Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
The weapon's associations with peasantry would make that a rather unusual choice to be IC for Rikimaru. I'm not going to turn it down categorically, but it would take some explaining.
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For all readers and writers
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The weapon's associations with peasantry would make that a rather unusual choice to be IC for Rikimaru. I'm not going to turn it down categorically, but it would take some explaining.
Small Nerd
Meganekko
- Location
- Out There
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Alexander89
Pet the pretty kitty? Y/N
- Location
- Italy
Personally I'm partial to Light Cavalry with a focus on yari and yumi. Just so that we play the "I'm above the peasants" quite literally.
- Location
- Germany
And we'll fight in small skirmishes (scouting, moving around quickly) instead of always big battles - first contacts with the enemy etc. Very thrilling!
Alexander89
Pet the pretty kitty? Y/N
- Location
- Italy
...Why would it lead to that?
- Location
- Germany
@Alexander89 I looked at Light cavalry - Wikipedia - it says its "missions [...] were primarily reconnaissance, screening, skirmishing, raiding, and [...] communications". Doesn't say anything about light cavalry in Japan so I could very well be wrong (was there heavy cav. in the Sengoku Jidai?).
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
Historically? My opinion there is a solid "Dunno." Here's the thing: even people who knew the guy personally for years and considered themselves his friends didn't understand why he did it, and the rampant speculation by contemporary sources and glorification/demonization due to their own biases on the matter further muddy the waters for those of us trying to puzzle it out centuries later.
Mitsuhide's an exceptionally complicated figure. The best I can say is that I sincerely doubt that he did it for any one, single reason, and I'll also posit that he probably didn't premeditate his action very far in advance, given he only started trying to make allies and build up support after he killed Nobunaga and as much of his family as he could reach and declared himself shōgun.
Katana, Tanegashima and Yari.
There isn't really a division between light and heavy cavalry. Cavalry is cavalry; they're all samurai who are of a high enough rank and economic standing to support expensive warhorses, and thus are going to wear armor into battle. The horses, however, are not going to be armored, because Japanese horses of the time were a full quarter smaller than a modern thoroughbred and thus couldn't bear both an armored rider and heavy barding.
Remember, samurai were originally cavalry archers. What we might see as the role of "light cavalry" - that is, scouting, sending messages, and acting as a mobile reserve to reinforce allies or flank engaged enemies - were considered the "traditional" role of cavalry. What we might consider the role of "heavy cavalry" - that is, charging enemy formations to break them and then run down the fleeing enemies - was not exactly unheard of prior to the Sengoku Jidai, but the idea of that being a reliable strategy that could win battles is by far the more recent role for cavalry.
In other words, there's no separation into "light" and "heavy" cavalry. All Japanese cavalry are samurai - professional warriors trained from a very young age - and are practically guaranteed to be capable of the first and increasingly likely to be capable of the second as the period goes on.
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Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
To a degree. Grappling with battle mechanics and writer's block on the actual update ATM. There's more in my notes, but the stuff I've got so far for a battle system that's actually written up in a form comprehensible to those who speak English is right here:
Okay, so I've been going through several different sources for inspiration on how to portray battles in this quest. This system is probably going to need a lot of ironing out, so please note any problems you spot and, if you can, give suggestions on how to fix it.
Battles are divided into Minor Battles, Major Battles, Decisive Battles, and Kessen ("final battle"). The biggest difference between them is how many troops make up a base unit.
In a Minor Battle, the base unit is a troop of up to 30 men. Minor Battles are small skirmishes and raids, and at most will only have a few hundred men on each side.
In a Major Battle, the base unit is a troop of up to 300 men. Major Battles are actual serious engagements and may have up to a few thousand men fighting on each side.
In a Decisive Battle, the base unit is a troop of up to 3,000 men. Decisive Battles are huge, do-or-die affairs that will make or break a clan, and can have tens of thousands fighting on each side.
In a Kessen, the base unit is a troop of up to 30,000 men. As you might expect, a Kessen is a battle that drastically alters the shape of Japan's political landscape no matter who wins, and each one is a huge milestone for the quest.
Now, what do I mean by "base unit?" Simply put, it's the maximum number of troops an independent commander can directly control.
For example, Nobunaga has 150 men with him at the Battle of Kira-Ohama. Since Kira-Ohama is a Minor Battle, the "base unit" is 30, meaning Nobunaga can only directly control 30 out of his 150 men. So what does he do? There are two solutions.
