SP - General How battles SHOULD work ..

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First, forget about "Groups" ,they mean nothing is actual set piece battles. The Commander should setup the battle field at the beginning ,through orders.

Orders like "SPEARMEN ! In the center, double ranks, on that Hill .." (clicks hill)
Then orders "Sturgan axemen, on the spearmen left flank" .and "Swordsmen on the Spearmen right flank" etc etc. The game itself then does the group thing internally, player never needs to know about groups. Other orders could be "advance / retire 10 paces" "Set formation wedge " etc

This is how a realistic war game should work. This text based ordering system has already been done in a 80s Napoleonic war game

Problems with the current battle system -

(1) Prebattle groups and % sliders - Beyond repair
(2) HC are unstoppable, infantry are just road humps.
(3) You cannot order units to attack a specific enemy unit. At the moment they ignore their opposite opponents to chase everyone else
(4) Archers have a tendency, without orders , to double Ranks , half Files ... WHY ??? Is this a moral reaction trick ? dumb trick!
(5) I cannot setup individual groups of particular soldier type.
(6) I cannot setup a single battle line, made of different groups / soldier types.
(7) spawning troops happen at a given location, not near the actually unit of same soldiers.
(8 ) Reinforcement troops should enter the battlefield at the edge , in the same direction as the strategic force.
(9) Why do riderless horses gallop into soldiers (especially me), exploding when hitting .. WHACK !!! ..WHACK !! WHACK !

. more to follow ..
 
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(2) HC are unstoppable, infantry are just road humps.
Strongly disagree, the problem is completely the opposite.

Typically shield infantry are hard for cavalry to kill, pike infantry (what few exist) will always stun cavalry on contact and sometimes even oneshot them, and many types of shock infantry can slaughter horsemen on contact.

Charging a group of Vlandian Knights into a group of Voulgiers is like throwing a handful of mincemeat into a spinning fan blade - they just disintegrate instantly, the voulge blades connect perfectly with the knight's bodies for high damage combined with speed bonus from the charge for an instant oneshot kill, while the knight's attacks typically miss completely. Result: Dead warhorse unit.

If anything, heavy cavalry need buffs, considering that they cost a warhorse and same-tier infantry do not. Heavy cavalry need better accuracy when attacking infantry and they need to cause knockdown more often.

They should not be able to defeat all types of infantry, of course - pike infantry should continue to counter cavalry and the number of pike infantry in trooptrees should be increased, and shield infantry should go roughly even with heavy cavalry in a fight.

But shock infantry should be hard countered by melee cavalry, to give melee cavalry their own unique battlefield role and make them worth the warhorse they cost.

This would also be more realistic as in real life if someone charges you with a long lance, and you have a mid-length two-handed polearm but do not have a long pike to outreach them or a shield to protect your body, you should be outranged by the long lance and get impaled in a horse charge.
(3) You cannot order units to attack a specific enemy unit. At the moment they ignore their opposite opponents to chase everyone else
Yes, the ability to order a formation to attack a specific enemy formation needs to be added. It's a fundamental element of any decent tactical game.
 
All the HI I have - Sturgian and Imperial , Vlandian knights just charge on through,never even slow down. Even if the HI formation is 3 - 4 ranks deep, HC just move through. FAIL !

I understand there might not be an animation of a halted horse to use infront of infantry but still .

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If you use pike infantry or certain shock infantry they will stop cavalry almost every time.

Yes melee cav just tend to slide off shield infantry, however they are also incapable of actually properly killing them, and the shield infantry don't get knocked down like they should when a 500kg horse runs into them either.

So if they're going to make shielded infantry be able to physically stop horse charges, they also need to make horses be able to knock down infantry more often
 
I imagine, in reality, HC charging HI (non pike) 4 ranks deep, would penetrate 2 ranks before stopping then a melee ensues. Thus it's important to keep your HI at least 4 ranks deep.

Spears would be different, only 2 ranks needs to keep horse at bay. Pikes one rank but archers would leave gaps so .. at least 4 ranks there too.

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