I think they could have acheved their tactical goals in a strategy game. Lots of games have done it before. When I first started playing civ3, I lamented the fact that battles were not resolved in a separate mode (a battle map). I think Civ would be be best if it followed this model:
- Unlimited units per tile, but having too many units on a tile would cause them to lose HP, based on overcrowding. More soldiers = more HP loss
- Units can be joined into an army to alleviate this somewhat. (It takes 1 turn to enter an army).
- Movement of opposing units onto a tile begins tactical layer (a battle map).
- The tactical layer (battle map) can be auto-resolved, just like current Civ combat results.
- Depending on the tile of battle, a battle map opens. In this 1UPT environment, there are far more tiles than in the strategic layer. (Hills would present a hilly map, forests a forest map, city a city map, and some tiles may have their own map)
- Building a wall/fort/castle would/could involve actually editing a battle map.
- Important battle sites could be fought on planned battle maps
- Often the same battle map could be used on several different tiles. The battle map represents a zoomed-in layer. It would have fewer tiles than a current "duel" map. So 1 battle map might be used to describe a battle taking place on 6-10 strategic tiles.
- Unit location on the tile would be determined by previous location. (If you were fortified then you place your units first. Unfortified units enter from one of several positions on the map. If a unit enters the tile from the north, that unit appears in the north on the tactical map)
- I imagine that many people (like Jon) would play set-piece tactical battles as a multiplayer mode.
- Empire builders may just auto-resolve all battles.
- I would auto-resolve simple conflicts - but I would control important battles.
- I would also like to be able to watch battles take place - and perhaps step in if the simulation is going poorly.
Overall Ideas:
The strategic mode and tactical mode would be separate. Tiles on the stategic map represent more of a region. A unit of archers on the strategic map might be 3 archers on the battle map. Perhaps HP on strategic map would result in units at the tactical level. It would be very easy to program strategic ai, because no combat would take place. Tactical AI would be set-piece. This is an easier alternative than our current system, and it is more historically accurate as well. (Archers can't fire across the english channel. In fact, they can't fire until they are in a battle map).
.
