"Home field advantage"

[SwitchbladeNGC]

I think that units should have an advantage (albeit slight) when defending in their teritory. I don't know about you but I would probably fight harder if it was my house that was going to be obliterated. Let me know what you think.

 

[Colonel]

isnt this somewhat in civ3 with the capitial being harder to take

 

[ybbor]

the capital isn't harder to take. it's represented by giving bonuses when defending in cities

 

[Turner]

ybbor's right. But it does make a certain kind of sense that units defending outside the city is worthy of a 10 to 20% def bonus.

 

[Dreadnought]

I like the idea. Morale would be higher when fighting within your empire's boundaries' but normal outside of it. I was thinking a 10 - 40% bonus

 

[eg577]

It is not realistic at all to say that a bunch of riflemen standing in a grassland in your country defend any better than if that grassland was in enemy territory. What, do your units know of good rocks to hide behind in their land but not in enemy land? The fact of the matter is that it is already easier to defend your territory due to city bonuses and better resupplying. Besides, "morale" does not always correlate to fighting in your own territory. Military units are trained to fight, so I don't know how "awe shucks" they would be when they weren't fighting out of their own houses.

 

[Mr. Do]

Plus you have full use of road/ railways, so that gives the defender quite a substantial bonus as-is.

 

[Dreadnought]

It is not realistic at all to say that a bunch of riflemen standing in a grassland in your country defend any better than if that grassland was in enemy territory. What, do your units know of good rocks to hide behind in their land but not in enemy land? The fact of the matter is that it is already easier to defend your territory due to city bonuses and better resupplying. Besides, "morale" does not always correlate to fighting in your own territory. Military units are trained to fight, so I don't know how "awe shucks" they would be when they weren't fighting out of their own houses.

I would fight harder knowing that I am defend my home and my family than fighting because some fool up at the top sent me to attack for no good reason!

 

[K.F. Huszár]

It is good ide ato make units fight better in your home tiles.
it would be applied in Monarchy, Democracy, and maybe Republic?

 

[sealman]

why would they fight harder to defend the capital? Afterall, your army is usually in a full scale retreat at the time a capital is threatened. You have been beaten in the field time and time again, if anything, your moral should be at an all time low. Sure, if you have some great inspirational leader to motivate the troops, the outcome of the battle for the capital should follow the same results as the preceding battles.

 

[Volstag]

It is not realistic at all to say that a bunch of riflemen standing in a grassland in your country defend any better than if that grassland was in enemy territory.

I, respectfully, disagree. Ostensibly, on your home turf, you would have a better understanding of the surrounding countryside -- this could result in decisive tactical advantages under ideal conditions. Beyond that, the local inhabitants can/could also provide intel on the movements of enemy forces, in addition to hindering/delaying enemy movements/intel, etc. There are many other things the "locals" could help with. Namely: food & drink, shelter (when necessary), "luxuries" (cigarettes, alcohol, chocolate, etc), etc.

-V

 

[Volstag]

why would they fight harder to defend the capital?

There are several engagements in which those defending their capital fought with a ferocious zeal that is borderline suicidal. The Battle of Moscow springs to mind. However, as you implied, there are just as many instances in which the beleguered defenders simply roll over and die.

-V

 

[MaisseArsouye]

It is not realistic at all to say that a bunch of riflemen standing in a grassland in your country defend any better than if that grassland was in enemy territory.

Well, if I had to defend my home, fighting in my village where I know every streets, every trees from every woods, every caves ( and there are some ),... I would certainly be more efficient. So, I think it makes sense to give a bonus. But maybe this bonus should be restricted to the territory of the city where the unit was built. We could also add a "training" option, meaning a unit trained in the area of a city and gets the bonus for that area too.

 

[rcoutme]

I think that much of this discussion does not touch upon the main point of the matter. Yes, when fighting on home turf, defenders should probably know the terrain better. However, the real question is not the bonus to the defender on home turf, it is a question of the capacity to defend better than attack. The entire combat results system is simplified for a reason. If you want a different combat results system, then that is what should be added. Tweaking a system that is purposely abstract and somewhat unrealistice is not the way to adjust it.

I favor leaving the CRT the way it is. Adding in morale, defensive bonus on home terrain, attack bonus for cavalry in the open, attack and defense bonus for infantry in mountains and jungles; all of these are tweaks to a system that had been meant to be simple. Adding all of these things would complicate the system and might very possibly turn people away from the game.

 

[Dreadnought]

What, do your units know of good rocks to hide behind in their land but not in enemy land?

Actually, part of the reason Americans won the American Revolutionary War was that in the south (around S. Carolina) the minutemen would raid the British and run back to their swamp hideouts. They only survived there because the Bristish didn't know where they were hiding because only the Americans living there knew the best places to hide!

Anyway, I am just saying that soldiers are fighting in their country's borders fight better because they know roads that aren't on maps, where the easy places to defend are, etc. while the attacking army wouldn't know many of these places.

 

[baseballfan45]

maybe only certain units should get these bonuses, like guerillas. and if you do think about it this has altered the out comes of many wars. 2 that come to mind are minutemen in the american revolution and the vietcong in the vietnam war.

 

[PeteAtoms]

I think this would be a good idea, it sure helped out the Russians against Napolean

 

[SwitchbladeNGC]

It is not realistic at all to say that a bunch of riflemen standing in a grassland in your country defend any better than if that grassland was in enemy territory. What, do your units know of good rocks to hide behind in their land but not in enemy land?

Can we say Vietnam? Baseballfan45 mentioned it previously. The Americans were better trained and had better weapons, but we still got our tails kicked. Why? The Vietnameese had hideouots all through Vietnam, they were fighting "for their country", and could infiltrate our troops and cause damage from the inside. You may say that they were able to infiltrate our troops because we were fighting along with the South Vietnameese, but Americans passed as Germans and Japaneese passed as Americans in WW2 (as well as many others I didn't mention), it just made it easier for the Vietnameese that we were on their turf.

 

[Elgalad]

Not to niggle at bits, but the Vietnam War was lost at home, not in the jungle. The United States won every battle they fought over there, but lost the war primarily because of war weariness.

As for the American Revolution.. while the tactics employed by colonial soldiers were unusual and successful, they were not the deciding factor that caused King George to call the troops home. He had bigger worries than rebellious colonials, namely France, and could not afford to continue trying to project British power overseas while fighting his closest neighbor.

Guerillas can never win a war or even end a war. What they Can do is tie up numerous military assets and resources, creating a logistical nightmare for their foe.

-Elgalad

 

[Elgalad]

It is good ide ato make units fight better in your home tiles.
it would be applied in Monarchy, Democracy, and maybe Republic?

Let's not forget the Great Patriotic War fought by the Soviet Union against the Nazi invader!

-Elgalad