Routing armies and friendly fire

[PhilD]

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:

quote:

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Originally posted by onomastikon:
I mean, if you see they are routing, it is often not only better but perhaps ethically sensible to not slaughter them.

Ethics has little to do with medieval warfare.

- If squadrons are routing but the entire army isnt, it would make more sense to concentrate on the enemy that is still there.

As other have said, if given a choice between chasing a guy who's running away so you can kill him and loot his armour and weapons, or going after someone who is still trying to kill you, most people will go for the loot.

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If the units had a "Regular/Elite classification, it might make sense to give the "Elite" (more disciplined) units a better chance of going on with their proper jobs. In the absence of such a classification, morale level could be used instead, though not as a perfect approximation ("fanatic" units should not become more disciplined; take Vanheim Maenads, for example).

But then, implementing this would probably require a complete overhaul of the tactical battle AI; I'm not holding my breath.