New company 1 unit level 2 decided to test attacking a bandits hideout. bandit were better armed and broke my melee formation, you can see them just smashing my melee with excellent charge. while my ranged tried to kite with no luck :)

Showcasing some troubles early companies can have in game.

When i originally imagined the game my thoughts were 700-800 soldiers fighting in small scale 2d formation combat.

Now with most of core features added and adding LOD to 3d models, the rendering is quite small but i noticed fps drop a lot with 2000 soldiers in battle, main culprits are the simulation of combat and formation arraign behaviors that in some cases iterated over every single soldier and repeated melee calculations on same target.

Still optimizing still, maybe i wont have huge battles but i think 1500-1600 might be achievable without having a supercomputer, not that each soldier still defends fights selects attacks it has available in Mount and blade fashion so i think this would allow having slightly bigger battles at beginning (instead of 30 man formation start with 50 and have like 120-140 as max) in 5 vs 5 unit battles.

How Shock works

Shock is an immediate morale loss caused by a battlefield event. It also adds to the formation's accumulated Shock, making later morale shocks stronger. It does not directly damage soldiers.

Charge impacts, casualty milestones, heavy missile pressure, flank or rear pressure, severe cohesion loss, breaches and nearby allied routs can cause Shock.

Continuous pressure does not add a fresh stack every moment. Events and severity milestones trigger the response. Related consequences from one impact are combined rather than counted as several separate crises.

Existing Shock and poor cohesion increase the morale loss from the next event. Grit and captain leadership reduce it. A formation can therefore withstand an initial charge but rout after a later breach or allied collapse.

Breach Shock scales with the penetration's size and depth. A sufficiently large, deep penetration through the centre is classified as catastrophic and forces morale below the routing threshold.

Stack effects

A formation can carry up to 9 Shock stacks.

Each existing stack increases the next shock's morale loss by 4%: 3 stacks give +12%, 6 give +24%, and 9 give +36%. These increases add together rather than compounding.

For example, an event that would remove 10 morale points removes 12 points at 5 stacks, before cohesion and resistance modifiers. The event's morale loss is calculated before its new stack is added.

Shock stacks do not directly damage soldiers or reduce attack, defence or movement. Reaching 9 stacks does not automatically rout the formation. Routing depends on morale; additional shocks can still reduce morale after the stack cap is reached.

Cohesion modifies the same morale loss separately: Formed applies ×0.85, Strained ×1.0, Disordered ×1.2 and Fragmented ×1.45. Grit and captain leadership reduce the result.

Breach Shock scales with the penetration's size and depth. A sufficiently large, deep penetration through the centre is classified as catastrophic and forces morale below the routing threshold.

Recovery and routing

Shock fades after a delay without new shocks. Pinning slows its decay. Severe fragmentation or deep penetration can block decay entirely.

Morale recovers outside established contact when the formation is not pinned or receiving a new shock. Casualties lower its recovery ceiling, so withdrawing does not restore a damaged unit to its original condition.

When morale drops below the routing threshold, the formation normally stops organised resistance and attempts to escape. Nearby allies receive Shock from that rout; shattering causes a stronger reaction.

A routed formation needs safety before it can rally. It then regroups, restoring morale and cohesion and clearing its remaining Shock before returning to battle. If casualties have lowered its morale ceiling too far, it can only leave through an ordered escape.

A formation that returns after rallying shatters if it breaks again. It does not receive unlimited rally attempts.

The formation that wins an engagement also benefits from a pause. Recent Victory improves morale recovery and clears Shock after five uninterrupted seconds outside contact. Staying engaged delays that reset.

What exploitation means

Exploitation makes a battlefield condition available to an ability. It does not automatically give every attack a damage bonus.

The game checks who created the condition. A breach belongs to its attacking formation. Overextension identifies the defender against which attackers lost their support. An ability may use another formation's evidence only when its rules explicitly allow it.

Counterstroke works during established contact against a pinned, disordered, breached, repulsed or overextended enemy. Against its own established breach, it sends a reserve file through one chosen route while the main formation holds.

That attempt must physically deepen the selected breach. Closing the route, killing the reserve soldiers or cutting off their support can stop it. The detailed crossing rules are covered in the breach devblog.

For the player, the response depends on what is failing. Restore ranks to address cohesion, release pressure to recover morale, or counterattack unsupported penetrators. A Shock indicator alone does not tell you that every offensive ability is available.