Small suggestions for the next patch

[jutetrea]

Agree on the friendly fire.

One more thing:

Categorize all spells as either Offensive, Defensive or misc (or something).. hmm and probably add caster only target spells somehow

Then have a script be cast offense, cast defense, cast any, DON'T cast defense, DON'T cast offense.

Just annoys me that unscripted mages in a huge army spend 4 turns buffing, then dish it out... increases micro by a lot as you have to change scripts as you research new spells.

Heck a simple "no caster only" would be cool

[Gandalf Parker]

Those are all good but some hints for now...

Most peoples problem with rearmost is that they arent looking at the battlefield thru the eyes of the units. You can improve rearmost by giving your units a clearer view of the battlefield. Far flanking positions, hold commands to allow most of the battle to move past them, then attack rearmost. Attacking archers for one round and then attacking rearmost can work well also.

You can also improve picking up items by having more commanders with empty slots be nearby when their commanders die. Having all of your commanders on "stay at rear" or loaded with items doesnt get you much. Also increasing luck by scales or items might help altho I havent tested that.

Friendly fire can also be helped by taking on the view of the units. Positioning shooters to the flanks helps, or where they can do long arching shots such as at enemy archers.

[thejeff]

Any evidence that finding items is affected by more commanders or closer commanders?

I've had mages at the rear of the field pick up stuff from people killed in the enemies back field, so I'm a little skeptical.

Obviously having empty slots is necessary.

[jutetrea]

Cav I can understand - I usually do hold and attack rear for cav to let it clear a bit. What bugs me are flying units. I try to position them back corner or extreme flank even with the front - either hold or cast 3 spells then attack rear. If i even make it back to the archers I'm generally surprised, and not shocked at all when he drops smack dab in the center of the melee. Is flying restricted by AP's by any chance?

Does actual distance from the item holding enemy matter? or just empty slots in the army? i.e. if the enemy commander is killed by a full flyer at rear (ha!) will the items go to someone with empty slots stanying behind troops?

I've always figured it was just a crapshoot what items you actually got - I'm usually happy if they are full and I get 1 or 2 out of it.

Friendly fire - yeah, i pretty much just fire at archers (better chance of commander hit) or prepare to take a friendly fire beating. Someone mentioned at some point that shielded units make a difference and I have to agree.

[Hadrian_II]

I know that "Fire Archers" is better for friendly fire, but there are situations when there are no archers on the field and your archers are happily firing into your own units. So even if "fire archers" makes it better, a command for archers so that they rather dont shoot, than to risk friendly fire would be a nice addition. (and i think that in bigger battles, there should be always a target to fire at without risk for the own troops)

[Manuk]

real men don't use friendly fireff

[Hadrian_II]

Manuk said:
real men don't use friendly fireff

this is one of the reasons, why real men dont get old

[danm]

Personally, I would like MORE heroic "abilities" with tradeoffs (like Obesity) I love the flavor, and like having the chance to tweak strategies to accomodate the unit's personality.

Some sort of "Accept Collateral Damage" setting for groups with ranged or AOE (heat, frost) abilities would be VERY handy though. A toggle with 3 settings: "HEY! be CAREFUL with that thing." "Just try not to hit TOO many friendlies, k?" and "Let god sort'em out." would be perfect (assuming, of course that the AI chose targets and movement appropriately)

After outlandishly oversized melee weapons, Lack of friendly fire damage is one of my biggest Fantasy Game pet peeves. I'm glad it's there in this game. However, that doesn't mean I don't get annoyed when my Children of Rhaux lose a battle for me by charging right into the middle of a pile of my own militia or whatnot setting em all ablaze. A little bit more control would be really nice )

[Gandalf Parker]

Having archers set to fire at archers works better if they are flanking. Even if there are no archers, they are at least firing at the side of the enemy with more chance to hit them than your own guys. I find that most AI set their archers on their right flank (high on the combat field) so I set mine on the left flank (also high on the combat field). Alternately, cavalry flankers set for attack rear seem to work best on my extreme right (low on the cormation screen).

It may be that the attacking commanders to get items only works better because it tends to make me put more commanders into battle than just what I need to lead the troops, thus increasing my chances. Also, I tend to use a cavalry commander with cavalry guards and the whole group set for hold-and-attack-rear which tends to take out more commanders before they can flee. Either way, the logic seems to work altho I havent done hard numbers.
It feels right in an RPG way.