Regiment commands?

Since the other post suckered me...

from Elemental Forums

It should be a self explanatory subject for anyone that's played the numerous table top war games that led to the genre we're in.

 

Command structures for your units.  Unit leaders, standard bearers, drummers.  Captured enemy standards displaying the prowess of a veteran command.

 

Since we're going to have morale, it's hopefully going to be a meaningful system that allows psychological impact to partake in the glorious combat.  A dragon would be a serious barrier to standing your ground.  Having a veteran commander that at least talks like he eats dragons for breakfast would take some of the edge off the ordeal.  So would proudly flying your banner, along with any enemy standards you've purloined previously.

 

If the unit commander could be equipped independently and receive some super bad ass weapon load out, even better.  Think Warhammer.

10,017 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Agreed.  Morale for this type of game is crucial.  If I'm Joe Snuffy, armed with a pike, and my commander is some jumped up little twerp who tells me to go slay an enourmous dragon who is just minding his own cave, I might make it to the cave along with my buddies... but I'm not going to stick around.  With fantastic creatures like dragons, the impact on morale is probably bigger than the (considerable) ability of said dragon to kill things.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Morale is cool but it can also be very finicky.

How does it work? +/- values per soldier buffed by a Commander?

Does it accumulate with battles won, or decline with Battles lost?

Does a loss of morale automatically cause a complete retreat of any affected troops, or whole groups of troops?

Do 10 single guys in a Stack get a different Morale bonus/value vs a Company of 10 men who all trained together?

Does a stack that is at 1/2 strength, take a morale hit?

Since desertion, due to lack of pay is already, or was, in. Do the 2 get some linkage?

Joe Snuffy didn't get paid last month. Word in the ranks is there isn't going to be any Gildars this month  either.

Does Joe desert or simply take a huge hit to morale and become pretty much ineffective on the battlefield or when ordered to that Dragons cave?

It gets very frustrating, very fast, when you need stuff done, but come to find out your all out of Morale for the next 10 turns...


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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting John_Hughes, reply 2
Morale is cool but it can also be very finicky.

How does it work? +/- values per soldier buffed by a Commander?

Does it accumulate with battles won, or decline with Battles lost?

Does a loss of morale automatically cause a complete retreat of any affected troops, or whole groups of troops?

Do 10 single guys in a Stack get a different Morale bonus/value vs a Company of 10 men who all trained together?

Does a stack that is at 1/2 strength, take a morale hit?


Since desertion, due to lack of pay is already, or was, in. Do the 2 get some linkage?

Joe Snuffy didn't get paid last month. Word in the ranks is there isn't going to be any Gildars this month  either.

Does Joe desert or simply take a huge hit to morale and become pretty much ineffective on the battlefield or when ordered to that Dragons cave?

That's just saved me alot of time. Yep, all pertinent questions I'd like to know. Morale systems I think very important if not fundamental to how much fun I get out of combat. They quite often end up unbalanced or oversimplistic like HoMM. Maybe in Elemental every unit has a base morale  and it's increased by the commander's traits like in the TW series. HoMM's is a bit simple for my tastes as I stated but it'd be a better than nothing. I would prefer a morale system similar to MoM's combat system- each figure gets an attack role rather than the unit as a whole, so if some figures fail their morale roll they have a 'disapearing' animation showing they have left the unit. Perhaps then there could be a return animation should they roll high enough to do so. and the unit has not suffered heavy casualties.

It gets very frustrating, very fast, when you need stuff done, but come to find out your all out of Morale for the next 10 turns...

I generally adhere to the school of 'tough luck, try harder next time' but really all that should be needed to restore morale is a return to a settlement or fort. Or simply have it as in TW games where it is only relavant in battle rather than the campaign.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Morale is really pretty simple to handle.  It's just addition and subtraction.  The Warhammer rulebook is a good starting point.

 

Your unit has a morale value based on training, experience, etcetera.  You then have additions and subtractions based on the circumstances you're in.  Losing X% of your unit would be a minus, being flanked would be a minus, being outnumbered would be a minus, being fatigued would be a minus.  Things like facing a dragon or the enemy channeler would be a rather significant minus.  The opposite, like having protected flanks, outnumbering the enemy, and having a dragon or channeler on your side would be a plus.

 

As the casualties pile up and the circumstances change, eventually units are either destroyed or hit zero and break.  When breaking or destroying a unit also causes a penalty to nearby units, combats become fast and furious.  Instead of dragging on to a pointless conclusion that was already known halfway through, those first few units that are broken lead to a chain reaction as the surrounding forces lose heart because they're going to be defeated.  The numerical advantages shift, they lose protected flanks and are instead flanked, etc.  You can get a five point shift rather quickly.

 

Such a system isn't carried over from one battle to the next, only the increases to your base morale are permanent.  The effects of combat are already there in the form of lost troops and experiences gained.