Suggestions for new patch

[Nikelaos]

Originally Posted by Bwaha

The Ermore javelins should be changed to Pilum. The Roman army used these weapons instead of simple javelins. The intent of a pilum is to negate the oppositions shields. The tip of a pilum was made out of a soft metal so it would deform while striking a shield. This would change the point into a hook that kept it in the victims shield. Also it was heavy so it would encumber the victim. One last atvantage of this weapon was after hitting something it was no longer effective till it was repaired. With a regular javilin you could pick it up and throw it back. Here's a link: http://www.soldiers-russia.com/kolob...an_weapons.htm

nah don't think so, ermors militia would be unbeatable.

also i don't think you're source is right, it couldn't be heavy because if the head is soft (less dense and so much lighter than conventional heads) the shaft needs to be lighter than conventional shafts because if it is heavier than the head, the head would never hit the target unless it's standing 2ft away.

i have heard in a history lesson some many years ago that the top was soft and i'm not disputing that but the shaft would have to be light - possibly hollow, for the javelin(or pilum) to ever fly straight or far through the air in accordance to the laws of physics.

in short you can't have a soft head and a heavy shaft so little to no encumberance and second it would be overpowered if it caused encumberance.

PS. you can't throw javelins back at the enemy anyway in dominions.

[lch]

Originally Posted by Nikelaos

also i don't think you're source is right, it couldn't be heavy because if the head is soft (less dense and so much lighter than conventional heads) the shaft needs to be lighter than conventional shafts because if it is heavier than the head, the head would never hit the target unless it's standing 2ft away.

I don't quite understand that logic. What laws of physics forbid this? I'd expect that the less weight the head has, the less impact it has on the trajectory when you throw the shaft. If you'd have a heavy head and a light shaft, or hollow one like you suggested, then that would really **** up things. Unless you'd use it like in hammer throwing. BTW, from what I know, the soldiers had leather straps or something like that to propel their pila. They didn't throw them like a spear.

[Illuminated One]

Originally Posted by Ich

I don't quite understand that logic. What laws of physics forbid this? I'd expect that the less weight the head has, the less impact it has on the trajectory when you throw the shaft. If you'd have a heavy head and a light shaft, or hollow one like you suggested, then that would really **** up things. Unless you'd use it like in hammer throwing. BTW, from what I know, the soldiers had leather straps or something like that to propel their pila. They didn't throw them like a spear.

Afaik it's about air friction and force/acceleration.

When you throw something air friction exerts a force on it that's proportional to the speed and size it has.
But the acceleration (in that case the break action) is force through mass as F=m*a.
So a smaller mass is slowed down more quickly by air friction.
Now imagine throwing two objects of the same size but with different mass tied together.
The light object will be soon slower than the heavy one, which means that the heavy one will move to the front pulling the light one with it.

It's a bit similar with the javelin, if the front end is lighter than the back end the javelin will start to turn in flight messing up tracetory.

That doesn't mean that the tip has to be more heavy than the shaft but heavy enough that the centre of mass is closer to the front than to the back end.
I'm quite sure that applies to athletic javelins as well, at least all arrows I've seen are constructed that way.

[Bwaha]

I'm sure the Roman army used practicable and efficient weapons, my last post showed pictures of these. My suggestion would be to change the weapon effect to the shield breaking flail. Maybe increase the encumbrance for both the carrier and the victim. Just a thought. Balista's and other artillery could be modded by using any immoble troop type. At least thats what I get from my small grasp of the mod stuff.