My main concern with Crazy Jerome's systems is with people new to the system. One MP = one square movement is so natural and easy, people pick it up rapidly. Sure, grognards who have playing for a while will grok the new system really easily, but we want to also be at least aware of people who have never played the game before. And if that's the worst that can be said, it's probably a pretty good idea.
That said, having one movement point left is a lot clearer and easier than having one-third of a movement point left and still being able to move.
Scrambling up a 9 movement mountain with your remaining movement point might be kind of odd, but it's really no different from using your last one-third of a movement in the current system to get up a mountain.... Units with ATAR (all terrains as road) would probably need some tweaking, but it could be done.
Overall, I like it. Here's why:
- It's generally simple to understand -- my concerns about newbies notwithstanding
- It adds to the gameplay options
- It gives modders something more to tweak
- It maintains balance nicely, if done as CJ suggests
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Aussie_Lurker: I doubt we'll ever agree. I see cultural borders and lack of healing/no use of roads/railroads as a great abstraction of Operational Range and the difficulties associated with that. I like it as a clear, abstract system that people can generally understand and see, while requiring minimal detailed explanations. Sure, it's not perfect, but it works pretty well.
Moving through a square isn't just moving -- it's exploring the area, finding defensive positions, rooting out possible problems/danger areas, reporting back, some "living off the land", etc. Honestly, though, I rarely think about that. It's a game and for me, at least, gameplay takes so much precendence over realism that the latter is barely a consideration (for me -- other opinions are, of course, equally valid).
As for your hp idea, I understand. It still violates a lot of my basic precepts in what I want in the game -- one of the most important is full unit information from a glance. If I were to play a game that was just a tactical wargame, your idea might be much more appealing, but one of the beauties of Civ, IMO, is the breadth of options and decisions, while not getting overly bogged down in any one of them.
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On artillery destroying population points.... I *love* the way bombard works in Civ3 -- I think it's very cool, offers good gameplay with pros/cons. However, I agree it needs a fair bit of work for Civ4. Population/city devastation is one area that needs work, I think we agree. No, I don't really have any concrete suggestions on what, exactly, it should look like, but it probably should/will tie into overall changes in the city structure (if there are any).
Arathorn