Scourge of War Boards

Hello, gentlemen!


I’m quite new to this game and I have to say I really like it so far. Despite being hardly interested in the American Civil War, I really rejoice at the idea of commanding from the saddle, without lines of sight to your troops (I always have to “preview” the scenario with full sight on the map though, because otherwise I don’t even know where my troops are positioned at the start *g*). I’ve still got a few questions and would be delighted if someone could give me some more information:

1. Morale
I’d really like to know how it works in detail. For example, I wonder why a resting unit sometimes regains “high” morale, while on other occasions, it doesn’t get any better than “willing”. Is this the effect of the losses that the unit has suffered so far? And is morale influenced by the distance to the enemy, by the fatigue status, by the casualties taken or by the ratio of casualties inflicted versus casualties suffered?

2. The only thing that I don’t quite like is the movement speed which seems much too high on several occasions, especially when changing formation. I know that the focus of the game is on a larger scope than that, but still I consider it very important to get this issue right. My point is that if you use a 4:1 ratio for soldiers (1 soldier represents 4 real soldiers), then the soldiers that you see on the map are actually oversized: a single soldier takes the place of 4 real soldiers. Now, if the ingame soldier runs to his new position at a speed that seems fast even for his scale, imagine how fast the 4 smaller soldiers would need to run. It’s “way” too fast in my opinion, and I also think that it causes a lot of battles to be quite chaotic and skirmish-like. A unit shouldn’t be able to form from column to line in a matter of a few seconds. On the other hand, I don’t know if it is possible to change the “change formation”-speed, and how it would affect AI-performance.

Hello, gentlemen!


I’m quite new to this game and I have to say I really like it so far. Despite being hardly interested in the American Civil War, I really rejoice at the idea of commanding from the saddle, without lines of sight to your troops (I always have to “preview” the scenario with full sight on the map though, because otherwise I don’t even know where my troops are positioned at the start *g*). I’ve still got a few questions and would be delighted if someone could give me some more information:

1. Morale
I’d really like to know how it works in detail. For example, I wonder why a resting unit sometimes regains “high” morale, while on other occasions, it doesn’t get any better than “willing”. Is this the effect of the losses that the unit has suffered so far? And is morale influenced by the distance to the enemy, by the fatigue status, by the casualties taken or by the ratio of casualties inflicted versus casualties suffered?

2. The only thing that I don’t quite like is the movement speed which seems much too high on several occasions, especially when changing formation. I know that the focus of the game is on a larger scope than that, but still I consider it very important to get this issue right. My point is that if you use a 4:1 ratio for soldiers (1 soldier represents 4 real soldiers), then the soldiers that you see on the map are actually oversized: a single soldier takes the place of 4 real soldiers. Now, if the ingame soldier runs to his new position at a speed that seems fast even for his scale, imagine how fast the 4 smaller soldiers would need to run. It’s “way” too fast in my opinion, and I also think that it causes a lot of battles to be quite chaotic and skirmish-like. A unit shouldn’t be able to form from column to line in a matter of a few seconds. On the other hand, I don’t know if it is possible to change the “change formation”-speed, and how it would affect AI-performance.

1. Basically, morale and fatigue are restored by resting. Morale can also be restored at an accelerated rate if the unit is rallying (indicated by the green flag on the toolbar). A unit can rally if it is within it's commanders support radius and is not engaged. Some commanders have larger support radius's than others and have a bigger effect on morale. Also, morale is effected by a units Experience level. The higher the experience, the better it can maintain it's own morale and the morale of other units close by. This is probably why you saw some units taking a really long time to restore morale (those units probably had a very low experience level)

2. Formation movement speed: I agree that it may be a little fast when you start thinking in terms of scale etc. However there was a lot of testing done and the speed was set to a level that was most practical for enjoyable gameplay. As far as modifying it, movement speed can be set in the unitglobal.csv.

Thank you for that fast answer! I'll take a look at the files. I guess I can spare you a lot of questions by examining them. I'm especially interested in the "unit attributes/Close order proficiency" as this is said to affect formation-change-speed. I might simply reduce the close order proficiency of all units in the OOB...The speed(penalty) for each "close combat proficiency"-category cannot be edited since it is hard-coded I guess?

Ah, if I just had enough skills to create 3D models, I'd go for a Seven Years War mod, or rather an American Revolution mod (lack of cavalry).I wonder if anyone has tried to implement the sprites from the rebels and redcoats mod for take command to Sow?* Everything looks so great and moddable! :woohoo: Morale, Fatigue, Formations, Terrain-effects, accuracy, the size of sprites, etc., etc..... This is not only a ACW game - it's a potential 18th/19th century battle simulator...



*I've already started:
(WIP)