I think everybody agrees that ranged combat in Civ V is a mess, and it doesn't look like BNW (probably the last expansion) is going to fix it. This otherwise great game has given us a world where archers riding camels are the ultimate military technology at least until the invention of dynamite, and where the crossbow is a more effective weapon than the rifle or gatling gun. I think I've come up with a relatively non-invasive way to improve combat in CIv V, adding just one unit, lightly reworking a few others, and slightly rearranging the tech tree (possibly removing two techs). I'd love to hear what people thinkafter BNW is out, I'll probably try to throw this together as a mod. This post is really long, but there are tl;dr recaps of each half if you want to skip on down there.
First things first: archery should pretty much be over once gunpowder has been discovered. All Renaissance and post-Renaissance units should have a very large defensive bonus against archery units. Provisionally, I'm thinking 200%. Similarly, archery units should not be as effective against cities as they are, especially after Gunpowder; I think a similar 200% modifier is appropriate. This should be reduced pre-Gunpowder and against cities without Walls: before the defending civilization has researched Gunpowder, Archery units attack at full strength against cities without Walls; walled cities will gain +100% defense against archery. Applying a large defense bonus to the defender rather than a penalty to the attacker means that the attacker will be unable to overcome this disadvantage with promotions, unique abilities, great generals, etc. Giving a major bonus to Walls encourages players to construct these buildings and allows archery units to remain effective against unfortified targets (e.g. new settlements). Because siege weapons no longer require strategic resources, there should be no excuse not to build them.
The Renaissance era has only three land units, the fewest of any era (and one is the Lancer, which is rarely used). This is despite the fact that the Renaissance is usually a make-or-break moment in the game and the setting of many battles. In addition, the tech gap between Crossbowman and Gatling Gun is unusually large; this is a secondary reason why crossbows improbably dominate the Renaissance era in-game. I propose to slightly weaken the crossbow (down to 16 or 17 ranged strength), move it up one tech, to Guilds, and add Engineering as a prerequisite to guilds to keep the Composite Bowman and Crossbowman in line with one another. I'm considering removing Guilds as a prerequisite of Machinery and adding Metal Casting as a requirement for Machinery instead, but it might be best not to mess with the tech tree more than is absolutely necessary.
With the crossbow pushed back slightly (and archery units generally weakened, particularly in the Renaissance), there's room for an intermediate unit between Crossbowman and Gatling Gun: the Skirmisher. This unit represents a group of troops and tactics that Civ V has either neglected or folded into the Musketman and Rifleman, typified by the Austrian Pandur, the Prussian Jäger, the French Voltigeur, and the American Zouave, among others. Historically, these are mostly 19th-century units (mid-18th at the earliest), but they fit neatly into the tech tree and the unit progression in the Renaissance. Provisionally, they'd be available at Printing Press, which puts them in line with both the Crossbowman and the Gatling Gunroughly equidistant from eachalthough it might make more sense for them to require Gunpowder. The Skirmisher should have enough combat strength to stand up reasonably well against Knights and Longswordsmen, though not much more ranged strength than the current Crossbowman: 20 strength, 22 ranged strength. Like the Gatling Gun, the Skirmisher only has a range of one hex. The Skirmisher, Gatling Gun, and Machine Gun would all be reclassified as gunpowder units for purposes of determining combat results, although they'd still receive archery promotions.
Just as a nitpicky little change, Metallurgy should be a Prerequisite for Industrialization. This makes good sense historically, it makes Industrialization harder to beeline (currently the easiest Industrial era tech to reach other than Fertilizer), and it means that Gatling Guns are no longer possible without Gunpowder. Of course, by putting a (ranged) gunpowder unit at Printing Press, I've just created an equally silly tech situation. Can't win 'em all.
Finally, ranged units should not upgrade to mounted units, as the Chariot Archer and many UUs do. In order to preserve their valuable promotions, the Horse Archer, War Elephant, War Chariot, and Chariot Archer will upgrade to the Crossbowman; the Keshik and Camel Archer will become Horseman replacements (to avoid rendering them near-useless via the Renaissance-era archery changes) and will upgrade to the Skirmisher. I got my strength values for these last two by simply multiplying their original strength by 0.6 (because the Horseman has 60% as much strength as the Knight)if anybody objects and thinks these new UUs are too weak, I'd like to hear it.
