Food and armies

[Colonel]

ok this may be pushing the realism in the game to far but i wish to see what all of you think of this

have it so all extra food is used to feed armies and units etc, and if u have no extra food your units die,have defender units exempt from this (ie if they are in a city they dont need food or have a unit that sol purpose is to defend and is exempt from food requrment also for this to work we would need a completley redone food system (ie people in cities would eat less)

so what do you all think


i thought i should bring this up because i havent heard the idea before but i am guessing that its to far with realism

 

[ShadowWarrior]

How about making things simpler while conforming to realism by simply having all units located inside the empire boarder be free of the need to be fed by one extra unit of food regardless of their designation as a defensive or offensive units, while those units located outside the empire boarder must have a war supply wagon, which I propose should be a new unit that as the name implies supply the army with food. If the war supply wagon is destroyed, the army will slowly loose hit points until they perish unless anew supply wagon is sent to replentish them.

 

[ironmikie]

@shadow warrior
nice idea....

 

[Bibor]

Far more simple: If army in your city, food is free. If in enemy territory they cannot heal at all. They have to PILLAGE farms, mines etc for their health to go up. Simple and effective

- kirb

 

[Colonel]

well this idea got a slightly better reaction then i thought it would be but ok i would say combine post 2 and 4

 

[warpstorm]

I like Bibor's idea, except that I'd add that they take a hit of damage every so many turns (say 3) they are in enemy territory in addition.

 

[dh_epic]

I like Bibor's idea. A lot.

I think there should be upkeep for troops that increases as they get further away from any of your cities... or perhaps just slowing their healing would be enough. And naturally, new research technologies would fix this problem somewhat.

 

[t3h_m013]

i think warpstorm has got it made, and i also think that one would need more bonus resources to make this realistic. Without irrigating everything one gets maybe 2 extra food per city average. and thats a pretty pathetic invasion force.

 

[dguichar]

i think warpstorm has got it made, and i also think that one would need more bonus resources to make this realistic. Without irrigating everything one gets maybe 2 extra food per city average. and thats a pretty pathetic invasion force.

...Master of Magic?

You got extra food from buildings instead of terrain improvementes. You could also adjust de surplus by turning workers into farmers...

I posted many times about unit feeding... i think i'm not alone

David

 

[Mewtarthio]

I forget who it was (maybe Aussie Lurker?), but someone earlier suggested an "Operational Range" for units. The OR would extend a certain number of tiles from either your empire's borders or a "Military Base" worker improvement. Once units were outside their OR, they would take some damage every turn, amount depending on the unit (using a CivII-style HP system).

 

[t3h_m013]

thatd be good, and mean youd need workers to go with your army making military bases(Y)

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

Yep, I'll admit that it was me that suggested Operational Range. That doesn't mean that I disagree with Warpstorms idea, though. My thinking is that, if you are outside your OR, you can sustain your current levels of morale and hit points by pillaging farms and other food-producing tile. The more you do this, per turn though, the more likely it is to cause that tile to become 'degraded' (i.e. produce less food than normal).
Also, I think that tiles should have a 'support' value. This is the number of units that can occupy a single tile at a given time. Mountains, for instance, might have a support of 2 to 4, wheras plains and grasslands might be able to support from 6-8 units. This would mostly reflect the different aspects of terrain hashness, but would also do wonders to break up so-called 'Stacks of Death', and make combat more strategic!

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[t3h_m013]

"Mountains, for instance, might have a support of 2 to 4, wheras plains and grasslands might be able to support from 6-8 units. This would mostly reflect the different aspects of terrain hashness, but would also do wonders to break up so-called 'Stacks of Death', and make combat more strategic!"

yes yes yes yes yes. no more, lets put thirty units on that mountain, but ill put my elite offensive units and some defenders there and cannon fodder in front.

im all for it

 

[Chauliodus]

Far more simple: If army in your city, food is free. If in enemy territory they cannot heal at all. They have to PILLAGE farms, mines etc for their health to go up. Simple and effective

- kirb

I like that ALOT, not only is that historic (passing armies would tear up the country side to feed their soldiers) but would war more difficult and strategic, the only down side would be how to get the AI to do it decently without messing up their ability to fight.

 

[Colonel]

i got one question wouldnt some modern invention negate this whole idea when it was discovered i mean u dont really see a modern army tearin threw some poor iraqie guy's farm they have there own food and with air bases and miltary bases bring food from Home

 

[Neomega]

I like the idea of food being needed for armies, as Napoleon said, "An army moves on it's stomach"

I would leave it up to the game creators to make the system simple.

 

[dh_epic]

That's assuming they have adequate supplies. I mean, nowadays, a rich country like America wouldn't have to worry about that. But even Germany encountered this problem when they got deep into the heart of Russia, in WW2.

I don't know how you'd simulate this in Civ. Or if you'd want to.

 

[Colonel]

i know but in talking like today honestly do u think that a US soilder is going to starve i think not i mean he would have to be captured to starve

 

[dh_epic]

It could happen, not against Iraq, but against an opponent with a much larger geographic span, with much stronger defense to make it hard for those supply lines to happen. It could have happened if the US send troops to fight the USSR.

It doesn't mean it will happen. For sure it's unlikely. It becomes less and less likely the more powerful the military machine gets, let alone the more diplomatic superpowers get with one another.

 

[Neomega]

i know but in talking like today honestly do u think that a US soilder is going to starve i think not i mean he would have to be captured to starve

If our country was being bombed into oblivion by giant Aztec bombers, our Army might have a hard time continuing it's operation "Brazilian Freedom". Even if supply lines stayed open, the ration stamps would start fetching a hefty price on the black market.