08-06-2013, 01:35 PM
There has been a lot of consternation around troop counts and battle loss descriptors. I was able to address the loss descriptor coding, so now the body counts in the battles should approximate the losses suffered by the groups involved. There is rounding and some generalizations for smaller loss counts. However, the loss descriptors are meant not to be exact.
But what I really wanted to spend a couple minutes on concerns troop makeup and reporting and what information may be more important.
There almost 40 specific troop types coded for Alamaze. Light Infantry, Troll Crude Archers, Elite Cavalry, Orc Medium Infantry, and Giant Hurlers are just some examples. These 'subclasses' have specific combat values assigned to them for each one present in a brigade. Theses subclasses are also typed as Infantry, Cavalry or Archery depending on what battle phases they participate. And it is ‘phases’ as there are more than one battle phase for each of archery, cavalry and infantry (and more than one magic phase as well).
These subclasses roll up into Brigade types. Some of the brigade types have their compositions published, and kingdoms that recruit troops can see these make ups on their setups. Kingdom specific brigade composition is shown for the non-monster kingdoms. The BL, GI, RD & TR setups show their brigade quantities with notes about their combat characteristics. Other brigade types (summoned by spell or kingdom ability) have their worth expressed relative to recruits/veterans.
GROUPS are composed of these brigade types (up to 3 per) and quantities of each. The GROUP is the unit involved in combat. The battle routines calculate the archery, cavalry, infantry and defensive values based on the group composition and use these values in the different battle phases. In fact, the only combat related values stored in the group databases are brigade1 type, brigade1 qty, brigade2 type, brigade2 qty, brigade3 type, brigade3 qty, attrition, morale, battles, attacking, and defending.
The end battle routines determine if enough losses were suffered in combat to remove a brigade, determine the brigade type to remove, and apply the remaining attrition to the group.
Each group has a single attrition value, which is effectively the attrition value of every brigade in the group.
If a group with 2 brigades and attrition of 25% combines with a group of 3 brigades with 0% attrition, the resulting group will have 5 brigades with 10% attrition (2 x 25 + 3 x 0 = 50 / 5 = 10). If that group then issues a 235 order, one of the five brigades will be lost (removing up to 20% attrition) and leave the group with 4 brigades and 0% attrition.
If a group with 5 brigades and 40% attrition joins with a group of 5 brigades with 0% attrition, the new group will have 10 brigades with 20% attrition. A single 235 order will reduce the group to 9 brigades with 10% attrition. If that 9 brigade group splits out 4 brigades into a new group, both groups will have 10% attrition.
What does all this mean?
1. Groups of equal combat values on the report output may not be very equal. A 20,000 point group that is archery/cavalry heavy will do better against a 20,000 point group that is infantry heavy (although the infantry based group's defensive value may have great impact to that) all other things being equal. In fact fairly large discrepancies in group values can be overcome based on troop composition and defensive values.
2. The troop composition on the turn results should give some indication of where the group’s might will fall in the battle sequence, but aren’t directly used in the battle routines.
3. The troop composition on the turn results are the sums (by troop type) of the accumulated full brigade counts, less attrition.
4. You should use weaker brigade types to remove attrition (via 235) from groups with strong brigade types.
But what I really wanted to spend a couple minutes on concerns troop makeup and reporting and what information may be more important.
There almost 40 specific troop types coded for Alamaze. Light Infantry, Troll Crude Archers, Elite Cavalry, Orc Medium Infantry, and Giant Hurlers are just some examples. These 'subclasses' have specific combat values assigned to them for each one present in a brigade. Theses subclasses are also typed as Infantry, Cavalry or Archery depending on what battle phases they participate. And it is ‘phases’ as there are more than one battle phase for each of archery, cavalry and infantry (and more than one magic phase as well).
These subclasses roll up into Brigade types. Some of the brigade types have their compositions published, and kingdoms that recruit troops can see these make ups on their setups. Kingdom specific brigade composition is shown for the non-monster kingdoms. The BL, GI, RD & TR setups show their brigade quantities with notes about their combat characteristics. Other brigade types (summoned by spell or kingdom ability) have their worth expressed relative to recruits/veterans.
GROUPS are composed of these brigade types (up to 3 per) and quantities of each. The GROUP is the unit involved in combat. The battle routines calculate the archery, cavalry, infantry and defensive values based on the group composition and use these values in the different battle phases. In fact, the only combat related values stored in the group databases are brigade1 type, brigade1 qty, brigade2 type, brigade2 qty, brigade3 type, brigade3 qty, attrition, morale, battles, attacking, and defending.
The end battle routines determine if enough losses were suffered in combat to remove a brigade, determine the brigade type to remove, and apply the remaining attrition to the group.
Each group has a single attrition value, which is effectively the attrition value of every brigade in the group.
If a group with 2 brigades and attrition of 25% combines with a group of 3 brigades with 0% attrition, the resulting group will have 5 brigades with 10% attrition (2 x 25 + 3 x 0 = 50 / 5 = 10). If that group then issues a 235 order, one of the five brigades will be lost (removing up to 20% attrition) and leave the group with 4 brigades and 0% attrition.
If a group with 5 brigades and 40% attrition joins with a group of 5 brigades with 0% attrition, the new group will have 10 brigades with 20% attrition. A single 235 order will reduce the group to 9 brigades with 10% attrition. If that 9 brigade group splits out 4 brigades into a new group, both groups will have 10% attrition.
What does all this mean?
1. Groups of equal combat values on the report output may not be very equal. A 20,000 point group that is archery/cavalry heavy will do better against a 20,000 point group that is infantry heavy (although the infantry based group's defensive value may have great impact to that) all other things being equal. In fact fairly large discrepancies in group values can be overcome based on troop composition and defensive values.
2. The troop composition on the turn results should give some indication of where the group’s might will fall in the battle sequence, but aren’t directly used in the battle routines.
3. The troop composition on the turn results are the sums (by troop type) of the accumulated full brigade counts, less attrition.
4. You should use weaker brigade types to remove attrition (via 235) from groups with strong brigade types.
