Field of Glory II - Turn Based Tactical Ancient Era Combat

[jztemple2]

Announcement from Wargamer.com regarding the upcoming second DLC Legions Triumphant (Matrix Games link) and the associated free patch:

Matrix Games have revealed the next DLC for their excellent turn-based ancients wargame, Field of Glory II.

Legions Triumphant follows the development of the Roman Imperial Army, covering campaigns like the final conquests of Britain, Germany and Dacia, as well as the disintegration of the later Western Empire.

Like Immortal Fire before it, it will bring a modest range of news features and units, including:

• 10 new factions in the form of: Alans, Anglo-Saxons, Caledonians, Goths, Hephthalites, Huns, Palmyrans, Picts, Romano-British and Sassanid Persians.
• 17 new units and 22 new army lists.
• Four historically-based campaigns.
• Expanded Sandbox Campaign & Custom Battles

There will also be a free patch that will accompany the DLC, which will include the following improvements:

• Ability to fight on after a lost battle.
• Maximum number of battles in sandbox campaigns increased, with more decision points and new possible decisions and events.
• Additional enemies in sandbox campaigns. You will need to fend off attacks by other enemies as well as advancing the campaign against your primary opponent.
• Units not only increase in quality following victories, but will upgrade to higher quality unit types when they reach the required quality. (e.g. Raw Pikemen > Pikemen > Veteran Pikemen).
• Anachronistic what if campaigns – by turning off the date and geographical filters you can set up sandbox campaigns between any two nations covered by the game from 550 BC to 476 AD. Additional enemies in the campaign will fit the date of the main enemy – so that it will be as if your army had been transported in time to a new era.
• Improved AI.
• Evaders may suffer casualties even if they escape their pursuers.
• Chargers will now follow normal pursuit rules if their opponents break on contact. i.e. Infantry (apart from warbands and raw troops) will not pursue.

[Grifman]

The next update will include achievements!

[Holman]

I finally went in for this one, and I'm really enjoying it. Now I'm obsessed with ancient combat.

[jztemple2]

New DLC released, Field of Glory II: Age of Belisarius. There's also a sale on the base game and on the other DLCs. And there's a review of the new DLC from The Wargamer.

[Isgrimnur]

The Quantum Leap content we’ve always wanted.

[jztemple2]

New update patch notes for version 1.3.9

Spoiler:

Field of Glory II Version 1.3.9 Patchnotes

Postby Daniele » 07 Jun 2018 07:09
Hi Everybody!

Field of Glory II has been updated to version 1.3.9!

This new version brings a lot of improvements and changes, including STEAM achievements!

You can download the update from here (Members Area) or from here (Public FTP)

Version 1.3.9 Patchnotes
• Some optimisations to improve performance on slower systems.

• STEAM:
o 20 STEAM achievements have been added. (STEAM version only).

• Gameplay:
o Some mounted unit types can be dismounted as equivalent infantry units at Deployment. This is confined to nations that often dismounted their cavalry, and currently only applies to units in the Age of Belisarius DLC.
o Massed bowmen without any close combat capabilities now get a negative shooting POA modifier if there are any unbroken enemy non-light troops with close combat capabilities within 2 squares and not facing away from them. This is primarily a nerf because armies with large numbers of these units were found to be overpowered. It is rationalised by them being nervous when enemy combat troops approach closely, as they are too densely formed to evade – this concept is supported by some studies of more modern warfare. (Note: The AI takes this into account and avoids moving non-combat bowmen close to unbroken enemy combat troops, unless these are facing away or it wants to charge something).
o Additional -1 modifier in cohesion tests for losing close combat for foot lacking any close combat (impact or melee) capabilities. This will make “massed bowmen”, artillery, peasant levies, light archers and slingers quicker to rout in close combat. It applies on top of any “Any one of…” modifier.
o Armoured cavalry gain additional 12% casualty mitigation against shooting by bows, slings and javelins compared to Protected. (Unprotected cavalry get 0% mitigation, Protected cavalry get 16%, Armoured get 28%, Cataphracts get 49%).
o Maximum melee POA for armour advantage increased to + 100 vs foot. (It remains +50 vs mounted). This currently only affects cataphracts.
o Deep units of Offensive Spearmen (with a base unit size of 12 figures or more) can now form square.
o The permitted (re-)deployment areas for non-light troops in Random Map battles now depend entirely on the width of the map (and the presence of flank rivers or coasts if any), and will not vary depending on the size of each army or whether Autodeploy has been used. Light troops can deploy right out to the map edge. Note that Autodeploy may sometimes deploy non-light units beyond the standard deployment zone. Such units can be redeployed, but only into the standard deployment zone.
o Chariots can now cross Deep Streams slowly.
o Tightened up application of rule that units cannot charge targets that were not within 45 degrees of straight ahead at the start of the turn. Previously it was sometimes possible to charge units slightly out of the 45 degree arc by making a 45 degree (free) turn first.
o G hotkey now toggles map grid.

• Units:
o Indian cavalry upgraded to Average, Protected, Light Spear, Swordsmen at 32 points. (At 20 points, despite their previous low quality and absence of melee capability, they were by far the most cost-effective flankers in the game.)
o Elephants points cost increased to 60.
o Points cost of the following extra-deep units adjusted: Average Warbands reduced from 63 to 58 points, Superior Warbands reduced from 81 to 75 points, Pictish Spearmen reduced from 58 to 54 points.
o Triarii now reported as ”Highly Superior” rather than “Elite”. Note that this is just a UI change, not a nerf. Their numerical quality rating is the same as before.
o Limitanei will now be promoted to Pseudocomitatenses in campaigns when they have acquired sufficient experience in the field army.

