Lines of Battle mod for Total War: Rome II

Lines of Battle is a tactical gameplay modification for Total War: Rome II. We strive to make Rome II a more enjoyable game, while also maintaining a level of realism and historical and historical accuracy. Battles are overhauled, units rebalanced, missiles reworked, and much, much more (read below). Soon Lines of Battle will become a true overhaul, and lend itself to the truly epic experience that Rome 2 deserves, with totally overhauled factions, allowing one to progress from the early period to the late in a manner that is historically plausible. Following are some of the features that we will be implementing.

More Tactical Battles:
The battles in Rome 2 vanilla are just that. Vanilla. Groups of men collide and twist every which way in a mediocre dance of death. Battles are over before you can even admire the amazing animations which CA have made. A melee should take time, as men deflect the blows of their enemies, and commanders adjust their positioning to get the best of the enemy, rather than a simple rush and a rout that takes all of 5 minutes. This is combated in several ways. Walking and running speeds are adjusted across the board so that units no longer have a sort of "Benny Hill" effect, but some lightly armored units will be able to run quite quickly, so there is actually a noticeable difference between the speeds of heavy infantry and light infantry. In addition to this, melee stats have been reduced and re-balanced across the board. Units have also been edited to keep their formations much better, and will only descend into an undisciplined mob on occasion. Morale, too, has been reworked, with morale effects being much more dynamic. Fatigue has also been given a rework, with its onset now coming faster, and its malus being heavier. A smart commander would do well to ensure exhausted units do not find themselves assailed by fresh reinforcements. These changes, along with a slew of other tweaks, serve to make battles in LoB a more enjoyable and tactical experience.

Progressive Area of Recruitment System:
In Rome 2, expansion is simple. Conquer a provinces, convert the buildings, recruit hoards of Praetorian Guard. Well, not in Lines of Battle. Lines of Battle will introduce a progressive AOR system. What this means is that certain units are only available in certain provinces. Praetorian Guards, for example, may only be recruited in Italian land. So what does this mean for expansion? When a faction conquers a province of a different culture, they will not be able to convert the building directly into a high tier barracks. Instead, it will be converted into a lower end barracks which will give access to low end troops of that culture. Eventually through upgrading the barracks, you will be able to recruit (in terms of a Roman example) Legionaries. This means for a Roman player that they must choose between an auxiliary barracks or integrating the province for greater long-term yield. This is just one example, however, and each faction will have it's own flavor of the AOR system.

Expanded native, auxiliary, and mercenary rosters:
This is fairly self explanatory I think. Each faction will have their rosters expanded or shaped into a more flavorful mold. This does not mean, of course, that suddenly every roster will be filled to the brim with silly fantasy units.

Improved Campaign AI:
With the help of Josst (UAI mod), we have done some improvements to the AI. In addition to giving the AI some help with their food management (Thanks Mitch) we have also increased AI aggressiveness and change around some of their priorities. Eg: the AI will be less likely to spam low cost units like slingers, and will instead prefer to go for better units.

Other Battles Changes:
In addition to the aforementioned battle changes, there are some other larger changes to the battles. One of these involves the throwing weapons used by many factions. Rather than firing on the charge, these units will be able to fire at will, including whilst on the defensive. In our testing we have found that it does not negatively affect the AI, and is both more enjoyable, and realistic. Another major change involves Hoplites. Ahiga has changed around some of the Hoplite mechanics in order to make them more effective and useful as a unit.