ECW - Modified Rules and Armies + Campaign +MP

[companion]

A small mod I've been working on, tweaks some rules here and there and adds units and armies.

"Modified Rules" only tweaks rules and some unit costs

"Modified Rules and Armies" tweaks units and armies too.

Downloads:
Modified rules
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lTQiGy ... sp=sharing
Rules and armies
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13PfLhX ... sp=sharing

UPDATE:
"Campaign - Revised" added. Based on "Rules and Armies" mod.
Download:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pIcABz ... sp=sharing

UPDATE (Feb 11)
Multiplayer versions added
Download:
Modified rules MP
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Kc1pLV ... sp=sharing
Rules and Armies MP
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RFudRL ... share_link

Bug fix:
An oversight was fixed for Modified Rules version: battle cavalries' shooting pistol value was fixed from 50% to 100%


Patch notes:

Trimmed unnecessary files

Light lancer now at -50 POA instead of -100 against Pistol(impact).

Lobsters cost increased from 48 to 52. (same as Cavaliers)

Cavalry size normalized. (For "armies" and "campaign" only)

Lifeguards size increased from 100 to 200. Cost increased to 72. Flavour text editted accordingly. Availability for midwar lists reduced from 2 to 1.

Because of Lifeguard changes, "Cuirassiers" removed from early Royalist lists.

English Civil War Campaign - Revised added.


Detailed description of changes and Campaign mod features can be found below:


List of Changes:

====="ECW Modified Rules"=====



Rules:



Ranged Combat:



Light units' ranged damage reduction has been reduced
- From 34% damage mitigation to 20%

Medium and Heavy guns firepower halved
- From 100% to 50%

*Effect of field guns in this era, especially in ECW, was fairly limited.
I chose to leave light guns unchanged however as I feel that those are already tricky to use against human players due to lack of secondary ZOCs and protection mechanic

Bow long range portion removed
- max range from 4 to 2

*Bows are more comparable to arquebus/calivers than muskets, especially so in mid-17th C.
Also, it fits with the game's design philosophy that gives benefit of doubt to the period-dominant system.
In any case, it is a minor change as bows are very rare in ECW.

Pistol impact cavalries may also fire pistols at non-mounted enemies.
- Cavalries with "Impact mounted" or "Pistol (Impact)" attributes now have "Pistol (Shooting)" attribute as well.
- However, they may not use the shooting ability against enemy cavalries. If attempted, "Will not Caracole against cavalries" tooltip will display.
- Dragoons count as non-mounted enemy and can be shot at.

*In the original rules, battle cavalries do not stand a chance against P&S units unless they could gain a critical flank/rear charge angle. However, historically cavalries behaved very aggressively and would sometimes deliberately attack steady foot units frontally, implying that reality is more nuanced.
The shooting ability is meant to represent such cavalry attacks against foot. (Subunit by subunit, ride up to enemy, shoot pistol and then withdraw.)




Close Combat:




Dragoons' evasion distance is reduced to be on par with that of light foot.
- Move like horse (16 AP), evade like light foot (12 AP)

*Hopefully, this will prevent dragoons from pumping out close range shooting in the open against horse without fear of getting caught.

"Pistol (Impact)" cavalry units with 200 armor (cuirassier types) will not have its impact POA negated against "Impact mounted"

*Everyone's favourite crustaceans are now less likely to crack when hit by cavaliers

"Impact Foot" may now charge enemy cavalry from flank or rear.

*Inspired by the Irish foot decisively breaking up the cavalry melee at the battle of Alford.

Pike and Shot units gain extra impact and melee POA depending on pike ratio.
51% or more 40 POA
41%~50% 25 POA
33%~40% 15 POA
- Only applies in the open, not cumulative with Keil POA.
- Impact POA will be cancelled by enemy Keil, Impact foot, and Light spear attributes. Melee POA will be cancelled by enemy Keil, and Swordsmen (50% or more) attributes.

*This is intended to make Royalist and Parliamentian initial clashes more or less evenly matched as they historically seem to have been.
100% musketeers still enjoy a massive advantage in non-open terrains such as enclosures.

