Campaign Game

[rbodleyscott]

you talk about skirmish but... is not present the DAG mode like in old FOG??? to prevent rebuy all the time when you search a battle???

The system is different, but, we think, better.

[Adraeth]

Yes for my crossed experience FOG and P&S/SJ i can say that the system is different and i do believe that the FOG 2 skirmish system is better, units selection is easy and fast, DAG was ok but FOG2 skirmish is really well done in selecting armies

[Scutarii]

Well, my experience with P&S skirmish mode is not good compared with DAG system... from a wargamer perspective is more clear and intuitive buy using a table over doing it in the boxes used in P&S.

I dont say in FOG II be bad but i dont see it better than DAG specially when you want compare stats between units and of course the ability to create your army and edit it after see how work in combat... i prefer build the army, save it and edit it as i need or even have diferent versions of same army... with the skirmish mode you need build the army every time you go combat.

For me introduce a DAG in FOG II is something that improve game experience.

[Adraeth]

Yes i agree with you from a tabletop perspective, but on tabletop you might build up an army from an army list considering battle terrain, in DAG, while i loved the "army list pick feeling" like from the army list book i was a bit unaware about the terrain (except for the eventually choosing between the 4 if cavalry roll was in my favour); anyway i think that the P&S system is better for choosing the units regarding the terrain i see, anyway yes it takes a bit more of time compared to DAG.

[rbodleyscott]

The FOG2 army selection process is a leap ahead of that in P&S, and is now a seamless part of the battle interface. There is also a preview mode that allows you to preview each army list without entering battle mode.

The army lists (and army list previews) are also automatically adjusted according to the size of the intended battle, thus ensuring that the intended proportions apply to all battle sizes.

[Scutarii]

Compared with P&S is much better, you dont have boxes covering screen, the way is showed in FOG II is much better but offer no details about what you are buying if you dont move mouse over them.

The ability to see in map what you buy was one of the old things wanted for DAG, not need save army, go menu and launch a DAG battle to see your selection this is a great improvement.

Interesting see how now points avaliable limit the selection... i am neutral with this... is good because made easier selection but i want see how balance the options avaliable... if an army has a lot of specialiced units you maybe cant have a lot of them in low points battles... lets see.

Thanks for the info.

[Scutarii]

A little question-suggestion about skirmishers... is possible or is very hard change how they work when stand in open terrain??? in FOG I and for what i see in FOG II videos the only way to force them retreat is forcing a melee... that finish to much times with the attacker piercing to far into enemy lines or hitting enemy 2nd line with no support... here i see 2 ways to solve this.

1-the easy mode is made that ONLY cavalry units CAN pursuit them after force their retreat while infantry simple finish or in the square they start melee or in the square the skirmishers leave.

2-a more complex system that made that skirmishers in open NEVER can be in next square to enemy heavy-medium infantry and heavy-medium cavalry (i refer non light cavalry) this force that javelin units have like in FOG I the ability to launch javelins with one empty square between them and enemy and made that when you move heavy-medium infantry/cavalry skirmishers autoretreat because they cant stand VS that kind of units in open terrain.

Is possible add this even as optional rule???

Thanks.

[rbodleyscott]

It would certainly be possible to add it as a mod.

However the best way to deal with skirmishes is to shoot them with your own skirmishers. Failing that to simply ignore them and get on with attacking the enemy non-skirmishers.

Agrippa got carried away chasing them all over the map. He really should have simply ignored them. It isn't necessary to destroy them.

[Adraeth]

Just saw the Dastactics videos on youtube about gallic vs roman sandbox campaign, i really like the choices from battle to battle, it is simple yet it gives a real narrative feeling. Excellent

[kony16]

Since user created campaigns will define the longevity of the game, at least for me, here are my few questions.
Can we ...
... create longer campaign than the default 3-7 battles ?
... write our own inter-battle events (a la Paradox games) ?
... define exact replenishment & reinforcement points for each battle (instead of %-based algorithm) ?

and a little bit of wishfull thinking here, but maybe some optional support for branching campaign,
i.e. major win / minor win / loss ?

[rbodleyscott]

Since user created campaigns will define the longevity of the game, at least for me, here are my few questions.
Can we ...
... create longer campaign than the default 3-7 battles ?

Yes. Currently up to 15. I can easily increase this, by I won't do so before release because it might causes issues, so it would need testing.

... write our own inter-battle events (a la Paradox games) ?

If they affect the subsequent battles that would require coding. You can certainly do it if you are willing to delve into modding the code. The engine automatically replaces the default script (program code) files with any script file of the same name it finds in a custom campaign folder. I can give further details later.

Alternatively if you suggest some useful decision branches I might be able to include them in an update of the game after release.

... define exact replenishment & reinforcement points for each battle (instead of %-based algorithm) ?

That would also require modding the scripts.

and a little bit of wishfull thinking here, but maybe some optional support for branching campaign,
i.e. major win / minor win / loss ?

Could also probably be done by modding the scripts.

[JaM2013]

So current maximal number of battles per campaign is 7? no way to make it more in standard campaigns? are historical campaigns also 7 battles long?

[rbodleyscott]

So current maximal number of battles per campaign is 7? no way to make it more in standard campaigns? are historical campaigns also 7 battles long?

The sandbox campaign currently has the option to be 3, 5 or 7 battles long.

Custom (historical or user) campaigns were also originally designed to have up to 7 battles, but this has now been increased to 15 by request of one of the beta testers, who is designing an epic 15-battle Antiochos III campaign. (Which we hope to make available for in-game download soon after the game is released, if he has finished it. I have played a beta version of it, and I must say it is very good.).

However, campaigns with that many battles will need to replace the whole or most of the army once or twice during the campaign, otherwise because of the experience gained in each battle most of the army will end up elite by the end.

We may increase this maximum further, as it is pretty arbitrary, but not before the game is initially released - because there is no more time to test that increasing the maximum further won't break anything.

[JaM2013]

You could just apply some exp reset after some time, but this depends on actual time scale of the campaign... for example Roman (citizen/republican) Legionaries were supposed to serve for 10 years, but they were not obliged to serve this continuously, so many of them served those 10 years over much longer time span (man typically enlisted when he was 16-17 as Velite, then would return for some campaigns as Hastati, later as Principe, and would serve remaining years as Triarii, if he was interested in some political position, which required 10 years of service complete - this also means Triarii were not really some Elite force, but more like reservists, who were not sent into combat unless absolutely necessary.. in come campaigns Triarii were sometimes not even drafted, and any emergency draft made out of lower classes didnt include men of "triarii age" as those would have minimal military value)

So my point is, unit experience should fluctuate over time, not all men would be with the unit for whole war which sometimes took 20 years.. So, let say for Second Punic War campaign, your force would "refresh" at least 3-4 times by the campaign end..

[rbodleyscott]

So my point is, unit experience should fluctuate over time, not all men would be with the unit for whole war which sometimes took 20 years.. So, let say for Second Punic War campaign, your force would "refresh" at least 3-4 times by the campaign end..

Yep