General Unit Gameplay Changes news - Battles of the Third Age mod for Battle for Middle-earth II: Rise of the Witch King

Im not Thanos, im not perfectionist either(?) but I know that something is wrong when I notice it. First, there were some Heroes that felt unrealistically strong or weak. Now I cannot go into every detail about every Hero, but In my opinion, 80% of the were unbalanced. And don’t let me start on the Units. So, that’s why I always wanted to start modding, so I can right the wrongs.

But never mind that, I can talk for days, the reason im posting this is because im limited in playing the game or testing the gameplay and I need your help.

For now, only Gondor and Mordor are the most finished factions, but I think it will be enough for testing. The rest of the factions are in the process, but I will need some more time for them.

So in that name, I wanted to present to you the new Unit and Upgrade system I always wanted to implement in the mod.

Current main changes:

• New Unit type system:
  
  

Basic Melee Infantry: Weak armored but fast training and cheap units – Strong in melee combat and in large groups but weak against Ranged Infantry and Cavalry

Basic Ranged Infantry: Weak armored but fast Archer units who are best at keeping the distance and taking down Units from medium range but very weak against Cavalry

Basic Spearmen Infantry: These Infantry Units are carrying spears and shields and are the most expensive of all he Basic Unit Tier type. They are good in melee combat and Light Cavalry especially, but weak vs Ranged Infantry because they are the slowest type of Infantry

Advanced Melee Infantry: More expensive and stronger Melee Unit Tier type. These units can be upgraded with stronger Armour Upgrades and are very good in melee combat, They are more resistant to Ranged Infantry but weak against some stronger Cavalry Unit types. The can use Formations and can combine with the same Advanced Infantry types

Advanced Ranged Infantry: Strong at long range, have stronger Armour but are not faster than the rest Unit Types.

Advanced Spearmen Infantry: Stronger Spearmen Infantry with long pikes, who are strong against Heavy Cavalry Unit types, but they are the slowest Infantry Unit type

Heavy Infantry: They are the slowest but strongest Melee type. Strong against every type of Infantry Unit type, depending on their Armour or Weapon Upgrade. They cannot combine with other Units and are limited to 10 Battalions

Elite Infantry: Varies from faction to faction. Elite Units are the most expensive Unit type in the game. Elite Units comes with all Upgrades already upgraded. They don’t have further Armor and Weapon Upgrades nor they cannot combine with other Unit types, but instead they have couple of special abilities which they gain on certain levels

Light Cavalry: Light armored Cavalry Units good in trampling down Basic Infantry but weak against Ranged Infantry due to their lack of strong Armour

Heavy Cavalry: High health and Armour, but a bit slower than Light Cavalry. Heavy cavalry can upgrade some stronger Armor Upgrades and are strong against Advanced Infantry Unit types. But weak against Advanced Spearmen Infantry with pikes

Elite Cavalry: Strongest Cavalry Unit type, they already come with all Upgrades and have couple of special abilities. Elite Cavalry is the strongest Unit type in the mod and are mostly weak only against Advanced Spearmen Infantry, if not supported with some other units

In vanilla BFME, the main rule was: Infantry > Pikemen, Archers > Infantry, Pikemen > Cavalry, Cavalry > Archers. Which was good, but I wanted to expand that rule with my own re balance. So with all of these changes, the unit strengths and weaknesses against other units is expanded.
Since we now have 11 different unit types, new balance goes like this:

Basic Melee Infantry: Strong(in Melee) vs Basic Infantry – Weak vs Ranged Infantry and Cavalry

Basic Ranged Infantry: Strong(at Range) vs Basic Infantry – Weak vs Cavalry

Basic Spearmen Infantry: Strong vs Light Cavalry – Weak vs Ranged Infantry

Advanced Melee Infantry: Strong(in Melee) vs Advanced Infantry – Weak vs Heavy Cavalry and Advanced Ranged Infantry

Advanced Ranged Infantry: Strong(at Range) vs Advanced Infantry – Weak vs Heavy Cavalry

