Techs:
Crude Y, Y, Refined Y, Crystal Y, Elementium Y
where Y means either Armor or Weapons.
Ditch the concept of separate techs for separate weapon types -- weapons should all just come from the same line of techs. Crude, Standard and Refined would all go into the Civilization tree, while Crystal and Elementium would go into the Magic tree. Crystal Y would require Refined Y, in addition to some appropriate arcane stuff, like Crystal/Elementium harvesting. Rest of Warfare, which is primarily weapons at any rate, should go into Civilization or Lore/Diplo where appropriate.
Armor Differentiation Explanation:
Base combat speed reduced to 2
X can be read as whatever the tier appropriate base value should be. Fraction indicates difference between tier appropriate level and armor type.
Change ensures that there are three basic styles of combat. Players can pick between a speedy dodge focused style that focuses on not being hit, a slower style that focuses on absorbing damage, and a style that combines the two, but less well than either specialist type. Ensures that all armor styles are viable throughout game. Ensures that armies are no longer composed of a single gear style. Simpler than having resist vs damage type. Medium armor has highest combined stats to ensure that there is a point to using the middle of the road option. Will still be less effective than specialist types in their specific roles.
Light Armor:
starts at tech Crude Armor
padded, leather, studded, crystal infused, elementium infused
+2 combat speed, +X dodge, +1/2Xdef
Medium Armor:
starts at tech Armor
studded leather, mail, crystal infused mail, elementium infused mail
+1 combat speed, +3/4X dodge, +3/4X def
Heavy Armor:
starts at tech Refined Armor
plate, crystal infused plate, elementium infused plate
+0 combat speed, +1/2X dodge, +X def
Weapon Differentiation Explanation:
Basic types: Polearm, Blunt, Sword, Small Sword, Axe, Bow
Tech level name modifier: Crude, (none), Masterwork, Crystal Infused, Elementium Infused
X should be read as tier appropriate values.
2H should provide an additional (2 * tier/armor type appropriate shield def OR shield dodge) in attack as baseline, plus type appropriate modifications.
Idea is to create a number of equally viable weapon types that create radically different playstyles. A faction that focuses on spears and light armor will play very differently from one that uses heavy armor and hammers, and the two should be equally likely to win against one another.
Small Sword (includes dagger types and short sword):
starts at tech Crude Weapons
+2 combat speed, +X accuracy, +1/2X dmg, -1/4X def
Low damage, high speed, extremely accurate.Great on a light armor unit intended to hunt down dodge focused enemies and especially archers, who it could easily outrun, could be used to whittle down heavy armor units or exhaust their counter attacks. Intended to be used with a light shield.
Polearm:
starts at tech Crude Weapons
+2 combat speed, +3/4X dmg
Designed to be used with horses or lightly armored units. Large number of attacks, intended to counter focus fire -- hit it frequently, it hits you frequently.
Bow:
starts at tech Weapons
-1 combat speed, +X dmg, -1/4th def
Ranged fire is brutal especially in the early phases of combat. This reduces its fire per turn, and makes it best suited to lightly armored units. Lower combat speed makes it difficult for these units to kite appropriately equipped medium or light armor units.
Sword:
starts at tech Weapons
+1 combat speed, +3/4X accuracy, +3/4X dmg
Slightly less damage than the Axe, without the dodge penalties of the hammer, faster than both. Intended to be the go-to choice against dodge focused enemies for med and heavy units.
Axe:
starts at tech Refined Weapons
+0 combat speed, +5/4X dmg
Slow weapon intended for use by offensive med armor units. Best on light/med armor units, heavies should use hammer
Blunt:
starts at tech Refined Weapons
+0 combat speed, +3/2X dmg, -1/2X dodge
Slow weapon intended for use by and against heavily armored bruisers.
Shields:
X should be read as tier appropriate values
Reinforce the various advantages/disadvantages of various armor classes.
Light Shield:
starts at tech Crude Armor (or Weapons?)
+X dodge, +0 def
Plays to the strengths of light units, allows them to make greater use of their attacks with less chance of interruption.
Medium Shield:
starts at tech Armor (or Weapons?)
+1/2X dodge, +1/2X def
Intended to be used with medium armor, takes advantage of existing power level, does not need the same 3/4 3/4 treatment
Heavy Shield:
starts at tech Refined Armor (or Weapons?)
+0 dodge, +X def
Again, should be used with appropriate armor class
Horse:
Horses provide a significant boost to combat speed in the context of these changes, effectively doubling the base move sans armor. In order to prevent horse mounted light units from dominating the field without impacting effectiveness of knight style heavy units, dodge penalty added. Hammer armed horse mounted heavy would move at speed 4. Spear armed horse mounted light would move at speed 8. One is a combat bruiser, the other a highly mobile flanker with practically no dodge/def.
+2 combat speed, -1/2X dodge, tier ONLY affects campaign movement speed
Rock/Paper/Scissors:
Bow counters heavy melee/heavy cav
Light cav counters bows
Light melee counters light cav
Medium melee counters light melee
Heavy melee counters medium melee
Heavy cav counters heavy melee
No group would be a perfect counter to any group right out of the tin. It'd take playing to their strengths and positioning to win against any force composition. Obsolescence by quality, not by kind. Absolute values of gear should be compressed such that gear two tiers below is still competitive. Would MASSIVELY expand variety in combat. AI would no longer be punished for poor build capabilities. I'd also like to suggest that troop armor (NOT HERO ARMOR) be collapsed to a single slot, with a single item equipped to set their armor and the ability to alter the look by adding cosmetic changes.
