Editor Questions

[TheGrayMouser]

I was just playing around w the editor (specifically the combat modifier table that deals with the % modifier for attacking units in various formations and angles of attack) Maybe I am reading it incorrectly but the "cavalry charged" line reads 0% for all line items...This would seem to imply that cavalry cannot take damage from another cavalry charge?? Clearly this isnt the case, however I am wondering if A. am I misunderstanding the table? or B. is that line not functional? I loaded a couple of scenarios in the editor and all seem to have the 0 values in these fields.

Also, does the "Heavy Medium and Light drop downs for cavalry in the unit editor have any functionality?? There is a blurb in the manual that states "cossaks and hussars" give a modifier to whether a line infantry unit will succesfully form square or not when charged.

[jackx]

What I've noticed in several cavalry engagements now is that charging cavalry seems unable to inflict morale loss on another cavalry unit as a result of actual combat, whereas the charging unit itself can suffer morale loss as a result of combat. Both sides suffer casualties though, so I' not sure if this has anything to do with the above-mentioned modifier. (Which would, as far as I understand it, affect the number of hits taken, and thus affect casualties, morale and disruption.
The manual's section on this seems to be a bad copy/paste job btw., as it mentions infantry units.


Btw., while no morale loss through combat at all for the attacked cavalry is probably not intended, and a bit too one-sided, I like the general direction in which this has taken cavalry fights. They require much more thinking and careful micro-management, there is a lot more ebb and flow to them, and more of an advantage to the site with the last reserve of fresh squadrons (whether through numerical superiority or rallying beaten units).
Also makes it much harder to win the cavalry fight and retain a force that can then meaningfully influence the rest of the battle, both of which to me seems well in line with historical cavalry combat in this period.

[TheGrayMouser]

Yes, there is some "copy and pasting" going on in the manuals. Just cracked open my old manual from Prussian War Machine and some of the same references about " hussars and Cossacks" getting modifiers (probobly copied and pasted from the original Dragoon game) Hmm, I now recall there was an inquiry about the heavy light and medium modifers for cavarly for TPWM on Shrapnels forum and I dont recall it ever being answered... I am guessing its just a placeover from the originals and has no effect in game.

Your observation on cavalry moral got me to finally loadup a game (havent really had a chance to play yet) I launched Zeitans Ford as the Prussians and launched some frontal charges and it did seem that only I suffered moral losses. When the Austrians counter attacked the Next turn, of the 5 Prussian units charged , only one suffered a moral hit after combat (and it was only a 5 step loss)
This bugged me so I took a look at the combat table "miscellanius combat modifiers" and think i see why: It appears that a cavalry unit charged from the front receives a 20% modifier re: moral checks while a charging cavalry unit has a -30% modifier(when charging a units front).
I am not sure if I like this effect or not, seems that both attacking and "defending" cavalry (front to front) should both have 0 modifiers as the defender is supposed to be "counter charging"

Another observation is in the above battle (albeit i only played 3 turns) only about 30 cavalrymen were causalties, which does seem a little low... When I have time I might just play w the the "combat modifier" table and fill all those 0 modifiers for cavalry with something more appropriate and test it out.

[jackx]

That explains it, then. Might have to be changed, I can live with the penalty for the attacker (though maybe 20% would be enough), but combined with the bonus for the defender, it is a bit harsh.

The very low casualties from cav-v-cav combat seem ok to me, after all, it's mostly formed bodies of men riding at and swerving away from each other, with relatively little actual melee combat happening most of the time. Maybe they could be a bit higher, but not by much, certainly not as high again as they were in PG, where losing ~100 troopers seemed quite the norm. Casualties like that should only happen through artillery fire, or maybe very heavy infantry fire.

[MichaelCooney]

Cavalry Subtypes: These are not used in the game. I'll remove them from the editor.

Cavalry Charged Target Modifiers all 0%: This a bug and a pretty big one at that as you're right, it's impossible to damage cavalry through a charge. This is a coding error (not reading in those last values) that I'll fix.

No morale loss: This is related to the above. Since the 'attack strength' ends up being 0, no morale check is done.

Cavalry battles are going to much more exciting very soon. ::blushing::

Thanks, guys!

[Magnus]

Woot Mike, looking forward to that This game is getting better and better.

[TheGrayMouser]

Thanks for the quick response, look forward to the update!

[jackx]

Aye, good to know that these issues are being dealt with, and swiftly, too.

[Sertorius1]

A sidenote on the editor. If you want to zoom the map, you can use your up and down arrow controls as you can with the game window. I suspect that hitting the "T" key will reset the map to 1:1 scale as in the game as well.