• Army Lists:
o Improvised Camelry removed from Achaemenid Persian 550-546 BC army list, and Achaemenid Persian 547 BC (Thymbra) list added.
o Added some armoured noble lancers to all three Western Hunnic lists, representing lance-armed noble Huns.

• AI:
o AI: Infantry less likely to get “stuck” behind friends in close proximity to enemy.
o Shooty non-light cavalry, camelry and light chariots are now more likely to evade than previously if the combat chances are fairly close to even but they have a significant shooting advantage against the chargers. In practice this means that they are more likely to evade from non-shooty cavalry or infantry in marginal cases than before. (Note that this only potentially alters the decision to evade when the combat odds are fairly close to even. Also they still won’t evade if cavalry chargers start their move in the adjacent square, because of the high danger of being caught.)

• Multiplayer:
o It is no longer possible to get a re-rolled map by “force-quitting” the program on the first turn of an MP random map game. Such behaviour was already being tracked by the PBEM system with the ultimate sanction of banning, but now it is simply not possible.
o Concession disabled during MP replay as it could sometimes cause issues.

• Manual:
o Manual correction: Melee POA chart. Heavy and Scythed chariots both have +100 POA vs any troops except elephants, light foot, light horse or steady foot who are pike, offensive spearmen or defending an obstacle.
o Manual correction: Irrigation ditches give +25 POA in Impact and Melee combat to foot defenders if the unit is not missile troops vs mounted and so does not qualify for +100 POA for “Protection”.
o Manual addition: Shooting POA chart: Massed non-combat bowmen with unbroken enemy combat troops within 2 squares of them and not facing away from them get -70 POA shooting modifier.
o See also other gameplay changes above.

• Modders:
o Maximum SideID increased to 8191.

• Bug Fixes:
o Editor UI can now cope with gaps in the list of SideID names.
o Fixed bug that could sometimes result in newly promoted custom-named campaign units being assigned to unpurchased units on the battlefield during battle setup, their place among the pre-purchased units being taken by an almost identical un-named unit. This caused the name to be lost if the unit was not repurchased during force selection.
o Fixed bug that could allow player too many troops in campaign “own reinforcements” scenario. (This would show as negative points in the force selection window).
o Fixed bug that could alter the map size in the MP custom battles setup screen if you lingered too long while setting up an MP skirmish.
o Fixed bug that could give light foot an Undo button if they evaded through friends in their own turn as a result of an enemy pursuit charge.
o Fixed bug that showed wrong banner colours for reversed epic battle scenarios with Romans or Spartans as Side0.
o Fixed issue with banner and texture allocation in Empire of the Huns and King of Kings campaigns.
o Fixed error in Thracian army list end date in army list file.
o Fixed general allocation bug in 3rd battle of Third Century Crisis campaign.
o Improved trajectory of horse archer arrows.
o Fixed bug in Roman Lancers’ death animations.
o Fixed some other minor animation bugs.

[jztemple2]

Although this isn't strictly a FoGII post, it is related in a very good way. Wargamer.com recently posted this article, Fields of Glory: Empires Announced by Sitherine/Matrix Games.

Slitherine have been teasing a new game announcement all weekend, and we finally know what it is – Field of Glory: Empires. This is a grand-strategy game set during the early days of the Roman Republic, from about 310 BC to 190 AD.

It’s being developed by AGEOD on Slitherine’s new Archon engine, which is great because I swear to god if we had to suffer through one more game on that AGEOD engine… what? Oh right – Empires. It seems less focused on the military side of things as past AGEOD games and could easily represent a cross between the recently announced Imperator: Rome grand-strategy game from Paradox, and Creative Assembly’s own Total War: Rome 2.

Indeed, one of the selling points seems to be a deeper involvement in the battles that take place during a game – an early screenshot shows a rudimentary and separate tactical sub-game which pulls assets from Field of Glory 2. On top of that, you can apparently export battle data from Empires directly into FOG2 to fight the chosen battle out in full!

"...with over 450 custom units and more than one thousand rulers and generals, every battle won’t be the same. Army composition and understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each army is key and decisive elements to win.

Battles have an unparalleled level of detail. When the time comes to lay down the plow and draw the sword, players lead their armies as true generals on the battlefield. Field of Glory: Empires lets export and load each battles into award-winning tactical wargame Field of Glory II and fight the battle in even greater detail."

The campaign map features of 1,000 regions, stretching from Scotland to the north, to the Indus Valley in the south-east. The map seems to show only major players only, with plenty of ‘minor’, possibly even empty? Provinces separating the bigger nations from each other.

Grand strategy at this level is kind of new territory for AGEOD and Slitherine, although you could easily argue some past AGEOD games like Pride of Nations are grand-strategy war games similar to Hearts of Iron. Still, there is a greater emphasis on politics, culture and development, bringing it inline with the current mainstream norms in this genre. We'll bring you more information on this game as it comes out.

Field of Glory: Empires is due out on PC in 2019.

And this is worth repeating, "Field of Glory: Empires lets [you] export and load each battles into award-winning tactical wargame Field of Glory II and fight the battle in even greater detail." That's very cool, at least to me.

