English Longbowmen modifier

[xstormfuryx]

Got to ask, why does England not have a modifier for the longbow? the pivotal tool that made england a military power in the hundred years war and many other battlefields and wars until the rise of early muskets?

I could list all the battle the longbow was the main reasons england won, but i wont, and if your intrested it should bot be hard to find them, but one example is the battle of azincourt, where france held all the advantages, minus the ranged advantaged, and negative terrain, but i believe terrain modifiers are well represented in the game so i'll stop there.

So here is what i suggest, between tech 5 (where the longbow is unlocked for some reason) and the tech where early musket units are available (cant recall off top of my head) england should have some form of modifier, for example infantry combat ability. How much of a modifier, i'll leave it up to people with a better head for balance.

The modifier should be triggered like conquest of rome, with condition of being between the military techs i said, on top of having english or welsh as an accepted culture (so nations that conquer said places can 'locally' recruit longbowmen)

also please nerf the french elan national idea, its far to strong (considering the morale modifier is one of, if not the strongest combat modifier, on top of lucky nations) and the french were not that brave, with the exception when certain commanders led them. Point in case, the amount of times the french retreated from the english when they still had advantages. Once again battle of agincourt.

 

[grommile]

Let's look at the two English-French battles in respect of which the longbow is most lionized, hmm?

Crécy, 1346.08.28: An impatient French commander makes utterly incompetent use of his own missile troops in a frontal assault uphill against a prepared defensive position in unfavourable weather.

Agincourt, 1415.10.25: An impatient French commander launches a frontal assault across a sea of mud towards a prepared defensive position.

 

[BrokenSky]

Let's look at the two English-French battles in respect of which the longbow is most lionized, hmm?

Crécy, 1346.08.28: An impatient French commander makes utterly incompetent use of his own missile troops in a frontal assault uphill against a prepared defensive position in unfavourable weather.

Agincourt, 1415.10.25: An impatient French commander launches a frontal assault across a sea of mud towards a prepared defensive position.

I agree. There does need to be a greater capacity for inspiring 9:1 victories or horrible 2:19 screw ups...

Proposal; in the event that a combat die rolls maximum, it can be re-rolled and the number added to the roll, -1; Example:
Bob rolls a 14 on a D14. He is entitled to an additional roll and gets a 7. His total roll is 14+7-1 = 20. This assumes D14 is uniform between 1:14. (No zero)
Now if only you could roll negatively if you roll a 1...

Edit: If you roll a second 14, you keep going until you fail; e.g.
Sam rolls 14, and gets a additional roll for 14 and has a further aditional roll of 1.
His total is 14+(14-1)+(1-1) = 27.

 

[grommile]

I agree. There does need to be a greater capacity for inspiring 9:1 victories or horrible 2:19 screw ups...

No there doesn't, because that crap is terrible gameplay even if it is compelling narrative or historiography.

 

[Imgran]

At the very least primary, not accepted, culture.

Discipline is more important than morale. That said +20% discipline would be ridiculous.
France is meant to be OP.

It shouldn't be. France should dominate because of the power and size of its nation and the powerful trade position it occupies, not just "because France."

 

[BrokenSky]

No there doesn't, because that crap is terrible gameplay even if it is compelling narrative or historiography.

Isn't that what you were getting at? That these battles happened because of massive screw ups on one side and that that was more important than buffing English longbows?

Bear in mind this wouldn't happen often, just occasionally one side would get a roll which was both very improbable and very large.

It shouldn't be. France should dominate because of the power and size of its nation and the powerful trade position it occupies, not just "because France."

Possibly, but this is, as far as I understand, Working As Designed. I'm not sure I agree with the decision, but ~eh...

 

[Denkt]

Longbowmen did have some failurs which ended like Agincourt but the other way around. Other foot units did have similar success like the longbowmen such as pikmen or huscarls and like longbowmen these units did took a very long time to train and if the battle wen't wrong way your whole investment would be gone.

The reason why England will not get longbowmen national idea is that they are not supposed to have much of a special land army, their focus lies on trade, navy and oversea expansion.