Modding Horse Archer AI

[Ishapar]

I haven;t found any discussion on this in the forums, so might as well bring this topic up.

We all know that native Warband has an issue of having horse archer units charge with heavy cavalry instead of acting like horse archer units. This gives the Khergits a disadvantage to their faction troops against any other cavalry faction due to loosing their archers in the heavy charges. I know that the horse archer ai has been discussed a lot, but what I am wondering is if anyone knows how to actually edit warband's horse archer ai? It has been done as mods like Prophesy of Pendor show how an improved ai can make the horse archers deadly effective and worth pursuing. The problem though is that I have never seen anyone actually reveal what is needed to be done to actually change the ai's behavior.

When I look at POP, I do notice that horse archers are now automatically assigned to their own troop order along with infantry, archers, and cavalry. Is this part needed to set apart horse archer units, and if so, can this be edited in the text files or is the source module needed? The enhanced horse archer ai in the mod works by circling away from the opponents and to keep firing arrows at them until they run out of arrows. Can this behavior be changed easily, or does it require a long process with the module file? For reference's sake, is it possible for any modder to showcase how mods like POP have changed the horse ai by comparing them to the native files?

Enhancing horse ai in Warband would be a great tweak to enhance the native or mod gameplay, but just how complicated is the process? Anyone with any insight on this area?

 

[dariel]

Try searching for the skirmisher mod, I think by Caba'drin. It causes both foot and mounted units with ranged weapons to close only to their weapon's range and maintain that distance, moving away from enemies if they get closer.

 

[Redleg]

Also, the AD 1257 mod horse archers had similar behavior. You can use their mod source in your mod because they have made the source OSP.

 

[Ishapar]

Try searching for the skirmisher mod, I think by Caba'drin. It causes both foot and mounted units with ranged weapons to close only to their weapon's range and maintain that distance, moving away from enemies if they get closer.

I'll have to look for it. My question for you though is can this mod be added to an existing mod without using the python files? The mod I have does not have the original source code, so I am usually limited to Morgh's or the text files.

Edit: I believe this is the mod you are referring to: https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php?threads/wb-order-skirmish-mode.137970/

 

[Redleg]

Sorry for the late reply. The answer is probably not. Adding that much code will require the module system.