Nikis-Knight said:
I think the large scale armies aren't seen due to inconvienence rather than lack of use. It is easier to move a stack around than to remember what 12 different groups all around the border are doing.
And really, there are alot of national units availible. 4 melee, 3 archer, 2 recon, 4 cavalry, 3 mages types (inc leeches), 3 disciple types, paladins or Eidolons make 20 types, times 3 is 60. That's pitance for real world wars, i guess, but in the game is quite a large number, then you can have one or two heroes, golems, and T3 units aren't useless end game. Plus werewolves, summons, any converted units, ships, seige units... stretch your late game army out, I'm sure it'll cover the horizon well enough, but stacks are simply easier, imo of course.
I agree with you. Thats why I'm advocating slight variations in the endgame. If improvements are more important - perhaps getting to the level of importance that superceeds in-city buildilngs, then there is a cause and need to defend multiple locaitons at once. WHen all one has to do is sit behind their city walls, then all the armies have to do when on a conquering-run is be in one large stack. It's stack v stack warfare. If there is reason for the defense not to be in a stack (to protect improvements) and the offense to not be in a stack (to get at those improvements) then we will see something far more stretching.
And yes, national units make up a huge portion of the game, if you've access to them all then you can field 21 national units alone, i believe. Thats quite a few. But my point was about "fodder" and "scale". If there is a more basic unit that can be mass produced through the "draft" system, especially in nationalism, it makes nationalism a great end game civic, for one. And secondly wars will be shorter becuase the amount of units on the field at any given time can be a lot larger. The death tolls will be equivilantly large, so it functions a population-reduction. Finally for theme, it serves the intersts of "large-epic-scale battles" AND since populations, or PEOPLE are doing the fighting, it gives the sense of crusade and luster that only "final battles" can exude.
When the whole of end-game combat is done by hardpointe large stacks, there is very little "epic feel" and more of just hammers and nails. Who's got the harder? The hammer or the nail? I would prefer to see armies engaging in the field, and the victor moving on to the city.
ANOTHER way of doing this, and discouraging seige warfare late game (and ONLY late game) is to have a city only able to defend x amount of units. Massive cities could have several units inside it, smaller cities less. The goal here, for me, is to force battles out onto battle fields, and force tactical desisions instead of merely math equasions at the city gates. One should be encouraged to leave their heavy crossbowman in the city, for example, mabye even a few other units, but the city should be in A LOT OF TROUBLE, if the army stack heading twoard the city isnt engaged out in the field instead of bunkering down in the city.
As it is, everyone comits to seige warfare. Either offensively or defensively. THis looses the sense of mighty armies clashing with fantastic heros and monsters. My idea is that after X amount of units per city, all units IN that city start taking penalties. Like for a size 8 city, beyond 4(military) units in that city, all units start taking a -5% cumulative penalty. If you had 8 units in a size 8 city, then youd have a -20% penalty for all units. The reasoning behind this is A) its crowded, and B) large stacks should fight in the fields, and "holdout/bunkers" function as small numbers of units holding out against LARGE.
I sense players would not like this, but it would create MORE strategy, and be JUST as useful as it would be burdensome. (The AI would suffer too, and after breaking the army, the cities would be less defended.)
Also it would make the fort useful again, as it would/should have no limiations, and it would allow for defendable positons outside a city in which to "keep" the stacks of units you have beyond what the cities can have without penalty.
-Qes