View Poll Results: How long should a battle round last? (i.e., a round on the battlefield)

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  • 1. There is no such thing. All combat is resolved in 6 second rounds (same as a standard combat round)

    1 5.88%
  • 2. 10 minutes

    7 41.18%
  • 3. 15 minutes

    3 17.65%
  • 4. 30 minutes

    2 11.76%
  • 5. Other - please specify

    4 23.53%
  • 6. Abstain

    0 0%
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Thread: Battle rounds

  1. #1
    Birthright Developer irdeggman's Avatar
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    Based on a comment made by Osprey and other related discussion concerning magic on the battlefield it looks like it is important to narrow some things down.
    Duane Eggert

  2. #2
    Birthright Developer irdeggman's Avatar
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    I went with 10 minute rounds only because the numbers are easier towork out, just in case there is some tie in with standard combat rounds. A 10 minute battle round would last 100 standard combat rounds. I do, however, like the 15 minute concept that Osprey posted a while ago.
    Duane Eggert

  3. #3
    Senior Member Thomas_Percy's Avatar
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    Before I'll vote.
    I don't understand why everyone could create new special rounds instead of using typical 6 sec D&D rds? No maths, everything ready, every spell works as in the D&D.
    But maybe I don't see something important, so explain me, why there are other options?

  4. #4
    Birthright Developer irdeggman's Avatar
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    First off you need to understand this is talking about the battle system using troops and such and not the individual combat system between small (relatively) groups of characters.

    There was a different system because in 2nd ed the battle system was a further abstaction of the already abstract D&D combat round. It was resolved using cards and not dice rolls. The system was based on 200 member units. The number of hits the units had and damage they could deal was likewise simpified instead of having individual hit points for every member of the unit.

    Imagine the amount of bookkeeping a DM had to do to keep trackof 200 indidividual combats.

    For a visual concept of what this system entails think of the various computer games with massive war units - Rome: Total War (or any of the Total War games), Warcraft, Birthright - the Gorgan's Alliance, etc.
    Duane Eggert

  5. #5
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    I've voted for 10 minutes - I would actually probably use 5 minutes for preference (and may do so in house-rules) but 10 is an easy figure to work with for the purpose of the standard BR rules.

  6. #6
    Member Michael Romes's Avatar
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    I have voted other.

    I do not like the thought that a clash of two armies should be resolved in the
    standard seconds of battle time as battles between individuals are in 3.X D&D

    Not only would that be a horror to roll 200 times for archers shooting their bows
    if we would really resolve it all in individual style. It also would be unrealistic - army units in formation always are slower to move or act, than an individual soldier.

    More important to me is that a large battle of an army should take a whole day (or at
    least 8 hours of daylight).

    I like the statement that an army "has won the day" and that armies fought often a whole day before the battle was decided or the night forced them to separate.

    If a unit of archers shoots in 3 second rounds most, even major battles of large armies, would be over in half an hour - Waterloo (Belle Alliance), Gettysburgh perhaps in 1 hour instead of a few days - brrr..
    Michael Romes

  7. #7
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    Originally posted by Michael Romes@Mar 4 2005, 08:01 AM
    I have voted other.

    I do not like the thought that a clash of two armies should be resolved in the
    standard seconds of battle time as battles between individuals are in 3.X D&D

    Not only would that be a horror to roll 200 times for archers shooting their bows
    if we would really resolve it all in individual style. It also would be unrealistic - army units in formation always are slower to move or act, than an individual soldier.

    More important to me is that a large battle of an army should take a whole day (or at
    least 8 hours of daylight).

    I like the statement that an army "has won the day" and that armies fought often a whole day before the battle was decided or the night forced them to separate.

    If a unit of archers shoots in 3 second rounds most, even major battles of large armies, would be over in half an hour - Waterloo (Belle Alliance), Gettysburgh perhaps in 1 hour instead of a few days - brrr..
    I am confused about your statement. Why do you not support battle rounds laster 15 or 30 minutes then. That way big battles would last the entire day.
    Build a man a fire and he will be warm for a night. Set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life.

  8. #8
    Birthright Developer irdeggman's Avatar
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    My sentiments exactly - why not one of the rounds lasting in terms of minutes vice seconds then?

    Note these are rounds and not the entire battle - consider resolution ot follow the standard D&D format of order of initiative and then the individual (unit) performs its action, then the next unit in the initiative order and so on. I didn't see (or say) anything to infer that a single roll (or round) resolves the battle.
    Duane Eggert

  9. #9
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    irdeggman schrieb:



    >This post was generated by the Birthright.net message forum.

    > You can view the entire thread at:

    > http://www.birthright.net/forums/ind...ST&f=36&t=3019

    >

    > irdeggman wrote:

    > My sentiments exactly - why not one of the rounds lasting in terms of minutes vice seconds then?

    >

    >Note these are rounds and not the entire battle - consider resolution ot follow the standard D&D format of order of initiative and then the individual (unit) performs its action, then the next unit in the initiative order and so on. I didn`t see (or say) anything to infer that a single roll (or round) resolves the battle.

    >

    Neither did I understand it so that a single roll resolves the battle,

    that is the reason why I meant that a major battle would take hours

    instead of days *when the single battle round would take only seconds*.

    I did not mean that it would take half an hour if the battle round is

    half an hour:



    > If a unit of archers shoots in 3 second rounds most, even major

    > battles of large armies, would be over in half an hour - Waterloo

    > (Belle Alliance), Gettysburgh perhaps in 1 hour instead of a few days

    > - brrr..



    However I wrongly wrote 3 second rounds instead of 6 seconds but that is

    irrelevant as both as far too fast for army units IMO.



    Even with a slightly larger battlefield than the 2E 5X3 the armies would

    be able to close in 1 or 2 battlerounds. With units being able to take

    only up to 4 hits according to the BRCS only for veteran units if I read

    that right, even large battles could be decided in less than a day using

    even 10 or 15 Minutes per round. The 30 Minutes would be the closest to

    what I would like if I had not voted other.



    Using for example 1 hour rounds, for 12 (more or less according to

    region and season) rounds of daylight, would still see skirmishes of a

    few army units finished in one day, but would force large armys to

    either retreat and rest to fight the next day - or fight in conditions

    of less light or darkness which gives all races an advantage which have

    lowlightvision or darkvision.

    bye

    Michael

  10. #10
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    Not every battle should (or did) last for a day - many Napoleonic battles were over extremely quickly, sometimes after one exchange of volley fire. The length of the battle round should not, in my opinion, be used to artificially extend the length of a battle - it should represent a period of time in which a unit can make one important action (ie, a charge and engage, a manoeuvre to a nearby part of the field, a holding action, a slow retreat).

    I am, I will admit, talking here without a good knowledge of either the 2E Birthright battle rules or the playtest version. I'm just lobbing opinions out in my own carefree manner!

    A truly important battle, one in which huge armies clash to decide the result of a campaign, could easily last a long time because of the number of units involved. But a battle between up to 1000 soldiers on each side wouldn't last longer than a couple of hours of combat (more if long pauses in the action happen to occur). After two hours of fighting, everyone is exhausted. I've been in 2,000-person LARP battles (hardly the real thing but of some small educational merit, perhaps) where we're only hefting rubber swords around and running relatively small distances but there is no way they would last a day with that number of people. Even in those battles, there are regular pauses as the lines reorganise and taunt each other, etc.

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