When an enemy Pike and Shot unit is engaged in melee with any friendly unit, charging that enemy P&S with friendly "Impact mounted" or "Pistol (Impact)" cavalry will force the P&S to fall back
- Only in the open and when P&S is steady
- Fallback will not cause cohesion check
*This is inspired by the later phase of the battle of Edgehill where Balfour's horses forced Royalist foot to quit push of pike and fall back
Coupled with the Pistol shooting changes, this rule is hoped to make cavalry reserves behind infantry line actually useful and worthwhile to have
##Credit: Cronos9 https://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=110735

As an unavoidable side effect of the above rule, "Impact mounted" and "Pistol (Impact)" cavalries will no longer fallback from enemy pike unit unless the pike unit is forced to fallback as per above rule

*On one hand, misclicks can easily ruin a cavalry unit
On the other hand, this makes pinning down a pike unit to set up a flank charge very simple. (In the original rule, one had to block the cavalry fallback tile with another friendly unit to force melee and pin the target)

(new)
"Light Lancers" attribute now incurs -50 POA instead of -100 penalty when charging against "Pistol (Impact)".
*This is done mainly to encourage placing lancers at the front for later Covenanter armies of "Rules and Armies" version mod.



Unit change:



Commanded shot cost reduced from 24 to 20
Detached musketeers cost reduced from 31 to 28 *Only features in "Royalist Raiders 1644-45"
(new)
Lobsters cost increased from 48 to 52 (same as Cavaliers) in light of its vastly increased impact resistance.



=== Additional Changes for "Rules and Armies" version ===

*Unit cost values and army rosters are mostly arbitrary without any complex calculation involved. Balance feedbacks appreciated.



Unit changes and additions



Changes:



Highlanders Early became Highlander Warband Regiment
- originally
50% bow, 100% swordsmen, 100% impact foot, Average, Warriors, 500 men, 12 AP, 42 cost
- changed to
25% bow, 25% musket, 50% swordsmen, 100% light spear, Average, Warriors, 500 men, 10AP, 30 cost

Highlanders Late became Highlander Warband Regiment (Late)
- originally
66% musket, 100% swordsmen, 100% impact foot, Average, Warriors, 500 men, 12 AP, 48 cost
- changed to
66% musket, 50% swordsmen, 100% light spear, Average, Warriors, 500 men, 10 AP, 42 cost

*Admittedly my knowledge about Montrose's campaign is limited to two books - Stuart Reid's Osprey book and Charles Singleton's Helion book
At least in this war, the Highlander warband-regiments fighting in traditional manner did not seem to have made much impression. Rather, the regular pike and shot regiments were preferred and also relied upon.
Reflecting this, I greatly modified highlander units to be line fillers/terrain dwellers rather than shock troops. They are vulnerable against cavalries but not overly so.



Additions:



Clansmen (Levies and Volunteers)
50% bow, 25% swordsmen, 100% light spear, Raw, Warriors, 500 men, 24 cost

*Cheap Scottish levies

Clansmen Skirmishers
100% bow, Below Average, Light Foot, 400 men, 28 cost

*Short ranged (2 tiles) and fragile. But damage output from 400 bows is nothing to scoff at.

Irish Brigade
66% musket, 34% pike, 100% impact foot, Superior, Mixed Foot, 500 men, 10 AP, 60 Cost

*The famed Irish. Allowed Impact Foot attribute as there are reports of them utilizing salvo fire before charge.

Irish Brigade Command (Irish regiment with MacColla attached)
Highly Superior 600 men Irish Brigade, 72 cost

*A special flavour unit, only 1 available.
In FoG2 Ancients and Medieval, attaching a general gives the unit a flat 50 POA bonus and a cohesion roll bonus. Here, I halved the POA bonus and added 100 men representing the Lifeguard company.

