No, i mean, that’ll be the default, so they’ll attack them as prioratized earlier automatically, and you can order otherwise afterwards
Ah, ok. In that case i agree.
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ok. I was curious so I tested a few 1v1 skirmishes. Footman vs Kobold Scout; the Scout is one level after the default Kobold and has 300 more HP. The scout hits a little harder as well.
Setup is the Kobold is out of LoS from the Footman and a good bit away. Footman needs to run up to the Kobold and the Kobold gets 2 or 3 hits on the Footman before the Footman is in melee range. Clear field with no tree’s to hinder LoS. Alpha 16, r552.
Level 3 Footman.
Stats:
- 236 health
- 5 mind - 56 dilligence, 52 curiosity, 59 inventiveness
- 6 body - 63 muscle, 120 speed, 116 stamina
- 2 spirit - 121 courage, 25 willpower, 24 compassion
Not super but average. Geared for level 3 with a Bronze Helm, Iron Mail and Iron Pike.
First fight. Green hat Kobold Scout.
Footman won. 93 health remaining.
Kobold would run near the end but the Footman was able to land a head during each run away attempt.
Second fight. Green hat Kobold Scout.
Footman won. 88 health remaining.
Kobold ran again. No match for Footman.
Best guess, a running Kobold is bad for the Kobold since they hit less. The fights were fairly even heart wise to start, but once the Kobold ran they were done for. Since the Footman had plenty of health left, no need to try more attempts.
Third fight. Red hat Kobold Master. The guy two levels after a Scout since I wasn’t getting Elites to pop.
Footman had no chance. Got slaughtered. Kobold had 7/8 of life left.
Time for a level increase!
Level 6.
266 health.
Iron helm. Iron Mail. Two Handed Sword.
Fourth fight. Purple hat Kobold General. Because why not right?
Footman had no chance. General had 3/4 of life left.
Fifth fight. Green hat Kobold Scout.
Footman won easily. 182 life left.
The Kobold’s that are higher than the Scout should crush a single Footman so I’m ok with those results as their HP pool and damage output is higher.
I’d say Footmen can solo Kobold Archers provided they’re the two lower level versions.
That’s pretty interesting.
Did you do it on hardmode?
I’d consider normal as a really easy battle for the player regardless of the class
Interesting, but 1v1 fights are less relevant than they might seem; what matters is 6v6, and in those situations footmen die against archers unless they are micromanaged, because they run in first and get primaried.
Your feedback in the first post is about hard mode? Yes, my post is in normal mode as I was curious if it was balanced there first. I’ll make an edit to my post.
Since hard mode has multiplicative armor and health with additional damage to the mobs, 1v1 is not possible for any class and rightly so I think.
1v1 can be relevant to an extent because if my footman did die against the archer, then we’d know there’s a problem. I don’t have too much of an issue with 6v6 or even, I’ve gotten into the habit of having my party move just slightly out of range of the group to form up then attack.
Thanks for the extremely interesting discussion!
We’ve debated quite a bit here at Stonehearth Central over combat balance, the relationship of hard mode to normal mode (and just how hard and normal they ought to be).
One thing to remember about combat: while it’s true that Archers will likely take out Footmen in a one-on-one situation, the trick to effective attacks (and defense) is a well-rounded party. Because Knights are designed to draw attacks (and soak up damage), a Knight in your party will get the attention of the Archer while the Footmen gets close enough to tear him up in melee. A Cleric will keep the Knight on his feet while he taking on arrows. Your Archer can help keep other enemy fighters at bay. So be careful about sending a combat party of one (or of one type of fighter) into the fray… party balance is your friend.
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The only problem with this is that you currently have to micromanage to prevent the footmen from getting themselves killed because they are much faster then any of the other units and they will get to the fight first. Considering the need to micromanage is something your team has specifically been trying to avoid, I should think this would be a priority issue to resolve in the combat system.
wow, is the old thread still valid?
anyway, I replied because I am hooked by the word “micromanage”. I am a person who wants to avoid micromanagement as much as possible as well. However, in a hard game, it seems many times … well… harder.
One simple thing I’ve tried though, is the ridiculously simple concept of:
“if it doesn’t work, use more of it…”.
if 4 archers don’t work? use 20. if 4 clerics don’t work, use 20. if …
well, you get the idea. I figured that a knight backed by 20 clerics would need less “micromanagement”… lol.
One of my recent “policy” is a “reservist program” to train civilians (esp workers with no assigned labor) up to at least footman lvl 3, so that they can be drafted into any combat class in an emergency (usually archers). Having an additional 10-20 archers, even if they are apprentice level, can really turn the tide of even the hardest battle. I extend the training pool to any other profession that has maxed their craft level.
Herbalist/Clerics have a similar program. For all those with higher mind attributes, I will set them to train as herbalist until they reach lvl 2, then either put them back into worker or other jobs. When required, they will all be drafted as clerics.
Tthe main problem of the program, though, is remembering the states associated with each hearthlings. I resorted to abusing their name by adding prefix characters that means all sorts of things that reminded me of my plans for each one… (e.g. “h0” means healer training as herbalist, “h1” means herbalist lvl at least 2 usable as cleric, “h2” is a cleric of maxed level
etc)
My next planned goal is to be able to draft the ENTIRE settlement into combat squads in an emergency. Goodbye stupid suicidal hearthling civilian management. Now, they will all die by my command instead of their own stupidity… MWAHAHAHAHAHahahaha cough cough … ahem… lost myself a little back there. 
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