Battalions and Formations news - 0 A.D. Delenda Est mod for 0 A.D. Empires Ascendant

If official release of the game does not include battalions and formations, then this is how Delenda Est would attempt to include battalions and formations into the game.

Battalions

Troops are no longer individuals, they are part of a group or battalion. Guys, I will give you the rundown of how it would work.

Training

Soldiers are trained in battalions and live and die in battalions. A battalion of melee infantry would have 24 soldiers for example. They are trained 1 battalion at a time. Shift-train queue up 5 battalions in a row and give a "batch" discount not unlike the batch discount game already has. The soldiers exit the building together as a battalion and head off to the rally point.

Cost

A battalion of soldiers (Spear Infantry, 24 soldier) would cost roughly 600 500 10, so 1 large house or 2 small houses have pop for 1 battalion. In a 300 pop match player might have 20 battalions to manage instead of 200 separate units. Reducing the micro-management is okay, because additional management and features are added elsewhere. Continue reading.

Extra Units and Upgrades

A battalion will have 1 or more extra eye candy soldier to help distinguish each battalion.

• Default: Bannerman. He comes automatically with the battalion and costs nothing extra. He does not fight and does not die until the last soldier in the battalion dies, then the Bannerman dies. Enemy soldiers ignore him like he is just a ghost actor. This is the Aquilifer for the Romans for example.
• Upgrade: Noise Maker. Upgrade battalion with a noise maker dude that either reduce nearby enemy attack (intimidation) or increase his own battalion's attack (courage) or some other bonus unique to civ's Noise Maker. For example for the Celts this would be the man who blows the Carnyx (intimidation). For the Romans this is the man who plays the Cornūs (courage). Athenians, Spartans, Thebans get a flutist who plays the Aulos and make the battalion march and charge faster.
• Upgrade: Officer. Upgrade battalion with an officer unit who fights. He is tenacious, with double the health of other soldiers in his battalion. He is the Centurio for the Roman civs, the Polemarch for the Spartans, etc.
• Heroes: We can have heroes trained with a bodyguard so that they are their own battalion (like Octavian Augustus comes within a battalion of Praetorian Cavalry, Leonidas comes within a battalion of Hippeis Spartans, Xerxes come in a battalion of Apple Bearers, etc.), we can make heroes train as individuals and then you can attach him to a formation, or we can do both depending on each hero. A hero in a battalion is treated by the enemy just like any other soldier in the battalion. The Hero takes his/her place right in front of the bannerman on the right corner of the battalion (the place of the "officer").
• Reinforce: If near a barracks a low strength battalion could be reinforced with new free soldiers (they appear behind bannerman and assume their place in line). Can be done with an aura.
• Promote: Each battalion accrue Experience. When battle is over, the player can promote the whole battalion at once if that battalion has accrued enough Experience.

Selection and Movement

Selecting any soldier in the battalion select whole battalion. Soldiers in battalion will squeeze together to fit the battalion through narrow pathways. When sent over long distance, battalion form into column to snake around obstacles and through narrow paths.

Resource Gatherers and Builders

Having battalions does not abandon the citizen-soldier concept. Battalions can still gather resources and build buildings. When a battalion of citizen-soldiers are sent to gather from trees, they will march to the forest and then disperse to nearby trees to chop. If sent to gather on a farm the battalion marches to the farm and then spreads out to the farms for how many slots are available.

If there are too many soldiers for gathering slots some soldiers will just stand guard near his gathering comrades. Same for building.

User Interface

Every battalion that is created gets automatically a ctrl-group icon on left of screen. Ctrl-groups can be made by the player for multiple battalions if player wishes. These get a different icon, along the left of screen.

Formations

How do they work?

