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unmerged(419874)

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Dec 5, 2011
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  • King Arthur II
  • Magicka
  • Warlock 2: The Exiled
  • Pillars of Eternity
I have played the prologue and I have a few suggestions that could improve the battle system.

Ability to highlight friendly and enemy troops. This was in KA I but I cant find it this game. I total war this isn't necessary because uniform color is based on the faction, but when both armies have similar units it is hard to determine which side has the numerical advantage.

Waypoints! It takes a lot of time to micromanage units like cavalry to move around enemy formations, and waypoints would make this so much easier.

An audible notification that a point has been taken or lost. I'm sure this was in KA I, but I don't think I've heard it in KA II.

Heroes should continue previous movement after casting spells. Many time I have my knight move with the army, I then cast a spell to disrupt the enemy, and after the spell
is cast and my army has moved on I find my knight standing far behind the rest of my army. It's not a big problem but it is quite annoying when I forget.

I like how there is an option to highlight forests. I would like an option to highlight impassable terrain and obstacles. The maps are designed differently than KA I, and many have ridges which limit troop movement, and sometimes I don't know when the ridge becomes impassable until I have reached it.

Thank you reading my suggestions. Overall great game and I hope to play as King Arthur later this month.
 
When I read your post I had to triple-check that I wasn't reading one of own threads I'd already posted, your suggestions are excellent, things I'm eagerly anticipating them to implement in the 17 day delay they've claimed.

+1!
 
Did they implement unit morale in KA2? That was sorely lacking from the first game. It's hard to go from Total War to a battle system without morale.

As far as I can tell moral is implemented under the "will to fight" stat. A low will to fight will not cause a unit to surrender but it will negatively affect other combat statistics. As far as I can tell all units fight to the death, unlike in total war where the army retreats and the victor runs over the retreating enemies with cavalry.
 
We changed the morale system in King Arthur II, each unit has a new attribute called “Will to fight”. Several things (vicinity of the hero, kill/loss rate, hero skill, artifacts) affect it during the battle and the Will to fight stat affects the Damage of the unit.

In King Arthur II your units don’t surrender in the battle, the conception and the tactics are different than in historical games. It’s a true knight’s tale, a heroic story, where your knights and soldiers fight till death.
 
I know these suggestions will not be implemented but still going to throw them out there. I would like to see the ability to dismount my cavalry so that if I run into an army of spear men and my cavalry are of no use I can still use them. Also what would be neat is if my flying units could CHOOSE between flying or ground movement. That would enable me to hide them like normal units and then have them take off and overall I would say make them more useful.

Am I correct in stating that KAII does away with morale and stamina? It seems they both have been replaced by will to fight, is this correct?
 
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One of the things I hoped would be improved upon from KA1 in KA2 is that units slow down or stop, pivot before marching to the new location you clicked. Sometimes if you select a unit and repeatedly click on the same location your unit will slow down for a bit (even if you force running so that single/double-click doesn't change the unit's marching speed). In some cases it makes sense for your unit to stop, for instance if you click directly behind them to make them fall back.
However I would like a bit more control in regard to this. I believe it can be achieved with the current right mouse button functions. For example, say that I want my cavalry to turn around but I don't want them to lose their momentum. A simple click will make the unit will maneuver around attempting to keep up its current momentum. If I want the cavalry unit to turn around immediately, I'd hold down the right mouse button and use the tactical arrow formation thingy that lets you choose which way you want your unit to face. Suddenly cavalry hit and run tactics are much more feasible and doesn't require you to pause the game and micromanage the unit every step on the way.

On the topic of waypoints, it would be absolutely fantastic if you could draw the route instead of shift-clicking a dozen times, which will no doubt cause the momentum problem I mentioned above. In KA2 you have to maneuver the unit to a location where they can simply turn 180 degrees before charging the enemy.
 
It’s a true knight’s tale, a heroic story, where your knights and soldiers fight till death.
It's the enemy I'm more concerned about -- nothing is as annoying as hunting down units that should have retreated, surrendered, or routed -- and nothing is as satisfying as routing the enemy's army just as your own is about to give way, grabbing victory from the jaws of defeat! (Although I do have to disagree with your statement about 'a knight's tale' -- surrender and the taking of hostages was a pretty big deal in the age of chivalry.)

In any event, I keep hoping KA will catch up to Total War on the battle side of the game, but it looks like you're still not there. A shame -- if you could impress us Total War players with King Arthur's battles I think you'd sell an awful lot more copies.
 
I agree, Neocore is still not there. The battles are inferior to TW battles for many reasons:

- There are no real battle lines. Since units don't hold their formation you get several blobs of two or more units all over the battlefield, which looks ugly and not like a real battle at all.
- Side or rear attacks have no meaning. As far as I can tell you don't get any bonuses for them.
- The battles lack any visceral feeling, which is partly because there are no battle sounds when you zoom out (and zoom out you must because the battlefields are so big). You feel detached from the action while moving tactical pieces around like a chess player.
- The amount of sounds seem to be lower then in KA1. No unit voices when you choose a unit for example.
- Units all look the same when zoomed out. A bit more colour wouldn't hurt. In general battlefields look less attractive then in KA1.
- No fatigue (Why? It was in KA1!). I wonder why there is an option to make units walk or run. Having them move at a slow rate doesn't seem to give them any benefits.
- Still no real moral system. The moral effects that are now in the game should be connected to fatigue not moral.
- Framerates are abysmal. With Shogun 2 I get 40-60 fps with maxed out graphics. In KA1 I had around 30 fps. In KA2 it's between 10-20 at medium settings!

The new spell system is nice and the design error with the ranged victory locations was corrected, but the basic battle mechanics are not improved and some things were even dumbed down (no fatigue as a tactical factor; no unit voices). That doesn't mean that I don't get enjoyment out of the game, but it's not the progress from KA1 I expected, at least not when it comes to battles.