Lifeguards
[Outdated]
Cuirassier type 100 men horse unit, Superior, 28 cost

*Well armoured horse troops (i.e. Essex's Lifeguards, Gentlemen Pensioners, etc.). Because they are half-sized compared to usual 200 men horse units, they are best employed as reserves as they historically were.
[/Outdated]
(Update)
Cuirassier type 200 men horse unit, Superior, 72 cost

*Represents elite, well armoured, oversized horse troops (i.e. Essex's Lifeguards, Gentlemen Pensioners, etc.) plus supporting horses.

*I belatedly realized that I have violated an important rule - a toy that looks like a shining knight should play like a shining knight.
So the lifeguards became a proper sized horse unit. Flavour text was editted slightly to reflect the change - "A Squadron of elite Cuirassiers and supporting horses."
Also, "Cuirassiers" unit was removed as being redundant. This unit was previously used for "Royalist Edgehill" and "Royalists 1642-1643" armies.

Scots horse - Lancers (Late)
Scots lancer horse with Pistol (Melee) attribute instead of Swordsmen, 34 cost (a 2 point increase)

*Only available for Scots Covenanter 1648-1652.
After an expansion in Scots lancer numbers, possibly involving some conversions from harquebusier horses, the lancers seem to perform reasonably well against New Model Army cavalries. Maybe the pistol and sword combat melee drill became standard practice?
To reflect the lancers being able to sustain prolonged frontal engagement with NMA cavalries, I gave them Pistol (Melee) attribute.
(Update)
With cavalry unit size normalization and Light lancers POA change, these lancers finally have a reason to exist.

(Update)
Cavalry unit size normalization

"Parliamentarian horse (Pistol)" and "Scots horse (Pistol)" men per unit numbers are reduced from 250 to 200.
250 is the number usually used in other modules such as Thirty Years War. English Civil War cavalry units use 200.



Army list changes and additions


*Available unit numbers are based on 2000 points game as set in the armylist.txt file


Changes:

[Outdated]
"Royalist Edgehill 1642"
"Royalist 1642-1643"
Received a Cuirassier unit (Superior variant found in European mainland armies as "Kurassiers") in lieu of King's Lifeguards horse regiment that may have been armoured as Cuirassiers before 1643.
[/Outdated]
"Cuirassiers" unit is removed.

"Royalist Edgehill 1642"
"Royalist 1642-1643"
"Parliamentarian 1642-1643"

Received two units of Lifeguards

(Update)
"Royalist 1643-1644"
"Parliamentarian 1643-1645"
Received one unit of Lifeguards (reduced from previous 2)

"Parliamentarian 1642-1643"
Half of the carbine horses are replaced by pistol versions (average pistol impact non-determined cavalry)

"Scots Royalist 1644-1645"
Removed, replaced by "Army of Montrose 1644" and "Army of Montrose 1645"

"Scots Covenanter 1648-1652"
The unit "Scots Horse - Lancers" is replaced with unit "Scots Lancers (Late)"



Additions:



"Parliament Flying Column 1643-1644"
Inspired by community multiplayer campaign involving flying column concept https://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=77279
Designed to be matched against "Royalist Raiders 1643-1644". Contains a mix of carbine horse, non-determined horse, and veteran determined horse. Foot element is P&S. Some commanded shot available to bolster the cavalry line.

"Army of Montrose 1644"
"Army of Montrose 1645"
These two armies replace the removed "Scots Royalist 1644-1645"
Both have a core of Superior Irish P&S and Highlander auxillaries. 1644 version does not have access to cavalries and fully musket armed Highlanders.
Designed to be played at small sized games of 400~800 points range. Usual 1200 points game is of course possible but army size could balloon up quickly thanks to all the cheap foot.

"Covenanter Home Army 1644-1645"
Similar to "Scots Covenanter 1642-1647, but comes with Highlander warbands and levies.

"Covenanter Flying Column 1644-1645"
Inspired by Leslie's mounted army at Philiphaugh. Available year was extended backwards to 1644 in order to allow matching against similarly themed "Royalist Raiders 1643-1644".
According to Stuart Reid, Leslie had at Philiphaugh about 3000 cavalry, 400 Dragoons, and 700 Foot that are most likely mounted musketeers. One can roughly imitate this force with 6 Scots pistol horses, 9 Scots Lancers, 2 Dragoons, and 2 medium foot Musketeers, costing exactly 600 points.
In game terms, this is arguably the weakest army in the whole list. I recommend giving the army enough points advantage when playing with it.



