Thirty Years War

[techumseh]

I've been working on a conversion of Jesus Munoz's Thirty Years War for ToT (v. 1). I've found a number of flaws, which I've set out to correct, and I've started to add my own tweaks as well. So I'm thinking I might just rebuild it from the chassis up.

So far, I've revealed the map around barbarian cities so they no longer starve, and fixed the events which create unlimited units in the Portugese revolt. The Barbarians have been edited so that they have democracy, and their cities can't be bribed.

I've made mountains impassible, and carved passes through them where needed. And I've added airbases to all the land squares to give stackable terrain.

More...

[Eivind IV]

Airbases in adjecent to one another creates railroad effect. Maybe no in TOT?

[techumseh]

I think I'll use the units from Munoz's second version, which are more interesting. The AI actually seems to build most of them, which is very important. I've asked Fairline to do new unit art which he's agreed to do.

I'm going to delete the units and improvements from the existing scenario. There are too many unnecessary improvements that can be sold for cash. It needs a stripped-down build menu, so that the AI concentrates on building units. Units will be replaced with ones from the second version.


/more.....

[techumseh]

I'm thinking of reworking the tech tree. Does anyone have suggestions on military technologies during this period? Also non-military technologies, cultural developments and even key historical and diplomatic events could be included in the tech tree.

Also, does anyone have suggestions about what commodities were traded in the 17th century?

[techumseh]

Originally posted by Eivind IV
Airbases in adjecent to one another creates railroad effect. Maybe no in TOT?

No, not in ToT. It's actually much better for pre-flight scenarios, since airbases don't affect the movement of ground units, unlike forts.

[Arthedain]

Originally posted by techumseh
I'm thinking of reworking the tech tree. Does anyone have suggestions on military technologies during this period?

I don't know what the technology should be called, but Sweden had the most modern army during the time. Their muskets and cannons could be reloaded much faster than anyone elses (probably not everybody, but still). Not that it helps you much, I was just feeling like writing something.

[Dr Kellogg]

Originally posted by techumseh
I'm thinking of reworking the tech tree. Does anyone have suggestions on military technologies during this period? Also non-military technologies, cultural developments and even key historical and diplomatic events could be included in the tech tree.

Also, does anyone have suggestions about what commodities were traded in the 17th century?

The Baroque style dominated art, architecture, theater, literature, music.
The importance of universities grew; modern natural sciences were founded (maths, physics), the telescope and the microscope were invented;
there was barely progress concerning medicine, though; death rate was extremly high

Alphabetisation proceeded with the Protestant Reformation; the school system was institutionalised;
The importance of printing grew; religious (and political) pamphlets and newspapers were founded; theologic, politcal and scientific ideas dispersed; light fiction (romances and the new novel) raised

Mercantilism; the states began to intervene in commercial concerns; the monetised economy became important; banknotes were reintroduced; the first automatic calculators and adding machines were invented;
oversea trade with the colonies were fundamental for commercial rise of cities and states, while economic areas like the Baltic Sea or the Mediterranean became nonrelevant; goods from all over the world were imported, processed in manufacturies and sold throughout the continent; tea and coffee became popular in Europe

Firearms were expensive to produce; henceforth, an extended commercial and industrial infrastructure was necessary to equip a large army; "mass-production" was impossible for agricultural nations

The pike as a main battlefield weapon was replaced by firearms during the Thirty Years War. They were still used against cavalry though. However, new cavalry tactics (Caracole) and bayoneted firearm made them finally obsolete.
Cuirassiers (armoured and equipped with firearms) had replaced the little armoured Demi-lancers as well as the armoured knights. The importance of cavalry was reduced, though. Frontal charges against infantry became impossible so the cavalry was used to attack on the flanks and from behind or simply for scouting.
Firearmes and canons became lighter, more accurate, could fire projectiles faster and over increasing distances. Therefore, plate armor became more and more ineffective.


Hakkapeliitta / Hackapelit were the feared Finnish cavalry men fighting for Sweden in all areas of Germany.
Krippenreiter were mounted noblemen who became impoverished during the Thirty Years War and therefore began to maraud.
The Harzschützen were armed dwellers of the Harz (a mountain range in Germany) who successfully fought the marauding soldiers of all involved parties in the 1620's.

[Sarsstock]

I'm impressed there Dr. Kellog, that was a very well put together review of 18th century history from the arts and sciences to warfare .

[techumseh]

Thanks. That's helpful. What about military formations? Did everyone use the tercio until the Swedish linear formation, or was it just the Spanish?

[fairline]

Originally posted by Dr Kellogg
The pike as a main battlefield weapon was replaced by firearms during the Thirty Years War. They were still used against cavalry though. However, new cavalry tactics (Caracole) and bayoneted firearm made them finally obsolete.

Ratios between pike and shot changed during the 30YW in favour of firearms but the pike was still an important weapon at its close in 1648; certainly the ratio of shot : pike in English Civil War armies in the 1640's was 2:1. The bayonet was invented in the 1640's I think, but it wasn't until the ring-bayonet fixing was introduced (1680's?) that the pike became obsolete.

Another development towards the end of this period was the replacement of the 3-quarter armoured cuirassier by cavalry armoured only with back and breast-plate.

[fairline]

Originally posted by Sarsstock
I'm impressed there Dr. Kellog, that was a very well put together review of 18th century history from the arts and sciences to warfare .

17th century

[Sarsstock]

I stand corrected.

[Dr Kellogg]

I am pretty sure that the tercio was used in most European armies. It has proven successful. In Germany it was known as Spanisches Viereck = Spanish Square As fairline said, the number of pikemen decreased while the number of musketmen grew during the conflict.
The tercio disappeard until the end of the century and was replaced by Gustav Adolf's system of linear formations and the French system of battalions and regiments.


Although the development of muskets ended in new and better firearms, most were called muskets too; originally the musket was heavier than the arquebus; during the Thirty Years War the weapon became lighter (lighter than the arquebus), but the name remained.
To make matters worse, all long guns were called musket in the English language until the 19th century!

I guess I won't be easy to find appropriate names.

[Dr Kellogg]

You are right, fairline. The pike remained until the early 18th century, especially in Russia and Sweden. Afaik, the pike became unimportant in Western and Central Europe after the English Civil War.

[techumseh]

J. Munoz uses pike and musket as separate units, so a smart human player uses muskets for attack and pikes to defend the muskets, esp. from cavalry, as was done historically. Of course the AI doesn't know this, so musketeers attack by themselves while the pikes just defend cities.

Should I replace this single arm catagorization of units with combined arms units such as 'Tercio' or 'Swedish Line'?