turn you can strike fast, furious and far into the enemy empires soft belly. And you will be nearly invincible since nobody else will have a bigger stack that moves as fast as you do - not even the mongols since they always split up their units to pillage the country-side. Do some clever scouting, raze some enemy roads and they will never catch you before collapsing.

If you do not plan your movement and scouting the terrain it could happen that your forces are not properly prepared when they have a chance encounter with a sudden enemy army out in the field. No worries - as there is no counter unit for light/missile cavalry your chanches of winning pretty decent.

And if you lose the battle you will, at least, most likely have both severely maimed and killed lots of enemy units.

The light horse commandos are also excellent for defensive purposes.

Just place one or more stacks so that they can quickly can reach all corners of your empire. When the enemy attacks and enter your border with a 80+ units SOD - no worries - the AI will still have to march all that infantry, pikes and muskets and macemen and whatever. And they will have to lug all that heavy siege stuff with them aswell. So it will probably take them at least 3 turns just to reach your first city. And that means that your flanking & first striking cavalry will be able to carry out their hit and run attacks every turn they march.

F.ex. if that have 10 Pistoliers, newly built with only level 2-3 XP, all with Flanking 1 & 2 and some with drill promo aswell - and they every turn attack that invading 80+ unit SOD while they slowly march their 3 turns to your city... That SOD will be pretty trashed when they finally reach their target city.

My standard city garrison is 2 archery units + maybe a spearman in important/strategic locations + castle and city wall. This is more than enough to defend against at least 5-6 knights if the AI should decide an advance patrol before the big SOD.

The scouting mounted sergeants that the AI likes to build and ONLY use for scouting & worker snatching will usually not attack cities with a garrison of 2+.

So even a trashed AI SOD is still threat if it actually reaches the city. Placing your 10 pistoliers in it, is usually enough until other reinforcements arrive or are built.

Basically all military needed is 2-4 units/city (depending how insecure you feel) + about 12 light cavalry units. With some luck and wise use theses should cover all your needs.

to be honest I find it hard to stop building them after my first war, I usually have about 40+ light/missile cavalry running around in the end game. And I have actually never had the tech for this tactic with pistoliers or more advanced units, the super slow resarch is my biggest problem, I have only ever managed to resarch 1-2 techs during the whole game.. : (


JUST REMEMBER TO NEVER SPLIT THE STACK AND ALWAYS ATTACK!

If a single light cav unit is attacked and alone they are easy pickings not only for knights and other heavy cav. but also against infantry. Smaller groups are better than single units but not safe, I have often lost groups of 3 - 5 units.

But if your 12 light cav. ATTACK they should have no trouble killing 6-8 Knights. Obviously

 

[3Miro]

Hmmm, yes, a bit of visual continuity with the loading screen would be good.

Last night (before I saw this suggestion) I mocked up one possibility featuring one of my favorite castles. I'm not entirely happy with it. The tapestry (in my opinion) has to sit on a neutral scroll-like background in order not to look like it is floating oddly. Therefore, many background images require some sort of transition to this background. I have attempted a simple one here.

Oh well, I said I would post a few possibilities for people to comment on. Here is possibility #1.

How about the Siege of Acre:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/SiegeOfAcre1291.jpg

Or battle of Grunwald:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Grunwald_bitwa.jpg

Maybe a slide show of several similar images OK that would be too much.

 

[3Miro]

But if your 12 light cav. ATTACK they should have no trouble killing 6-8 Knights. Obviously

The only light cavalry units that you can build are Mounted Sargent, Horse Archer (strength 5 is countered by axes easily) and Pistoler (gunpowder times). There are 1 - 2 UU and the rest is special spawns of barbarians.

Which one do you think we should nerf?

 

[ezzlar]

Sedna: Nice castle but it looks to modern, given the nice camera shot. Maybe make it black and white or some other effect to make it look older?

3Miro: Pistollier got a boost not so far back to 12?

 

[3Miro]

3Miro: Pistollier got a boost not so far back to 12?

OK. I will take steerpike_swe's comments and I will do some math. Will nerf the Pistollier.

