Greetings! Today we travel to the fertile lands of northern Italy in Roar of Conquest to examine the changes it brings to the game. Most of these changes were quality-of-life upgrades that were done for many factions in the game, not just for the Republic of Venice or the Republic of Genoa and Pisa. Nevertheless, the changes made greatly improved the campaign both for the AI and the player, and did help certain units perform better on the battlefield. So without further ado, viva Italia!
Universal Changes, (Affects All Listed Factions):
1) Foot Men at Arms are now recruitable for the entire campaign once they are unlocked. For more information on what this means, refer to the bottom of this article: Moddb.com
2) Pikemen have better melee stats, with a 5 attack up from 2 and 4 charge up from 3. Their defense is also now 8 up from 3.
3) Light Men at Arms are no longer restricted by area of recruitment, or AOE; any castle you can build the appropriate Barracks building will now recruit them anywhere on the map. This means better army composition overall for both you and the AI.
4) Spearmen are no no longer restricted by area of recruitment, or AOE; any castle you can build the appropriate Barracks building will now recruit them anywhere on the map. While they will certainly be outclassed later on, this helps both you and the AI field troops a bit better than peasant militia no matter where you expand.
5) Broken Lances now take 2 turns to recruit instead of 4. I felt that waiting 4 turns for what you get was too much; they are a good unit, but not that good. It also means that the AI will have more of them in their armies, if they have the right buildings for it. You will notice that quite a few units listed will have this change, and it is all for the same reasons mentioned here.
7) Broken Lance Cavalry now take 4 turns to recruit instead of 7.
8) Arbalesters have improved melee attack, now 6 up from 5.
9) Carroccio Standard now have a full-sized battalion, now 150 men up from 60 on ultra unit size. Now they are actually useful in battle, as before their small size and the AI's lack of proper use of morale-boosting units made them useless before.
10) Gendarmes now take 4 turns to recruit instead of 7.
11) Spearmen Sergeants are no longer restricted by area of recruitment, or AOE; any castle you can build the appropriate Barracks building will now recruit them anywhere on the map. Again, a boost to help improve army quality on the campaign map.
12) Men at Arms are no longer restricted by area of recruitment, or AOE; any castle you can build the appropriate Stables building will now recruit them anywhere on the map.
13) Pavise Spear Militia have better melee attack, now 2 up from 1.
14) Pike Militia have better melee stats, with 4 attack up from 1 and 3 charge up from 2. They also have better defense, now 4 up from 0. That's right, their defense was actually 0.
15) Late Pikemen have increased melee stats, 5 attack up from 2 and 4 charge up from 3. They also have better defense, with a total of 15 up from 10.
The Republic of Venice
Most of these changes were to make Venice's faction-unique units perform in a way that fit their description, which in most cases was "professional". They are usually more available now then they once were in Stainless Steel 6.4.
1) Pesante Archers now have better defense, with a total of 12 up from 11. They now only take 2 turns to recruit as well.
2) Fanteria Pesante have better melee attack, now 5 up from 3. They now only take 2 turns to recruit as well.
The Republic of Genoa and Pisa
Like Venice, just a few changes to unit stats and availability.
1) Genoese Crossbow Militia have a better melee attack of 3 up from 2. This was done to help differentiate them from the more common Pavise Crossbow Militia other factions can recruit.
2) Genoese Crossbowmen have an improved melee attack of 4 up from 3. They also have a stronger missile attack, now 11 up from 10. This was done to make them superior to the Pavise Crossbowmen other factions can recruit.
3) Voulgier now only take 2 turns to recruit, making them more available and more common on the campaign map.
So there you have it; the Republics of northern Italy reborn! Like other factions, I have some ideas on changes to make from them, but nothing for the immediate future. If you like what you read and would like to try out Roar of Conquest yourself, here's the download link: Moddb.com