So, to recap the changes to ranged units:
All units from the Renaissance and later (including naval units) gain +200% defense against archery units (Archer, Chariot Archer, Composite Bowman, Crossbowman, and assorted UUs).
Cities, after the defending civilization has researched Gunpowder, gain +200% defense against archery units. Before Gunpowder, cities with Walls gain +100% defense against archery units. These bonuses don't stack.
The Crossbowman (now 13
Strength, 17 
Ranged Strength) is available at Guilds instead of Machinery. Engineering is a prerequisite of Guilds.
The Skirmisher (20 Strength, 22 Ranged Strength, Range 1, 2 
Movement, -33% when attacking Cities) is available at Printing Press. The Crossbowman upgrades to the Skirmisher; the Skirmisher upgrades to the Gatling Gun.
The Skirmisher, Gatling Gun, Machine Gun, and whatever the MG upgrades to in BNW (the "Bazooka," apparently) are treated as gunpowder units when they attack cities, when they are attacked by archery units, etc. They still receive archery promotions.
Metallurgy is a prerequisite for Industrialization.
The Horse Archer, War Elephant, War Chariot, and Chariot Archer upgrade to the Crossbowman. The Camel Archer (now replaces Horseman; 10 Strength, 13 Ranged Strength) and Keshik (now replaces Horseman; 9 Strength, 10 Ranged Strength) upgrade to the Skirmisher.
No other unit types are as screwed up as the Archer line, but there are still some odd kinks in the tech tree here and there. The Warrior line has twoboth the Longswordman and the Great War Infantry come immediately before their replacements and rarely see much use. This is a particularly pronounced problem for the Longswordsman, because its tech (Steel) only leads to the tech that renders it obsolete (Gunpowder). To remedy this, I propose moving the Longswordsman to Metal Casting, moving the Armory to Machinery, making Metal Casting a prerequisite of Machinery, and making Machinery a prerequisite of Gunpowder. Steel can just be removedit was always in a weird place, considering how early some classical civilizations developed steel in the real world. Rather than replace Steel, I'd like to slightly increase the science cost of all techs, somewhat slowing the rate of technological advancement. This is another one I'm not sure aboutshould it be all techs? Should it be Medieval and Renaissance techs? Where does the game start to speed up wildly? Is a 5% increase too much, or not enough? I'd love feedback.
Infantry's position in the tech tree immediately after Great War Infantry is less of a disaster than the Longswordman's total uselessness, but moving it would solve some problems: as it stands, there is no basic infantry unit in the Atomic era, and the Marine is essentially obsolete before it's even available. Moving the Infantry to Combined Arms would give more longevity to the Great War Infantry and make both the Great War Infantry and the Marine more attractive choices for civs pursuing non-military goals (i.e. the top of the tech tree). In order to support this change, Ballistics will require Replaceable Parts and Mobile Tactics should either be moved to the bottom of the tech tree or (preferably) removed, with the Mechanized Infantry available at Lasers or Robotics. That part of the tech tree is pretty bizarre, now that I'm looking at it. Particle Physics requires Telecommunications, Mobile Tactics, and Advanced Ballistics, but not Lasers or Computers? Go figure.
The Spearman line is a hot mess. All of these units are separated from each other by ridiculous numbers of techs (except the Anti-Tank Gun and Helicopter Gunship, which are adjacent). The Pikeman is available without ever having Spearmen, and the Lancer and AT Gun are separated by half the tech tree: there are a whopping nineteen techs, going all the way back to Philosophy, that are prerequisites for Combined Arms but not for Metallurgy. The Pikeman and Lancer are also widely separated from one another; worse, they're completely unlike and it doesn't make sense for one to upgrade to the other. When it appears, the Lancer is briefly the strongest land unit in the game. The only unit that can handily beat a Lancer isyep, a Pikeman. Pikemen should simply upgrade to Riflemen, the first unit that is clearly stronger against mounted units than pikes are. If possible, I'd like to see the Pikeman upgrade to the Tercio for the Spanish. Because the gap between Lancer and AT Gun is so vast, Lancers are hopelessly obsolete long before they can be replaced; the upgrade line from Pikeman to Lancer to AT Gun to Gunship also results in all manner of promotions inappropriate to unit type. To deal with these problems, Lancers should upgrade to Landships, as Cavalry does; Knights, Lancers, and Cavalry should all be roughly 10% stronger, giving players more of an incentive to use them (cavalry were still the main European combat arm in the Napoleonic Wars, after all). The AT Gun, meanwhile, should be changed into a ranged unit without indirect fire and with a strong bonus against armored units; it should upgrade not to the Gunship but, instead, to the new Bazooka unit in BNW.