==== "Revised Campaign" Features ====

This is "Rules and Armies" mod adapted to singleplayer campaign with some changes.

All Cuirassier type units - Lobsters and Lifeguards - will not be available for recruitment after 1643 turn 3 (Early Summer)

At 1644 turn 3 (Early Summer), a message will pop up notifying start of Montrose's campaign in Scotland.
To reflect Royalist and Parliamentarian main armies concentrating in England, and also to reflect disruptions caused by Montrose, Scotland will become unavailable for both sides, meaning it will not be taxable nor conquerable.
Any army in Scotland will be evicted South to England.

At 1645 turn 5 (Early Autumn), a message will pop up notifying conclusion of Montrose's campaign in Scotland.
Scotland will become available again; it will initially be a Royalist territory. A maximum 400 points army will spawn representing best possible what-if scenario for Montrose's army. (About 4000+ men unlike at historical Philiphaugh)
For Royalist players, this should be a unique new army that is also fun to play. For Parliamentarian players, this should give something interesting to destroy.
Irish foot will be available for this turn only.

Before 1648, except for 1645 turn 5, Royalist armylist for Scotland will include a full selection of cannons and assorted Highlander auxillaries.
A player may create a cost-effective Ottoman style siege train by only recruiting cannons and cheap foot.

[JohnWise]

A small mod I've been working on, tweaks some rules here and there and adds units and armies.

"Modified Rules" only tweaks rules and a couple of light foot

"Modified Armies" tweaks units and armies too.

Downloads:
Modified rules
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ezyZYR ... share_link
Rules and armies
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q3qOUv ... sp=sharing

Thanks Companion, downloaded and tried it on Sunday and works a treat.
Perhaps my only question is whether I can add the Score_Undo_Melee_PushB_T&S options of Cronos09
to your Mods ?

[SnuggleBunnies]

Looks great - do you plan to have it added as an official download sometime?

I'm particularly intrigued by your changes to cavalry to make them a little less helpless against foot.

Fully agreed with lowering bow range to 2 - after all we have accounts from France to Japan/Korea noting the superior range of arquebusiers vs archers. Pike and Shot and Sengoku Jidai's portrayal seem if anything the reverse of what experienced soldiers of the time had to say.

[ahuyton]

This does sound to be of great interest, many thanks. I will give it a try. I certainly support many of the changes, expecially related to artillery, lights and the poor old Parliamentary cavalry.

For Montrose, my impression was that the Highlanders and Irish were very effective in the charge so I hope that can remain a factor.

[companion]

Thanks Companion, downloaded and tried it on Sunday and works a treat.
Perhaps my only question is whether I can add the Score_Undo_Melee_PushB_T&S options of Cronos09
to your Mods ?

It should, I'll try the combo out this weekend.

Looks great - do you plan to have it added as an official download sometime?

I'm particularly intrigued by your changes to cavalry to make them a little less helpless against foot.

Fully agreed with lowering bow range to 2 - after all we have accounts from France to Japan/Korea noting the superior range of arquebusiers vs archers. Pike and Shot and Sengoku Jidai's portrayal seem if anything the reverse of what experienced soldiers of the time had to say.

I dunno how I can add mine to the official roster. Is there a submission form somewhere?

I'm not fully satisfied with the bow and arquebus range mainly because the melee attacker, especially "determined foot" analogues can either maneuver around the beaten zone or close the range for contact unpunished really fast.
Maybe those two weapons need 3~4 tile range of deterrence zone of about 25% power.

Edit: I also think a new weapon "Early Arquebus" should be added and used for first half of 16th Century. During this time period, Spain clearly distinguished between "Escopeta" and "Arcabuz", and some early firearm adopters used them inefficiently, even firing from hip or chest (maybe because the spark might hurt the eye, which would mean technical issue and not skills issue).

