Legion battles

Being a Legatus, one of the main duties the player must face is taking control of Legio Victrix in battle. Throughout the game, the player will fight a number of battles using Legio Victrix, called **Legion Battles**. These battles differ from normal combat encounters in that they involve two armies facing off against each other in a card-battle style of engagement. Armies try to win by having greater combat strength than their enemy at the end of the battle, which they achieve by deploying different stratagems. These stratagems can unlock powerful bonuses which can greatly affect the tide of combat, and sway the outcome of the battle one way to another.

## Legion Stats

Every army, whether it be your legion or the enemies, has the same core stats which determine its strength in a battle: **Army Strength, Manpower, Morale, and Experience**

### **Army Strength**

Army strength is the main judgement of the combat prowess of an army, and is the determining factor in whether an army wins or loses a battle. Army strength is calculated based off the army's active manpower, morale, experience, and stratagem bonuses. During the battle, an army's strength will continually decrease, as attrition takes hold and the enemy injures and kills soldiers.

### **Manpower**

Manpower is the numerical amount of fighting men in an army. In a legion, this number can be up to a max of 4800 men. A singular point of manpower adds 1 strength to an army, so a fully employed legion will have an army strength of 4800, not counting any other modifiers. During a battle, the army will continually lose manpower as a result of the fighting. Those lost to in battle will either be dead, injured, or missing. **Dead** means that they are effectively subtracted from the number of manpower permanently, and must be replaced by hiring new troops. **Injured** means that they are subtracted from the total manpower, but over time will heal and be added back to the number of men in the army. Players can also heal injured men by paying denarii to remove their injuries, similar to replacing dead troops. **Missing** means that the outcome of the soldier is unknown, and the player must wait until the missing soldier is found. When found, missing soldiers will show up either alive or dead. Players cannot replenish missing troops instantly, and must wait until the missing troops show up in order to replenish them.

### **Morale**

Morale is a standing of the spirits of the army. Morale can range from -100 to +100, and can fluctuate through battle. Each point of morale adds 10 to the army strength. Armies primarily gain or lose morale through the deployment of different stratagems. Note that losing a battle does NOT decrease an army’s morale. In fact, it is possible for an army’s morale to increase, even if they lost.

### **Experience**

Experience adds 1 point of army strength per point of experience to the army, and is gained by winning battles. For every battle an army wins, they gain 10 experience. The player can use their legion's experience to perform different legion missions, at the cost of army strength. Note that losing a battle does NOT decrease experience of an army.

## Command Specialisations

Command Specialisations are points which provide different buffs or debuffs to your legion when certain numbers of them are reached. There are 4 command specialisations a player must keep track of: **Artillery, Cavalry, Infantry, and Logistics.** Each one provides different buffs/debuffs when certain thresholds are reached. You reach different thresholds by deploying stratagems, which add (or potentially subtract) points from each category of specialisation. Enemies can also deploy their own stratagems, which also affect the amount of points you have in your command specialisations. Each command specialisation unlocks different effects when it reaches 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 points. It also unlocks debuffs for your legion when it reaches -1, -3, -6, -9, and -12 points as well. Each buff/debuff can only be activated once per battle, so if you reach Artillery level 6, that 250 reduction of enemy manpower will only trigger once, even if you fall below level 6 and then surpass it again.

### Artillery

The artillery command specialisation focuses on killing enemy manpower outright. The number of which is influenced by the level of your legion's stockpile building. This specialisation can also cause the enemy army to scatter, which is incredibly useful.

 Negative Level Effects

### Cavalry

The cavalry command specialisation increases the aggression of an army, meaning that they will inflict more casualties on the enemy during the attrition part of each phase. It also affects the chances that your commander or centuriones dies in battle.

 Negative Level Effects

### Infantry

The infantry command specialisation increases the defense of an army, meaning that they will take less casualties from the enemy during the attrition part of each phase. It can also cause the enemy army to scatter, and potentially has the risk of killing your commander outright.

 Negative Level Effects

### Logistics

The logistics command specialisation affects the morale of the legion, and also provides better loot rewards.

 Negative Level Effects

## Stratagems

Stratagems are cards you deploy during a legion battle to increase your command specialisations. During each phase (except phase 0) of a battle, both you and your enemy will choose and apply one stratagem. There are 4 different categories of stratagems: Formation, Engagement, Complication, and Resolution. Each one is played during their respective phase in a battle. You have a pool of stratagems to draw from, which you can see by inspecting your Armoury/Forge/Factory building at your legion camp. This is also the building where you can craft new stratagems, or upgrade them so that they provide higher numbers of command specialisation points. There are 2 different types of stratagems, one time use, and permanent. Permanent stratagems, once researched, are permanently added to your stratagem pool and can be used an infinite amount of times over different battles. One time use stratagems can only be used once, before they must be researched again. Most one time use stratagems provide higher amounts of command specialisation points than their permanent counterparts, which usually have a command specialisation that they subtract from.

