Thalassicus
Bytes and Nibblers
I've seen several people talk about city capture. The main concern seems to be when an enemy recaptures the city and instakills units inside it. It can be discouraging to lose experienced units that way. I suppose the unit could retreat from the city instead of dying helplessly. I don't think we can change that, but we can alter this value:
CITY_CAPTURE_DAMAGE_PERCENT = 50
Would people like to see this higher, perhaps around 75%?
CITY_CAPTURE_DAMAGE_PERCENT = 50
Would people like to see this higher, perhaps around 75%?
Capturing enemy cities seems by far the riskiest action one can take with a military unit. No matter how diligently one works to clear out all the enemy units in the area, the AI far too often manages to conjure up a half-dead carrack or arquebus or whatever, seemingly out of nowhere (a "rallied partisan" maybe?) which sweeps in next turn to retake the defenseless city.
This wouldn't be such a problem, except that the garrison (capturing unit) is killed in the process. A warmonger has no more valuable commodity than veteran troops, and losing a level 6, 7, 8 unit you've had since you discovered the wheel in this way is totally lame and depressing. I have no doubt I lose more troops this way than in proper combat.
It's so bad, I'm reluctant to take a city with a unit that can't move back out the same turn. That's right - the only surefire way to preserve my troops is to abandon a newly claimed city, let the AI recapture, and repeat. It's quite ridiculous really, and entirely too easy for an overmatched opponent to exploit.
To that end I think a defense building or at least some health for newly captured cities is a preferable arrangement. Not back to their original health and defense, by any means, but enough that retaking needs a halfway legitimate counterattack, not just a lonely ninja boat.