Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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A new proposed "Unit Cohesion" mechanic for Total War: Medieval 3. With the War Core engine and the early development stage of the game, I figured it was time to open a discussion on how to improve historical combat for Total War. Link to presentation: miro.com/app/board/uXjVGTtlPgE=/?share_link_id=304447018859

The Problem:
Historical battles have stagnated due to low unit variety and limited paths to victory (always hammer and anvil). The binary nature of morale also means that nothing mechanically happens to a unit before it flees, leading to boring and grinding gameplay.

The Solution:
Introduce a new "unit cohesion" mechanic that fundamentally changes a unit's behavior prior to being routed to allow for more unit differentiation and tactical options.

The Definition:
"Unit Cohesion" is the degree to which individuals act as a unit. This is very important for historical accuracy where the armies were indeed made of individuals whose ability to win was dictated by the leader's ability to command and control them properly. In fact, most battles were won or lost based on this cohesion rather than casualties.

How it works:
Each unit will now have a Unit Leader that serves as the anchor of the unit and to which the other soldiers of that unit are magnetized to. The level of cohesion of a unit dictates how efficiently these soldiers follow the orders of the leader. So if you give an order, the leader goes first, followed by the rest of the men in a response time proportional to their cohesion. In terms of movement, cohesion degrades the farther and faster you go. When a unit stops moving, it can regain cohesion. For combat, a unit's cohesion dictates how effectively it can fight an opponent. More cohesion (and other factors) mean you can push other unit back. More cohesion mean you can withstand cavalry charges.

Micro Cohesion:
We need an ability to customize units to improve their cohesion stats. This should include a way to select a unit leader and also a support staff (officers, musicians, bannermen) who can improve a unit's cohesion. There should be tools to visualize and test cohesion outside of actual battles such as a "Training Ground" mode.

Macro Cohesion:
A battle line now becomes much more fluid and dynamic as each unit's engagement ebbs and flows based on their cohesion. Generals and other abilities can help influence the state of cohesion of their forces. There should also be a cohesion system for unit's within larger formations. This could work like Carthay's Harmony system.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:40 Current Problems
06:28 Cohesion
10:55 Reworked Units
12:29 Cohesion in Practice
18:50 Micro-Cohesion
27:04 Macro-Cohesion
32:06 Potential Issues

#history
#medieval3
#totalwar