[jztemple2]

A new FoGII expansion has been announced, Field of Glory II: Wolves at the Gate

This expansion extends Field of Glory II forward to 1040 AD, exploring the rich military history of the so-called “Dark Ages”, from the whirlwind Arab Conquest to the depredations of the Vikings and Magyars, the birth of England, France, Germany and Spain, and the long struggle of the Byzantine Empire to keep Roman civilisation alive in the east.

From 600 to 628 AD the Byzantines were locked in a titanic struggle for survival against the aggressive Sassanid Persian Empire, from which they eventually emerged victorious. Both empires, however, were severely weakened. Six years later, in 634, the newly Islamized Arabs erupted forth from Arabia, quickly defeating the Byzantines and Persians. By 750, under the Umayyad Caliphate, the Muslim Arab Empire stretched from Spain to the borders of India.

The Byzantine Empire, after losing its Levantine and North African provinces, survived the initial Islamic advance. Constantinople endured a year long siege (717-718), and this proved to be the beginning of the end for the Umayyad Caliphate. Eventually, weakened by defeats on the frontiers of their vast empire and internal unrest, the Umayyads were overthrown by the Abbasid dynasty. The great Islamic Empire was now split into many separate, and often competing states. The Byzantines grew stronger under the Macedonian Dynasty (867-1056), and ended the period more powerful than they had been for many centuries.

In Northern Europe, Viking raids started in the late 8th century. Superb sailors, they used their longboats to strike across the Baltic and North Seas against towns, farms and monasteries, and raid as far as Seville and Constantinople. Eventually they settled down, and created important states in Normandy and the Kievan Rus. Their invasions of the British Isles resulted in centuries of intermittent warfare with the English, Irish and Scottish kingdoms.

Charlemagne ruled as King of the Franks from 768-814 AD. The kingdom he inherited already included most of modern France and parts of Germany. By his death in 814, his empire encompassed modern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, northern Italy and a strip of northern Spain. In 800 he was crowned “Emperor of the Romans” by Pope Leo III. After his death the Carolingian Empire split into two main states, West Francia (modern France) and East Francia (modern Germany).

In the 9th century the nomadic Magyars erupted into European history. Their western raids reached as far as Spain. Their defeat by the Germans at Lechfeld in 955 ended their threat to Western Europe and in 1000 their High Prince accepted Christianity and was recognised as King of Hungary by Pope Sylvester II, ruling under his Christian name of István (Stephen) I.

Summary of features:

19 new factions
55 new units
76 new army lists
6 new Epic Battles
74 new Quick Battles
Expanded Custom Battles module.
Expanded Sandbox Campaign module.
6 new historically-based campaigns.
New Allies feature added in accompanying game update.

[dbt1949]

I want to like this game but I am so lousy at it.
I know the game mechanics okay but my tactics suck, even tho I have read tons about ancient warfare.
My last game I pass his flanks with my heavy cav and charge him from behind. He is already engaged with my infantry on his front. What happens? My cav gets broken and he looses a dozen men but otherwise it doesn't bother him.
This kind of thing happens all the time. <sigh>

[jztemple2]

Besides the new Wolves at the Gates DLC, there is also going to be a free update 1.5.12 which adds among other things, a new feature called Allies. This article, Field of Glory 2 - New "Allies" Feature Explained, well it explains it

By popular demand, Update 1.5.12 adds a major new feature to the game – Allies.

It is now possible to choose to have allies from a different army list in SP and MP custom battle armies. The main army list provides the majority of the troops available for selection, the allies provide a smaller proportion.

The permitted allies for each list are based on known historical alliances. Hence some army lists can have as many as 12 possible allies, others may have none. Altogether, well over 400 allies are currently specified, which, together with the 281 single nation army lists, makes a total of more than 700 pure or mixed army lists in the game. This in turn means that, including “what if” games, the number of possible matchups is now over 500,000! And that is before unit selection.

The article goes on with an example which I'll let you see for yourselves, but here is the first screenshot.

[Sepiche]

That reminds me, have they mentioned any details about how this is going to integrate with FoG:Empires?

Like, if I want to use FoGII to play battles in Empire will I need to have all the DLC? Because in that case Empire probably gets moved back to "when it's on sale" status.

[jztemple2]

That reminds me, have they mentioned any details about how this is going to integrate with FoG:Empires?

Like, if I want to use FoGII to play battles in Empire will I need to have all the DLC? Because in that case Empire probably gets moved back to "when it's on sale" status.

I've seen it mentioned a couple of times that you only need the base version of FoG II, no DLC needed. I'll try to find the actual wording somewhere. I have not seen it explained in detail how it is going to be done. Honestly I'm probably only getting Empires because I can play out the battles in FoGII

[Sepiche]

I've seen it mentioned a couple of times that you only need the base version of FoG II, no DLC needed. I'll try to find the actual wording somewhere. I have not seen it explained in detail how it is going to be done. Honestly I'm probably only getting Empires because I can play out the battles in FoGII

Thanks, I really hope that's the case as I'm looking forward to this too, but just not enough to shell out for all the DLC they've been releasing.