To recap:
The Longswordman is available at Metal Casting. The Armory is available at Machinery. Metal Casting is a prerequisite of Machinery. Machinery is a prerequisite of Gunpowder. Steel is removed from the tech tree.
All techs are 5% more expensive.
Infantry is available at Combined Arms. Replaceable Parts is a prerequisite of Ballistics. Mechanized Infantry is available at Robotics. Mobile Tactics is removed from the tech tree.
The Pikeman upgrades to the Rifleman (or Tercio, if available).
The Knight (22 Strength), Lancer (28 Strength) and Cavalry (38 Strength) are more powerful. The Lancer upgrades to the Landship.
The Anti-Tank Gun is a ranged unit (50 Strength, 60 Ranged Strength, Range 2, 2 Movement, +60% Defense and +50% Ranged Strength vs. Armored Units, must set up before attacking) and upgrades to the Bazooka.
Air combat and naval combat are in relatively good shape, I think. I might play around with air basing limits (e.g. one air unit allowed for every two citizens in a city) and perhaps with Information era upgrades to the destroyer and carrier, which are extremely fragile by the end of the game. A missile frigate and supercarrier, perhaps, each with roughly 80 strength?
Anyway, that's somewhere way down the road. This doesn't by any means fix everything that's wrong with Civ V's combat (one thing I didn't touch was that the Pikeman is not only a more reliable, but now a stronger choice than the Pikeman, and I suppose I may have actually made that worse by allowing pikes to upgrade to rifles). The changes to archery units and the addition of the Skirmisher are really the core of my suggestions, and I'd like to hear what people think. In particular, I'd like anybody who's interested to try to poke holes in these ideas. Which of my numbers are off? How have I screwed up the tech tree? What did I overlook?
First things first: archery should pretty much be over once gunpowder has been discovered. All Renaissance and post-Renaissance units should have a very large defensive bonus against archery units. Provisionally, I'm thinking 200%. Similarly, archery units should not be as effective against cities as they are, especially after Gunpowder; I think a similar 200% modifier is appropriate. This should be reduced pre-Gunpowder and against cities without Walls: before the defending civilization has researched Gunpowder, Archery units attack at full strength against cities without Walls; walled cities will gain +100% defense against archery. Applying a large defense bonus to the defender rather than a penalty to the attacker means that the attacker will be unable to overcome this disadvantage with promotions, unique abilities, great generals, etc. Giving a major bonus to Walls encourages players to construct these buildings and allows archery units to remain effective against unfortified targets (e.g. new settlements). Because siege weapons no longer require strategic resources, there should be no excuse not to build them.
The Renaissance era has only three land units, the fewest of any era (and one is the Lancer, which is rarely used). This is despite the fact that the Renaissance is usually a make-or-break moment in the game and the setting of many battles. In addition, the tech gap between Crossbowman and Gatling Gun is unusually large; this is a secondary reason why crossbows improbably dominate the Renaissance era in-game. I propose to slightly weaken the crossbow (down to 16 or 17 ranged strength), move it up one tech, to Guilds, and add Engineering as a prerequisite to guilds to keep the Composite Bowman and Crossbowman in line with one another. I'm considering removing Guilds as a prerequisite of Machinery and adding Metal Casting as a requirement for Machinery instead, but it might be best not to mess with the tech tree more than is absolutely necessary.