This does sound to be of great interest, many thanks. I will give it a try. I certainly support many of the changes, expecially related to artillery, lights and the poor old Parliamentary cavalry.

For Montrose, my impression was that the Highlanders and Irish were very effective in the charge so I hope that can remain a factor.

Early Parliamentarian cavalries are in a way downgraded because undetermined pistol horse would have their impact cancelled by Cavaliers anyway. But they are cheaper than carbine variants and perform better in non-open terrains.

For Montrose list, Irish are very effective shock troops as they are Superior Impact Foot. "Command" variant is even stronger thanks to them being Highly Superior.

If you want to edit the Highlanders, you'll need to edit the Squads.csv, find the relevant entries for "Scots_Highlanders_Early" and "Scots_Highlanders_Late", and give them 0 Light_Spear and 100 Impact_Foot. It's easier to edit the Squad.xlsx and save as csv file.

[SnuggleBunnies]

I dunno how I can add mine to the official roster. Is there a submission form somewhere?

I'm not fully satisfied with the bow and arquebus range mainly because the melee attacker, especially "determined foot" analogues can either maneuver around the beaten zone or close the range for contact unpunished really fast.
Maybe those two weapons need 3~4 tile range of deterrence zone of about 25% power.

Edit: I also think a new weapon "Early Arquebus" should be added and used for first half of 16th Century. During this time period, Spain clearly distinguished between "Escopeta" and "Arcabuz", and some early firearm adopters used them inefficiently, even firing from hip or chest (maybe because the spark might hurt the eye, which would mean technical issue and not skills issue).

Just PM rbodleyscott and he will send instructions.

I don't think new weapons are necessary, such ultimately minor differences fall within the broad categories we have. Is the musket in 1600 the same as that in 1700? Maybe not, but close enough. As for 'early arquebus' rather than inventing a new capability it would be easier to simply lower the % arquebus in the unit to your liking. But again, unless you think arquebus fire is over effective, then such a 'bottom up' approach is unnecessary. The series design philosophy has always been 'top down' for historical results, regardless of theoretical ideas or physical test results.

[JohnWise]

Thanks Companion, downloaded and tried it on Sunday and works a treat.
Perhaps my only question is whether I can add the Score_Undo_Melee_PushB_T&S options of Cronos09
to your Mods ?

It should, I'll try the combo out this weekend.

Ok thanks Companion, let me know how it works out using the Score_Undo_Melee_PushB_T&S options mod of Cronos09
on top of your Mod or whether you had to make additional modifications to your Mod for it to work ?

[companion]

I don't think new weapons are necessary, such ultimately minor differences fall within the broad categories we have. Is the musket in 1600 the same as that in 1700? Maybe not, but close enough. As for 'early arquebus' rather than inventing a new capability it would be easier to simply lower the % arquebus in the unit to your liking. But again, unless you think arquebus fire is over effective, then such a 'bottom up' approach is unnecessary. The series design philosophy has always been 'top down' for historical results, regardless of theoretical ideas or physical test results.

Well the Early Arquebus was a misnomer on my part as those were not quite called arquebuses...

Let me explain my musings a bit:

Historically, it is not unknown for archers and arquebusiers on both sides of the globe to shoot at targets at 200m+ range band even though their best employment range was circa 120m and below. For example, according to the author of this blog,
http://gunbai-militaryhistory.blogspot. ... attle.html
Sengoku period Japanese arquebusiers were doctrinally expected to start firing at around 200m in a set piece field battle scenario. So in my mind evidences like this justifies giving both bow and arquebus long range capability with somewhere between 10~30% power (For comparison, Musket longrange power is 50%)
This has an added benefit of smoothing out the performance of armies in 1610~1620 period where muskets and arquebuses coexist.