[jztemple2]

Hey, I found the mother lode of how FoG:E battles will be fought in FoG:II, Dev Diary #9 Addendum - Playing Empires Battles in FOG2

Playing Empires Battles in Fog2
by Richard Bodley Scott

From an early stage in development it was planned that, in addition to the in-game battle resolution system, Empires would also have the option to fight out battles in FOG2 if the player so chooses.
The main objectives were:

1) That Empires battles fought out in FOG2 should be varied and fun. (Number one priority!)
2) That the armies of each nation should be represented by the correct FOG2 units for their nation.
3) That general skill and traits, unit experience, unit effectiveness, hit points etc. from Empires should carry over into the FOG2 battles.
4) That terrain should be representative of the terrain in the region where the battle takes place.
5) That there should be no adjustments to make the battles more “even”, and no adjustments to take into account the FOG2 difficulty setting. The situation should be as per the campaign situation.
6) That the export/import process and switching between the games should be as automated a process as possible.

How does the game decide which FOG2 unit type to convert an Empires unit to?
Empires has a database specifying which FOG2 unit type each Empires unit type maps to, with a quality adjustment for some. The mapping is different depending on the national archetype. This information is passed in the export file, along with various other factors affecting the conversion.
The Empires system potentially gives "Heavy Foot, Warriors, Mercenary Foot, Urban Militia etc." to every nation. The FOG2 conversion system attempts to convert each nation's forces to FOG2 units that are appropriate to their historical prototype. So for example "Warriors" in a Gallic Army will translate to FOG2 Warbands, but those in an Italian army will translate to FOG2 Italian Foot. This means that Empires "Heavy Foot", for example, may translate to FOG2 Medium Foot for some nations, if the nation never actually had any troops that FOG2 would rate as Heavy Foot.
Also some units translate to a mixture of FOG2 units, because this leads to more historically realistic armies. Pre-Marian Roman legionary units translate to a mixture of hastati/principes and triarii units, in approximately a 2:1 ratio. Horse archer units, if present in large numbers, translate to a mixture of Light Horse and Cavalry.

How does the game decide how many FOG2 units each Empires unit maps to?
The Empires : FOG2 unit conversion ratio depends on the unit type, because it is points based. This is because the difference in effectiveness between various Empires units is often significantly greater than the difference between the effectiveness of their FOG2 equivalents. To get the same relative effectiveness as in Empires-resolved battles, the more expensive (and more effective) Empires units translate to more FOG2 units than the cheaper ones. Some of the cheaper Empires units may only map to 1 FOG2 unit, but some of the more expensive ones could potentially map to as many as 4 or 5 (cheap) FOG2 units in armies of nations that historically did not possess powerful units like Pike phalanxes or legions. Most units will have a conversion ratio somewhere between these two extremes.

For example, because Italian Foot in FOG2 are cheaper (and less effective) than Warbands, the unit conversion ratio for Empires Warriors > FOG2 Italian Foot will be higher than the unit conversion rate for Empires Warriors > FOG2 Warbands. Also, where different Empires unit types convert to the same FOG2 unit type, the quality of the FOG2 units may be adjusted depending on which Empires unit type they come from. (Thus, for example, Urban Militia in some national archetypes may be extremely low quality versions of the standard units. They will also have a lower unit conversion ratio as they are much lower rated in Empires points).
Because the points value ratios do not match up to an exact number of FOG2 units, there is a random element. For example, if the points system means that an Empires unit is equivalent to 1.37 FOG2 units, the system will generate at least one FOG2 unit, with a 37% chance of another one. So usually it will generate 1 unit, but 37% of the time it will generate 2.
A damping system on the chances of selecting subsequent "partial" units is used to ensure that the overall strength of the army does not vary excessively (about 3% in tests), and a unique random number generator seed number for each exported battle ensures that if you play the same battle (from the same export file) in FOG2 multiple times, the OOBs (and map) will be the same each time. (Unless you go back to the pre-battle Empires save and re-export it, in which case there will be a different seed number each time).

How does the conversion take into account Empires general skill and traits, unit experience, effectiveness and hit points etc.?
Unit Experience and Effectiveness affect FOG2 unit Experience and Elan respectively. FOG2 unit Quality is the average of those ratings.
Empires Hit Points represent current strength compared with full paper strength, so affects the unit conversion ratio.
Generals use their Empires skill rating for attack or defence depending on which side counts as attacking in Empires. General traits applicable in the regional terrain add their modifiers to those skill ratings. If there is an overall difference between the skill ratings of the opposing generals, then usually an adjustment is made to the quality of the opposing units, representing the effects on morale, physical condition and state of preparedness of the troops resulting from the better general's more skilful pre-battle manoeuvres. Sometimes, instead of a quality adjustment, the lower skilled general will have some of his troops arrive late at the battle.
Unit traits are not explicitly taken into account in the conversion process, because FOG2 already takes into account the different effectiveness of different troop types in different terrain.

Frontage
Empires units convert to an average of 2 to 3 FOG2 units, some more, some less.
We decided not to artificially constrain the frontage in FOG2 battles because it would severely restrict the tactical options – which would rather defeat the point of playing the battle in FOG2. We did not think it would be fun.
Also, as FOG2 battles take some time to play out, we wanted a decisive result, so wanted all of the troops present to be able to take part.

Therefore, the normal FOG2 map generation is used, based on the prevailing terrain in the Empires province. Hence a mountainous, forest or swamp province will result in a mountainous, forested or marshy map, which may result in choke points, but isn’t guaranteed to do so.
This does mean that playing Empires with FOG2 battles will have strategic implications, meaning that the game will play out somewhat differently depending on whether you play all the battles in Empires or not. Personally, I resolve very one-sided battles in Empires and play the rest in FOG2.
Siege assaults are left to the Empires system and cannot be exported to FOG2

[jztemple2]

The next DLC, Wolves at the Gate, now has a planned release date of May 30th.




