Samurai Warlords patch 0904 - 17 august 2008 (tiny one)

the deadpages are progressing, albeit slowly,
part of the problem is while i can edit the file holding the corpses, i cannot changes the co-ordinate txts,
the maths does not work, no amout of fiddling with the co-ords provided will match with the image seen.

i suspect an algorithm exists in the hardcode, i suspect what we now have is not what we were originally going to have (and i am talking pre-shogun here, because its the same insane math in shogun and warlords,)
(except warlords is WORSE because it's drawing from images across multiple files (which makes my head spin))

anyway to get all the dead into the image file i am using a fudge method from my rebuild of the warlords graphics set (when they gave us the clown naginata - i rebuilt the animation and crammed 3 distinct units into 1 file),

because the co-ords are non-sensical i am forced to test each and every time i put any angle (figure) in the file,
i found that if i make assumptions they are generally wrong and if i make assumptions i spend more time bug fixing my assumptions that getting real work done,
so it's one angle at a time, test and restest...

the other part of the problem is we have more horses in use than the designers allowed for,
heck even VI has too many horses,
i am, however, confident that i can get all our horse types into the file
(MI-Hkav, MI-Lkav, Black, Light, Armoured, Samurai and Monk - with one type to spare if we need it later)

No problems with the colour mismatch barocca.
I have been looking at some old VI replays and even they were changing colours when 'dead'.
I think we can live with this. Don't want to create too much work otherwise other things could go wrong.
It was just that I thought I would post what I had seen while testing.

the colour change is not a big problem, i am fixing it as i go,
the whole thing would be easy if the co-ordinates matched can be seen in the file,
then i could remake the file in the resolution i want,
but they dont,
so it's tiny dead sprites, now i just want enough so i can make different unit classes look different
(all part of the visual appeal)
(the same reason i made sooo many different models for villages)
(which i noticed the translations have mostly been busted, and quite a few huts dont show at all)
(so i'll have to fix that up too later)
(just another thing to add to the todo list...)

Played a good few battles tonight and we all agree the gameplay is very, very good. Neither side is overpowered and the Mongols are introducing so much to reinvigorate this mod. None of the battles tonight felt similar and the thought of 3v3 or 4v4 with this ...now that would be nice.

Hello,
I did some single players tests on shootout.
1 Mongol Crossbow vs 1 Japanese Teppo.
Crossbow always wins.

Imo this is an unbalance in shoot out in favour of Mongols:
- is it planned an equal to mongol Japanese crossbow?
- or is it planned to cost much the crossbow?
- or will you will leave as it is?


Marcus

Song crossbows have a pavise type shield. I'd prefer to see the Teppo winning. There are other units due, Ashi crossbows, Ashi archers, Katana samurai, so there is plenty to look forward to.

Hello hun,
You can add as many types of missiles as you want, but if clear there is one that is superior and faction typical, the shootout is always won by that faction, and the initiative will always be on that faction side. The factions must be equivalent in weak and strength, if not in units stats, during the shoutout, or the game will be clearly unbalanced.

I did some tests (about 5) and always cb won the duel with 40-50 survivors. and they have advantage in rain also!

Imo, if the things remains like that you risk you will always have games consisting in Mongol factions with 4 cb.

Marcus

Well thare atre examples for what I am saying in every TW game:
in MTW most of armies always had 4 pavise,
in RTW egyption archers put that faction out of rules -> no egyptiian faction allowed,
in MTW2 factions with musketeers were ruling.

So it is a 6 years lasting issue ...

marcus

Marcus

ashi-xbow and song x-bow are clones with the exception of the pavisse,
i will see if i can add a pavisse to ashi-xbows (and realists be damned)
(or perhaps give ashi-xbow some armour)
ACTUALLY i can "declare" a shield, without there actually "being" one on display,
and i can make it "no mellee" (i.e. it's only for missile defence)

xbows have armour piercing

do we really want long drawn out shootout aka napoleonic style battles?
or fire and manouver?




almost done with deadpages, (only sambows and ninja to go)
(and i am being fussy with displayed image, but not fussy about seeing dead from all diff angles,)
(when you rotate around a dead man you usually only see the one angle anyway)

then it's reassign guard units to Yuan,
hopefully all ready for this coming weekend.

also seeing kgaurds are going all Yuan on us,
do you want me to make new K'swords < nodachi ?? (for 5/6/700k??)
and new K'poles < naginata ??
(will TRY to have them in by weekend also)

the best Teppo is a ....

(this screenie is of almost finished teppo - must remember take screenies of finished product...)

I agree, this needs to be looked at. Teppos should beat Song crossbows. Samurai archers and Korean archers should be equal in missile but Samurai better in melee. Yuan Imperial archers are also part of the infantry structure, like the VI hybrid units, used in shoot outs weakens its potential. Ashi units will give Japanese some cheap missile unit choice.

We also have to be wary of giving the Japanese too much advantage, Mongol cav is not substantially superior and shoot outs rarely see a conclusion before an offensive move that instigates the melee.

In the case of Teppo v Song crossbow, that should definitely be teppo.

Korean swords ... 600 koku ... weaker than Nodachi.
Korean guards ... 700 koku ... weaker than Naginata.

The Teppo issue is more a case that Japanese have no answer to Mongol arrows. If they lose against Song crossbows, they will lose against all the other archer types. Without some hope of inflicting losses, gaining advantage, the japanese will be forced to rush.
I'm all in favour of tactical manoeuvre, but I also see the virtue in a skirmish phase.
NB:
By skirmish, I mean flurries at certain points along the front, attacks being driven back, countering HA, not two lines of guns banging away for ten minutes. The skirmish phase always exists, testing the opponents mettle, looking for weak spots.

I'd be more than happy for a battle to have many skirmish phases and manoeuvre before the troops go in. I'd love an intense two hour battle.