So you're saying that you're going to delete any suggestion that doesn't have exact numbers on what to add -_-

I agree with this suggestion, I am tired of having a million soldiers everywhere, civilians could kind of replace them.

Okay, here's some data from the biome code.

For many Northern biomes Gundabad spawns at night are coded in the same way as the spawns of rabbits and birds, like pests, so to speak:

GundabadOrc spawns with a weighted chance of 20 in groups of 4 to 6 individuals.

GundabadOrcArcher spawns with a weighted chance of 10 in groups of 4 to 6 individuals.

In Eriador the (day and night) spawns of Rangers is set at a weighted chance of 10 with groups of 4 to 4 individuals.

Another specific biome setting is the 'setGoodEvilWeight', which is 10,90 for Eriador. This modifies the relative weight chances to an extent, haven't looked into how this is exactly calculated though.

Without taking into account possible cave-spawns, we could propose to adjust these spawn settings to weights of 4, 2 and 2 for Orcs, OrcArchers and Rangers respectively, and set the group sizes to 12-24, 8-20 and 8-16, for instance, to get an NPC presence that would better fit your proposal. Orcs will be less common and wander in bigger groups, while rangers are 5 times less common (as you suggested) and only wander in slightly bigger groups.

Note that military patrols are mostly organized in groups of 8-12, while a platoon will consist of 3-4 groups. This has been like that in areas of significant military conflict / risk zones for ages. You just don't go about in danger zones in groups smaller than 8 ... unless one NPC represents more than one 'real life' individual of course.

By the way, if the average troop size that a player can encounter increases, I would like to strengthen my plea to introduce an experience based trait system to enable players to improve their base survival skills and stats ... see my profile for more info. ;)

Note that I am definitely not a codemaster young loremaster. I can read some code, but my main skill is functional design. ;)

Ok, so each mob has a specific spawning rate, win an overall good v. evil spawn rate?

Yes Sir! And they all use the same spawn prerequisite logic.

Yeah, the numbers and properties are cool and all, but you should really ease it with the thread-closing. Not everyone is an expert with this stuff.

No. Lol, now I understand that second remark.

I think this recent post by Sam, is applicable here, especially as it got quite a lot of support.

Here are my thoughts, from this thread.

Why change the way NPC's spawn?

Currently, NPC's spawn randomly throughout their respective biomes. While this is OK for some NPC's (i.e. Rangers), it looks kind of funny to see Rohirrim scattered around the fields of Rohan.

So, how's this going to work?

The new NPC spawn mechanics will be similar to those used in invasions. Firstly, NPC's will, in general, spawn much more rarely. For example, much of Rohan would be empty. To spawn an NPC, the first thing that would happen is that a "general" would spawn. He would essentially be a banner-bearer, but with somewhat improved health when compared to the normal NPC's. One tick later, this general would spawn somewhere between 8 and 12 NPC's of his faction around himself. The mechanics for this sort of spawning would be similar to those used by Travelling Traders. These units could be either ranged or melee units.

In the case of certain factions, such as Isengard, Mordor, Gundabad, and Dunland, the company leaders would have a chance to be Berserkers, Black Uruks, or Gundabad Uruks, depending on the faction. Otherwise, these elite units would not spawn naturally. Their health would be the same as it currently is.

Wait -- isn't this suggesting new NPC AI?

Nope. The spawned NPC's won't follow their general. Their AI would not be changed. Also, the general is not a major character. He is simply a slightly stronger version of the normal NPC's, dealing the same damage as a player would with the weapon he's holding, i.e. a Gondorian General would deal +7.5 HP with a Gondorian sword (1HP from natural attack + 6.5 from the sword), compared to 4-5 for a Gondor Soldier. This increased attack would also apply to unit traders, as well.

Which NPC's would spawn this way?

Most of the mod's NPC's would spawn this way. The exceptions to this rule would be:

• Rangers
• Bandits
• Dwarves (as they do not typically spawn above ground)
• Civilians
• Wargs
• Olog-hai
• Mirk-trolls
• Ents
• Huorns
• Trolls
• Utumno mobs

What do you think of this?

Glflegolas (admin) ^{Send a Messenger}

Nice, maybe generals would have a chance to have anatural buff, like resistance, haste or strength to give them some variety.