When it comes to RTS, variety is the spice of life. Would some people like to try learning a bit of Cossacks OC Mod Balanced for a change? It doesn’t mean you need to give up FAF. Just to catch your interest, I will describe Cossacks OC Mod Balanced for you. I did not create the Mod but I have rebalanced it to fix some overpowered and underpowered nations. If you know standard Cossacks I, this mod is very different and requires you to use proper formations and strategies and not just wild swarming hordes to win.
The game covers the period of European warfare in the 17th and 18th Century. As such it features (on land) infantry, cavalry, artillery, fences, walls, log cabins, towers, mines and various economic and military buildings. It has two tech levels, these being the 17th and 18th centuries with the troops and weapons appropriate to each century. Individual units can also receive attack, defence, armour and weapons upgrades.
The distinguishing feature of this Mod is that it can grow into a large game with full armies used mostly in large formations. A game that proceeds to a full blown 18th C stage will see each player end up with about 1,500 peasants gathering six resources of food, wood, stone, coal, iron and gold. This worker base plus all the mines and economic buildings that are needed will support a full sized army of about 5,000 units.
A complete 18th C army with some 17th C remnants will look something like this;
Artillery
18th C Cannon= 12 pieces
Howitzers= 6 pieces
Mortars= 24 pieces
Siege Guns= 4 pieces
Multi-barrels= 6 pieces
Subtotal=42 pieces
17th C Scouts (remnants)
Heavy Horse=40 units (loose and spread, not in formation)
Spotters (Drummers)=40 units (spread for sight of map)
Subtotal=80 units
18th C Units
1st Infantry Muskets=432 men
2nd Infantry Muskets=432 men
3rd Infantry Muskets=432 men
4th Infantry Muskets=432 men
5th Infantry Muskets=432 men
6th Infantry Muskets=432 men
Subtotal=2,592 men
1st Grenadiers=144 men
2nd Grenadiers=144 men
3rd Grenadiers=144 men
Skirmishers=288 men (loose)
Miscellaneous=180 men (loose)
(Miscellaneous covers assembling units and stragglers from defeated formations.)
Subtotal=1,000 men
Cavalry
18th Hussars=100 units
18th Dragoons=1,200 units
Subtotal=1,300 units
TOTAL=5,014 units
The games are played on large land maps. There are no air units of course and it works better as a land game without navy units although some ferry transports and gunboats (sloops or yachts) can be permitted by agreement.
Some interesting facts about the game are as follows. There are 21 separate nations each with their own capabilities. They fall into groups with similarities but each nation still has one or more aspects that are totally unique to it. The resource model uses 6 resources and it is a storage model not a flow model. However, in practice for creating units it works like a flow model with infinite loop production of peasants and troops. Game control is surprisingly easy for a large unit limit game because it uses formations. The smallest possible formation is 24 (pikemen or muskets) and the largest possible formation is 432 men. Thus with one select and click you can control 432 men and send them on a march, on the attack or onto the defence to hold a defensive position. Infantry can be formed into formations of 24, 36, 72, 144, 288 and 432 men. Different formations are possible for different tactical and strategic situations (lines, columns and squares) Cavalry can be formed into formations to 20, 40, 80 or 120 in line, column or wedge formations, the wedge being best for charges.
The need to create formations actually stops spamming and swarming. Yes, you still spam units in the production sense but you do not spam them at the enemy in streams or swarms. If you do so you will lose badly. You need to form the men up into formations with drummers, flag bearers and officers. Units in formation gain strong attack and defence bonuses and are much more effective in combat. Battles start to be about proper manoeuvring of formations and putting them in the best position compared to enemy placements, your other supporting formations, cannon fire support and features like hills, lakes, obstacles, and impassable ground.
If you are interested, post your interest here. Then I will work out how to get a copy of the mod to you. You could buy a copy of Cossacks off eBay or even off Steam. Get Cossacks I in the 1.35 Back to War Version. Don’t get Cossacks II, it’s bad like SupCom 2 is bad. The Steam copy may not give you the serial number to play on the GSC server but we can get around that. I will help you with installing the mod files on top of the basic game. The game is a legacy game so there are some (easily correctable) issues with getting it to run on Windows 7 and with maybe avoiding the latest laser mouses. Just use an older optical mouse if need be. The entire game folder is less than 1 gig.
There is lots more I could tell you but that’s enough for starters. Please express interest or ask questions.Statistics: Posted by Crazy Cossack — 08 May 2013, 04:48
]]>