Hello and welcome to this developer diary for Imperator: Rome!
Today I will be returning to our combat mechanics, some of which have been iterated a bit on since we last touched on the subject.
Battles & Deployment
In the period covered by
Imperator, battles were in many ways quite different from periods we cover in our other games. The battle system of its predecessor,
Europa Universalis: Rome, did have a unique touch to it with its unit types and their various strengths and weaknesses, but was otherwise more similar to the battle system of the Europa Universalis Games.
In Imperator we have revamped combat in a number of ways to behave more like you would expect from the era, while also giving you greater control over how battles are fought.
First I’d like to refresh some things we have already gone through. Like in EU: Rome battles are fought in phases were a unit will attempt to damage the unit in front of it. If there is no unit immediately facing your unit it can try to damage a unit diagonally adjacent to it. The
maneuver rating of each unit type determines how far away it can target a unit on the opposite side (for an overview of unit types see
this former diary).
How much damage each unit can deal is dependent on its strength towards the unit it faces. As an example a unit of heavy infantry will deal more damage to light infantry.
Modifiers from
Military Traditions and
Unit Abilities can further strengthen certain units overall, or in certain terrains, as can well chosen
Battle Tactics.
Now for the new stuff
View attachment 427444
Unlike in its predecessor, there is no second row from which units can deal damage in Imperator:Rome. Instead there is a
Primary Frontline and a
Secondary Frontline.
The
First Frontline will enter battle first, damaging the opposing side until its morale breaks or it suffers enough damage to be eliminated.
The
Secondary Frontline will then begin to move forward to become the new front.
On the sides the units designated as
Flank units will be deployed, these will first fight and kill the opposing flank, and then start targeting the center if they can (decided by their maneuver value as described above).
View attachment 427449
In the army interface you will be able to select which unit type you want to be prioritized for
First Frontline,
Second Frontline and
Flank. The preselected choices will depend on your
Military Traditions but they can be changed freely by the player or the AI for each army.
The
size of the flank can also be set, either 2 cohorts, 5 cohorts or 10 cohorts.
Additionally some unit types are now scripted to be able to deal or take more morale damage or more physical damage, making them more or less suited for each role.
View attachment 427445
In most cases this means that you might see a first skirmish phase where your
Primary Frontline of
Archers or
Light Infantry try to do as much damage as possible to the other side before their morale breaks and they retreat.
They are then followed by the units of the S
econd Frontline, potentially composed of heavier units such as
Heavy Infantry or/and
Elephants.
In an ideal world you might want to deploy something like
Horse Archers on the
Flanks, with a high
maneuver value that would allow them to deal damage far into the center once they have defeated the opposing flank, but you might also go for something specifically to prioritize countering the opposing flank.
Since the choice is free you can to put any type of unit in each of these roles. If you are playing a country with specific bonuses to certain unit types from military traditions, that might change which unit you want to be in which position. If you just want to try something unexpected that is also possible.
When you do not have enough of your preferred unit type for a role the game will fill out with units in order of how high their build cost are.
View attachment 427446
Apart from being strong against other unit types some units also have modifiers to how much morale damage they take, or deal. Archers take 25% more morale damage for instance, and Heavy Infantry deals more damage to unit strength of the opposing unit.
Battle Indicator
View attachment 427447
Like in Europa Universalis or Crusader Kings, Imperator will show an
indicator on the map when a battle is expected to occur in a location where two armies are headed.
In Imperator we have added information to this indicator to give a quick view of some of the more relevant combat data of this expected battle. The indicator will change appearance depending on how likely a victory is, and its tooltip will summarize why it predicts a certain result.
Now there are many factors that influence the outcome of a battle, and together with the random elements that can skew a battle result this means that the indication might not always be entirely correct. But it will allow you to quickly gauge your chances of success, and show some of the factors that you would otherwise have to look around in the interface for.
Attrition:
View attachment 427448
A constant factor in warfare in this era and up until this day is the non-combat related losses in a conflict. Armies moving through hostile territory, or just areas unable to support them in general, will often suffer as many, often more, than ones directly involved in combat.
As in other Grand Strategy Games such as Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis locations in Imperator will have a supply limit (shown as a value next to the
cauldron in the screenshot above), which is the size of army that the land can support without suffering attrition.
Weather and hostile terrain can also directly increase attrition of present armies. An army in a desert city will always suffer 1% attrition from it, as will armies in locations with harsh winter. Base Attrition is shown by the
Skull in the province interface above.
Together with the mountain passes, roads and other features of the map this means that you will have to pay closer attention to the map when on campaign. Minimum attrition means that an unsafe route might be more punishing than what you are used to. The automatic path-finding will prefer shorter movement times and low attrition when possible, but at times you might want to cross that desert to reach the battlefield you want.
That was all for today! Next week I will be back with some more information on Trade, Diplomacy and regional information about the starting situation in the British Isles.
