Morale

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Morale is a mechanic in the Animus which tracks enemy archetypes' motivation to fight in open combat. The values only apply once the Animus host entered open combat, so any action performed before the initiation of combat did not affect the morale of the guards.

Overview

Animus 1.28

The Animus 1.28 used by Abstergo Industries had a basic system of morale. When Desmond Miles relived Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's memories, the lowest ranking guards would easily be scared by the deaths of their comrades, or superiors. Guard Sergeants were much harder to scare, and would presumably run away if their leader was killed, while Guard Captains were the bravest of the regular guards and were hardly scared no matter what Altaïr did. However, if he killed a Captain, all lower ranking guards would be terrified and flee.

In contrast, Templar Knights were a unique guard archetype, the strongest and bravest of all the guards. They never ran away, regardless of the deaths of nearby guards. As these men were held in very high regard, whenever one of these dueled an opponent, the other guards would stand back and watch. The death of one would completely shatter the morale of nearby guards, few of whom would stand and fight.

Animus 2.0

Militia guards, the most cowardly guard archetype

When Desmond relived Ezio Auditore's memories, the Animus used by the Assassins had an updated morale system. The Animus 2.0 specified morale points for each guard archetype:

• Militia had 20 points
• Archers had 30 points
• Agile guards had 40 points
• Seekers had 80 points
• Brutes had 1,000 points

With their hefty allocation of morale, Brutes never ran away from combat unless they were disarmed and completely unable to find another weapon, or procure an improvised one. Meanwhile, Militia guards were the most cowardly, in that they were most likely to run away from a battle if it ever got too intense.

The death of any guard caused a drop in morale of all the other guards, with the death of any lower ranking guard causing a 5 point morale drop for all surrounding guards; a counter-kill, disarm, or ground assassination also caused a drop of 5 points. If a disarmed guard themselves could not find a replacement for their weapon, they would immediately run away, and disarming an opponent and killing them with their own weapon reduced morale by 10 points. Killing a Seeker or killing an enemy using a pistol was worth 20 points, whereas killing a Brute subtracted 30 morale points. Every time Ezio took a hit, the guards' morale rose by 10 points, and if Ezio reached a critical state, guards would gain 25 points each. If Ezio ran away from a confrontation, it would also add 25 points to every guards' morale statistic. At the Auditore Villa, however, Ezio could learn the skill of demoralizing an enemy by pointing the Hidden Gun at them.

When Desmond began reliving Ezio's memories in Rome, the morale system was updated and the guard archetypes that appeared in the other cities Ezio had visited possessed modified morale stats. The Animus 2.01 specified morale points for each guard archetype:

• Militia and Crossbowmen had 25 points
• Agile guards had 60 points
• Seekers had 60 morale points
• Brutes' points value remained unchanged

Two new enemy types were also introduced in Rome, the Papal Guard and the Borgia captains. Papal Guards never ran away from a fight, while conversely, the death of a Papal Guard would frighten away almost every guard that was fighting alongside them. There were two types of Borgia captains, ones who ran away from Ezio upon seeing him, and ones who stood and fought. The death of a captain would terrify every guard that witnessed it, regardless of whether or not they were engaged in combat alongside their leader.

Additionally, the Animus included a new feature where certain weapons that Ezio used during his travels could scare away enemies, though this only applied to the Dagger of Brutus, which would drop enemy morale by 20 points simply by Ezio wielding it, and had different and more brutal kill animations compared to regular daggers; most lower ranking guards who witnessed Ezio kill someone with it would immediately run away.

Animus 2.03

When Desmond fell into a coma, he was placed into the safe mode of the Animus, which kept his body alive; the software had been updated to the 2.03 version by then. While he explored Ezio's memories from Constantinople, the morale system remained mostly unchanged from its previous iteration. Papal Guards were replaced with Janissaries, and Borgia Captains with Templar den captains, whose morale specifications were largely the same as their Roman equivalents.

Two new pieces of equipment were introduced that caused a morale lowering effect similar to the Dagger of Brutus. The sword of Vlad the Impaler, as with the Dagger of Brutus, had brutal kill animations, which scared guards away. On the other hand, the Armor of Ishak Pasha was an unbreakable piece of armor, said to bear a cursed marking; hence, any soldiers that saw it would become scared.

Animus 3.0

When Desmond relived Haytham Kenway and Ratonhnhaké:ton's memories, the new Animus 3.0 did not feature any morale system. Instead, all guards, regardless of rank, would stay and fight to the death, never becoming terrified.

Notoriety

An additional feature related to morale was introduced in the Animus 2.0. Whenever any guards ran away from a battle, it would increase the notoriety of the user.