 

[AbsintheRed]

@steerpike_swe: Great feedback!
I'm planning a balancing overhaul between units and unit types for sooo long...
In this case: probably we should add penalty for light cavalry when attacking cities
That should at least partially solve the problems

@3Miro: I don't think the Pistoliers should be nerfed, rather light cavalry generally
IMO two things needs to done: ruin their ability to attack cities and trash their defense - both things realistic
So besides the city attack penalty I mentioned, all unit types could get an attack bonus against them. Somewhere between 10-25%
But only an attack bonus, light cavalry should be still able to achieve great damage in open field with their hit-and-run tactics

 

[3Miro]

@3Miro: I don't think the Pistoliers should be nerfed, rather light cavalry generally
IMO two things needs to done: ruin their ability to attack cities and trash their defense - both things realistic
So besides the city attack penalty I mentioned, all unit types could get an attack bonus against them. Somewhere between 10-25%
But only an attack bonus, light cavalry should be still able to achieve great damage in open field with their hit-and-run tactics

Horse Archers and Mounted Sergeants already get penalty for attacking cities (don't they?) Pistolers should have similar penalty.

Light Cavalry does have "no defense bonus", maybe there is a defense penalty parameter. Musketman should have enough power to get Pistoliers out in the open (also Knights).

 

[AbsintheRed]

Horse Archers and Mounted Sergeants already get penalty for attacking cities (don't they?) Pistolers should have similar penalty.

Light Cavalry does have "no defense bonus", maybe there is a defense penalty parameter. Musketman should have enough power to get Pistoliers out in the open (also Knights).

Yep, Horse Archers and Pistoliers should have the same penalty.
Currently Horse Archers has -10%, while Mounted Sergeants and Pistoliers have nothing.
We can increase the city attack penalty to 25% for all light cavalry units
They will still be fairly useful with their high withdrawal rate

Their don't have defense bonus, that's true
But I would still like to clearly separate their attack and defense abilities
Should be effective on attack, especially with using hit and run tactics
On the other hand should suffer huge losses on defending

 

[MariusMR]

OK. I will take steerpike_swe's comments and I will do some math. Will nerf the Pistollier.

And the über powerful longbowmen?

 

[dragodon64]

Is there any chance of shortening the gap between MS/HA and Pistolier?

Pistols only came into existence after flintlock, and flintlock makes sense where it currently is on the tech tree, so pistoliers can't really be moved up much.

One idea is to make Mounted Sergeants require something like Civil Service and have their boosted to 7 and to 80. And add something like a Heavy Horse Archer, coming sometime around Chivalry that has 9 and costs 80 .

 

[AbsintheRed]

Is there any chance of shortening the gap between MS/HA and Pistolier?

Pistols only came into existence after flintlock, and flintlock makes sense where it currently is on the tech tree, so pistoliers can't really be moved up much.

One idea is to make Mounted Sergeants require something like Civil Service and have their boosted to 7 and to 80. And add something like a Heavy Horse Archer, coming sometime around Chivalry that has 9 and costs 80 .

I'm planning something like this for a while now
A unit between horse archers and pistoliers is definitely needed

 

[steerpike_swe]

I'm not exactly sure about the Pistoliers vs Pikemen scenario. It's true that their range is short, but I suppose it's greater than that of the pikes (it's firearms after all), so why do pikemen get defense against them?

From the little I know about Pistolier/Reiter fighting, cavalry tactics and military history in general I think the pikeman bonus vs pistoliers makes perfect sense.

Certainly the range of their guns was more than the pikes length, but those pointy sticks were actually quite long. According to wikipedia: "The pike was an extremely long weapon, varying considerably in size, from 3 to 7.5 metres (10 to 25 feet) long".

As the Reiters pistols was very hi-tech in their time I am convinced that their range was even more than 10 meters. Which would be better than a pike of 7,5 meters. As you say "it`s firearms after all".

But the point is that those hi-tech wheellock guns were still muzzle loaded guns, smooth bore, single shot - and fired from horse back in a ing crazy battle, with guts, blood, death and smoke etc. And that old gun powder created lots of smoke.

