Ashikaga Shogunate mod v1.01

[Osium]

The bow the Japanese used is called the "Yumi", it was a fairly unique bow in that the hand grip was about 1/3 of the way up the bow itself. This allowed for a large powerful bow to be fired from horse back. For all intents and purposes it is an assymetrical longbow designed for mounted soldier use.

It was also a very tall bow by most standards some over 200cm tall, the draw on the bow for a strong man was around 18 kilo's whatever that is in pounds, but due to its akward shape I imagine that accounts for the reputed difficulty in drawing.

Japanese archers also often used frog crotch arrows, basically an arrow head in the shape of a V so they'd look something like this. These were cutting and slashing arrows.

###--------<

The purpose of this arrow was to cut the straps of the bamboo armor that was commonly worn, they also used standard AP arrowheads as well.

Firing the Yumi was almost an artform. I've heard that a proper Yumi when fired should actually almost spin out of the holders hand so that bow is pointed towards the archer after the arrow is released. I assume this is due to its assymetrical design.

The Yumi was every bit as important to the Samurai as the sword was, and it is an arrow that a Samurai broke in half when he swore an oath of allegiance.

Perhaps a mounted horse archer with high precision would fit into this theme?

[Potatoman]

Names: Yeah I noticed too. Don't know how to change them though, so nothing I can do at this point.

Sorry the Ninjas don't look as good as some of the other sprites, they were definately the hardest to make. Trying to make a thin man dressed in a tight black suit look good at 32x32 pixels against a light brown background was a much bigger challenge than I anticipated . Some of the early incarnations of the Ninja were quite startlingly ugly. This is one of the reasons they have glamour in combat- so you can't see them very well. The green knife is from back when they all used bane blades (this is also why their resource cost is relatively high).

About the paralyzation problem- I don't know what the cause is. Does the same thing happen with the user created units of other mods?

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Potatoman:
Names: Yeah I noticed too. Don't know how to change them though, so nothing I can do at this point.

I'm just playing the game, enjoying your mod, and reporting things as I spot them. Given the current state of the game's mod capabilities, it doesn't surprise me when you say that nothing can be done. We can only hope that the next patch will address these issues.

This is one of the reasons they have glamour in combat- so you can't see them very well. The green knife is from back when they all used bane blades (this is also why their resource cost is relatively high).

That's a, ahem, sneaky way to, ah, dodge problems in drawing ninja sprites. (Sorry for being pun-ny, couldn't resist.) You didn't comment on my suggestions for "balancing" the samurai or reducing the resource cost of the genin. Eh?

About the paralyzation problem- I don't know what the cause is. Does the same thing happen with the user created units of other mods?

Yours is the only mod (of the half-dozen I use at present) that creates new sprites. Perhaps another player, or IW, can shed light on this foul darkness.

Once again I wish to say that you've done a wonderful job with the mod. The sprite graphics for the various samurai and casters are a joy.

[PvK]

Originally posted by PDF:
... The way the mod has been done (new units, no reuse of existing ones) you can change it to replace any other nation easily.
Just change the "#selectnation 15" line to whatever other nation number you want (see modding guides for the list).
Cool, isn't it ?

Ah, super! And yes, extremely cool!

PvK

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Osium:
It was also a very tall bow by most standards some over 200cm tall, the draw on the bow for a strong man was around 18 kilo's whatever that is in pounds, but due to its akward shape I imagine that accounts for the reputed difficulty in drawing.

That draw seems a bit low, as it's around 40 pounds, while a modern composite bow will be 60-80 and longbows were supposed to be over 100 in some cases.

[Kristoffer O]

Hi

I have made a jpg banner and moved the Ashikaga mod to complete mods. Is the 1.02 the latest Version?

Nice work!

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:
That draw seems a bit low, as it's around 40 pounds, while a modern composite bow will be 60-80 and longbows were supposed to be over 100 in some cases.

Taken from the following web page: Kyudo: Japanese Archery

(begin quoted text)
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From history I would have to say that the average draw has become much less than it used to be. During the war of the Heike (the middle ages) one master archer sunk two boats with one shot of his massive bow. In those days bows were measured by how many men were required to string it, the average being a three man bow, this monster that sunk two boats being a seven man bow! The old Kyujutsu training was much more rigorous than the modern, with several hundred arrows being shot each day. A good day at the dojo now would be forty arrows, with most students quitting at around twenty or thirty. I myself pull a 13.5 kilogram bow, which is very light. My wrists are weak. The most powerful bow I have heard of being used with any regularity in the modern age is a 42 kilogram bow. My master uses several different bows, but his regular practice bow is 18 kg I believe.

All students, no matter which instructor or school, will shoot the same design of Japanese bow which is little changed from the twelfth century. Traditionally made of hardwoods laminated front and back with bamboo the Japanese bow is one of the longest in the world, usually over seven feet in length. It is a natural double recurve bow with the arrow nocked one third of the way from the bottom and the bow actually rotating in the hand at release approx. 270 degrees. The unique design of the bow requires that the bow actually be torqued or twisted in full draw to make the arrow fly straight.
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(end quoted text)

Provided FYI, for those that are curious about the subject matter.

What I find interesting myself is the high pull strength of these old bows, given that they were never designed to punch through plate or tightly-woven chain steel, as were the western bows of the same era.

Potatoman may need to significantly revise (upwards) the damage of the archers in his mod, as well as increase their gold cost. I also agree with Osium that the mod should definitely include mounted archers.

[ January 29, 2004, 20:32: Message edited by: Arryn ]