The first solution is to just split off units and put them under the command of an officer to act independently of Nobunaga's personal unit. Nobunaga is the Taisho ("General") and as such can still give them commands, of course, but since they're independent units, they carry out those orders using their own judgment, and the unit uses their own statistics rather than Nobunaga's.
The second solution is to appoint sub-commanders in your unit. Each sub-commander you appoint allows the commander he's placed under to control up to another base unit's worth of troops, and the resulting unit will act as one unit in battle.
Both solutions are useful, and in most battles both will be used. With the first solution, you can act in multiple places on the battlefield, flank opponents, etc. With the second, you can use numbers to your advantage and also use sub-commanders to shore up any potential weakness in a commander or simply give him access to more skills and tactics.
At the Battle of Kira-Ohama, Nobunaga has 150 men, 5 base unit's worth of troops. Let's assume that he uses both of the aforementioned solutions to parcel out control of his men, and his troops' breakdown is thus:
Oda Nobunaga (Hirate Masahide, Takigawa Kazumasu) - 90 men
Kuwayama Shigeharu - 30 men
Kanamori Nagachika - 30 men
So Nobunaga is directly controlling 90 men, with Masahide and Kazumasu as the sub-commanders that let him have that many in a single unit. Further, he's split off two units and given command of one each to Shigeharu and Nagachika, who are beholden to his orders but are otherwise acting on their own judgment and using their own stats, skills and tactics.
If you don't have enough officers to assign to your units, you'll have "placeholder officers" instead. These placeholders have bad stats and no skills or tactics, so even a mediocre officer is always preferable.
This is all very divorced from the reality of Japanese combat at the time in a million different ways, but that would be an absolute unholy nightmare to try to translate faithfully into a quest, so f*ck it. I'll just mention how it actually worked in an information post somewhere.
So that's how units are arrayed. But what happens when they actually meet each other in the field? First of all, the important statistics for a unit are as follows:
Troops - Essentially a health bar, since if this number dips too low the unit collapses into rout and is out of the fight. This is a rare occurrence, though, and most of the time Troops is important because a sizable disparity gives an advantage to the larger unit. Particularly large disparities in Troops even allows for special Tactics like "Encircle."
Morale - Most often, this is the health bar that makes or breaks a unit. With high Morale, a unit performs at its best, and as Morale gets progressively lower their performance slips, and there's a growing chance for the unit to rout. At Morale 0, a unit routs instantly. There are a lot of ways to modify Morale and the rate at which its gained or lost, from environmental effects to training to special Tactics and Skills.
Drill - A unit's Drill is the degree of training they've received in combat. Units with high Drill get bonuses to their troop statistics like ATK, and also lose Morale more slowly and have a lower chance to devolve into rout. A unit engaged with an opponent with an appreciably lower Drill statistic gets an advantage to its performance, which can potentially offset (or add to) the advantage created by a disparity in Troops.
Troop Class - This is the particular "kind" of troop that the unit is made up of. Not in the sense of what they're armed with, but in their social class and the method of recruitment. There are three basic types: Chugen, Ashigaru and Samurai. Chugen are the lowest quality, being conscripted peasant rabble. Ashigaru are something like a semi-professional militia in most domains. Samurai are, of course, the elite and professional warriors. A unit's Troop Class determines both their minimum and maximum Morale and Drill, and also affects the type of armaments they can be equipped with. A unit can be "upgraded" into the class above them, but this can be expensive.
Troop Type: Mostly, this comes down to what weapons your unit is equipped with. Spears, Bows, Guns, etc. It also denotes whether they're mounted or not. Different Troop Types have advantages over each other and different base statistics.
ATK: The offensive power of a unit. Among other things, a commander's VAL stat will affect their ATK.
DEF: The defensive power of a unit. Among other things, a commander's LEA stat will affect their DEF.
SPD: The ability of a unit to cover ground. This is mostly for when units want to reach an objective first, or are trying to flee or to create space/close the gap with an enemy.
RNG: A unit's ranged capability. This is almost entirely a function of Troop Type, though very high Drill can extend a ranged unit's RNG. This is mostly to decide how long a unit can bombard an enemy who can't respond with ranged attacks, and how easy it is to keep their distance.
Battles are divided into Minor Battles, Major Battles, Decisive Battles, and Kessen ("final battle"). The biggest difference between them is how many troops make up a base unit.
In a Minor Battle, the base unit is a troop of up to 30 men. Minor Battles are small skirmishes and raids, and at most will only have a few hundred men on each side.
In a Major Battle, the base unit is a troop of up to 300 men. Major Battles are actual serious engagements and may have up to a few thousand men fighting on each side.
