Armies of Tamriel : The Elder Scrolls Series Discussion

» Wed May 02, 2012 7:52 am

The Ayleids would have Auroran units. Not as mercenaries, but as standard parts of their armies.

» Wed May 02, 2012 9:52 pm

Well wait... Can't have Ayleids and Imperials. So just Imperials I guess. Unless the story takes place over a larger period of history.

For Imperials, it would be a lot like Rome Total War.

Battlemages would be heavy melee infantry, like Zealots to the normal melee unit Zerglings, with the extra magical attacks.

Neutral Buildings -

Dwemer Ruins - Automatically creates hostile automaton guards

Ayleid Well - [insert bonus]

Daedric Temple/Ruin - Recruit Daedric "Mercenaries"

Ancient Nordic Barrow - Automatically creates hosile Draugr guards

Goblin Lair - Automatically produces hostile Goblins

Oblivion Gate - Produces hostile Daedra (possibly part of a storyline... winkwink)

» Wed May 02, 2012 3:37 pm

YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL CRYSTAL-TOWERS

You win points!

» Wed May 02, 2012 9:09 pm

Well, when compared to a bow and arrow, I mean. Javelins, pilum, and some spears were designed to be thrown, so it's not like they'd be impractical as a ranged weapon. They were ranged weapons. You'd probably just be a lot more limited in terms of ammo capacity, unless you had some kind of supply train.
Or carried a little wagon behind you. I could see a group of Orcish javelin hurlers having bringing along an ammo cart.

That's probably because you either have a Hollywood version of archers in mind where every arrow kills a guy. In real life archers hardly ever got a lot of kills, their role was to disrupt and harass.
Or it's because you're just equating the role of archers and javelin-throwers because they're both ranged. Throwing javelins mostly served to destroy/disrupt an enemy formation before the charge. A very different dynamic from the rather slow, withering fire of archers.
For example during Antiquity, skirmishers using javelins/pila/fransisca were probably a lot more common than archers who, save for the notable exceptions, were about the lowest class of soldiers around.

The Orcs being so melee-oriented would actually fair well by using javelins.

» Wed May 02, 2012 10:36 pm

From a more game-play perspective: Altmer would play like the Protoss, and the Argonians would play a lot like the scourge from warcraft 3. Imperials would rely on large armies and fortified bases. Dunmer in the 4th Era would most likely rely on elite lone agents and only have very primitive standing armies. Nords would have very generalist units, with their "workers" having some fighting capability. Khajiit would be the opposite, and have heavy specialization. Bosmer would be the stealthy ones, and have a special cannibalism mechanic.

The Altmer footsoldier unit should be a goblin, which will only fight if there's an Altmer Goblinkeeper present and alive. They also have some crazy elite units - sunbirds and Psijiics and whatnot.

The most powerful Khajiit mages look just like kittens to the eyes of the unfamiliar.

Could you convert this into Warhammer, pwetty pwease?

» Wed May 02, 2012 11:39 am

That's probably because you either have a Hollywood version of archers in mind where every arrow kills a guy. In real life archers hardly ever got a lot of kills, their role was to disrupt and harass.
Or it's because you're just equating the role of archers and javelin-throwers because they're both ranged. Throwing javelins mostly served to destroy/disrupt an enemy formation before the charge. A very different dynamic from the rather slow, withering fire of archers.
For example during Antiquity, skirmishers using javelins/pila/fransisca were probably a lot more common than archers who, save for the notable exceptions, were about the lowest class of soldiers around.

The Orcs being so melee-oriented would actually fair well by using javelins.

It's definitely not the Hollywood one. I'm the kind of jerk that likes to try to pick out the inaccuracies in movies and such, especially when it comes to weaponry.

But yeah, I'm thinking too much in terms of game mechanics and gameplay balance than actual use. Like, if one side has archers, the other needs something comparable for balance. Like you said, javelins and bows aren't really comparable. As far as balance for a game goes, you'd probably have enough wiggle-room to make an Orc Javelin-thrower fairly comparable to, say, a Breton longbowman. As far as reality goes, I definitely agree that Orcs would be more suited for using javelins tactics with maybe a small contingent of archers.

I don't really know the effective range of javelin-type weapons, but I'm going to guess that a bow would be more suited for sieges where you'd need to get a barrage up over fortifications to harass the defenders. Whereas a javelin would be for more direct combat, or to defend those little Orcish strongholds from a body of troops. Again, I don't really know how far a javelin will go—especially if you put Orc muscle behind it—so I could be wrong.