With the crossbow pushed back slightly (and archery units generally weakened, particularly in the Renaissance), there's room for an intermediate unit between Crossbowman and Gatling Gun: the Skirmisher. This unit represents a group of troops and tactics that Civ V has either neglected or folded into the Musketman and Rifleman, typified by the Austrian Pandur, the Prussian Jäger, the French Voltigeur, and the American Zouave, among others. Historically, these are mostly 19th-century units (mid-18th at the earliest), but they fit neatly into the tech tree and the unit progression in the Renaissance. Provisionally, they'd be available at Printing Press, which puts them in line with both the Crossbowman and the Gatling Gunroughly equidistant from eachalthough it might make more sense for them to require Gunpowder. The Skirmisher should have enough combat strength to stand up reasonably well against Knights and Longswordsmen, though not much more ranged strength than the current Crossbowman: 20 strength, 22 ranged strength. Like the Gatling Gun, the Skirmisher only has a range of one hex. The Skirmisher, Gatling Gun, and Machine Gun would all be reclassified as gunpowder units for purposes of determining combat results, although they'd still receive archery promotions.
Just as a nitpicky little change, Metallurgy should be a Prerequisite for Industrialization. This makes good sense historically, it makes Industrialization harder to beeline (currently the easiest Industrial era tech to reach other than Fertilizer), and it means that Gatling Guns are no longer possible without Gunpowder. Of course, by putting a (ranged) gunpowder unit at Printing Press, I've just created an equally silly tech situation. Can't win 'em all.
Finally, ranged units should not upgrade to mounted units, as the Chariot Archer and many UUs do. In order to preserve their valuable promotions, the Horse Archer, War Elephant, War Chariot, and Chariot Archer will upgrade to the Crossbowman; the Keshik and Camel Archer will become Horseman replacements (to avoid rendering them near-useless via the Renaissance-era archery changes) and will upgrade to the Skirmisher. I got my strength values for these last two by simply multiplying their original strength by 0.6 (because the Horseman has 60% as much strength as the Knight)if anybody objects and thinks these new UUs are too weak, I'd like to hear it.
So, to recap the changes to ranged units:
All units from the Renaissance and later (including naval units) gain +200% defense against archery units (Archer, Chariot Archer, Composite Bowman, Crossbowman, and assorted UUs).
Cities, after the defending civilization has researched Gunpowder, gain +200% defense against archery units. Before Gunpowder, cities with Walls gain +100% defense against archery units. These bonuses don't stack.
The Crossbowman (now 13
Strength, 17 Ranged Strength) is available at Guilds instead of Machinery. Engineering is a prerequisite of Guilds.The Skirmisher (20
Strength, 22 Ranged Strength, Range 1, 2 Movement, -33% when attacking Cities) is available at Printing Press. The Crossbowman upgrades to the Skirmisher; the Skirmisher upgrades to the Gatling Gun.The Skirmisher, Gatling Gun, Machine Gun, and whatever the MG upgrades to in BNW (the "Bazooka," apparently) are treated as gunpowder units when they attack cities, when they are attacked by archery units, etc. They still receive archery promotions.
Metallurgy is a prerequisite for Industrialization.
The Horse Archer, War Elephant, War Chariot, and Chariot Archer upgrade to the Crossbowman. The Camel Archer (now replaces Horseman; 10
Strength, 13 Ranged Strength) and Keshik (now replaces Horseman; 9 Strength, 10 Ranged Strength) upgrade to the Skirmisher.No other unit types are as screwed up as the Archer line, but there are still some odd kinks in the tech tree here and there. The Warrior line has twoboth the Longswordman and the Great War Infantry come immediately before their replacements and rarely see much use. This is a particularly pronounced problem for the Longswordsman, because its tech (Steel) only leads to the tech that renders it obsolete (Gunpowder). To remedy this, I propose moving the Longswordsman to Metal Casting, moving the Armory to Machinery, making Metal Casting a prerequisite of Machinery, and making Machinery a prerequisite of Gunpowder. Steel can just be removedit was always in a weird place, considering how early some classical civilizations developed steel in the real world. Rather than replace Steel, I'd like to slightly increase the science cost of all techs, somewhat slowing the rate of technological advancement. This is another one I'm not sure aboutshould it be all techs? Should it be Medieval and Renaissance techs? Where does the game start to speed up wildly? Is a 5% increase too much, or not enough? I'd love feedback.