In a Decisive Battle, the base unit is a troop of up to 3,000 men. Decisive Battles are huge, do-or-die affairs that will make or break a clan, and can have tens of thousands fighting on each side.
In a Kessen, the base unit is a troop of up to 30,000 men. As you might expect, a Kessen is a battle that drastically alters the shape of Japan's political landscape no matter who wins, and each one is a huge milestone for the quest.
Now, what do I mean by "base unit?" Simply put, it's the maximum number of troops an independent commander can directly control.
For example, Nobunaga has 150 men with him at the Battle of Kira-Ohama. Since Kira-Ohama is a Minor Battle, the "base unit" is 30, meaning Nobunaga can only directly control 30 out of his 150 men. So what does he do? There are two solutions.
The first solution is to just split off units and put them under the command of an officer to act independently of Nobunaga's personal unit. Nobunaga is the Taisho ("General") and as such can still give them commands, of course, but since they're independent units, they carry out those orders using their own judgment, and the unit uses their own statistics rather than Nobunaga's.
The second solution is to appoint sub-commanders in your unit. Each sub-commander you appoint allows the commander he's placed under to control up to another base unit's worth of troops, and the resulting unit will act as one unit in battle.
Both solutions are useful, and in most battles both will be used. With the first solution, you can act in multiple places on the battlefield, flank opponents, etc. With the second, you can use numbers to your advantage and also use sub-commanders to shore up any potential weakness in a commander or simply give him access to more skills and tactics.
At the Battle of Kira-Ohama, Nobunaga has 150 men, 5 base unit's worth of troops. Let's assume that he uses both of the aforementioned solutions to parcel out control of his men, and his troops' breakdown is thus:
Oda Nobunaga (Hirate Masahide, Takigawa Kazumasu) - 90 men
Kuwayama Shigeharu - 30 men
Kanamori Nagachika - 30 men
So Nobunaga is directly controlling 90 men, with Masahide and Kazumasu as the sub-commanders that let him have that many in a single unit. Further, he's split off two units and given command of one each to Shigeharu and Nagachika, who are beholden to his orders but are otherwise acting on their own judgment and using their own stats, skills and tactics.
If you don't have enough officers to assign to your units, you'll have "placeholder officers" instead. These placeholders have bad stats and no skills or tactics, so even a mediocre officer is always preferable.
This is all very divorced from the reality of Japanese combat at the time in a million different ways, but that would be an absolute unholy nightmare to try to translate faithfully into a quest, so f*ck it. I'll just mention how it actually worked in an information post somewhere.
So that's how units are arrayed. But what happens when they actually meet each other in the field? First of all, the important statistics for a unit are as follows:
Troops - Essentially a health bar, since if this number dips too low the unit collapses into rout and is out of the fight. This is a rare occurrence, though, and most of the time Troops is important because a sizable disparity gives an advantage to the larger unit. Particularly large disparities in Troops even allows for special Tactics like "Encircle."
Morale - Most often, this is the health bar that makes or breaks a unit. With high Morale, a unit performs at its best, and as Morale gets progressively lower their performance slips, and there's a growing chance for the unit to rout. At Morale 0, a unit routs instantly. There are a lot of ways to modify Morale and the rate at which its gained or lost, from environmental effects to training to special Tactics and Skills.
Drill - A unit's Drill is the degree of training they've received in combat. Units with high Drill get bonuses to their troop statistics like ATK, and also lose Morale more slowly and have a lower chance to devolve into rout. A unit engaged with an opponent with an appreciably lower Drill statistic gets an advantage to its performance, which can potentially offset (or add to) the advantage created by a disparity in Troops.
Troop Class - This is the particular "kind" of troop that the unit is made up of. Not in the sense of what they're armed with, but in their social class and the method of recruitment. There are three basic types: Chugen, Ashigaru and Samurai. Chugen are the lowest quality, being conscripted peasant rabble. Ashigaru are something like a semi-professional militia in most domains. Samurai are, of course, the elite and professional warriors. A unit's Troop Class determines both their minimum and maximum Morale and Drill, and also affects the type of armaments they can be equipped with. A unit can be "upgraded" into the class above them, but this can be expensive.
Troop Type: Mostly, this comes down to what weapons your unit is equipped with. Spears, Bows, Guns, etc. It also denotes whether they're mounted or not. Different Troop Types have advantages over each other and different base statistics.
ATK: The offensive power of a unit. Among other things, a commander's VAL stat will affect their ATK.
DEF: The defensive power of a unit. Among other things, a commander's LEA stat will affect their DEF.
