Personalized enemies

[Majo]

Hello,

I would like to see more indiviual enemies. I keep track of Damage dealed to each enemy and in ranged Combat it is sometimes hard to see, which enemy I did hit last round for a sum of 100 (-> injured) and which enemy recieved 20 by friendly fire (->also sometimes injured).

When gamemastering I use following tactic:
If a adjective is added in the description (big/young/grinning/nasty/… heerbaan) it is easier to distinguish between them.
Imagination also starts (how to deal with a Evil-Looking or an able-bodied faraguman ?), and this could be supported by small boni or mali on certain Attributes (big/small -> constitution/hp/Stamina, devious -> crit-range, firm/nervous -> will and so on...).
Later, if your warband reacts to Events and your decisions, thoise Attributes may also affect their reaction, if those Attributes are not limited to AI-controlled adversaries.

Best Regards

Majo

[GS_LuciusCastus]

This is a good suggestion, but would make it extremely hard to implement. We already have HP, Stamina and Fatigue tracking using Perception x Willpower checks, which means, if you have a unit with high Perception engage another with low Willpower, you may be able to detect how tired, wounded and/or fatigued it is, which is a great indicator of who to attack. This feature is only partially implemented, but will become more developed as time goes by.

[Majo]

Ok. For me it would be simpler to distinguish between some formally equal enemies; if they have high hp (aihwudrauhtai), they appear as "uninjured" even after taking 3 shots, and as you know I want to concentrate Damage on a certain enemy (for that Purpose, even Aihwudrauhtai 1, aihwudrauhtai 2 … would be enough, but with adjectives, there is more Imagination )

[GS_LuciusCastus]

It is part of the game to keep track of who you want to focus first. Aihwudrauhtai are high-HP cavalry units, so its understandable that they can tank hits. It's their role in combat to soak minor damage and charge at the flanks.

[Majo]

(I don't want to argue, so it will be very likely my last post in this thread to make my Point clear, if there are misunderstandings)

especially at aihudrauhtai "close to defeat" may mean: 100 or just 5hp left; so I (try to) note every hit (Oldschool: on paper) and sum up to see when I might take out an enemy, and summing up is much more easy, if I don't accidently sum at the wrong enemy and then ask myself: why did that ****** soak more then 650. Thats why if would be nice for me, if the let's say 3 riders had slightly different names (1,2,3 or something else, see above)

If you say: In real live you also don't know, how many hp you (or some People you meet on the street) have; that is true, but if I slap someone, also no big red "-2" appears above his head; then also the Damage dealt should not be written in numbers, but described (<10 just a Scratch/ <30 hit/ <50 strong hit/>50 Deep wound or the like)

Best Reagards

Majo

[GS_LuciusCastus]

It's fine, we are not arguing, I'm just trying to explain the reasoning behind hiding the HP/Stamina numbers of enemy units.

Traits, stat distribution and abilities can change how much HP a unit has. Part of the game is to scan and prioritize certain units in attacks. Cavalry units tend to have high HP. If you hit a cavalry unit for 50 and it becomes "Slightly wounded", it means it has high HP, since infantry has roughly ~120-150 HP. I'll add an Encyclopedia entry for the HP levels, so you can have a rough idea how much HP is left. This is how it will look like:


Uninjured: 90% to 100% HP
Slightly Injured: 75% to 90% HP
Injured: 50% to 75% HP
Very Injured: 25% to 50% HP
Close to Defeat: ~0% to 25% HP

[Majo]

Hello Lucius,

I knew how are the steps vor the health-display. And I generally like the fact, that the Health of an enemy is described instead of told by number of hp, because in reality, I also don't see the "stats" of a Person, I only have a Rough idea of his/her state.

But in-game relevant Information is: how likely this unit survives next round.

If I Play melee-orientated (like described in my guide), the importance of this Information is less (the enemies are fixed, since in melee, my Warriors cannot do anything else most of the time, so I bash on the enemies until they die and that hp-description tells me roughly my Progress; that is ok (and the cause, why I did not bring this Topic earlier).

Last days I worked on tactics, that relay more on ranged Combat. I think, if I Play against a human Player, this will become more important, since if both employ melee-tactics like "the saw", the winner is not determined by tactics but by luck (who scores more/earlier crits) and small Imbalances (difficult to determine without huge experience in pvp, I think you have better data on this). For those tactics more exact knowlede of enemy hp is vital, since my fighters have more Options (move, attack several enemies). In my current tactic, I have an estimated medium Damage-Output (against light armoured) of ~70 (can be higher, if I score crits, but sometimes, all my guys miss, but I calculate with that 70) so at the goth rider, "close to defeat" can mean: will be (more exact: is likely to be) killed this round, next round or even in 3 rounds. (if I shoot on a thiwadus, it is not so important; "very injured" or "close to defeat" at the beginning means: out after full attack, enough info; this something, that concerns all Units with more than ~300 hp (70*4=280)).
Since those tactics based on ranged combat and movement require good planning, I Keep track of the Damage done to each enemy; and when mixing the Damage done on 2 opponents, this does not work. If similar Units would not have the same Name, I would not mix, since I coluld look in the log, who recieved tha Damage. (Thats why I brought this Topic now).

Best regards

Majo

[GS_LuciusCastus]

We did not implement ways to evade melee yet, and we'll do it in the future. It is one of the major flaws currently with melee units. Yes, currently, luck plays a larger role than it should, but we are building towards giving more weight to strategical and tactical steps, luck being only detrimental in extreme cases.

Also, I forgot to add this, as well; units will receive skins. So this personalizes slightly each unit, which gives them some unique looks. Skins do not interfere with their performance, its just cosmetic.

[Majo]

will be waiting