And 76 new army lists, which expands the total number of army lists to 281.

[jztemple2]

The latest update has been released, as described in the article Field of Glory II 1.5.12 Update - Allies Feature! Besides the new Allies feature there have been a lot of changes, tweaks and bug fixes.

Regarding the new Allies feature:

Allies:
• It is now possible to choose to have allies from a different army list in custom battle armies. The main army list will provide the majority of the troops available for selection, the allies will provide a smaller proportion.
• The permitted allies are specified in the ArmyList file – as previously used for sandbox campaigns - based on known historical alliances. For historical reasons, where a small country and a large country were allied historically, the smaller country will be specified as an ally for the larger country, but often not vice versa. This is when it is deemed historically unlikely that the larger country’s troops would form a minority of the army, even if, for example, it sent a force to assist a client in regaining his throne.
• When the Geographical and Date filters are turned on, the list of permitted allies is also filtered for geographical proximity to the enemy state and date compatibility with both the enemy army list and any enemy allies list.
• Allied troops in custom battles are not required to deploy together under an ally general. This is not entirely historical, but is a “quality of life” game design decision, to avoid issues with deployment and group moves.

Regarding army lists:

Army Lists:
• Major revamp to the Thracian army lists, based on the authoritative work of Chris Webber (aka vakarr) as in his Mercenaries and Allies Mod. The new main-game versions of his lists contain only vanilla units, but remain extremely interesting from a historical and tactical point of view. There are now 11 different Thracian army lists covering the different Thracian groupings from 700 BC to 46 AD. For further reading, consult Chris Webber’s works: “The Gods of Battle: The Thracians at War, 1500 BC - 150 AD” (Pen & Sword Military) and “The Thracians 700 BC-AD 46” (Osprey Men-at-Arms series).
• Jewish 167-111 BC list divided into 167-164 and 163-111 lists. The latter gets some xystophoroi and raw pikes. Increased number of pikes available in 110-64 BC list.
• Greek Armoured Cavalry added to Roman 105-25 BC list.
• Added alternative 272-273 AD Palmyran army list for those who take the view that Zenobia would not have access to any local Roman troops in the war against Aurelian.
• Palmyran army lists changed to use “Eastern” archers.
• Massed Eastern archers added to Achaemenid Persian lists.
• Increased number of pike units available in many Hellenistic armies.
• Split Ptolemaic 320-167 BC list into separate 320-218 and 217-167 lists.
• Roman 285-424 AD custom/campaign battle auto-deployment changed to non-chequerboard.
• Added Libyan 549-301 BC list and changed start date of following list to 300 BC.
• Added Kyrenean 321-276 BC list.
• Added Dacian (Carpi) 107-380 AD list.
• Removed built-in Sarmatian allies from Dacian lists. They can be fielded by using a Sarmatian ally. Also added some Superior warbands to Dacian lists.
• Added Greek (Mercenary) 460-281 BC list. (Xenophon campaign changed to use this for Anabasis phases).
• Indian 545-599 AD list changed to use Indian-style lancers.
• Massed Greek Peltasts added to various lists.

And what might be my favorite update note:

Xystophoroi now use a wedge formation of 5 figures. This is purely a change to the visual representation, because it looks cooler; nothing else has changed.

Full changelog in the spoiler tag:

Spoiler:

Field of Glory II has been updated to version 1.5.12, and it's massive!

Check the Changelog below.


v1.5.12 Changelog

Field of Glory: Empires:
• When Field of Glory: Empires is released, it will allow battles to be exported to be played out in FOG2. After the battle, FOG2 can be automatically closed and Empires opened, and the results of the battle imported into Empires.

Allies:
• It is now possible to choose to have allies from a different army list in custom battle armies. The main army list will provide the majority of the troops available for selection, the allies will provide a smaller proportion.
• The permitted allies are specified in the ArmyList file – as previously used for sandbox campaigns - based on known historical alliances. For historical reasons, where a small country and a large country were allied historically, the smaller country will be specified as an ally for the larger country, but often not vice versa. This is when it is deemed historically unlikely that the larger country’s troops would form a minority of the army, even if, for example, it sent a force to assist a client in regaining his throne.
• When the Geographical and Date filters are turned on, the list of permitted allies is also filtered for geographical proximity to the enemy state and date compatibility with both the enemy army list and any enemy allies list.
• Allied troops in custom battles are not required to deploy together under an ally general. This is not entirely historical, but is a “quality of life” game design decision, to avoid issues with deployment and group moves.

UI:
• Cohesion test details, with a list of all modifiers that applied, are now shown in the combat log and detailed close combat reports.

Gameplay:
• Hotseat Custom Battles now allow manual force selection for both sides.
• Mediterranean, North European, Middle Eastern and Tropical Marshy terrain maps added.
• In random maps, vegetation has been added to marshes to make them easier to spot.
• Slings can now shoot overhead from higher ground.
• Lancers now get +50 Impact POA in open terrain vs steady, non-charging Pikes, Offensive Spearmen or Defensive Spearmen. (i.e. their normal +100 POA is only half cancelled against these).
• Cataphracts now get +50 POA for swordsmen capability vs steady Pike, Offensive Spearmen or Defensive Spearmen unless these are defending an obstacle. (i.e. their normal +100 POA is only half cancelled against these).
• Removed various “tells” giving away the position of hidden enemy units when they Fall Back, Form or Leave Square, Rout or Retreat. However, we have deliberately left in the notifications for units returning to the battlefield or rallying, even when these units are not visible, because otherwise players might think that the AI is cheating when these units reappear.
• Reduced number of additional generals available in tiny battles – this is primarily for very small Field of Glory: Empires battles.
• Xystophoroi now use a wedge formation of 5 figures. This is purely a change to the visual representation, because it looks cooler; nothing else has changed. The overall effects of their abilities and formation was already taken into account in their previous grading. Note that we are aware that some other historical units (e.g. Thracian heavy cavalry) also used wedge formation, but they share units with armies that didn’t, so we have left their formations unchanged.