• Soldiers fight in formation and generally hold the shape of the formation within parameters. The more men in the formation the closer they hold the formation. As men die, the formation cohesion lessens.
• Number of formation buttons are reduced (fewer formations than currently in the game; this is okay, you will see)
• Formations give bonuses and penalties
• Can be altered with a small number of Formation Modifiers
• Most civ will only have 3 Formations for their Battalions and then 3 Modifiers

Formations and uses

Column

• Civilizations: All
• Unit Classes: All
• Auto/Manual: Automatic, when distance between waypoints is long, is applied automatically to the battalion
• Modifiable: Yes
• Bonus: 1.25x Speed
• Penalty: .5x All Armor, so more vulnerable to ambush-like attacks

Battle Line

• Civilizations: All
• Unit Classes: Infantry and Cavalry
• Auto/Manual: Automatic, this is the DEFAULT battalion formation for these classes of units
• Modifiable: Yes
• Bonus: +2 Frontal Hack and Pierce Armor, +1 Frontal Crush Armor
• Penalty: .9x Speed

Wedge

• Civilizations: All
• Unit Classes: Melee Cavalry
• Auto/Manual: Automatic, this is when Melee Cavalry are task to CHARGE
• Modifiable: Yes
• Bonus: +1.25x Charge Bonus in addition to regular charge bonus if charge is initiate at "sweet spot" distance, not too far not too close to target
• Penalty: -1 Pierce Armor, makes the cavalry more vulnerable to missile, which is usually not

Testudo

• Civilizations: Rome (Republicans and Principates)
• Unit Classes: Melee Infantry
• Auto/Manual: Manual
• Modifiable: No
• Bonus: +3 Hack Armor, +4 Pierce Armor, +5 Crush Armor
• Penalty: .25x Speed, Soldiers within it can only respond to direct melee attacks

Sparabara Wall

• Civilizations: Persians (Achaemenids)
• Unit Classes: Archer Infantry
• Auto/Manual: Manual
• Modifiable: No
• Bonus: +5 Frontal Pierce Armor
• Penalty: Is a stationary formation, will not move when in this formation
• Abstract: The famous Persian archery shield wall; Great for archery duels

Formations Modifier

When a formation above is chosen, the Formation Modifiers available for that Formation become available (unavailable modifiers are greyed out)

Close Order

• Civilizations: All
• Formations: Column, Battle Line, Wedge
• Unit Classes: All
• Auto/Manual: Auto, this is the DEFAULT modifier for formations
• Effect: Units are spaced close together, but their shields do not touch or overlap

Open Order

• Civilizations: All
• Formations: Battle Line, Wedge
• Unit Classes: All
• Auto/Manual: Manual
• Effect: Soldier are spaced farther apart, with additional space between files and rows
• Benefit: Reduces effects of incoming splash and trample damage
• Penalty: -1 Hack Armor (but any Crush and Pierce bonuses remain)

Locked Shields

• Civilizations: Athen Spart Mace Sele Ptol Cart Theb Epir
• Formations: Battle Line
• Unit Classes: Spear Infantry and Pike Infantry
• Auto/Manual: Manual
• Effect: Units are spaced close enough their their shields overlap, creating a shield wall
• Bonus: +5 Frontal Armor Bonus in addition to regular frontal bonus for Battle Line (for a total of +7); Units in 2nd rank can attack through the front for spears, units in 2nd and 3rd rank can attack through front for pikes.
• Penalty: .75x All Armor from Flanks, .25x All Armor from Rear, .8x Speed
• Abstract: This is the Hellenic and Hellenistic "phalanx" for hoplite-style spear infantry. It is the "syntagma" for pike-style spear infantry. Later, in Part 2, this is the Shield Wall for the Germanic culture (Sueb, Alamm, Goth, Frank)

Army Behavior

When 2 or more battalions are selected, Army Behaviors kick in.

• When sent over long distance, they form a column together and snake to their destination.
• When the player tasks multiple battalions to an area they will automatically arrange in a classic "battle formation" (melee infantry in middle, cavalry on wings, archer in back) when they arrive, or...
• We could add Army Formations if we wanted to that show up in place of battalion formations in UI when multiple battalions selected.
• Either way, when move command to somewhere, they end up organized, not a mess.

Anyway guys, this is how it could work. I think it is very simple and add very uniqueness to the game as well as fresh historical combat.