Encumbrance

from Elemental Forums

Why are my soldiers so wimpy?

Mace/Shield and full leather is 100 encumbrance? I’m all for having the choice of fast vs heavily armoured but when your basic troops can’t even manage to wear full leather without collapsing under the weight of it all there is something not quite right.

It makes Strength a de-facto trait with anything heavier than leather, not because you want a faster unit but simply because otherwise they can’t wear that armour.

Is this intended?

3,784 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

You have to use Muscle and Strength Traits to wear armor. It is actually a great trade off in the game. Mounts are so much more valuable and the Trogs special ability makes them more capable of full plate than any other faction. 

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting seanw3, reply 1
You have to use Muscle and Strength Traits to wear armor. It is actually a great trade off in the game. Mounts are so much more valuable and the Trogs special ability makes them more capable of full plate than any other faction. 
End of seanw3's quote

Agreed, this game is finally leaning more towards a game with trade-offs that matter. This is a good thing.

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

I just feel that the current default encumbrance limit is a bit low for what the units are using. As you say it makes the strength and muscle traits a necessity... not even a choice any more but something that you just have to take.

I wouldn’t mind being able to take a very slow heavily armoured unit, even if it wasn’t necessarily a good idea but being pigeon holed into having to take those particular traits doesn’t quite seem right... I could probably accept it if havng to take those traits happened when units got to using full plate but I “have” to take one or other of the traits when using leather armour and a particularly heavy weapon.

It just feels like a bit of an odd concept.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

I see traits as additional training. It should take extra training to function efficiently in armor. Even at 81% armor, you only get -4 Init. So you can trade 4 Init for Bloodthirsty or Charge. The question is how you want to focus the unit. The best thing is that as the game progresses, there are more and more factors that affect whether or not you should take Muscle and Strength or perhaps just Muscle if you can get away with it. Full Plate should require a horse, Muscle, Strength, and some light magic to have no Initiative penalty if we are looking for a good balance.

 

Of course this is where I would point out that each piece of Plate give a penalty of -1 and does not weigh much more than chain. This is where I start changing things and the conversation gets convoluted.