Some mechanics breaking the single player

[Killercam22]

1. the horse mechanic. the problem with this mechanic especially from and AI standpoint just doesn't make sense Im seeing Khuzait armies of 200 running down northern empire armies of 80. this means whenever the empire has the number the khuzait can just wait them out for reinforcement and whenever the empire lords lose any battle they lose most of the horses cause them to just be ran down again and again. The biggest problem with this is the mainly horse armies of the khuzait will almost always win and be able to just run down the lords over and over and I've seen this happen with many factions. this also attributes to some snowballing effect to a big degree.

2. Reinforcements. to me it seems as though the more tightly packed empire can more easily go back and get troops then the ones that are stretched out this really hurts the sturgians and aseri and gives to much of advantage not only in being able to get a more steady supply of troops but also in general defense. the only one that this doesn't help is the western empire because it helps the battanians even more. The northern empire lords have to walk as far back as epicotea for troops while all the khuzaits major cities are fairly close to the empires 2 frontier cities which always get taken. Im currenlty in a war with another factions casualties inflicted are 6803 to 5632 so we have them by 1200 but they 2465 to 4434 strength something just isnt right with those numbers.

Not complaining just wanted to share some things that I've seen that just isn't making any sense.

Solutions

1. the horse mechanic needs to be addressed in some way and i propose that the amount of horses one is able to have should be determined on the max size of ones party that way itll be more of a balance between speed and supply. Even if the army isnt full the speed should match it to if it was.

2. the reinforcements situation is a bit harder to tackle. the problem with this is the map is already laid out so any nerf on the recruitment in general would hurt the other factions as well but maybe not as much. So idk

 

[Kiwibaum]

to the first point: Having horses in your inventory while having infantry gives a speed boost aswell.

 

[Killercam22]

Yeah i get that but most of the troops in game don't require horses so the only horses that the armies have are gonna be that first round they start with and whoever wins those first couple of battles will see a huge influx of horses and speed this is even worse when it comes to the khurzait. the mechanic just doesn't work the way it is now.

 

[metafa]

No! The only thing missing from the horse mechanic is that they don't consume food! With a bigger army food always runs out fast anyway so having horses consume food additionally really will make you think twice about literally having hundreds of them.

 

[Rafalongo]

yea for example
base speed = 10
+10 troop = -1 speed
+10 horse = +0.5 speed

and the horses will only influence the speed until reaching the number of troops. Excess horses shouldn't make you go faster. Although something could be added depending on the load, the weight of this will delay you unless you have extra horses.

 

[Killercam22]

idk it doesn't seem to far off to think that a certain size army would only have a certain amount of horses its capable of having.

 

[Blyatt08]

No! The only thing missing from the horse mechanic is that they don't consume food! With a bigger army food always runs out fast anyway so having horses consume food additionally really will make you think twice about literally having hundreds of them.

I really agree with this. If horses would add to how fast food goes down. Maybe make it easier and they only eat grain. That would put a soft cap on how many you could have at a time.

 

[Limbojack]

1. the horse mechanic. the problem with this mechanic especially from and AI standpoint just doesn't make sense Im seeing Khuzait armies of 200 running down northern empire armies of 80. this means whenever the empire has the number the khuzait can just wait them out for reinforcement and whenever the empire lords lose any battle they lose most of the horses cause them to just be ran down again and again. The biggest problem with this is the mainly horse armies of the khuzait will almost always win and be able to just run down the lords over and over and I've seen this happen with many factions. this also attributes to some snowballing effect to a big degree.

I completely disagree. It might be poorly balanced at the moment, but factions should have their own, unique, strengths and weaknesses to make them feel and behave differently. Having cavalry armies running circles around slower infantry armies, peppering them with arrows sounds fairly historical and logical to me. The Kuzaits should be like the Kerghit Khanate of Warband, deadly on large open fields where their cavalry can run wild but weak in sieges, forests, and mountains. It's a balancing issue, not a mechanics one.

