Custom battle surprises

[Uther]

So, I've just tried the custom battle feature for the first time, and I got some results which surprised me.

One surprise is that an army of Swadian ranged units consistently defeated an equally-sized army of Rhodok ranged units, despite Rhodoks seeming clearly superior on paper. My hypothesis is that Swadians' cheaper crossbows have a higher rate of fire, but still pack enough of a punch to deal with the shabby armor worn by crossbowmen. Also, some Swadian sharpshooters get haubergeon, which (if I recall) is a better armor than anything Rhodok sharpshooters get.

Another surprise is that an army of Nord ranged units consistently defeated an army of Vaegir ranged units, and Swadian ranged units. Of course, there are only 3 tiers of Nord archers, which means that 1/3 of Nords' army is made of their top-tier archers as opposed to 1/4th for Vaegirs or Swadians. Still, pretty impressive. Nord Veteran Archers have a slower rate of fire and 20 less proficiency points in bows than marksmen, but they are sturdier and also better at melee (and they run faster, although I doubt it had an impact on the fight).

 

[C A I U S]

Wow ****, I never thought that much while playing.

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

Custom battles are unbalanced. Troops of varying tiers appear in random ratios so it's not really fit for testing the effectiveness of one troop type over another. Some factions are also misrepresented in that they're given multiplayer units to fill the gaps - just look at khergit infantry or rhodok cavalry.

There's also the fact that the default maps are awful, and the enemy just charges at you. It's not great for what you're trying to do.

 

[Uther]

Custom battles are unbalanced. Troops of varying tiers appear in random ratios so it's not really fit for testing the effectiveness of one troop type over another. Some factions are also misrepresented in that they're given multiplayer units to fill the gaps - just look at khergit infantry or rhodok cavalry.

Oh, that sucks. Well, there goes my theory

 

[Uther]

Well, is there a reliable way to test troops strength? Like a mod that allows you to pit one unit type against another?

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

Not yet. I'm useless with presentations (the file that does custom battles as well as some other stuff), but I guess it wouldn't be too hard to mod. You could also try hosting a multiplayer battle and testing that way, and using morgh's editor to swap out the designated multiplayer troops.
From what I've seen though, it only takes a slight advantage at the beginning of a fight to decisively turn an otherwise evenly matched battle one way or the other, partially because of troop behaviour (whoever gets the first blow in becomes the target for the entire enemy group, causing them to pile in and get flanked), and partially because the game actually randomizes certain stats. It's also hard to test ranged units because the ai never lines up to shoot you in native, so it ends up being a test of melee rather than ranged as they charge in.

Simply put, Mount and Blade is not fit for fair fights.