AI:
• Flank charges against enemy that are not yet in combat moved to second AI pass so that other friends have the opportunity to engage the enemy first.
• Made retreating AI light troops do so on first AI pass even if Disrupted or Fragmented.
• Evady Cavalry/Camelry/Light Chariots will no longer allow themselves to be pinned by a light horse charge if they are also threatened with a possible flank/rear charge by non-light troops this turn. This was an unintended consequence of the previous change to prevent Cavalry/Camelry/Light Chariots from automatically evading from flank/rear charges by Light Horse. Note that it is still possible to pin them with light horse that start the turn in an adjacent square if the heavier charge threat is frontal.
• AI or pursuing cavalry will now never charge elephants unless the elephants are already Fragmented.

Multiplayer:
• Simplified retry process when sending End Turn or Save and Exit data if internet connection down or server does not respond. It is now only necessary to click the Proceed button on the "Failed to send the game to the server. Please check your connection and try again." popup to trigger the game to attempt to resend the data. Previously it was necessary to hit End Turn etc. again to trigger the resend, and there was a bug preventing a resend of a failed Save & Exit.
• Bugs affecting Mirrored MP challenges fixed. Mirrored Epic Battle challenges should now work correctly, but the fix only works for new challenges, not challenges created with previous versions of the game.

Campaigns:
• The AI side in “Ditch” battles, as found in Belisarius and Ashurbanipal campaigns, will now start advancing immediately.
• Campaign scoring now takes into account whether the campaign is being played on “Progressive” difficulty.
Campaign Design:
• TWEAK now works for all decision types except: 1, 2, (15, 18, 19 - these should not be used in custom campaigns anyway).

Units
• Massed Greek Peltasts unit added - for various army lists.

Unit Cost adjustments:
• Expert Armoured Horse Archers (and equivalent units) – reduced from 72 to 66 points.
• Armoured Horse Archers (and equivalent units) – reduced from 57 to 52 points.
• Byzantine Flankers – reduced from 52 to 48 points.
• Persian Improvised Camelry – reduced from 60 to 56 points.
• Byzantine “above-average” lancers & archers – cost reduced from 55 to 54 points.
• Zealots – increased from 51 to 57 points.
• Veteran Samnite Foot – increased from 63 to 66 points.
• Veteran Dailami Foot – increased from 54 to 60 points.
• Mediocre Legionaries – reduced from 60 to 54 points.
• Imitation Legionaries – reduced from 54 points to 51 points.
• Early Imperial Roman Auxilia – reduced from 48 to 42 points.
• Legio Comitatenses - reduced from 54 to 51 points.
• Thorakitai – reduced from 54 to 51 points.
• Well-Armed Slaves – reduced from 46 to 44 points.
• Cretan archers – reduced from 42 to 39 points.
• Balearic Slingers – reduced from 36 to 33 points.
• Assyrian-style Mixed Medium Foot (Protected) – increased from 42 to 44 points.
• Assyrian-style Raw Mixed Medium Foot (Protected) – increased from 30 to 32 points.
• Assyrian-style Mixed Heavy Foot – reduced from 60 to 56 points.

Army Lists:
• Major revamp to the Thracian army lists, based on the authoritative work of Chris Webber (aka vakarr) as in his Mercenaries and Allies Mod. The new main-game versions of his lists contain only vanilla units, but remain extremely interesting from a historical and tactical point of view. There are now 11 different Thracian army lists covering the different Thracian groupings from 700 BC to 46 AD. For further reading, consult Chris Webber’s works: “The Gods of Battle: The Thracians at War, 1500 BC - 150 AD” (Pen & Sword Military) and “The Thracians 700 BC-AD 46” (Osprey Men-at-Arms series).
• Jewish 167-111 BC list divided into 167-164 and 163-111 lists. The latter gets some xystophoroi and raw pikes. Increased number of pikes available in 110-64 BC list.
• Greek Armoured Cavalry added to Roman 105-25 BC list.
• Added alternative 272-273 AD Palmyran army list for those who take the view that Zenobia would not have access to any local Roman troops in the war against Aurelian.
• Palmyran army lists changed to use “Eastern” archers.
• Massed Eastern archers added to Achaemenid Persian lists.
• Increased number of pike units available in many Hellenistic armies.
• Split Ptolemaic 320-167 BC list into separate 320-218 and 217-167 lists.
• Roman 285-424 AD custom/campaign battle auto-deployment changed to non-chequerboard.
• Added Libyan 549-301 BC list and changed start date of following list to 300 BC.
• Added Kyrenean 321-276 BC list.
• Added Dacian (Carpi) 107-380 AD list.
• Removed built-in Sarmatian allies from Dacian lists. They can be fielded by using a Sarmatian ally. Also added some Superior warbands to Dacian lists.
• Added Greek (Mercenary) 460-281 BC list. (Xenophon campaign changed to use this for Anabasis phases).
• Indian 545-599 AD list changed to use Indian-style lancers.
• Massed Greek Peltasts added to various lists.

