IM BACK!

[NOXAS1]

As you probably saw by the title "Im Back" Here are some of my questions.

Will Elephant calvary units get scared or enraged when attacked by archers and spearmen and will they have a morale effect on the battlefield?

Oh it gets better and better everytime I get on. You guys are awesome!

[Mythos_Ruler]

Elephants can "run amok" yeah. No Morale in the game though.

[Sophokles]

I've always loved that element of RTS games. Your peasants will brave towers, traps, and Congrave's rockets for their country, and your honorable navy never, EVER considers surrender.

But I understand that a morale system would be unnecessary.

[darthturtle]

We shall fight in the beaches! We shall fight in the seas and oceans! We shall fight in the air! We shall NEVER SURRENDER!

But seriously though, it might be annoying to have your units running away when you can win the battle with your ub3r m1cr0 skillz

[Mythos_Ruler]

Also, there's nothing that says a player shouldn't retreat his troops when necessary. A lot of players just never learn when it's necessary for a tactical withdrawal.

[Kimball]

Tactical withdrawals don't really work in other RTS games. Most opponents will always chase you down.

[NOXAS1]

Tactical withdrawals don't really work in other RTS games. Most opponents will always chase you down.

But the enemy shouldnt chase a retreating force Sun Tzu says lol

Will Sun Tzu's art of war tactics work with this game?

[Mythos_Ruler]

Yeah, they could chase you right into your towers and defenses.

[buggy123]

or rather, right *though* you towers and defenses and right into ur base only losing like 10 men.

stationary defense never really did much imo. and its unlikely ur infantry will outrun their cavalry.

I suggest a "withdraw" command. It would be similar to company of hero where they go faster but you can't control them until they can safely back to the rally point.

this way, scattered infantry men can only be taken down by cavalry (without resistance) thus forcing the commander to think about the decision.

[janwas]

or rather, right *though* you towers and defenses and right into ur base only losing like 10 men.

That's what gates are for

And depending on how bad the area of effect damage is, you'd have to think twice about running into artillery.

I suggest a "withdraw" command. It would be similar to company of hero where they go faster but you can't control them until they can safely back to the rally point.

hm, I have very mixed feelings about that CoH feature. If heavy artillery is in play and you retreat, expect the opponent to know exactly where your (Axis) rally point is and drop a well-timed barrage on it. Add to that inexplicable delays before retreating and the ability to temporarily block those units, and you have a recipe for disaster. On the plus side, at least those pesky snipers can be chased down with jeeps/krad.

It seems hard to pull off such a feature and make it seem fair. Shouldn't even retreating units still be slaughtered if they run by emplacements? They are by British Bofors, but not by everyone else's heavy MGs, nor Axis mobile antiair. I bet this feature would be equally controversial/annoying in 0ad.

[buggy123]

ic what your saying, but there's no artillery barrage or such in 0ad. also, there's no turrets in 0ad unless u count towers.

my point is, scattered infantry running for there lives should move faster than men in a disciplined formation and that this game should reflect that to some degree. even if it's just making sure a lone infantrymen running for his life should move way faster than a phalanx.

[Sophokles]

That's true. Adrenaline is a powerful hormone that can make psioli and toxotes run faster than a stallion on fire. Then again, running is going to be implemented soon, right? How is that going to work?

[Mythos_Ruler]

Running was implemented for the old simulation system, but not yet for Sim2 (it's coming). Basically running and charging will be a simple double-click. I would like the 'R' key to toggle Running/Charging as well. I have no control over that at this juncture, but seems reasonable.

As far as retreating/Morale. We talked about it extensively for years. I remember talking about it in 2003, 2004, and every time a new member joined the team with a "cool idea, let's have Morale!" It's been decided that your units running away from you is not in keeping with the RTS tradition and would anger some players (including myself -- I think PLAYERS should feel the emotion or need to retreat his units).

One of my favorite games is Rome:Total War (specifically the very good mods like Rome:Total Realism, Diadochi:Total war, and Roma Surrectum). It has Morale and Routing. It fits in that type of game because you are always either fighting or doing econ. There is never a time where you do both, like in an RTS. And the "economy" in RTW is just about population control and building the right buildings and capturing the right cities, hardly has micro as a standard RTS where you have to worry about storehouse placement and how many units to place on berry bushes.

Edited April 7, 2010 by Mythos_Ruler

[plumo]

Well let us take Age of kings as an example, or Age of mythology: didn't have morale. no regrets

I find morale sometimes quite frustrating: seeing your units rout is depressing, and chasing routing armies in R:TW wasn't that much fun, it was always a race to take them prisoner before they crossed the red border lines...

[buggy123]

yeh, morale shouldn't make soldiers rout, but rather affect their stats. armies with poor morale would not fight as well, move and fast, etc, and vice versa

Edited April 7, 2010 by buggy123