And I guess the quality of the gunpowder could be much varied + that the chance of various technical malfunctions. I do not know anything about this but i am sure that was quite common that the pistol would not fire when supposed to.

And no matter what the range of the pistols was. The accuracy of the pistols when fired in battle is more important. Even todays modern pistols are considered as close combat weapons by both military and police. A modern pistol is typically not used as a combat weapon for ranges of more than 6-20 meters or so. (depending on model, type ammo etc). Actually most modern pistols will not kill you if the range is over 50 meter.

I do not think the wheellock was better than a modern pistol. Taking this into account I would guess that in combatthe range would be about the same as about the same as the pike 6 - 7.5 metet.

The point is that the Pistoliers pistol was not a very effective weapon for killing the enemy. Luckily the pistolier had swords as well. And when you charge a square of pikemen firing your pistols at them almost point blank before your horses crash into the wall of pikes migth kill or at least scare enoug of them to break their formation.

Could also be that the true power of those hi tech pistols really was to make the cavalry feel brave enough to dare charge into a wall of 6 meter long spikes... diring the 30 year war the swedish army actually stopped using firearms from horseback as the accuracy was so bad it did not really have any effect on the enemy. It turned out that a cavalry shock in a tight and disciplined formation with only swords actually worked better than the pistols. This could also break the formation and the men did not have to juggle different weapons while charging the enemy which addded speed and movability.

So pikemen should have a bonus towards pistoliers but not as high as against knights. As the pistoliers actually, initially at least, had better success than the knights in breaking through the pikewall. Also less heavy armor made flanking more easy.

 

[steerpike_swe]

It would actually be quite historical correct if curassiers where available earlier - a pistolier is basically a curassier with some pistols.

This would also be good for the game if you ever had a chanche to build them. And it would be great for Polands UU.

But the point with currassiers are basically that they did not carry as much heavy gear as the knights. How about making them weaker but add a an extra move ingnore terrain or something.

 

[AbsintheRed]

I would rather see a clear chain of upgradeable light cavalry units
Making Curassiers to be between heavy and light cavalry is not the perfect solution IMO
Or you are saying we should use them as fully functional light cavalry units?

 

[steerpike_swe]

Horse Archers and Mounted Sergeants already get penalty for attacking cities (don't they?) Pistolers should have similar penalty.

Light Cavalry does have "no defense bonus", maybe there is a defense penalty parameter. Musketman should have enough power to get Pistoliers out in the open (also Knights).

-10 for city attack is more than compensated with the high chance of withdrawal. Especially if you have Flanking 1, 2, 3 and drlll promos. As lon as my units dont die but still hurtthe enemy I will wear them down if i bring more units. + that 3/movement makes it very easy, if i place my stack right the turn before, to declare war, sneak attack, and take one or more cities in just one turn.

 

[AbsintheRed]

-10 for city attack is more than compensated with the high chance of withdrawal. Especially if you have Flanking 1, 2, 3 and drlll promos. As lon as my units dont die but still hurtthe enemy I will wear them down if i bring more units. + that 3/movement makes it very easy, if i place my stack right the turn before, to declare war, sneak attack, and take one or more cities in just one turn.

ATM all light cavalry units have -25% for city attack. Updated the svn about an hour ago.

 

[steerpike_swe]

The only light cavalry units that you can build are Mounted Sargent, Horse Archer (strength 5 is countered by axes easily) and Pistoler (gunpowder times). There are 1 - 2 UU and the rest is special spawns of barbarians.

Which one do you think we should nerf?

Horse archers EAT axemen, without any promo the start with the same strength, but have two first strikes, are immune against first strikes, and 45% wichanche to withdraw from combat if they do not win. Also they will cause flanking damage to early siege.

Put a stack of 10 of each unit against each other if you do not belive me

The 2 first strikes is enough of edge to those axemen. I get to hit you twice beore you hit me.This means that when you hit me you will already be hurt.

And if the first strike is not enough 4-5 of the attacking HA will still survive and gain XP.

If any axemen are still alive they will be killed the next turn.And the axes will have lost more units and take a stability hit.