## Battle

Army Battles are split into 5 phases. The selection phase (Phase 0) is where the player selects their commander for the battle, and the initial stratagems are played. Phases 1-3 are the battle phases, and where the majority of combat happens. Finally Phase 4 is the end phase, where consolidate after a victory or loss. This is also the phase where rewards are handed out. At every phase (except phase 0), each army can play one stratagem.

### Selection Phase (Phase 0)

This is the phase where you pick your legion's commander, and where the initial effects to specialisations are played. It is divided into two seperate parts.

#### Initial Contact

When your legion gets into combat with an enemy army, the first thing that will happen is that your initial command specialisation points are calculated. This is based off the combined total of command specialisations from your centuriones, minus the initial command specialisations of the enemy army. For example, your legion has 2 centuriones: Marcus (1 Artillery, 2 Cavalry), and Laertes (2 Infantry, 1 Logistics). The combined total of these is 1 Artillery, 2 Cavalry, 2 Infantry, and 1 Logistics. The enemy army also applies their command specialisations to you (-1 Artillery, -1 Cavalry, -1 Infantry). You are then left with 0 Artillery, 1 Cavalry, 1 Infantry, and 1 Logistics as your initial command specialisations.

#### Choosing your commander

Following this, you must now select which centurion you want to have as your commander for the battle. When choosing a commander, you must pay attention to 4 different things: their command specialisations, resource gain, survival chance, and insubordination risk. A commanders command specialisation(s) will add to your command specialisation total. Resource gain affects the amount of loot you will get at the end of the battle. Survival chance is the chance that the commander will survive after the battle, you want this to be high, if you care about your commander. Insubordination risk is the risk that soldiers in your legion will become insubordinate, stealing resources or leaving your legion entirely. Insubordination risk is based of the selected commanders approval of you.

Once you have selected your commander, the buffs/debuffs from the specialisations apply. So from our example earlier, lets say you picked Marcus to be your commander, which would add an additional 1 Artillery and 2 Cavalry to your specialisations. This would leave you with 1 Artillery, 3 Cavalry, 1 Infantry, and 1 Logistics. You would then receive the buffs of Enemy Morale -5, Enemy Manpower -50, Player Aggression +25%, Enemy Manpower -50, and Enemy Manpower -50. Then the next phase would begin.

### Formation Phase (Phase 1)

In this phase you select your formation stratagem. Firstly, the enemy will apply their stratagem. You are then given a random selection of 3 formation strategems from your pool of stratagems, and must play one. Both the stratagems are consolidated into your command specialisation point pool, and and buffs/debuffs are applied. Then you move into the attrition part of the phase. In this part, the armies fight each other, inflicting casualties on both sides. Each army takes 3 losses each attrition part. The number of this loss depends on the armies strength, agression, and defense. Those with higher aggression and numbers will inflict a greater amount of loss onto an enemy army, and vice versa. Defense reduces the loss and army takes. Once each army has sustained 3 losses, the attrition part will end and the next phase will begin.

### Engagement Phase (Phase 2)

This phase functions exactly the same as the formation phase, with the enemy applying their stratagem first. However, in this case, you are given a selection of 3 engagement stratagems. Once you have selected one, buffs/debuffs are applied. You then enter the attrition part, after which you move onto the next phase.

### Complications Phase (Phase 3)

In this phase, one of 3 things will happen. One of your maniples starts breaking, the weather changes/gets worse, or the enemy starts to break. In any case you are given a random selection of 3 complication stratagems, which are chosen based off which of the 3 complications are occurring. The rest of the phase proceeds as normal.

### Resolution Phase (Phase 4)

After the third, and final attrition part, you will enter the resolution phase. Like before, the enemy applies their stratagem, and 3 random stratagems are rolled, depending on whether or not your legion won or lost the battle. Once you have done so, you will proceed to the end screen, where a report of your total manpower losses, XP gain, resource gain, and such will be shown.

## Updates

Logic Artists plans on reforming legion skills, by adding points for the BCIL specialications (Ballistics,, Cavalry, Infantry and Logistics), with Stratagems changing the amount of points in combat as well, along with some other changes. This is planned for early - mid April 2022.

* https://community.expeditionsseries.com/index/dev-diaries/devdiary-19-legion-battle-update-and-gamepad-support-r26/