Unit Card Explanation

[GeneralKostas]

Good morning,

I use the Legio Comitanensis unit in the current league as part of the Byzantine army, but i see too many capabilities. Bow (20%), Darts (80%), Light Spear (80%) and Swordsmen.

Could you explain the percentage of each of them?

legio comitatensis.png (63.5 KiB) Viewed 2019 times

[Paul59]

Good morning,

I use the Legio Comitanensis unit in the current league as part of the Byzantine army, but i see too many capabilities. Bow (20%), Darts (80%), Light Spear (80%) and Swordsmen.

Could you explain the percentage of each of them?

legio comitatensis.png

80% of the men are armed with light spear and darts.
20% of the men are armed with bow.
All men have the swordsman capability.

[Athos1660]

80% of the men are armed with light spear and darts.
20% of the men are armed with bow.
All men have the swordsman capability.

As I understand it :

• an unit can consist of several types of soldiers :
  - 80% of the Legio Comitatensis are spearmen
  - 20% of them are bowmen

• and a soldier can have several weapons :
  - the spearmen (80% of the Legio Comitatensis) carry a spear, darts and a sword
  - the bowmen (20% of them) carry a bow and a sword

So why can't such a unit as Legio Comitatensis shoot arrows and can only charge/fight in melee ?
(I mean 20% of them could shoot arrows at short/long range, couldn't they ?)

How does it actually work ? I can't see the 'bow capability' in the charge/melee stats either :



On the other hand, shouldn't the line 'Our Legio Comitatensis (2) : Light Spear +100' be :
'Our Legio Comitatensis (2) : Light Spear +80'
as there are 80% of spearmen ?

Is it a simplification to avoid unnecessary complications (80% spearmen + darts + bows = 100% Light Spear) ?

[Nosy_Rat]

Bow and darts are only used when defending against enemy charge - they provide up to +100 POA.
All impact capabilities over 50% provide unit with full bonus - logic behind this being that only limited number of soldiers fight in the initial charge anyway, so they as well may be the ones with the suitable weapons (actually, I can't think of any unit with impact weapon of 50% or less right now, so maybe percentage doesn't matter at all?).

So Legio Comitatensis actually has:
100 POA when charging
166-200 POA when being charged (depends on enemy unit's armour, iirc)
100 POA in melee

[Athos1660]

Interesting! Thank you

[Paul59]

Interesting! Thank you

Also, units with 20% or less bows cannot shoot. Instead the bows just count as Darts.

[Athos1660]

Also, units with a small percentage of bows cannot shoot. I am too busy to check at the moment, but I think it is any unit with less than 25% bows, please someone correct me if I am wrong on that point. Instead the bows just count as Darts.

Thx for the information.

Indeed, in the manual, section 12.10.6. 'Special Cases' (p. 69) :
"Late Roman units with only 20% bow cannot distance shoot. Instead the bows are treated the same as Darts in providing an impact POA against enemy charging the unit."

Moral (for me) : 'know your units, read your (English) manual'

[Paul59]

Also, units with a small percentage of bows cannot shoot. I am too busy to check at the moment, but I think it is any unit with less than 25% bows, please someone correct me if I am wrong on that point. Instead the bows just count as Darts.

Thx for the information.

Indeed, in the manual, section 12.10.6. 'Special Cases' (p. 69) :
"Late Roman units with only 20% bow cannot distance shoot. Instead the bows are treated the same as Darts in providing an impact POA against enemy charging the unit."

Moral (for me) : 'know your units, read your (English) manual'

I have just found the script that governs this rule, and it is any unit that has 20% or less bows cannot distance shoot. I have amended my original post.

[GeneralKostas]

Also, units with a small percentage of bows cannot shoot. I am too busy to check at the moment, but I think it is any unit with less than 25% bows, please someone correct me if I am wrong on that point. Instead the bows just count as Darts.

Thx for the information.

Indeed, in the manual, section 12.10.6. 'Special Cases' (p. 69) :
"Late Roman units with only 20% bow cannot distance shoot. Instead the bows are treated the same as Darts in providing an impact POA against enemy charging the unit."

Moral (for me) : 'know your units, read your (English) manual'

So the Legio Comitanensis is suitable for defence. Too many rules to remember...

Thank you all for the great analysis

[Athos1660]

(...) Too many rules to remember...

Indeed, lots of rules !
On the other hand, these very rules are precisely what makes this game tactical and interesting, aren't they ?

[miki]

I know this has been discussed before, and I haven't my books at hand now, but I have read that the plumbatas and arrows were used both attacking and defending. Would it be reasonable to have some POA when attacking also? Not the full +100 POA, but a fraction of it (+50?).

[GeneralKostas]

(...) Too many rules to remember...

Indeed, lots of rules !
On the other hand, these very rules are precisely what makes this game tactical and interesting, aren't they ?

Yes of course