Editor:
• Units in Editor will now consistently show banners – red for side 0 and blue for side 1 (if vanilla banner textures are in use). Default sidenames switched to match.
• Units with Editor-placed generals will show long banners.
User Content Creation:
• Added ReSkinReinforcementUnit(id, reverse) function that can be used to reskin scripted reinforcement units with side-appropriate textures. Must be called once for each reinforcement unit after it is created in the scenario script. reverse == 0 means use usual side colours, reverse == 1 means use reversed side colours.

Manual:
• Slings can now shoot overhead from higher ground.
• Addition to Impact POA Chart: Lancers: (in open terrain only) +50 POA vs steady, non-charging Pikemen, Offensive Spearmen or Defensive Spearmen.
• Addition to Melee POA Chart: Mounted Swordsmen: +50 POA if Cataphracts vs steady Pike, Offensive Spearmen or Defensive Spearmen unless these are defending an obstacle.

Bug Fixes:
• Fixed bug that could sometimes cause group Undo to give extra AP to units that were blocked from moving in the group move. Note that the fix adds a slight (1-2 second) delay to the Undo icon appearing in group moves where a unit was blocked from moving.
• Fixed bug that could sometimes prevent a “Leave Square” move from being Undone.
• Plugged exploit where a unit blocking shooting could be moved out of the way so that the unit behind could shoot, and then Undo used to move the first unit back into its previous position.
• Fixed bug whereby a unit set as “Cannot Control”, and hence which could not be given single unit orders, could get included in a Group Move.
• Fixed issue of mixed units not showing all spearmen and archers in correct positions for a couple of seconds when first deployed or redeployed.
• Fixed bug that could cause game to crash in the few user-created Epic Battles scenarios using non-scripted reinforcements.
• Hopefully fixed rare bug where a dispersed unit sometimes continued to have a “ghost existence” – being invisible but targetable and blocking access to the square.
• Fixed two bugs affecting mirrored MP games. The fixes will only work for newly set up challenges, not for ones set up with the previous build.
• Fixed bug preventing resend of MP Save & Exit data if internet connect was down or the server did not respond on the first attempt.
• Fixed issue of very long MP chat messages getting truncated in the chat message display.
• Fixed bug that could prevent MP challenge from being created if player’s comment included the “/” character.
• Fixed MP bug that sometimes caused group turn made during side A’s deployment to be undone by Side B’s replay.
• Fixed disappearing shadows bug affecting Epic Battle maps with some sub 0 height level tiles (Granikos and Issos).
• Fixed team allocation (for player group moves) errors in Frigidus scenarios.
• Fixed bug that could sometimes prevent AI unit from turning to avoid being flank charged.
• Fixed bug that caused indecisive (nightfall) campaign victories to be listed as defeats in campaign score report.
• Fixed remounting bug on large units of dismounted noble lancers and armoured noble lancers. (They should not have been able to remount).
• Fixed bug that could show troop quality incorrectly in Multiplayer Skirmish setup Army List previews if game difficulty level set to Centurion or Deity.
• Fixed bug that prevented the map width from being reset to the appropriate narrower width when a smaller campaign battle follows a larger campaign or custom battle.
• Fixed bug that could allow pursuers to pursue off the map edge through terrain they would not normally pursue into.

[jztemple2]

Oh, and the Field of Glory II Wolves at the Gate DLC is now available through Matrix/Slitherine or on the Steam Store.

[jztemple2]

Something exceeding useful is now available. In the post PDF: FoG2 Army List Descriptions posted over at the Slitherine FoGII forum, member mgardner posted the following:

Hail commanders,

After being a long time lurker, I wanted to make a contribution to this wonderful community by sharing a PDF document I created. This document contains the complete Field of Glory 2 in-game army list descriptions for the base game and all currently available DLC. The PDF is an attempt to supplement (in at least a small way) the excellent "Factions" section of the core game manual by including descriptions of all army lists in a single document that can be referenced outside the game.

Link to the document on Google drive (29MB):
Field of Glory 2 Army List Descriptions.pdf
Last Updated: v1.5.12 (Wolves at the Gate DLC)

Really an excellent contribution. If you find it useful you might wish to drop into that forum thread and add your thanks, I already have.

[jztemple2]

The Steam Summer Sale is on and FoG II is on sale, both as the base game and in a bundle with the DLC.

[jztemple2]

Looking for something a bit different for the holidays? Zombies are coming to town, in this Field of Glory 2 Mod

A dark age is upon us! But it's not the Dark Ages. Corpses are rising up from their graves with an insatiable craving for human flesh and blood. Can humanity stop them?


In Field of Glory Z (FOGZ), players can fight with or against a new army: The Zombie Horde. They are unarmed and weak but they are numerous and do not flee.



During battle, half of the slain or injured humans will become infected. Once enough infected bodies are gathered, a new zombie unit will spawn.

The mod is meant to be played in single or multiplayer Custom Battle (Open Battle mode). The Zombie Horde army can be played by either side. Zombie vs. zombie is also possible.

Modified victory conditions are as follows: Humans win if they defeat all zombie units. Zombies win if they can rout the humans by the default rout thresholds.

When time runs out, the side with less rout % wins.



You can download the mod directly in-game. Launch FOG2 and on top of the Main Menu section click on "Community Scenario" button, you can then select the mod from the list.

