Mod: Brazen Benevolence (Bronze Armors)

[analytic_kernel]

Greetings,

This mod adjusts the encumbrance and protection values of some bronze armors to slightly improve the AP and defense, or protection, of those units which use them. This started out as part of mod I am making for EA Arco, but since it impacts more than just one nation, I split it off.

This is a very minor mod, but makes a fairly significant difference for some units. You can find my rationale and a list of changes in either of the attached README files (one with Unix newlines, one with Windows newlines). Synopsis below:

Alteration: Increase protection or decrease encumbrance of some bronze armors.
Effects: Increase mobility and defense, or protection, of some units. For example, Myrmidons get AP closer to other heavy infantry.
Rationale: Various copper alloys may be classified as bronze, and they have varying hardness and density characteristics.
* All of the alloys with a reasonable amount of tin are denser than unalloyed iron - but only by about 8% to 10%. While bronze should receive some additional encumbrance penalty, it should not be excessive as in the case of the Bronze Hauberk and Hoplite Helmet.
* At around 12% tin, bronze is harder than unalloyed iron. This should be reflected in better protection than equivalent iron armors.
References:
* http://www.russianbells.com/founding/bronzealloy.html
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze

Constructive feedback and thought-provoking analyses appreciated.

Thanks.

[Aezeal]

so you wanted to boost Arco.. ok.. but is it historically accurate.. are the bonusses you give the armor deserved?

[analytic_kernel]

I based the changes on some research I did regarding bronze and iron. The main thrust was to reduce encumbrance in some cases. I would say that the protection boosts are almost negligible, but probably deserved from a realism perspective.

Yes, improved game play was the impetus for the changes, but they were informed by realism.

Edit: More information about mod included in original post.

[Endoperez]

I like the name.

I like most changes, especially the Hoplite Helmet lowered encumberance.. Is Bronze Scale Armor now identical to Scale Mail Armor under your mod? Even a noticeable difference in resource cost would be enough to differentiate it slightly.

[analytic_kernel]

Thanks, Endo.

I waffled a little on what to do with the bronze scale armors. I felt that they deserved to have at least the same protection as their iron counterparts - in the spirit of the other changes. But, I felt guilty about leaving their rcosts lower, and so I upped them too.
To be honest, I don't have a good feel for how iron armor rcosts should relate to bronze armor rcosts. (From the Arco standpoint, I would love to see bronze rcosts consistently be less, but I'm trying to be balanced. ) Some of things that may or may not determine rcost would be casting versus forging (time and effort expended) and the fact that at least two different metals need to be supplied to make bronze. Any guidance on rcost tweaks would be appreciated.

[Aezeal]

Id make iron 1 prot and 1 rec higher personally.

[whiplashomega]

As long as we are talking realism, lets talk mineral availability. Copper is actually one of the more rare minerals out there that is in heavy use. At least it is these days(I've heard some claims that in what has commonly been deemed 'the bronze age' surface copper deposits were much more plentiful than they are today, but were used up in that age). As such I would actually make the resource cost of bronze armors higher than equivalent protecting iron armors, due to the increased prospecting costs. Why did copper and bronze get used earlier than iron then? because it has a lower melting point, so before people came up with ways to make fires hotter(such as a bellows and enclosed furnaces) it was pretty impossible to separate the iron from its ore. Once these things were invented however, iron was more plentiful, cheaper to produce, and could produce a variety of useful alloys, thus the end of the bronze age. Anyway, there's my realism reasoning behind a suggestion that you actually INCREASE the resource cost of bronze armors.

[Maraxus]

Okay, Bronze beats Iron, but arn't the normal armors supposed to be out of steel? (Sure, the diffrence is small, but important.)

[Endoperez]

Originally Posted by Maraxus

Okay, Bronze beats Iron, but arn't the normal armors supposed to be out of steel? (Sure, the diffrence is small, but important.)

Not in the Early age, at least. Steel was expensive. I know it was used for weapons, but producing enough high-quality steel to make armor would be quite expensive.

[llamabeast]

Surely iron must be basically better than bronze? Either in weight or in strength? Otherwise why did we go from the bronze age to the iron age?