Infantry's position in the tech tree immediately after Great War Infantry is less of a disaster than the Longswordman's total uselessness, but moving it would solve some problems: as it stands, there is no basic infantry unit in the Atomic era, and the Marine is essentially obsolete before it's even available. Moving the Infantry to Combined Arms would give more longevity to the Great War Infantry and make both the Great War Infantry and the Marine more attractive choices for civs pursuing non-military goals (i.e. the top of the tech tree). In order to support this change, Ballistics will require Replaceable Parts and Mobile Tactics should either be moved to the bottom of the tech tree or (preferably) removed, with the Mechanized Infantry available at Lasers or Robotics. That part of the tech tree is pretty bizarre, now that I'm looking at it. Particle Physics requires Telecommunications, Mobile Tactics, and Advanced Ballistics, but not Lasers or Computers? Go figure.
The Spearman line is a hot mess. All of these units are separated from each other by ridiculous numbers of techs (except the Anti-Tank Gun and Helicopter Gunship, which are adjacent). The Pikeman is available without ever having Spearmen, and the Lancer and AT Gun are separated by half the tech tree: there are a whopping nineteen techs, going all the way back to Philosophy, that are prerequisites for Combined Arms but not for Metallurgy. The Pikeman and Lancer are also widely separated from one another; worse, they're completely unlike and it doesn't make sense for one to upgrade to the other. When it appears, the Lancer is briefly the strongest land unit in the game. The only unit that can handily beat a Lancer isyep, a Pikeman. Pikemen should simply upgrade to Riflemen, the first unit that is clearly stronger against mounted units than pikes are. If possible, I'd like to see the Pikeman upgrade to the Tercio for the Spanish. Because the gap between Lancer and AT Gun is so vast, Lancers are hopelessly obsolete long before they can be replaced; the upgrade line from Pikeman to Lancer to AT Gun to Gunship also results in all manner of promotions inappropriate to unit type. To deal with these problems, Lancers should upgrade to Landships, as Cavalry does; Knights, Lancers, and Cavalry should all be roughly 10% stronger, giving players more of an incentive to use them (cavalry were still the main European combat arm in the Napoleonic Wars, after all). The AT Gun, meanwhile, should be changed into a ranged unit without indirect fire and with a strong bonus against armored units; it should upgrade not to the Gunship but, instead, to the new Bazooka unit in BNW.
To recap:
The Longswordman is available at Metal Casting. The Armory is available at Machinery. Metal Casting is a prerequisite of Machinery. Machinery is a prerequisite of Gunpowder. Steel is removed from the tech tree.
All techs are 5% more expensive.
Infantry is available at Combined Arms. Replaceable Parts is a prerequisite of Ballistics. Mechanized Infantry is available at Robotics. Mobile Tactics is removed from the tech tree.
The Pikeman upgrades to the Rifleman (or Tercio, if available).
The Knight (22
Strength), Lancer (28 Strength) and Cavalry (38 Strength) are more powerful. The Lancer upgrades to the Landship.The Anti-Tank Gun is a ranged unit (50
Strength, 60 Ranged Strength, Range 2, 2 Movement, +60% Defense and +50% Ranged Strength vs. Armored Units, must set up before attacking) and upgrades to the Bazooka.Air combat and naval combat are in relatively good shape, I think. I might play around with air basing limits (e.g. one air unit allowed for every two citizens in a city) and perhaps with Information era upgrades to the destroyer and carrier, which are extremely fragile by the end of the game. A missile frigate and supercarrier, perhaps, each with roughly 80 strength?
Anyway, that's somewhere way down the road. This doesn't by any means fix everything that's wrong with Civ V's combat (one thing I didn't touch was that the Pikeman is not only a more reliable, but now a stronger choice than the Pikeman, and I suppose I may have actually made that worse by allowing pikes to upgrade to rifles). The changes to archery units and the addition of the Skirmisher are really the core of my suggestions, and I'd like to hear what people think. In particular, I'd like anybody who's interested to try to poke holes in these ideas. Which of my numbers are off? How have I screwed up the tech tree? What did I overlook?