Kudos to Jomni for this great Mod for FOG2!

[dbt1949]

I saw where they were making this.
Zombies in formation? No thanks.

[Archinerd]

I saw where they were making this.
Zombies in formation? No thanks.

They have banners too. Robots would be more realistic.

[jztemple2]

Picky, picky...

[Archinerd]

In all honesty it looks fine, but there is so much content I haven't explored yet I can't see myself ever getting to something like this.

[Jeff V]

I saw where they were making this.
Zombies in formation? No thanks.

They have banners too. Robots would be more realistic.

Yep, a robotic seamstress making the banners is loads more plausible than the existence of a zombie seamstress.

[Isgrimnur]

I saw where they were making this.
Zombies in formation? No thanks.

They have banners too. Robots would be more realistic.

Yep, a robotic seamstress making the banners is loads more plausible than the existence of a zombie seamstress.

Betsy Rooooaaaaauuuuuggggghhhh.....

[Jeff V]

She would just sew her own finger to the banner then it'd drop off and just hang there.

[jztemple2]

Just announced, Field of Glory 2: Medieval has an announced release date, February 4th, 2021.

[dbt1949]

When it was announced two months ago I thought it was going to be released then. At least now I can stop looking every day to see if it's being released that day.

[jztemple2]

Once Field of Glory 2: Medieval had all of its DLC completed, Slitherine went back to complete the last and to me the most anticipated DLC for the original game. And yesterday they announced that the Field of Glory II: Swifter than Eagles DLC will be releasing on the 16th of February.

“swifter than eagles, stronger than lions” 
2 Samuel 1:23

We are pleased to announce the latest DLC of the Field of Glory II franchise named Swifter than Eagles will be available on the 16th of February.



Historical background
Smite your foes with bow and spear as you lead your mighty chariots to glorious victory. Swifter than Eagles extends Field of Glory II backwards to the dawn of “civilised” warfare, covering the period from 2500-681 BC.

New features added:
• 19 new named factions: Amorite, Early Nomad, Gasgan, Hittite, Hyksos, Luwian, Makkan, Minoan, Mitanni, Mycenaean, Neo-Hittite/Aramaean, Nubian, Philistine, Sea Peoples, Sumerian/Akkadian, Syrian, Syro-Canaanite, Trojan, Zagros Highlanders.
• 46 new units: Picked Sumerian/Akkadian Spearmen, Sumerian/Akkadian Spearmen, Sumerian/Akkadian Spearmen with Pavise, Raw Sumerian/Akkadian Spearmen with Pavise, Sumerian/Akkadian Battle Cars, Early Chariots (Spear), Early Chariots (Bow), Egyptian-style Light Chariots, Egyptian Close Fighters, Egyptian Guard, Shardana Guard, Sherden Swordsmen, (Other) Sea Peoples Swordsmen, Picked Sherden Swordsmen, Picked (other) Sea Peoples Swordsmen, Philistine Spearmen, Philistine Guard, Libyan Foot, Libyan Swordsmen, Libyan Light Javelinmen, Nubian Close Fighters, Nubian Light Javelinmen, Nubian Light Archers, Anatolian-style Light Chariots, Anatolian-style Heavy Chariots, Anatolian Spearmen, Syrian Spearmen, Maryannu Light Chariots, Ugaritic Heavy Chariots, Minoan/Mycenaean Heavy Chariots, Minoan-style Spearmen, Aegean Light Chariots, Sea Peoples Light Chariots, Libyan Light chariots, Mycenaean-style Spearmen, Myrmidons, Early Middle-Eastern Close Fighters, Gasgan Warriors, Zagros Warriors, Neo-Hittite-style Spearmen, Early Assyrian-style Cavalry, Anatolian Irregular Foot, Anatolian Light Javelinmen, Early mixed bow and spear infantry, Raw early mixed bow and spear infantry, Early Levies.
• 66 new army lists (which expands the total number of army lists to 355).

February will be a good month for ancients as Pharaoh: A New Era launched on Feb 15th. More on that in a separate thread.

[dbt1949]

Kool. I love that period of military history.

[jztemple2]

And the Swifter Than Eagles DLC was indeed released today:


The base game is 75% off for the next few days:


And if you haven't gotten the game but want to jump in with both feet, well there's a bundle for that that includes everything. The base game is 75% off and the previous five DLCs are all 60% off, plus you get the new DLC at the release price.

[jztemple2]

My Egyptian army:


In the middle of battle:

[dbt1949]

How do you get you pictures to look so good?
I got the dlc and got my ass whooped once again. <sigh>

[jztemple2]

How do you get you pictures to look so good?
I got the dlc and got my ass whooped once again. <sigh>

If you press Shift+3 you get an very close ground level view of your army.

[jztemple2]

Posted this After Action Report over on the Slitherine forum, but folks here ought to be able to see it too: AAR Egyptian 1450BC vs Babylonian 1594BC using Rise of AI Mod

I've never done an AAR for FoG2, but I find that writing one up helps me learn a game better. In spite of having over 140 hours on the game I'm rather inexperienced since I my play style is more "beer and pretzels" than serious studying of POA spreads and the like. I play solo and until this run through I've always played against the vanilla AI. However, I installed the Rise of AI Global Mod v3.12 and so decided to play a match with it, using the Swifter Than Eagles DLC. Here are the settings.

[hepcat]

I’ve got a steam key for the base game I don’t need. I bought a bundle for the dlc that included it. PM me if you want it.