apatheist
Jul 02, 2005, 08:37 PM
I realize this is highly unlikely to be in the civilization games due to political correctness, but I believe it would enhance the game to have land/naval mines (things that blow up if you touch them, not mineral extraction). This has been modeled as a unit in some mods, but I believe it would be better as a terrain "improvement." It acts as an artillery unit that attacks any unit (friendly or otherwise) that enters the square, with a set bombard, rate-of-fire, etc. (in civ3 language). Mined tile are not visibly mined to civs who are not allied with the civ that laid the mines, unless that civ had the misfortune of entering that particular tile already. Mines can only be laid and swept by a "combat engineer" unit. Sweeping mines takes longer than laying them, especially if the sweeper is from a different civ from the layer. Sweeping and laying mines can be accelerated by putting more combat engineers on the job. At some point, laying of mines becomes a (minor) atrocity.
Other capabilities of combat engineers: can build military improvements like forts, walls, etc. like ordinary workers (or perhaps instead of them), but they do it faster. They also have a non-zero defense and a move rate of 2. If navigable rivers are in the game, a combat engineer can be a bridge over the river, kind of like those portable folding bridges. In the absence of a bridge across a navigable river, I assume there would be some additional movement penalty. This penalty is omitted for friendly units entering the tile that has a combat engineer on it already.
Mines can also be laid at sea and have the exact same behavior. I don't have a single suggestion for the unit that does that at sea. It could be a special unit, it could be a function of a destroyer, or it could be a function of a new, multi-purpose naval unit.
Perhaps bombers could also lay mines, both on land and at sea.
Other capabilities of combat engineers: can build military improvements like forts, walls, etc. like ordinary workers (or perhaps instead of them), but they do it faster. They also have a non-zero defense and a move rate of 2. If navigable rivers are in the game, a combat engineer can be a bridge over the river, kind of like those portable folding bridges. In the absence of a bridge across a navigable river, I assume there would be some additional movement penalty. This penalty is omitted for friendly units entering the tile that has a combat engineer on it already.
Mines can also be laid at sea and have the exact same behavior. I don't have a single suggestion for the unit that does that at sea. It could be a special unit, it could be a function of a destroyer, or it could be a function of a new, multi-purpose naval unit.
Perhaps bombers could also lay mines, both on land and at sea.