SPD: The ability of a unit to cover ground. This is mostly for when units want to reach an objective first, or are trying to flee or to create space/close the gap with an enemy.
RNG: A unit's ranged capability. This is almost entirely a function of Troop Type, though very high Drill can extend a ranged unit's RNG. This is mostly to decide how long a unit can bombard an enemy who can't respond with ranged attacks, and how easy it is to keep their distance.
Oh, and the character threadmark has been updated with some information on the adult members of your clan. I actually did that while ago, but forgot to mention it.
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
Well, there's a reason they managed to become so highly-placed despite how recently they joined and how divided their loyalties are.
I mentioned a while ago that the choice of what animal Rikimaru reminded Nobunaga of had some influence on the rest of your family. "Crow" makes them tend towards the Conservative tenet and to more Clan-focused ideals. It's also why they're so well-balanced when taken as a whole.
- Location
- My room
But can stats go to 120 or are they capped at 100?
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
For characters? Capped at 100. Units can have 120 Morale under special circumstances.
Crow
Falling is a Pleasure. Regardless of its Fate
Easy there bro. Writing is complicated and things always come up. Heckling is of no much help. Lein will update when he updates.
Update on the Quest Status
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
Okay, time to break radio silence. Sorry for leaving you guys in the dark for this long.
The quest isn't dead - I hope. In addition to school starting up and my family doing a bunch of renovations I had to help with (and some personal stuff I'd rather not go into), I've just been really stuck on the game's system. And the end result, after weeks of trying to come up with something, is:
I can't come up with an actual system for combat and battles that I can manage to have any fun writing without throwing verisimilitude out the window. I've actually tested my ideas out, and anything I can think of would take too much time and slow things down, or be really janky and exploitable, and so on. I also tried looking for stuff I could adapt, but couldn't really find anything I could wrap my head around and have fun working with.
So I think I might just have to default to something freeform and narrative-based and just do away with any kind of mechanics, with "stats" really just being more of a rule of thumb/suggestion thing than anything. Which kind of sucks, because I was hoping to branch out into stuff that has actual mechanics, but it seems like it really isn't for me, at least not now.
Another problem is that... honestly, I just got an idea into my head that I can't really get out that's kind of crowding out my attempts to buckle down and write the update. I really don't want to ditch out on this quest to move to something else - everyone who's expressed interest and support in this quest really deserves better than that - but until/unless I work through that nagging idea (if you frequent the RWBY ideas threads/check my ideas thread, you can probably guess what it is), updates likely aren't going to be coming in fast.
Really sorry I don't have better news about the state of the quest, but I hope you're all willing to bear with me. I've gotten pretty much nothing but support and well-thought out criticism (which is actually my favorite part of writing a quest or story), so seriously, thanks.
The quest isn't dead - I hope. In addition to school starting up and my family doing a bunch of renovations I had to help with (and some personal stuff I'd rather not go into), I've just been really stuck on the game's system. And the end result, after weeks of trying to come up with something, is:
I can't come up with an actual system for combat and battles that I can manage to have any fun writing without throwing verisimilitude out the window. I've actually tested my ideas out, and anything I can think of would take too much time and slow things down, or be really janky and exploitable, and so on. I also tried looking for stuff I could adapt, but couldn't really find anything I could wrap my head around and have fun working with.
So I think I might just have to default to something freeform and narrative-based and just do away with any kind of mechanics, with "stats" really just being more of a rule of thumb/suggestion thing than anything. Which kind of sucks, because I was hoping to branch out into stuff that has actual mechanics, but it seems like it really isn't for me, at least not now.
Another problem is that... honestly, I just got an idea into my head that I can't really get out that's kind of crowding out my attempts to buckle down and write the update. I really don't want to ditch out on this quest to move to something else - everyone who's expressed interest and support in this quest really deserves better than that - but until/unless I work through that nagging idea (if you frequent the RWBY ideas threads/check my ideas thread, you can probably guess what it is), updates likely aren't going to be coming in fast.
Really sorry I don't have better news about the state of the quest, but I hope you're all willing to bear with me. I've gotten pretty much nothing but support and well-thought out criticism (which is actually my favorite part of writing a quest or story), so seriously, thanks.
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Go nuts. Narrative based works just fine, but mechanical battle systems...well success has been iffy with those
Crow
Falling is a Pleasure. Regardless of its Fate
It does depend. Sometimes it doesn't pan out but when it does it works out pretty interestingly and does add greatly to the quest.
Though granted grand strategy types are a little more involved.