Firing while moving, missing targets, splash damage, etc.

AJP · #1 09-10-2007, 04:21 PM

In DoF, will units, like for example, a horse-archer, or a few archers in a moving siege tower, fire while moving, or will there at least be modding support for it? I thought it was pretty lame for AoE to have units like horse archers and dragoons that have to be stationary to deal out damage. I mean, realistically, the only reason such a unit was so effective, was because of its mobility.

In AoE 3, units just don't miss. ******ed. Will DoF Ranged units be 100% accurate?

Again with AoE, splash damage(ie, using heavy cav/elephants to mow through
infantry) was a miss. It would seem kind of ******ed to watch a unit like an Ogre fight each unit one by one, rather than swinging his club through ranks of units. Will this be something that you guys are looking at?

BTW, I haven't played Warcraft or BFME, so I don't know how any of these ideas works there. I do know that they work in Halo Wars(at least it looks like it) RTW, and M2TW pretty well.

Darvin · #2 09-10-2007, 05:13 PM

Warcraft III had no "shooting while moving", either, although given their game mechanics it would have been obscenely overpowered. As for inaccuracy, that was only an issue if you were fighting uphill, were under the effect of the "curse" spell, or attacking a unit that had a special ability to evade attacks.

BFME was a little better, although it still didn't have "shoot while moving". Mind you, I did see some mods manage to implement this for the battlewagon in BFME2 (think of a chariot with archers on the back). They also had modding support for accuracy, but in general they were 100% accurate as well.

I do think that DoF should take after the Total War series when it comes to these things. They have it right, although I do find a little too much luck with regards to catapults. I've seen units approach without losing more than a dozen individuals, but sometimes I've seen people lose half their army before they get into the melee. Too much luck there, so I think DoF should look for a better balance in that regard.

olauwers · #3 09-11-2007, 12:03 PM

Seeing how radically different the cavalry in this game is, I think it should be possible to have units shoot whilst riding. However, to balance things, I think you should make cavalry units less fast/more difficult to direct/less defensive whilst shooting, as you can't keep your eyes on the road and shoot at the same time. Or you should put two units on one piece of cavalry. One can ride, the other can shoot. That would also higher the cost (since you now need 2 units in stead of 1) of "shooting-whilst-riding"-cavalry.

Joseph Visscher · #4 09-11-2007, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJP

In DoF, will units, like for example, a horse-archer, or a few archers in a moving siege tower, fire while moving, or will there at least be modding support for it? I thought it was pretty lame for AoE to have units like horse archers and dragoons that have to be stationary to deal out damage. I mean, realistically, the only reason such a unit was so effective, was because of its mobility.

Dof better dam rights add that lol, i am sure it will it would be lame if they cant.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJP

In AoE 3, units just don't miss. ******ed. Will DoF Ranged units be 100% accurate?

No they wont be 100% accurate, infact currently goblin archers must be blind, they miss so much, only good in massive groups.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJP

Again with AoE, splash damage(ie, using heavy cav/elephants to mow through
infantry) was a miss. It would seem kind of ******ed to watch a unit like an Ogre fight each unit one by one, rather than swinging his club through ranks of units. Will this be something that you guys are looking at?

Pretty sure about this one, yes it should and or will.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJP

BTW, I haven't played Warcraft or BFME, so I don't know how any of these ideas works there. I do know that they work in Halo Wars(at least it looks like it) RTW, and M2TW pretty well.

bfme1-2 has all of the above. not sure about warcraft.

Ryan Zelazny · #5 09-11-2007, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJP

In DoF, will units, like for example, a horse-archer, or a few archers in a moving siege tower, fire while moving, or will there at least be modding support for it? I thought it was pretty lame for AoE to have units like horse archers and dragoons that have to be stationary to deal out damage. I mean, realistically, the only reason such a unit was so effective, was because of its mobility.

It's almost a certainty that we will support this, as we are going for more realistic combat, this is definately something we are looking at.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJP

In AoE 3, units just don't miss. ******ed. Will DoF Ranged units be 100% accurate?

In short, no DoF units will not be 100% accurate, ranged or otherwise. I have explained accuracy and combat mechanics in more detail in another post, here is a quote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan Zelazny

Combat is basically controlled by "dice rolls", much like RPG combat, you will have dice rolls for attack and defense, between the two combatting units. I'm not completely sure on the exact math, but I think how good the attack or defending action works will be determined on the difference between the rolls. E.g. Attack rolls 8, Defense rolls 12, Defending unit would Block & Parry the attack, or Attack Rolls 9, Defense rolls 5, Attack does extra damage from lack of defense.

The same system basically goes for ranged units as well, however ranged units are also effected by visibility (both line of sight and light), range, weapon (tech upgrades), and specific traits to the race they are.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJP

Again with AoE, splash damage(ie, using heavy cav/elephants to mow through
infantry) was a miss. It would seem kind of ******ed to watch a unit like an Ogre fight each unit one by one, rather than swinging his club through ranks of units. Will this be something that you guys are looking at?

We have taken multiple opponents and positioning into account with our combat mechanics, the AI that is going to control how a unit reacts to this is very well done and you will be pleasantly suprised when you get a chance to play it.