2. Reinforcements. to me it seems as though the more tightly packed empire can more easily go back and get troops then the ones that are stretched out this really hurts the sturgians and aseri and gives to much of advantage not only in being able to get a more steady supply of troops but also in general defense. the only one that this doesn't help is the western empire because it helps the battanians even more. The northern empire lords have to walk as far back as epicotea for troops while all the khuzaits major cities are fairly close to the empires 2 frontier cities which always get taken. Im currenlty in a war with another factions casualties inflicted are 6803 to 5632 so we have them by 1200 but they 2465 to 4434 strength something just isnt right with those numbers.

I don't see anything wrong with this. The Empire starts off with potential enemies to all sides, and civil war while the sturgians are pretty safe despite having their holdings spread thinly across the north. Again, strengths and weaknesses. The Empire is still technically more advanced than the other factions and had a more centralized realm, which should bring certain benefits.

 

[Limbojack]

No! The only thing missing from the horse mechanic is that they don't consume food! With a bigger army food always runs out fast anyway so having horses consume food additionally really will make you think twice about literally having hundreds of them.

Yes, this seems like a great way of balancing the effectiveness of cavalry armies and something they should absolutely add.

 

[Grimnarsson]

No! The only thing missing from the horse mechanic is that they don't consume food! With a bigger army food always runs out fast anyway so having horses consume food additionally really will make you think twice about literally having hundreds of them.

That's a very good point! That horses consume food should definitely be added as a game mechanic. As it is, there doesn't seem to be any downside to having an unrealistic number of horses and mules in an army. There should be some kind of diminishing returns from having horses as they need to be controlled by humans and they need to be fed as well.

 

[Trantez]

I am also concerned about being able to increase my inventory size to hundreds of thousands with no upkeep cost.

 

[paladinx333]

I love the new inventory system. It is the best part of a rather unfinished game.

 

[JustinTime49]

That's a very good point! That horses consume food should definitely be added as a game mechanic. As it is, there doesn't seem to be any downside to having an unrealistic number of horses and mules in an army. There should be some kind of diminishing returns from having horses as they need to be controlled by humans and they need to be fed as well.

Well, actually too many horses are in fact a bad thing. I don't know the calculations, but if you have excess horses or livestock, you are given a 'herd' modifier to your party speed which can very easily cancel out the speed given by 'footmen on horses' if you just keep looting those horses.

I still agree horses should take food, but with the way villages are being unable to upgrade their production, many people would find it unbelievably frustrating that horses eat all that good grain when you are trying to supply a starving city.

 

[Jefeon]

Well, actually too many horses are in fact a bad thing. I don't know the calculations, but if you have excess horses or livestock, you are given a 'herd' modifier to your party speed which can very easily cancel out the speed given by 'footmen on horses' if you just keep looting those horses.

I still agree horses should take food, but with the way villages are being unable to upgrade their production, many people would find it unbelievably frustrating that horses eat all that good grain when you are trying to supply a starving city.

This.
They don't need to "nerf" horses, there's already a herd debuff when you have too many, and horses eat grass and hay it wouldn't make any sense to use the men's food which is probably why they added this debuff which is quite realistic as well.
Once you have a lot of money it's easy to say, but when you start a campaign the food is quite expensive already.

 

[Soulcharger]

Item Add: Hay Bale
Item Description: Consumable
Only used by horses/pack animals/any live stock.

I would also make these half the price of grain consumed at same rate and have same mass in the inventory. This may help balance the power of cavalry. In response to original post though, I play empire all the time, and the Khuzait are yes annoying but easy counter on the battlefield. Simply go to a cornor fast and stand to one side of it and out towards middile a bit, enemy will circle you into cornor, use infantry and skirmishers to then heard into cornor while archers slaughter them. Easy day.

 

[qmax]

Low priority for me. If you defeat an army of hundreds, expect hundreds of items of loot.