Troop Map Speed Chart

[Saber Cherry]

A chart showing the map speed of every troop type.

Sorry if the title is misleading - I don't have one, I want one.  I couldn't find one by searching, but perhaps someone has seen such a thing?  The speed would be something like the map movement speed in daylight on the open plains of the player, sitting naked on a Courser with 4 Riding (or whatever the minimal skill is), 0 Pathfinding, no inventory, and 20 troops of type X.  I don't know enough about M&B modding to test such a thing, but surely someone has done a test like this before...

Perhaps there is a known formula based strictly on troop level and class (infantry/ranged/cavalry)?

If nobody has seen such a chart or formula, but you find yourself in a position to test even one possible combination (like you happen to have an army that includes 20 Nord Warriors, so you can save, fire everyone else and throw everything away, write down the speed, and reload), it would be helpful toward making such a chart.  Unless someone has a better idea

 

[Darian]

Map Speed Factors! seems to hold the answers, although there's some factors it doesn't cover. The precise formula the game uses seems to be rather complicated, and probably too deep to be turned into an easily-read graph.

As for your question about troop specifics affecting map speed, from what I've experienced the only factor with troops is whether they have horses (troops on foot slow you down much more).

 

[kaeldragor]

A chart showing the map speed of every troop type.

Sorry if the title is misleading - I don't have one, I want one.  I couldn't find one by searching, but perhaps someone has seen such a thing?  The speed would be something like the map movement speed in daylight on the open plains of the player, sitting naked on a Courser with 4 Riding (or whatever the minimal skill is), 0 Pathfinding, no inventory, and 20 troops of type X.  I don't know enough about M&B modding to test such a thing, but surely someone has done a test like this before...

Perhaps there is a known formula based strictly on troop level and class (infantry/ranged/cavalry)?

If nobody has seen such a chart or formula, but you find yourself in a position to test even one possible combination (like you happen to have an army that includes 20 Nord Warriors, so you can save, fire everyone else and throw everything away, write down the speed, and reload), it would be helpful toward making such a chart.  Unless someone has a better idea

Darian beat me to the link.  Another thing to bear in mind is that some troops of certain levels aren't GUARANTEED horses.  So they won't necessarily affect the speed the same way, being otherwise indistinguishable.

 

[Zephran]

Troops with high athletics move faster on the map without horses, rather than with. One of my characters, alone, tops at about 11-12 without a ride, and about 4-5 with one.

 

[Saber Cherry]

Map Speed Factors! seems to hold the answers, although there's some factors it doesn't cover. The precise formula the game uses seems to be rather complicated, and probably too deep to be turned into an easily-read graph.

As for your question about troop specifics affecting map speed, from what I've experienced the only factor with troops is whether they have horses (troops on foot slow you down much more).

Thanks for the link!  I am rather surprised to learn that armies do much better with no food at all.  I'll have to monitor that since in my current game I am keeping 9+ types of food at all times - usually everything except cabbage and honey.

But it still sheds little light on troops.  It seems intuitive that heavy infantry would go slowly, but I'm not sure they do.  And in my experience, full-plate Knights are faster than Khergit tribesmen / horsemen / skirmishers, which makes no sense, but makes me think that the unit level is involved.  But I have a very bad memory and I've never had an all-knight party so I'm not certain.

 

[Darian]

Speed-wise they do better without food, but morale-wise they do significantly worse. No food equals a rapid drop in morale (slowed by your Leadership and whatever bonus "recent events" morale points you've amassed from battles and so forth), and once morale drops you lose the map speed morale bonus. Going without food also makes almost all companions instantly less happy with you, and one of them will immediately complain about the shortage. You also of course lose out on the "food variety" morale bonus, which can be quite sizeable if you load up with honey and butter. Once starvation and/or morale reaches a certain level men will start deserting at a rapid rate. Overall it's more useful to be slightly burdened with spare food than to have to make a dash for the nearest village.

Once you get a few points in Pathfinding and have a mostly mounted army it's fairly easy to move faster than other enemy parties even when carrying a few food items, at which point the exact speed difference probably isn't crucial.

 

[kaeldragor]

Speed-wise they do better without food, but morale-wise they do significantly worse. No food equals a rapid drop in morale (slowed by your Leadership and whatever bonus "recent events" morale points you've amassed from battles and so forth), and once morale drops you lose the map speed morale bonus. Going without food also makes almost all companions instantly less happy with you, and one of them will immediately complain about the shortage. You also of course lose out on the "food variety" morale bonus, which can be quite sizeable if you load up with honey and butter. Once starvation and/or morale reaches a certain level men will start deserting at a rapid rate. Overall it's more useful to be slightly burdened with spare food than to have to make a dash for the nearest village.

Once you get a few points in Pathfinding and have a mostly mounted army it's fairly easy to move faster than other enemy parties even when carrying a few food items, at which point the exact speed difference probably isn't crucial.

My usual practice is to carry Sausage, Butter and Honey (3 of the 5 "best" foods in terms of their weight-to-morale boost ratios).  That doesn't weigh me down too much and I still get a good bonus to morale.  In .903 more horses than 3-4 in inventory speed you up a little, but not much.  In .95x, the effect MAY be slightly higher, so with enough "pack horses" you may be able to counter-act having all 14 food types.