31JUL12 - MAJOR RELEASE (Crafting)

T2 spearmen are better than t2 bows defensively. They generally have about 1.5 more defense vs cavalry than bows do, which is all that really matters (except in forests, where inf attacks, but spears get a bonus while bows are penalized there). Also, they are slightly cheaper in resources and faster to make. I haven't looked in detail at the new crafting stats, but I'm sure that in terms of def vs cav spears will still be better than bows even when the bows get decked out in special gear. Far from overpowered, trueshots are merely good at swaggering around on the stats page and showing off figures that don't apply to most defensive combat. There is something, however, to be said about bowmen attacking. A trueshot works admirably when storming a mountain guarded by spearmen, doing as well if not better than a knight.

Brids17 wrote: Silent/Steadfast wrote: T2 spearmen are better than t2 bows defensively. They generally have about 1.5 more defense vs cavalry than bows do, which is all that really matters (except in forests, where inf attacks, but spears get a bonus while bows are penalized there). Why not just build T2 cav for everything then? T2 spear and cav have the same cav defense for Dwarves, so if cav defense is all that really matters, wouldn't have nothing but cavs be best? Giving you the same cav defense and far more attack and speed.

There are several reasons, the main one being that spearmen get a bonus in defense in more types of terrain. Also, spearmen train a lot faster than cav, and their resource cost is a lot less.

you know...instead of us arguing over this, i say we ask the devs...they should know the answer...and be able to explain it better than any of us as to why things are the way they are...

Paul wrote: Question on the Crafting Research Tree - are all of those dependencies across different types of armor/weapons intentional?  For example, (other than the first row of chainmail research), all of the chainmail research depends on leather armor research.  Sames with swords/spears, etc.  So if I want to specialize in chainmail, I first have to specialize in leather armor?

Researching something has no effect other than to unlock something new in your city. In other words, you don't have to craft leather armor after you research it.

I guess the main point is that if I want to research ALL chainmail techs, I first have to research ALL leather armor techs (and have the leather armorer building around the entire time that I'm researching).  Previously there were no dependencies between leather/chainmail, so that's why I ask if that was what was intended.