Morale

[Hadrian_II]

I just lost a battle cause my troops decided to run away in the moment of Victory, and as this just felt very wrong i was thinking about the Morale System.

As i understand it, the morale of an Unit just goes down until it routs. As this can even happen in the moment of victory maybe you should get a bonus to the morale, if your troops are standing on the enemies half of the battle map (as if to get there, they had to defeat the enemis army).

My Army had a quite low morale, so it is not the problem that she decided to rout, but that she decided to do so when the enemy was defeated (just some [about 50] archers and unconcious mages left, while i had still about 150 troops left).

[Sombre]

Throughout history, forces which have been in a winning position have crumbled due to bad morale. I agree that the morale system has problems, but in this case I think all you need is a bit of sermon of courage to keep topping up the morale of your troops and to see them through to the win.

[Forrest]

I love the morale system.

There is nothing like a battle of hundreds of troops coming down to one commander. That one pissant inde commander charging the massed enemy as all your troops run for home. With one kill he routs their overwhelming force. When the turn is over he is the only man in the province. A true hero.

I try to keep a pissant in the very back just for that reason.

[llamabeast]

Yeah, I actually think the morale system is very good, seems like one of the strengths of the game to me. The whole combat system is pretty amazing in fact. I was having a little think earlier today about how Johan must have programmed it. My conclusion was Johan is a genius.

[Sir_Dr_D]

The combat system is good. It has a realistic feeling to it for the most part.

There is the occasional time how ever when the morale system leads to silly behaviour. Such as when infantry spends a few rounds charging archers, taking a few casualties in the process/. Then when they finnaly get to the archers and everything is a sure win,they decide to turn around and run, taking more casualties in the process.

[Sombre]

To my mind the biggest problem with the morale system is that it makes milita even more useless, since you auto rout once you reach a certain number of casualties. In the Skaven mod I made a workaround for this, because real Skaven soldiers aren't supposed to care if the slaves die.

It is suggested in the game text and in the manual that such cheap troops make good arrow fodder, when actually the reverse is true, since their casualties are just as likely to rout your army as losses to your elites, who are better protected.

[Saxon]

Morale is one of the least observed factors in the game and it is completely ignored in most computer games. It took me a while to get used to it, but once you look at your units in a broader way, you see it as another strength or weakness, just like armor or weapons. You then have to cast spells to buff what you think is important.

Also, you can directly attack morale. The fear causing items can turn battles that look like easy victories. Is it possible the mages had hit you with some of that before they passed out?

[Endoperez]

Besides that, there are also various monsters with fear aura. It can really wreck your troops' morale. Ever tried Prince of Death with dominion 9-10 (for Awe) and high death (for increased Fear)? Knights with 5 morale are a pitiful sight.

[Hadrian_II]

I dont say that the morale system is bad. But as i understand it, there is except from spells no way to get your morale up again, maybe if you kill enemys, you could get morale from that action so that you dont rout while you are winning.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

What about that banner/standard bearer ability? Can't that boost your morale?