Study on t3 viability

I wanted to publicly display some of the number crunching I've been doing regarding the T3 gear and how effective it is. I'll be posting a few examples in this thread of optimal build outs, the cost, and what it gets you in the end. 

Some remarks. You don't have full heroism bonus with 19 units. I think that t3 items change the unit stats, so that divisional bonuses apply to these new stats. But I never checked this.

Question: Does the equipment of the commander affect the individual bonus (like heroism or def bonus)? You suggest that it does, which would make me happy.

More remarks: the defender in the example is using t1 units (charioteers=human t1 cav ?) and the attack is using t2.

Edited by Aha - 27 Feb 2013 at 21:20

This game offers an advantage to attack. A T2 cavalry unit attacks with 65; the same unit defends at 28. Obviously this implies that a 2:1 kill ratio, and probably worse once you factor in Heroism and Charge.

Terrain, walls and runes counteract this advantage. Dwarven runeriders, for example, would defend very well in a large mountain city where their battle mules will negate the same terrain penalty that handicaps their attackers. Spearmen would have a significant advantage in forest tiles. Archers can inflict serious casualties on large hills. The +115% defensive advantage of a level 20 city wall brings most defenders on par with attackers.

However, let's use your assumptions for a moment. I would like to propose several improved anti-cavalry options:

General Cavalry: 60 T2 cavalry with pikes, reinforced plate, nimble warhorse
Human Cavalry: 60 T2 cavalry with pikes, reinforced plate, battlebreds
Dwarf Cavalry: 60 T2 cavalry with pikes, reinforced plate, dwarven battle mules
Spears: 200 T2 spears with pikes, reinforced plate


1. You're better off applying a +112% bonus to the T2 cavalry's defense of 28, than getting a +128% on T1 cavalry defense of 21. The multipliers are 2.12x and 2.28x respectively, so the end defense number is slightly higher.

2. Your configuration uses a lot of Hides. Of my proposed options, only the nimble warhorse would require 60 Hides. Everything else can be manufactured with herbs and minerals, drastically bringing down the cost. Wolf fur and Iceheart are commonly available components. You want the defense boost to be as cost effective as possible.

3. How many T2 cavalry are required to kill the defenders before and after they are equipped? The goal of defense is to maximize casualties, so how much worse does equipment make your attacker's kill ratio? T2 spears are probably the best defenders for that purpose, since their cavalry defense is nearly the same as T2 cavalry, but their upkeep is half and you can equip 200 vs. 60 in an elite squadron.

4. At the small scale, the defensive commander's Avoid Charge skill will provide the most bang for buck. It's equivalent to another 60 troops or the squadron size, whichever is less. At large scales, the defense is maximized from the Square Formation maneuver getting applied to all their troops at +10% (T2) or +15% (T1).

5. I've never really been convinced that defensive elite squadrons make sense. A Ward of Destruction will kill 250 incoming troops, which is a lot more than your 60 elite riders are going to kill. I think if you want to augment your defense, you go big or go home. Equip as many soldiers as possible with the cheapest equipment that provides a significant boost.

This is just my two cents, of course. I generally prefer to focus on terrain optimized gear because it augments your defenses against everything. When that's too expensive due to a difficult component, then I consider biome optimized gear. Anti-cavalry equipment is probably the only specialized defense category I'd consider, simply because so many people prefer T2 cavalry for attack.

Thanks!

The advantage isn't entirely irrelevant. Without gear, a battle between two elite squadrons of 60 knights would have a 2:1 kill ratio. Equipping the defenders would bring that down to 1:1 or less. However, the math of elite squadrons is heavily skewed by the commanders, who are equivalent to 60 troops each.

The bottom line for me is large forces of T2 cavalry vs. T2 spears with pikes and reinforced plate. The kill ratio goes from 2.32:1 to 1.75:1. That's a 25% improvement in enemy casualties.

I'd be curious to know if anyone has verified the math for whether the commander formation bonus, equipment bonuses and the wall get added or multiplied.

The biggest problem with attacking with T3 equipment is that the defending city gets to keep your stuff as a compensation for the troop losses ...