Combat- Overpowering Spearman SOD

[KrikkitTwo]

@Aussie
I'd disagree with 1) and the last part of 3)

basically,
units should have a 'Zone of Combat' (of more than one tile) where they attack
AND
units should be ably to 'Hide' in a tile rather than retreat to a different tile (ie combat shouldn't end with only one force in a tile.)

Otherwise, that sounds excellent

the SOD solution need not be 6) it could simply be the ZOC. So your 'SOD' wouldn't have to have all of its units in the same spot. Units spread out a bit would be able to react to an incoming SOD.


This way a tank could 'occupy' a square that still has the 4 warriors in it, as the Warriors could probably more easily hide in the square or retreat. They would eventually be annihilated as the player left a few tanks each so that their overlapping Zonse of Combat began to wipe out all the units there (now if instead of 4 Warriors it was 4 Guerrillas, the Tanks should have some Serious problems, because Guerillas would be have a higher 'Hide' factor plus be better in A+D factors)

If the 4 Warriors were occupying a City, at the same time as the tank (or any two enemy units occupying a tile, the production of the city would be seiously compromised..anything from civil disorder to high corruption, depending on the ratios of the units involved.)

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

OK, a couple if issues I failed to raise in my previous post:

1) Spotting units: All units would have a 'Profile Number' and a 'Spotting Number'-probably from 0-5, say. The simplest way to work it is as follows: If a units Modified Spotting Number+Range to target is equal to or greater than the other units modified profile, the the latter unit CANNOT be seen (and, therefore, cannot be attacked). Obviously, in this system, the higher the profile and/or spotting number, the worse the unit is at hiding and/or spotting.
So, for example, lets say you have 3 archer units in a forest-as before. These units EACH have a profile of 1-for a total profile of 3. The forest, though, gives a bonus of -2 to the profile for a total of 1. The knight units, OTOH, have a Spotting number of 3-so that, even when they are right on top of the archers, the archers are still invisible (i.e. the profile of 1 is less than the knights' modified spotting # of 4+Range 0) Of course, you could have the modified profile divided by the modified spotting number as a % chance of spotting a unit as well-on this part I am fairly flexible. I just think it would be really cool if units could remain hidden in appropriate terrain even if an enemy unit is RIGHT on top of them (so to speak-after all, a tile IS a very large area!)

2) Zone of Control: OK, this is a modified version of Rhialto's suggestion, which combines some of the better elements of civ2 and civ3 ZoC systems.
Basically, you have THREE levels of ZoC-None, which applies to standard, unfortified units. IMPROVED Civ3 style, which applies to unfortified units with a ZoC 'flag', or to standard units fortified in the open. Civ2 style, which applies to any fortified unit with a ZoC flag, or to ANY unit fortified within a fortress. Whether ZoC applies or not will depend on a unit's ZoC #, based on its 'weapon range' and its 'movement rate' and its 'tech level'. If 2 units-or stacks-come within 1 tile of each other, then the units with the higher ZoC each get a 'free hit' or, in the case of a fortified unit, the unit with the lower ZoC number gets its movement blocked. ZoC can also temporarily or permanently block trade routes or supply lines which come within 1 tile of them. What this does is makes fortresses perfect 'choke points', and makes combined arms a much more important factor in combat-after all, fortify a unit with the ZoC flag-which blocks movement-with a normal unit-which gets a free hit-in the same fort and you could get some interesting results. An even MORE interesting result is the unit which is both 'fortified' in the open AND invisible. Suddenly, that tank column is getting peppered by enemy fire-but you don't even know who its coming from !
When you take these two elements, together with my other suggestions, you not only get improved realism, but better gameplay too-IMHO. People will naturally start adopting combined arms strategies and smaller stack sizes simply so they can gain some of the advantages I have mentioned in this post-even if you discount the penalties for exceeding 'stack limits' or the bonuses which come from units with a flanking or blitz flag.

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.