Unit guide

[Ragnar]

Since this came out on the Mac I've been playing it again a lot - such a good game. It made me realise too that 10 years ago I moved through it so quickly I never learnt how to use some of the units properly. So I started studying the stats and researching how it worked - there are a lot of nuances! I now know how to use the Wedge formation now!

Thought I would write it all up in a guide so I could remember it all and maybe its useful to a new player. Incidentally this research is also what led me to perform a slight modification to correct what seemed to be a systematic stat error.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=909957531

[Ragnar]

Cavalry will follow, there ended up being so much to note about infantry!

[EoNightcore]

I applaud your detailed guide and the research you placed into this!

Just a question though, will you write about Siege engines next after your write about Cavalry?

[Ragnar]

Yes probably, although I am not a big fan of how they have been modelled on the battlefield. At least for the AI, siege machines are quite effective - but quite ahistorical. As are flaming cannon balls. Late cannons like the serpentine represent the revolution that was mobile cannons on the field, leading to Renaissance warfare, but they do not stand out as much as they should in the game (although they are excellent).

That said, the guide tries not to pass any judgement, so I better add them in :)

[spooney]

This is really good!
Theres lots in there that i had no idea about.
Was wondering for awhile why sometimes units would not follow orders or charge in by themself thinking i miss microd or that unit was bugged...But it seems it's the impetuous discipline, quite an interesting mechanic.
Thanks for putting this together, looking forward to what you add in next.

[Ragnar]

Thanks for the feedback!

The impetuous aspect is quite subtle. There were a lot of discussions in the forums at the time the game was released as it had been very obvious in original Medieval Total War. In that game they would charge from a stationary position, but in this game I find they only charge while moving past units, so it tends to stuff up flanking moves.

[NekRon99]

Excellent work here.

[EoNightcore]

Will you also be writing about ships, or will you avoid that?

[Ragnar]

I have been reading up on them. They are not strictly a battle unit though, so I think the nature of the discussion fits more into a contrast between factions on the campaign level. When you look into it, some factions, like the Danes need to take advantage of early ship superiority to dominate the Baltic however unless the player has the FAUST guide or similar they won't actually know that!

[Ragnar]

Cavalry is complete, I will tighten up the categorisation of unit quality as I learnt a bit more about the modelling as I went through. It was interesting to see that cavalry secondary melee stats (e.g. sword) are linked to their primary melee (e.g. spear) so a later unit that may be worse at charging suffers greatly in melee too.

Currently working out how best to categorise siege and cannonry in a useful manner.

[Inardesco]

Naffatuns are best in siege defences.

[Gigantus]

Nice work