After reaching this conclusion, looking at the Italian Wars I felt that if arquebuses are going to have 4 tile range, then there needs to be a 2 tile range firearm weapon for use in 1500~1529 period, something like "hand-gonne" of FOG2:M but bit more powerful.
Something like this:
http://ejercitodeflandes.blogspot.com/2 ... etero.html
This is compatible with top-down approach because during those time period, despite increasing proliferation of firearms especially in Spanish and Italian elements, crossbow and longbow comfortably coexisted, suggesting that the period firearms were worth using but not quite useful enough to warrant complete replacement of old system. I think a 4-tile range arquebus would be too powerful for this role.

But come 1530s, many things coincide: French ordonnance archers abandoned longbows, Gascon crossbowmen abandoned crossbows, the early firearm "escopeta" is removed from field service in favor of arquebuses, and Gabor Agoston's articles suggest that most Janissaries on field campaign during 1530s were likely to be armed with firearms, whereas about a decade earlier in the battle of Mohacs 1526 not all Janissaries in the battle were likely to be so armed.

Just throwing some ideas around...

[companion]

Thanks Companion, downloaded and tried it on Sunday and works a treat.
Perhaps my only question is whether I can add the Score_Undo_Melee_PushB_T&S options of Cronos09
to your Mods ?

It should, I'll try the combo out this weekend.

Ok thanks Companion, let me know how it works out using the Score_Undo_Melee_PushB_T&S options mod of Cronos09
on top of your Mod or whether you had to make additional modifications to your Mod for it to work ?

I just downloaded Cronos9's mod and looked at it.
I think the scripts themselves are compatible, but because the mod overwrites files it is not compatible in its current form.

Either someone would have to write a patcher that would modify files instead of replacing them or I'll have to study Cronos9's mod and incorporate the relevant scripts to my mod with his permission.

Sorry...

[companion]

The mod needs some balance changes and trimming of unecessary files. After that it should be good for "official release" on the download center.

Soon...

[JohnWise]

It should, I'll try the combo out this weekend.

Ok thanks Companion, let me know how it works out using the Score_Undo_Melee_PushB_T&S options mod of Cronos09
on top of your Mod or whether you had to make additional modifications to your Mod for it to work ?

I just downloaded Cronos9's mod and looked at it.
I think the scripts themselves are compatible, but because the mod overwrites files it is not compatible in its current form.

Either someone would have to write a patcher that would modify files instead of replacing them or I'll have to study Cronos9's mod and incorporate the relevant scripts to my mod with his permission.

Sorry...

No problem - your ECW Modified Rules and Armies is still a great addition to the game where ( so far ) I've had no problems
with it.

[companion]

Existing Mods updated and one more Mod added.
No further update is planned for now.

[rbodleyscott]

These are now on the FTP for in-game download.

[JohnWise]

These are now on the FTP for in-game download.

What's the url address link to the FTP download site ??

[rbodleyscott]

These are now on the FTP for in-game download.

What's the url address link to the FTP download site ??

You don't need one, you can download them from within the game. Click on "Historical" in the main menu and then "Download Community Scenarios" at the top of the screen.

[JohnWise]

These are now on the FTP for in-game download.

What's the url address link to the FTP download site ??

You don't need one, you can download them from within the game. Click on "Historical" in the main menu and then "Download Community Scenarios" at the top of the screen.

Ok thanks.

[companion]

Shooting pistol value bug fixed.
MP versions added.

Both the bugfix and MP versions are submitted for review.

[JohnWise]

Shooting pistol value bug fixed.
MP versions added.

Both the bugfix and MP versions are submitted for review.

Thanks for the update & MP versions although tell me are any modifications you made to
Modified rules, Rules and armies for Historical as well as Campaign for bug fixes on the
11th Feb, are these contained in your drive.google.com download sites ?? as I assume
( like the MP review ) such fixes will be unavailable from P&S FTP until it's been reviewed.

[companion]

Thanks for the update & MP versions although tell me are any modifications you made to
Modified rules, Rules and armies for Historical as well as Campaign for bug fixes on the
11th Feb, are these contained in your drive.google.com download sites ?? as I assume
( like the MP review ) such fixes will be unavailable from P&S FTP until it's been reviewed.

Yes, google drive download links are up to date.