Integral Bows mod - Distance shooting for late Romans

[MVP7]

Integral Bows mod made for FoG2 version 1.2.5. Will probably cause problems if used with any other version of the game or in multiplayer.

This mod allows the late reformed Roman infantry units (Legio Palatina, Legio Comitatenses and Auxilia Palatina) to use their integrated bows (20% of the total men are armed with bows) for ranged attack with a range of 2. The mod is in the attached zip file.


ABOUT THE MOD:

Limiting the range of 20% bows to 2 prevents the Romans from shooting from outside charging distance (disabling any chance of kiting) and reduces the overall amount and intensity of the missile fire (depicting that the limited number of archers act as direct fire support for their own units rather than firing long range barrages like dedicated ranged unit). The damage to other heavy and even medium infantry units is rather negligible and most likely not enough to cause cohesion loss but the legionaries have enough firepower to suppress small numbers of attacking light infantry/cavalry and dwindle down heavier cavalry (the damage is comparable to that of light horse archers: 96 bows vs 120 bows). As the units run out of ammo their damage drops to almost zero against heavy or medium units which prevents the battles from degrading into long shooting line battles. The overall balance of the 20% bow units themselves seems to be in line with the other units in the game. Their ability to shoot is neither useless nor overpowered and affects just the kind of units in just the kind of way I was hoping for, making their performance arguably more historical.

The AI seems to handle the unusual units surprisingly well. For starters, the enemy cavalry behavior is improved: It now seems to falls back from the shooting range of the Roman infantry that it won't charge rather than sitting right in front of them, waiting for the infantry to charge. This is actually benefiting the AI cavalry more than the player since it gets the cavalry units out of the ZOC and gives them room to maneuver into better positions. I was worried that the AI might try to use the 20% bow units like massed archers but things worked out better than I expected here as well. The AI aggressively engages in melee as usual, using the bows mainly in situations where it's unable to close distance or at too bad odds to initiate an attack.

Animations wise things are also working out surprisingly well. When shooting the legionaries play a spear throwing animation but there is no visible projectiles. Given the lack of visible bows for the unit, this seems like a good compromise. I have not changed the price or balance of the Roman units beyond enabling the bows because it would reduce the compatibility of the mod (currently only one script file is affected) and the new late Roman units are already rather expensive when compared to the old school Legionaries.


INSTALLATION AND TECHNICAL STUFF:

This is a global mod that should be compatible with campaign/battle mods that don't touch CombatTools.BSF file in /Data/Scripts folder.
Install by extracting the zip file and placing the INTEGRAL BOWS folder inside C:\Users\<username>\Documents\My Games\FieldOfGlory2\MODS folder.
If the MODS folder does not exists, create it first. Activate the mod from lower left corner of FoG2 main menu.

You can also manually add this mod to another global mod as long at it doesn't change the CombatTools.BSF file, just copy/extract the Data folder from this mod and paste it in the main folder of the other mod. Even if the file is affected by another mod, you can manually add the changes to modified CombatTools.BSF file (see readme for more detail, it only requires two small changes to scripts). The mod affects all units with 20% bows or less (this includes units added by other mods).

As far as I'm concerned anyone can update and upload this mod when a new patch for FoG2 comes out or there are some other issues with the mod. The mod can also be added to any other FoG2 mod as it is or in modified form. The modified BSA file belongs to Slitherine Ltd/Byzantine Games so their EULA applies.

[GryfoCezar]

Mod updated to version 1.5.32

INTEGRAL BOWS.zip

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