War Machine and making levels matter
by Anarion_ElendiliMy main gripe with the War Machine is how little the troop level matters to the final BFR.
Taking the Knights of the Wyld Stallyns as an example, their BFR is 134. However, if they were just level 1 fighters instead of level 3, the BFR would still be 130. This is insignificant difference, and had the knights trained just two weeks less than their level 1 counterparts, they'd match at 130.
Whereas if you put 10 level 1 fighters against 10 level 3 fighters and have at it using the normal combat rules, the higher level fighters will mop the floor with the newbies. Each of the level 3 fighters has roughly 3 times the HP of the 1st level fighters, so if it becomes a matter of 10 duels, all of the 3rd level fighters are likely still standing. Also, they have better THAC0, so more likely to hit as well.
You'd need at least 2:1 odds to make it more balanced, the additional chance to hit and the additional target with their HP balancing it out, assuming you'd be able to swarm. If it is just 1:1 line battle, you'd need at least 3:1 odds, since it is just one attack per turn on each side.
Looking at the Troop Ratio, this would imply that 2:1 odds should be +30, and 3:1 odds should be +45. If we change the average troop level multiplier from 2 to 20, then the difference is 60-20 = 40. Although in order to make troop quality rescaling less necessary, we could use (level-1)*20 instead. This would also mean that the training would be enough to make up for one full level or two if it is with the leader, which sounds fair enough, since it also implies that the other side doesn't train at all. 100 guys who know how to work together vs. 100 individuals, yes, I could buy it.
Obviously the simple (level-1)*20 scaling doesn't work perfectly, but since most of the troops are likely low level, it might be close enough. However, if we want to do a bit better, we could use (square root of the level)-1, and then multiply by 50:
Level 1 = 0
Level 2 = 20
Level 3 = 35
Level 4 = 50
Level 5 = 60 (62, but keeping it simple)
Level 6 = 70 (72...)
Level 7 = 80
Level 8 = 90
Level 9 = 100
The other, even simpler option would be to drop the troop level out completely, but then count the SIZE of the unit by HD/Level, not by headcount.
So a unit of 100 Wyld Stallyns (level 3) going against 300 horsemen (level 1) would actually have 1:1 in the outnumbering, rather than 1:3. The advantage of this is that it would be quite easy to calculate on the fly, but it would not give the higher bonuses for the special abilities.
Thoughts?