May 2020 - Divide et Impera

Divide et Impera 1.2.5c Public Beta

*Many submods will not be compatible until they are updated!*

General Information

After many months of hard work, we are happy to present the latest update for DeI in a public beta format. This update includes a ton of battle changes from KAM’s latest experimental pack, new Media reforms and units from KAM, a new capital change button thanks to DETrooper, new faction traits for most Barbarian factions from DMW, and a lot of other fixes and changes. The reason we have decided on a beta is due to the new scripting and other major changes that would be best helped by a more public test setting. See below for all the details and download the pack from the above link.

Installation Instructions
1. Download the pack from one of the links above. Place that pack in your Rome 2 data folder.
2. When you load the game, click Mod Manager. Make sure the fix pack is listed above the main mod files and that the fix pack loads first. For now this is not available on Steam.

Save Compatibility
Saves should be compatible with this update, but I would back them up just to be on the safe side. Also, new units that are reform locked will not be locked in save games.

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New All Factions Playable Submod
Can be downloaded here for testing and is installed in the same way as the fix pack. It can be loaded before or after the fix pack but must be loaded before the main mod. Only a 4TPY version for now.

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Patch Notes

Battle Changes

Balance and other changes:
– Ranged attack and reloading now properly apply fatigue to units.
– Fatigue penalty increased but it takes longer to reach the various tiers.
– Slightly increased unit spotting range.
– Reworked unit experience threshholds.
– Reworked morale values to make them more balanced throughout a campaign.
– Reduce killing power of infantry charge, units with expert charge defense can effectively counter charges.
– Melee intervals (cooldown between attack animations) lowered from 3 to 1.5 seconds.
– Spear units are now tougher to kill in melee, Sword units have a bonus vs infantry.
– Unit hitpoints and weapon damage reworked, hopefully cavalry and elephants will take less casualties from autoresolve
– Various specific units like agrianian infantry, Socii units and war dogs reworked.

Ranged Combat Changes:
– Artillery ammo reduced, slightly increased damage to siege equipment from fire.
– Iberians now have access to their historical flaming javelins.
– Fixed trajectory of horse archer attacks sometimes preventing AI from fully using them.
– Added small knockback chance to all ranged weapons when soldiers are wounded by projectiles.
– Cavalry harder to decimate by precursor javelins of infantry but those javelins can now disrupt charges with knockback.

Battle AI Behavior:
– AI should now use disciplined formation in defensive battles.
– Both Shock and Melee cavalry are classified as shock cavalry now to improve AI use of those units.
– Infantry without ranged weapons will now properly brace vs cavalry and will use non phalanx formations properly.

Unit Movement and Combat Animations:
– All Thureophoroi and 2handed non heavy units now have 3 speed.
– Pikes and Hoplites have a harder time passing through enemy units.
– More rare kill animations should play out.
– Slight increase to medium and heavy infantry speed.
– Increased unit acceleration and deceleration speed to improve unit spacing after charge.
– Improved unit spacing for many units and fixed issues of unit overlap.
– Increased variety between soldier heights for various units.

UI Changes
– Fatigue penalties are now added to the unit status (i.e. Fresh 100% strength, Tired 70% strength)
– Morale % is now displayed on the unit UI status when you hover over your unit (i.e. Eager Morale 85-100%)
– Added ranged stats to elephant UI display

New Special Horses & Cavalry Changes
– Various units now have special horse types that give them specific bonuses.
– New Thessalian horse entry that combines both speed and charge power.
– Numidian horse that lacks charge but has great speed/acceleration, guerilla deployment and ignores ground penalties.
– Celtic Mairepos warhose that has speed and a greater charge power due to size, new Parthian Nisean horses as well.
– Camels now have custom weapon entries with a combat advantage over horses and a larger morale hit against cavalry.
– Reduced and added more variety to cavalry running speeds.
– Elephants have been reworked – they are more resilient against ranged and a bit easier to kill in prolonged melee. Fixed an issue where some tower elephants had double the hitpoints intended.
– Reduced strength of frontal cavalry charge on fresh units but increased ratio of AI cycle charging. AI will cycle charge less if they are doing well in melee.
– Cavalry takes larger casualties when pulling out of combat.
– Iberian horses once again have their unique look and changed look of Iberian armored horse.

Campaign Changes

New Median Overhaul and Reforms (Preview)
– New reform units added for Atropatkan. Around 9 new units, added at 2 reform levels.
– 2 new custom reforms: Iranian and Imperial based on turns and specific regions held.
– New faction emblem.

