Hi,

at the moment I suffer from a huge REF (about 280 Inf, 120 Ari, 80 Kav and 75 MoW) ... it seems very hard to fight them but what is even worse : I repeatedly loose on "sure" 90%-fights ... even by "changing" the stored RNG-seed by sacrificing a lower unit, after a few turns the odd results return ... the permanent quick save / quick load is annoying so I'm thinking about changing the combat system to reduce the negative effect of odd Combat-results ...

My plan is to give all military units a 100%-Withdrawal-Chance (which probably is not a new idea) ... This will actually favour the side which is able to concentrate significantly more military power than the opponent in one spot for attack ...

Example 1 : 10 rebel SoL meet 4 Royal MoW
With the current combat system, the first 4-5 SoL will be sacrificed on attack, just damaging the MoW. The other SoL will sink the damaged MoW without taking much damage ... allthough the SoL are in majority, they trade units 1:1 in this fight ... even with 100 SoL against 4 MoW the result would be the same ...
With 100%-withdrawal, the first 4-5 SoL will be heavily damaged but have a chance to survive. They will be out of combat for many turns due to 95% damage which is still kind of a penalty ...

Example 2 : 4 rebel SoL meet 4 Royal MoW
With 100% withdrawal, the SoL can engage and damage the MoW but will suffer much more damage ... if they are not covered by additional Fleet or are retreating fast, the MoW can use their turn to finish the SoL ...

Example 3 : 4 MoW against 4 SoL
(I suppose) The MoW will pick the SoL and will sink them in one turn (no change).


Modding Info :

1. Cannon and Ships
Edit file Assets\XML\Units\CIV4UnitInfos.xml
Change the following tag for cannon and military naval units
<iWithdrawalProb>90</iWithdrawalProb>
(Important Note : using an iWithdrawalProb-value greater than 90 will result in a bug that you cannot promote this unit after it gained experience.)

2. Scouts, Soldiers and Dragoons
Scouts, Soldiers and Dragoons are rather professions in Civ4Col than unit-types.
Dragoons (PROFESSION_DRAGOON) have their Withdrawal-attribute hidden in a free Promotion called "PROMOTION_DRAGOON".

So far I found it easiest to add this free Promotion to the "PROFESSION_SOLDIER" and "PROFESSION_SCOUT", too.

In File Assets\XML\Units\CIV4ProfessionInfos.xml


<FreePromotions>
<FreePromotion>
<PromotionType>PROMOTION_DRAGOON</PromotionType>
<bFreePromotion>1</bFreePromotion>
</FreePromotion>
</FreePromotions>


To edit "PROMOTION_DRAGOON", open the file Assets\XML\Units\CIV4PromotionInfos.xml. The Promotion is the last one in the file.

Edit
<iWithdrawalChange>90</iWithdrawalChange>
(Important Note : using an iWithdrawalChange-value greater than 90 will result in a bug that you cannot promote this unit after it gained experience.)

By giving the "PROMOTION_DRAGOON" to the standard soldier, they get the Withdrawal-Chance of the Dragoon and a +50%-Attack-Bonus against Cannon, Artillery, which is acceptable in my opinion ... (If unprotected cannon / artillery is attacked, it is usually lost.)

<UnitClassAttackMods>
<UnitClassAttackMod>
<UnitClassType>UNITCLASS_CANNON</UnitClassType>
<iUnitClassMod>50</iUnitClassMod>
</UnitClassAttackMod>
</UnitClassAttackMods>


You can also create new free promotions for the soldiers ("PROMOTION_SOLDIER") and scouts ("PROMOTION_SCOUT") by copying and adjusting the "PROMOTION_DRAGOON".

Important Note for Modders:
I found that my new unit-types with 90% withdrawal-chance do not get the skirmisher-promotions offered by the game.
Colonists have a counter for combat-experience and can get the skirmisher-promotions. If a colonist with skirmisher-promotion I+II (= +30% withdrawal) is equipped as 90% withdrawal-dragoon, it has 120% withdrawal-chance. Unfortunately this special dragoon-unit is buggy and can no longer join a colony or change equipment. So for a 100%-withdrawal-mod eventually it would be better to give Skirmisher I-III as free promotion to all (military) units and simply to adjust the skirmisher-bonus to total of 100% (or to remove Skirmisher I-III) ...

I'm also thinking about changing the value COMBAT_DAMAGE in file Assets\XML\GlobalDefines.xml. However I'm not sure if a smaller (e.g. 10) value will support or counteract the 100%-Withdrawal-Idea ... The idea actually is to have the unit deal some damage and then retreat after having taken some damage.


<Define>
<DefineName>COMBAT_DAMAGE</DefineName>
<iDefineIntVal>20</iDefineIntVal>
</Define>

What do you think about this change in Combat-System? Will combat become to easy?

I did some tests with the WorldBuilder but since it seems difficult to place Dragoons via editor, I only tested soldiers, canons and SoL / MoW so far.