Board Thread:Development/@comment-26393217-20170609202750

Before altering several files, I'd like to know your thoughts about the new movement speeds. I need advice and corrections in case mistakes are obvious before testing.

Recalling v1.03.25 values
21: upgraded Wolf Rider, upgraded Rider, upgraded Warlord

20: Lizard Rider, upgraded Nightmare

19: upgraded Knight

18: upgraded Knight Lord

17: Mercenary, Nightmare, upgraded Champion Knight, (Sylph), (upgraded Tyrannosaurus)

16: Elven Hunter, Woodrider, Unicorn, Knight, Rider, Warlord, (upgraded Triceratops), (Scorpion), (War Dog), (Assassin), (Pixie), (upgraded Shadow)

15: Wolf Rider, Dragon Knight, Knight Lord, (upgraded Tyrannosaurus), (Queen Spider)

14: Champion Knight, Skeleton Cavalry, Scartauri, Dark Rider

11: Elephant

10: (Triceratops)

09: (Tyrannosaurus)

08: Scartauri Priest

Scheduled v1.03.26 changelog
+10 to all Cavalry

+7 to Scartauri Priest

+5 to Elephant & Elven Hunter

Elven Hunter downgraded so that he can be chased by any cavalry unit.

Dinosaurs left unchanged.

This mod allows the cavalry units to be faster than most non cavalry units, but I don't know how real speed scales with the Speed stat, and how a +1 diff. in the 10-ish range is the same as a +1 diff. in the 20-ish.

Proposal
- first, make 3 horse cavalry classes instead of "more": light, medium, and heavy.

- then, differentiate more between classes (+2 or +3 diff.).

- downgrade the Mercenary to medium speed cavalry instead of fastest (he's quite armoured).

- downgrade the Warlord one class (medium) below the Rider (fastest)

- keep upgraded Nightmare on par with Lizard Rider(?) but downgrade Wolf Rider so that it stays below them when upgraded

- make dinosaurs faster. On one hand, they could move slowly (man pace for triceratops? Definitely >more< for T-Rex), on the other hand, they could charge (and they get a +8 upgrade).

Speeds found on the internet (zoological data & wargame simulations):

- Elephant: no more than 7 m/s (charging, both species have similar max speed, but this is unmounted elephants).

- T-Rex: estimated 18 mph or 29 km/h or 8 m/s (max speed).

- Triceratops: double the mass of an elephant, and the speed of a rhino, i.e. 55 km/h or 15 m/s (on short distance then could correspond to upgraded speed).

- Mounted horse: 40-48 km/h fort light mount, and 30 km/h for heavy cavalry (max recorded speed: 88 km/h), i.e. 11-13 m/s, and 8.3 m/s.

Other figures (tactical speeds on the battlefield):

- Light Cavalry: 10.5 m/s

- Medium Cavalry (non-clad horses): 8.8 m/s

- Heavy Cavalry (clad horses: western knights, eastern cataphracts): 7 m/s

- War Elephant: 4.5 m/s (half the medium cavalry's)

All the above could lead to proposal #1:

30: Lizard Rider upgraded Nightmare

28: upgraded Wolf Rider

27: Nightmare

26 (= Light Cavalry): Wood Rider (although medium cavalry, they are fast because they are Elves) Rider Knight Errant (yet, they are armored...) Unicorn

24 (= Medium Cavalry): Mercenary (downgraded because of their armour and sprite) Paladin Warlord Dragon Knight (although heavy cavalry, they are fast because they are Elves)

22 (= Heavy Cavalry): Dark Rider (not really heavy? Elves but not very tuned to horses?, and to keep them quite slow as compared to some medium level heroes) Cavalier Skeleton Cavalry (could be even slower?) Scartauri (could be slower?) Wolf Rider (upgraded Triceratops)

21 or 18: Elven Hunter (downgraded as per v1.03.26)

20: (upgraded Tyrannosaurus)

16: Elephant (Triceratops) (War Dog) (Scorpion) (should it be upgraded, or let as it is, being fast enough to escort priests?) (Assassin)

15: Scartauri Priest (faster than any infantry, save Assassin & Faeries)

12: (Tyrannosaurus)(as fast as the fastest infantry human)

Or, we could differentiate between light non armored and light armored, have the Knights slower, Scartauri slower too.

Hence proposal #2:

30: Lizard Rider upgraded Nightmare

27: Nightmare

26 (= Light Cavalry): Rider Unicorn upgraded Wolf Rider

24 (= Medium Cavalry): Wood Rider Mercenary Knight Errant Warlord

22 (= Heavy Cavalry): Paladin Dragon Knight Dark Rider (upgraded Triceratops)

21: Elven Hunter

20 (= Super-heavy Cavalry): Cavalier Skeleton Cavalry Scartauri Wolf Rider

17: (upgraded Tyrannosaurus)

16: Elephant (Triceratops) (War Dog) (Scorpion) (Assassin)

15: Scartauri Priest

11: (Tyrannosaurus)

There are three aspects to check: lore (how fast a skeleton armoured horse? Are Wolf Riders as fast as the fastest horses?), balance at level 1 (above), and balance at level 3 or 4 (are the groups changed?).

To help, let's recall the fastest non-cavalry units (if we want to know who can chase who):

25: Eye of Oros

18: The Foresmater, Iriki

17: Dryad, Sylph

16: Kargoth, War Dog, Assassin, Vampire, Pixie, Scorpion, Elephant, upgraded Shadow

15: Queen Spider, upgraded Wraith

14: Bane, Spriggan, Goblin, Leprechaun, Quasit

 