New Barbarian Faction Traits from DMW
– Updated traits for Gallic, Germanic, British and Iberian factions to make them much more unique.
– Highlights include the Arverni’s new ability to form client states, new population system interaction for various factions, and more.

New Capital Change Button
– The button has been moved to a new location in the top right of the settlement panel. Thanks to DETrooper for the UI wizardry!
– The button will no longer have the overlay problem for some players after battles and will no longer open the encyclopedia when clicked.
– Some text issues fixed.

All Factions Playable Submod
– Victory conditions have been added for all factions.
– New frontend map images for all factions from Lugos. Huge thanks!
– Fixed issue where autosaving wasn’t working properly.

Changes/Fixes
– Commander trait will no longer decrease from “close victories”.
– Intellectual trait has a slightly higher chance to increase and slightly lower chance to decrease.
– Fixed some more ancillaries that were causing disappearance problems. Thanks to Mr. Timbe for the help!
– Fixed various units not being properly designated as bodyguard units and missing out on commander effects.
– Changed supply system region names to match our city names rather than the now defunct region name system.
– Fixed Seleucid Companion cavalry unit not properly locking when late version is made available through reforms (new campaign only).
– Replaced Companion Cavalry unit card with older version.
– Fixed typo in intellectual trait description.
– Fixed missing ancillary image.

Credits
– KAM for all the crazy hard work on so much of this update – from the battle changes to the Media overhaul!
– Mr Timbe for the hard work helping to fix the ancillary issue. Big thanks!
– Lugos for all the great work on the AFP submod art
– DMW for the hard work on the faction trait ideas
– Big thanks to DETrooper for the UI work on the change capital button!
– Thanks to Jake for the new Media emblem and help with the unit cards.

Welcome everyone to our reform preview for a popular faction, Media Atropetene!

(Message from KAM about the new Reforms!)
Media was one of a few factions in the mod that had a unique roster but did not have any reforms, still resembling an Achaemenid-like army composition. Unfortunately, little is known of the kingdom itself. At first allied with the Diadochi, it quickly broke off, being either independent or a vassal state of neighbouring powers. At one point, Kings of Media were also granted the royal title and lands of Armenia.

Researching Media was a bit difficult on its own so I focused more on overall changes going through local cultures. This brings us to new unique features for this kingdom, their custom reforms. Late Achaemenid cavalry shifted more into the role of heavy mounted skirmishers. This soon started to drop after the conquest of Alexander the Great and the influence of Nomadic tribes. Horse armour became more and more heavy while bow and lance were now weapons of choice. Greek influence seemed to be small but we have evidence that even Parthians adopted thureos shields for their infantry. If that change was their native unit or some auxiliary force is not clear.

For a late reform I went with a sort of proto-Sassanid theme. Due to the speculative nature of this, we decided to postpone it to the very late game. A historical Sassanid revolt against the Parthians started in Parsa, with Media eventually being integrated into the new state. Both rulers of Parsa and Media claimed to be descendants of the Achaemenid dynasty. As a player, your goal is to bring back the glory of the old Persian empire and unite long lost lands. In order to trigger the final reform, you need to conquer Nisa, Persepolis and Seleukia (future Ctesiphon) and have a minimum of 200 turns passed. Once reached, the army goes through large changes, both for foot and cavalry units. One of the interesting things I was able to find was that eastern cataphracts were also using cuirasses on top of their armour, rather than typical depiction of them, wearing just mail or scale.

Iranian reform:
First of two reforms. Inspired by Nomadic and Greek armies, it brings back bows as a weapon of choice for light and medium cavalry. Nobles adopt early cataphract armour and deadly kontus lances, ready to break any opponent previously weakened by ranged fire. In terms of infantry, Thureophoroi are present in the form of a unit made mostly of lightly armoured Medians with Greek mercenaries being the best equipped soldiers in regiment.

1. Grivpanvar – Early Cataphracts

2. Aswaran-i Madaen – reformed Median cavalry

3. Atropatene Thureophoroi – Median Thureos swords

4. Shivatîr – Horse Archers

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Imperial reform:
The last reform and with the largest amount of changes. While only available in the very late game, the unit quality justifies it. Fearsome Daylamites will be a tough opponent to any enemy of Media while super heavy Grivpanvar will rider over any opposition.