Change XXIX.

-Adjusted Socii Extraordinarii (SE) so that they are now allowed to throw pila using fire-at-will like the Socii Hastati. Originally I thought the SE were auxilia types that were not trained in the "Roman way" of infantry tactics, but this seems to be incorrect -- they were just hand picked Socii infantry so were likely trained in the same way as the rest (i.e. in the Roman way of warfare). If I find this to be false then I will change it back.

Change XXVIII.

-Added +10 to the range of the pila, realizing why it was the way I had it before. The problem is that at realistic range (Change XXVI), the units were not throwing their pila, except for the first rank, and most often the enemy would be in melee range before they were thrown.

Change XXVII.

-Tweaked the reload rate of the scorpion weapons to be more useful.

-Adjusted the damage of the scorpion bolts so that they are actually effective to use against elephants.

-Added the a "fire bonus" morale modifier to the flaming scorpion bolts when used against elephants (like flaming javelins, but a little more frightning).

-Lowered the war elephant HP bonus back to 50 from 100 because they were too much of a tank (in a bad way). I raised it in Change VI, but have now changed my mind about it (for the moment).

Change XXVI.

-Further reduced the range of the pila to a more realistic distance of 20 (heavy) and 30 (light), from the previous 40.

-Adjusted reload rate of the heavy pila to be quicker, they were taking too long to throw the second heavy pila before.

-Added a minor effect from pila to reduce the target enemy's shield defense for three minutes. The idea here is, as was historically the case, once a unit was hit with pila, those who were not killed usually had to carry around their shield with a pilum stuck in it, thereby decreasing their effectiveness with the use of their shield or causing them to get rid of it altogether (the shield became clumsy to wield). This penalty at the moment is a 25% reduction in shield defense strength of the unit. This approach differs from other pila mods in that the penalty is less severe, but lasts longer, rather than an extremely severe but shorter penalty to shield defense.

NOTE: It is rationalized that after the duration of this effect, the soldiers that suffer from the pila penalty would have found some way to remove it or acquired new shields.

Change XXV.

-Adjusted (reduced) the javelin and pilum range to a more realistic level (now 80 --> 60 and 50 --> 40 respectively). Javelin_with_ankyle now have a range of 95.

Here is a note regarding missile weapon ranges, because I am really tired of hearing about the complaints that CA screwed it all up (and that I should do something about it in this mod):

1) Slings. In Rome 2, the slings maximum effective range is set to 150m, and CA has it correct at that range. The reason is because although it is true they could fire out to 300m, the lethality range (the range in which it could kill a man) was only 100-150 meters, anything beyond that range was like a hand thrown rock and was a waste of ammunition due to the loss of penetration power over range, because it was a flat trajetory weapon.
(penetration range: Wary, John. Warfare_in_the_Classical_World. University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. Page 42.)

2) Arrows. In Rome 2, the composite bow has a range of 150m. Again CA is correct with this range because it is documented that ancient archers trained to use the bow effectively at 145m. Anything beyond that range is in the realm of medieval longbows.

3) Javelins and pila. Now this is one area that I believe CA had it wrong. Modern olympians world record javelin throws are in the 90 meters range, and this is with a modern javelin, and a huge wind up/run up to the throw. The javelinmen in ancient times were not all olympians, and were not throwing modern javelins and, in Rome 2, they are thrown rapidly from stationary position. Beceause of all of that, it made sense to shortern the range of Javelins and pila to a more realistic 60 and 40 meter effective range. Modern experiements have shown that the ankyle device increases javelin distance by 58%, so javelins with ankyle have a range of 95 meters now (which was very close to their original value of 100).

Change XXIV.

-Fixed a problem where infantry would not disembark from ships.

Change XXIII.

-Reduced the explosive power of the small onager and ballista. These weapons were not Napoleonic field artillery, they would mostly used in siege battles. The problems were:

a) The small ballista and small onager were too effective in land battles, as they have enough explosive power (shock wave) to destroy entire units with a few shots.

b) Flammable rounds were higher damage and explosive -- their standard shockwave was too much for such a small round.

Change XXII.

-Patch "Seasons and Wonders" capatibility update.

Change XXI.

-Lowered torch reload rate so that it is now 2x the original level (12 --> 24), rather than the previous 3.33x (40) rate. This was done again, because although I do hate the torches, until CA (ever) fixes the AI's single use of siege ladders then torch reload rates cannot be too high, otherwise siege battles are just too easy.

If CA ever fixes the ladder usage then I will change the reload rate back to 3.33x, but after 10 patches I am not holding my breath.

Change XX.

-Patch 10 compatibility update.