Army spawning

[Lugh]

Ok, I've been thinking about this a lot recently. My char just reached 25 and despite having a strong force of Knights and sharpshooters, I'm spending a lot of time running and dodging around the map. I can take large forces, but not without casualties, so going from city to city, more than 4-5 battles against strong foes and I'm in trouble.

What I'm wondering is, how do armies spawn?
Is it based on how many armies are currently in play, how large your level is, how much time has passed or what?

I mean, if it's just that there's a ticker and a new random army spawning at every interval, then it's in my interest to grind away, taking out as many armies as I can, as quickly as possible, but if there's a set amount of armies for my level and the AI just spawns a new one, then there isn't much point in fighting beyond what I need to do.

Thanks.

 

[Ahadhran]

Spawn times are determined by a couple of things first and foremost each party type (army) has a certain maximum number of times they can spawn without any of them being killed. An example is at the beggining of the game there can there can only be 6 river pirate parties on the map at any given time, preventing (if you avoided river pirates) the whole map from being flooded with them.

The second factor is how long the game engine waits to check if the maximum number is reached, if it isn't then another party of the given type is spawned. This is a very short time for river pirates and somewhat longer for other types.

Your level has nothing to do with the number of parties spawned for a given army type, however the size does change as your level goes up.

To answer your question, there is no real reason to kill as many armies as possible because they will after not that long just respawn. Later I think it is likely that quests will be introduced that will allow you to fight enemies and reduce the number spawns for having done so (sort of like the last days mod), Right now there is just the river pirate quest which starts out spawning 6, and then drops to two once you finish the quest.

Woo that was a fingerfull, hope that helps

 

[Lugh]

Thanks, Ahadhran, that was exactly the explanation I was looking for.

Later I think it is likely that quests will be introduced that will allow you to fight enemies and reduce the number spawns

I like that idea, for the factions at least, it'd be whittling down your enemies numbers.

 

[InferiorBeing]

As we're into army spawning by the way, I have two questions:

1.) Is it possible to increase the number of parties on the map?

2.) Sometimes, I might be facing up with an enemy squad that has less men out on the field than what the number below them on the map says!

Example: You have attacked/are being attacked by a Mountain Bandit mob. Their numbers on the world map reads "15". But:

(On the pre-battle menu.):


"Player's party: (Whatever) X/X

Mountain Bandits: Mountain Bandit 10/15"


As you can see, the bandits have 15 men, but all they chose to take with them in battle was 10. Why?

 

[Sir Huggles]

I think that means that of those 15, 5 of them are incapacitated in some way and won't be entered into the fight, similiar to what happens when your troops are knocked unconscious.

 

[Deus Ex]

I think that means that of those 15, 5 of them are incapacitated in some way and won't be entered into the fight, similiar to what happens when your troops are knocked unconscious.

I believe they are injured - or have been knocked unconscious, as sir huggles indicates. Although I seem to remember seeing both figures - the total size of the unit as well as how many are currently in fighting form, when I play. Perhaps there is some relationship to one of the outdoor skills like spotting, or tracking... anyone know if that makes a difference??

DE

 

[Kelpo]

I think that means that of those 15, 5 of them are incapacitated in some way and won't be entered into the fight, similiar to what happens when your troops are knocked unconscious.

I believe they are injured - or have been knocked unconscious, as sir huggles indicates. Although I seem to remember seeing both figures - the total size of the unit as well as how many are currently in fighting form, when I play. Perhaps there is some relationship to one of the outdoor skills like spotting, or tracking... anyone know if that makes a difference??

DE

The number of soldiers able to fight and the total number of soldiers is shown in the world map and in the party screen. 10/15 means that there is a total of 15 soldiers in the band and 5 of them are wounded and unable to fight. Other than that, the only thing that affects the number of enemies that enter the battle is the battle size slider in the options screen and your tactics skill,

 

[Deus Ex]

The number of soldiers able to fight and the total number of soldiers is shown in the world map and in the party screen. 10/15 means that there is a total of 15 soldiers in the band and 5 of them are wounded and unable to fight. Other than that, the only thing that affects the number of enemies that enter the battle is the battle size slider in the options screen and your tactics skill,

I agree - actually Kelpo, I think I did not say that well.

2.) Sometimes, I might be facing up with an enemy squad that has less men out on the field than what the number below them on the map says!

Example: You have attacked/are being attacked by a Mountain Bandit mob. Their numbers on the world map reads "15". But:

(On the pre-battle menu.):

"Player's party: (Whatever) X/X

Mountain Bandits: Mountain Bandit 10/15"

As you can see, the bandits have 15 men, but all they chose to take with them in battle was 10. Why?

What I was trying to say is that in some cases (such as this example by inferiorbeing) if the world map only shows one number (e.g. 15) but when you get to the combat screen it shows 10/15 - could that "lack of information" be due to not high enough skills in tracking or spotting or some such?

Personally, I have never had the situation that Inferiorbeing experienced. IIRC the world map unit information has always has been the same as on the combat screen - but there are many folks who have been playing much, much, more than I have - so I am hesitant to assume that what I have seen is the only way it works, and I was wondering if there was perhaps some correlation to those skills I mentioned.

sorry for the confusion

DE

 

[dablade]

What really pisses me off is enemies spawning on steppy parts of battle maps.
If they’re missile units, they'll skirmish you from an almost unreachable terrain, making it an unfair busyness to deal with.
I'd like to see spawning areas being worked out on further releases.

 

[Roach]

What really pisses me off is enemies spawning on steppy parts of battle maps.
If they’re missile units, they'll skirmish you from an almost unreachable terrain, making it an unfair busyness to deal with.
I'd like to see spawning areas being worked out on further releases.

It is annoying, but to be fair, it's what you'd do if you were an archer facing thirty varied knights (or whatever). Nice initiative from the AI!

Seriously though it makes me phear Swadian crossbowmen like nothing else.

Deus + Inferior, I think there's crossed wires.. just looking at the unit on the map it will say '15' next to it, but putting the cursor over it will show '10/15'.

 

[Deus Ex]

Deus + Inferior, I think there's crossed wires.. just looking at the unit on the map it will say '15' next to it, but putting the cursor over it will show '10/15'.

heh heh - that would explain it. Learn something new everyday! *grin*

DE

 

[Svlad]

Swadian crossbowmen are so annoying.. and my primary form of entertainment is archery, so they're sitting ducks..

But they wander around between shots and they're always ducking to reload their crossbows, and..

arrgh!

Despite my griping, if you can get good at archery, swadian crossbowmen are an opportunity to see how many headshots you can manage in a row with high listed 'difficulty' numbers. A fight with 20someodd of them is the cause of my current record of 4 consecutive 5+ difficulty headshots..