[Discuss] Feature request (troops and the elite)

[psymann]

Rob McDonald wrote:
> Besides, the point of the 
> discussion was more control within battles, so the battles take longer. 
> And doing that would mean protacted a single batle overmultiple turns.

Yes, let's get back on track, thanks Rob :-)  I'm not asking for longer 
battles exactly.  I'm asking for more control in battles (ie give me 
somthing interesting to do!).  Longer battles just seemed to be a 
possible way to achieve this.


I'll take one idea out of it, and expand on that, as I wonder whether 
that alone would do the trick while keeping battles the same length:


*More battle options for troop leaders, dependant on their unit stats*
----------------------------------------------------------------------

At the moment, I can choose:
- line/box/etc
- rear/front/etc
- defensive/aggressive/etc
- % of casualties before retreat

For all of these, there is a "best" setting, depending on whether you 
are infantry, archers, or whatever, and depending on what the enemy do/have.

Because this is general stuff, the leader of an attack (the High Marshal 
usually) will select which options he thinks best, and instruct all 
troop leaders to follow them.

As a lowly troop leader, I can choose:
1) Follow.
2) Do my own thing.

Choosing (1) is really boring.
Choosing (2) is dumb, because (a) it will be less good (unless your 
Marshal picked stupid options which is unlikely), and (b) you'll get a 
bollocking for not being able to follow orders.  Since my characters are 
all respectable people, it also would be against their nature to do such 
a thing in any case.


So, what we need is *more options that Marshals can't set orders for*.

The only thing that you, as a Troop Leader, know, that a Marshal 
doesn't, is the state of your own unit.  What is needed are settings 
where the "best" choice varies considerably from unit to unit.

For example, some ideas to get the ball rolling - three general ones, 
one for infantry/cavalry only, one for archers only, and two at the end 
which are slightly different
:

1) Tightness of formation: Tight/Standard/Loose.
--------------------------
- Tight: stops enemy from breaking through, but means you can do less 
damage as you're a little crowded.  Good for troops with low 
morale/cohesion, to help them stay as a unit.
- Loose: makes it more likely for enemy to break through, but also gives 
strong, highly trained troops more of a chance to swing their swords and 
cause damage.

So -  if you know your troops are new to battle, likely to get nervous, 
etc, then keep them tight.  If they've got ok cohesion, but are badly 
trained, maybe go for standard.  If their cohesion is solid, and their 
training is good, then risk problems by going loose, and, if they hold 
their line/box, then you'll do more damage.


2) Percentage of men hanging back: 0 to 25%
----------------------------------
- 0%: All men are in the front line, causing damage.  Most damage 
caused.  But troops with low morale may run in fright.  With troops with 
low morale, the whole troop may run after the first arrows are fired, 
and your troops are useless, and your honour not improved.
- 25%: A Quarter of your men are dropped behind your main troops, making 
sure that any who are frightened, and turn to run, are sheparded back to 
the lines to fight.  Reduces the damage done, but keeps nervous men in 
battle long enough to do some damage and win you some honour.

So - you keep as many men back as needed to stop your army from running 
scared.  Based on morale chiefly, but also a little on training.


3) Control: 0 to 100%
-----------
- 0%: You exert no control on your troops.  They do what they like, 
probably meaning they run off, plunder, and find whores as soon as the 
battle gets underway and do nothing useful.  Their morale may go up as 
they can choose what they like, or it may drop as they feel they've 
missed the battle, depends on your particular troops (like which form of 
entertainment they prefer also varies).
- 100%: You exert maximum control on your troops.  Because they have to 
wait for your orders to do anything, they are less effective.  Their 
morale may also fall a little if they don't like being controlled so 
closely.  Or may rise if they love having decisions made for them.
- 50%: You exert some control over your troops.  Because they have a 
decent level of training, you are confident you can give them a little 
empowerment to make their own decisions, and if you get that right, they 
do more damage.  If you give them too little control, they do less, and 
wander off, or watch the battle going on around them.

So - depending on their training allowing you to, you can reduce your 
control and see greater damage done.  Just watch for the effect on morale.


4) For Infantry/Cavalry: Involvement: Keep-back/Standard/Lay-into-them
-------------------------------------
- Keep Back: You have good weaponry, but lousy armour (based on your 
weapons/armour stats).  So you keep back and try to use your weapons 
without relying on your armour to protect you.  Keeping back is good for 
untrained troops, as it helps them hold their positions, but is bad for 
those with low morale or cohesion as it gives them more time to think 
about their impending death and search for a direction to run.
- Lay into them: You have good armour, but lousy weapons, so you need to 
charge into the enemy in order to let your weapons do damage, and hope 
your armour holds.  Laying into them is good for trained troops who know 
how to fight and dodge the enemy, and good for those with low 
morale/cohesion, since it keeps them involved and fighting to their best 
ability.

So - depends really - this one particularly overlaps the different troop 
stats, so it's hard to pick which one is best for your troops.


5) For archers: Fire rate: Slow/Medium/Fast
--------------------------
- Fast: most damage to enemy, most equipment damage (broken arrows/bows 
in their haste to use them quickly).  Trained troops can do this with 
only slight equipment damage.  Untrained troops could even do less 
damage to the enemy due to their fumbling, as well as doing more 
equipment damage.
- Slow: Take your time, make them count.  Best for untrained troops, and 
to keep equipment damage low, but does less damage to the enemy.

So - balance your training with your ability to fix repairs, and choose 
your option.


6)...
7)...
8)... etc

=======

Now two other ideas to add, that don't have dependance on your troop 
stats, but are other options you can pick.  If you pick these, no-one 
knows except for yourself, so your Marshals do not know.  Unless of 
course you are successful in protecting/killing, in which case the whole 
battleground knows, and your honour rises as a result.  But of course, 
you might have been there anyway, so who's to know whether you were 
following orders or not?  (You'd have to make a small percentage chance 
of these happening anyway, even if you didn't nominate someone).


A) People to protect: Nominate any other troop leader in the battle.
- If you nominate someone: You do 10% less damage than usual, since 
you're keeping half an eye on your nominee, to make it far less likely 
that he is captured.  If the enemy look to be defeating his unit and 
getting close to capturing him, your unit leaves its station and runs to 
assist.  His chances of being captured are therefore reduced by half, 
and if he was to be captured, and you in fact do save him, you gain 
extra honour and prestige, especially if he's an influential figure 
(duke, king etc).
- If you don't nominate someone: battle as usual.

So - you can choose to reduce the effectiveness of your troops in order 
to protect another troop leader (because you are good friends and would 
hate to see him captutred, or because you are protecting the king, or 
just because you are keen to find honour for yourself).


B) People to attack: Nominate any enemy troop leader.
- If you nominate an enemy troop leader, and that troop leader turns up 
to the battle, then your troop make their best efforts to move through 
the lines to attack that troop, and try to capture or kill their troop 
leader.  This is therefore the opposite of idea (4) of protection. 
Because they're hell-bent on trying to kill one particular man, their 
efectiveness in the battle as a whole reduces by 20%.  But if you 
succeed in killing/wounding/capturing the enemy, you may feel you have 
won your own personal battle.  Or even got some bounty money, if there 
is some, and a little honour if you get someone important.

So - you can choose to reduce the effectiveness of your troops in order 
to get your hands on someone your having a personal feud with, or a real 
enemy of the realm, or just get some bounty.


=============

Hopefully all of these give you something more interesting to do as a 
troop leader in battle.  At the moment, following orders is Deadly 
Boring - I'm having far more fun with my adventurer where he actually 
gets to make some decisions for himself!


psymann