Advanced Spearmen Infantry: Strong vs Heavy Cavalry – Weak vs Advanced Ranged Infantry

Heavy Infantry: Strong vs Advanced Infantry and Buildings – Weak vs Elite Units

Light Cavalry: Strong vs Basic Melee and Ranged Infantry – Weak vs Basic Spearmen Infantry

Heavy Cavalry: Strong vs Advanced Melee and Basic Infantry – Weak vs Advanced Spearmen Infantry

Elite Cavalry: Strong vs All Units

Elite Infantry: String vs All Units

1. Complete overhaul and re-balance of

- Unit Armour and Unit Armour Upgrade values

- Unit Weapon and Unit Weapon Upgrade values

- Unit Experience gaining and Experience reward values (the amount required for the units to gain levels, and the amount of Experience the units give when killed)

- Values for units when gaining levels

1. New system for Unit Armour upgrades

- Units wont get simple “Heavy Armor” or “Forged Weapons” upgrades. Instead, each of the Factions will get their respective Armor Upgrades corresponding to their culture and craftsmanship.

For example, instead of “Heavy Armor”, Gondor units will have “Gondor Mail Armor” and “Gondor Plate Armor” in their Blacksmith. Chain Mail Armor is available for Basic Units (new units like Morthond Bowmen, Ringlo Vale Footmen, Lebbenin Spearmen) and Units that are not using other types of armor because of their role and behavior both in the lore and in the game (Ithillien Rangers). Mail armor provides good protection against Slash, Pierce and Stab damage and is costs less than Plate Armor. Plate Armor is stronger and more expensive Armour type and is only available for Advanced Unit types, But it provides better protection against Ranged and Heavy Infantry.

1. New system for Unit Weapon upgrades

- No more simple “Forged Blades”. Every faction now has its own special Weapon Upgrades. For example, Black Orc fight with swords and have good melee damage, but can be upgraded with “War Hammers” to give them more damage against Advanced Units (who can upgrade stronger armor) and Buildings. Basic Mordor Orcs can be upgraded with several Weapon Upgrades, since they had various weapons. Or Gondor Soldiers with “Honed Blades” which increases their basic damage but also gives them additional damage against Infantry.

1. New Damage values

- In basic game, you had several regular damage values. For example, Gondor Soldiers have slash damage, or Orc Archers have pierce damage. Some units have high or low Slash resistance, some have high or low Pierce resistance, etc.

Reworked damage types:

SLASH damage – Basic, Advanced and Heavy Melee Infantry have this damage type, usually strong vs other Infantry types

PIERCE damage – Basic, Advanced and Elite Ranged Infantry have this damage type, usually strong vs Melee and Spearmen Infantry types

STAB damage (for other modders out there this is originally SPECIALIST damage) – Basic and Advanced Spearmen Units have this damage type, usually strong vs Cavalry Units

CAVALRY damage – All Cavalry types have this damage type, and it is the damage they deal vs Units in melee combat

ARMOR PIERCE damage (for other modders out there this is originally CAVALRY_RANGED) – This damage type requires some Weapon Upgrade, depends on a faction, and it deals higher amount of damage to Upgraded Units

CHOP damage – This damage type requires some Weapon Upgrade, depends on a faction, and it deals a higher amount of damage to Upgraded Units. Some Basic, Advanced or Elite Infantry have this damage type from the start

BLUNT damage (for other modders out there this is originally URUK damage) - – This damage type requires some Weapon Upgrade, depends on a faction, and it deals a higher amount of damage to Upgraded Units and Buildings. Some Basic, Advanced or Elite Infantry have this damage type from the start

All of the Unit Health, Armor, Speed, Cost, Build Time, Weapon Accuracy are being re adjusted and re balanced to improve the Unit role in the game.

There’s a lot small changes and fixes that will take at least 5 days to write them all.

That’s it for now guys, download the test version and give it a try, I want to hear from all of you.