Question about HA changes - NPCs as well?

[Generaljoebear]

• Introduced drastically increased attack penalties for non-cavalry troops using mounts.
  • Penalties are calculated using the Riding skill of each troop. They’re most pronounced when the Riding skill is 0 and disappear at and above Riding skill 100.
  • A 20% penalty on both melee and ranged parameters listed below is applied at 0 Riding skill (with the exception of the Ranged accuracy penalty which starts at 40%). These penalties are then scaled down as the Riding skill rises towards 100.
    • Melee: Decreased attack swing and thrust speed
    • Ranged: Decreased reload speed, readying speed, accuracy

Do these changes apply to NPCs as well?

I see a lot of comments about the impacts on players, which I personally don't like at all but don't mind so much - but I haven't been able to get an answer about the affect on NPCs. I'm mainly interested in T2/T3 Khuzhait HA units who don't hit Riding 100 till T4.

Khuzait HA playthroughs are going to be a really boring slog in the early game if so. Add the fact that you have to buy each individual unit a war horse to get there (which currently I think is a good system)... I'm struggling to see the reasoning for this without TW adding any interesting early-game mechanics.

On the contrary, you guys are solving a mid-late game problem with this update which I think is great! Why then, would you force players to grind more in the most boring part of the game when the few people who are complaining about this strategy can simply choose not to use it...?

What am I missing? And do these changes affect AI troops?

Thanks and cheers.

 

[Dejan]

Do these changes apply to NPCs as well?

They affect all troops yes - though, we will be downscaling the penalty on Singleplayer with the next patch.

 

[Generaljoebear]

They affect all troops yes - though, we will be downscaling the penalty on Singleplayer with the next patch.

Thank you for the response.

 

[geala]

Downscaling for the player too, or just for NPCs? The current situation is annoying, to say the least, like reliably missing from 5 meters with a crossbow on a horse standing still with lvl 30 in crossbow and 50 in riding. I don't know why such a strange change was introduced, except that there should be a tedious and annoying phase of gameplay not only in late but also in early game. Then, mission accomplished.

 

[Piconi]

Downscaling for the player too, or just for NPCs?

Yes, it will be downscaled for the player as well.