[HybridComp] Promotions & Perks

[Zuul]

Is their a max to the number of promotions a unit could have

Not that I know of but when you have around 200-300 experience all the icons on the units almost fills everything and you have a hard time finding a place for the cursor so the popup comes that shows all the features of the unit.

I will try to find a way to upgrade promotions of same type insted of just adding them to remove some of the used space.

This doesn't seem to be possible by just modifying the xml files. That's why I asked if anyone knows how to script it. It would be cool.

Yes I know. I will try to find a way to add new types of promotion changes.



Anyway anyone got any suggestions on some promotion that should be more upgradable? Anyone got a suggestion for an icon image to use for fieldsman?

 

[Poseidon_55]

an engineer promotion which allows the units to construct road and stuff would be kewl

 

[Lightzy]

There should be a promotion that compliments the 'city raider' promotion, or the city raider promotion should be enhanced with stronger attack and healing in enemy territory.

defensive combat is way too strong in this game. city attacking specialists should have an advantage over city defense specialists.

 

[V. Soma]

I think defensive strength is about OK - well, the attacker should use artillery to help, should not it?

 

[Lightzy]

The defender can use artillery too..
And maybe its just me who thinks defensive combat is too strong..
dunno.

and the suicide artillery thing.. artillery should definitely have a high withdraw chance

 

[Uluk]

I agree the current system favours the defender. Imho arty should be able to soften both the defenses and also to reduce the defender's strength. That suicide artillery thing doesn't really make any sense to me. I also believe that there should be a new unit called Mechanized Artillery. Later in the game I end up with keeping my artillery as garrison units simply because they can't keep up with the speed of my advancing tanks and mech inf. It would be nice to have some arty with me from time to time even though I rely heavily on my air force.

Anyway, having attacking promotions depending on the terrain type would be too good to turn down for attack-minded players (like me).

an engineer promotion which allows the units to construct road and stuff would be kewl

In my opinion there would be no time to build roads with your military during wartime. In peace... well, I see that as a waste of a promotion. I always have loads of workers available anyway.

Cheers,
Uluk

 

[eotinb]

Perhaps an "engineer" could have a much better fortify or improve the fortify of units in the same stack.

 

[LittleRedPoint]

Hm, military engineers build trenches. New promotion "dig-in" double fortification bonus + bonus vs air attack?

 

[eotinb]

Exactly my line of thinking.

 

[Poseidon_55]

The dig-in idea is good and about the artillery think of each art unit as ammo and the suicide thingy is just using ammo

 

[Uluk]

More importantly, engineers make it harder for the enemy to move (thus, defensive bonus is a good idea) and make it easier for you to move. So maybe add some sort of amphibious/river crossing bonus for all of the units in the stack the engineer promoted unit is in? This would be much like the medic bonus in that regard.

I would be wary on raising the fortified bonus too much, though. It could be pretty nasty. Besides, all troops can dig on their own. Maybe adjust the entrenching rate instead?

@Poseidon_55: That's some pretty expensive ammo!

Cheers,
Uluk

 

[flobi]

I would imagine that "dig in" should only apply to fortified units. You can't really dig in with the units that can't fortify (i.e. Gunship, Knights, etc) anyways and you wouldn't be digging in if you were on the move.

 

[Poseidon_55]

The increasing entreachment rate is good also the enginner would be good if things such as mines or anti tank ditches existed in the game

 

[Gojira54]

How about alpine skis (+1 movement for foot soldiers on ice/snow/tundra)?

I agree the fieldsman is a bit too strong, but instead of getting rid of it I would just cut the bonuses in half.

 

[Lightzy]

entrenchment is a horrible idea because it makes combat even MORE geared towards defense.
Seriously, the balance here has to shift somewhat.

also, any function (promotion, unit, or whatever) you can't get the AI to use effectively (or use at all, really) is a mostly wasted function.
keep it in mind.

 

[Agraza]

I have to agree that defense is pretty impressive. City Raider could use some assistance.

I think a decent addition to City Raider would be the ability to ignore defenses, if that's possible. Being able to promote your units to specialize against walls, castles, etc. (Sappers I, II) They did dig under walls, to collapse a section of wall, and dig TO walls via trenches, to avoid ranged attacks from the defenders. Either that or those could be City Raider IV and V, the more educated and methodical attacks against a city.

 

[eotinb]

@Lightzy: Your point about not giving the defense more help is well taken. But in my experience, this is more an issue with cities than combat out in the open field. Perhaps the engineer unit's improved fortification ability would only work out of cities -- or even out of it's owner's cultural borders -- give an offensice force some defensive protection. As to if the AI could use it effectively -- I think the AI wouldn't have a problem with increased entrenchment.

In any case, I was only responding to the idea of an engineer promotion -- ability to make roads fits with the idea of such a promotion but wouldn't work that well in the game. Ability to entrench works with the name and would work in the game.

 

[Uluk]

I think the game lacks a proper siege. It would be much more realistic if the defender's strenght would drop after a while because of being out of supply. As of now, starvation applies only to the population of the city, not the actual defending units. This would also encourage more open field play. AI tweaks would be necessary, of course.

In fact, it would be great if we could calculate if a "trade route" exists for every (military) unit. If it does the unit is in supply, if not then the unit is not in supply. Cutting off the enemy's supply routes is fundamental in warfare, after all. Dunno how much doing that would cost performancewise for hundreds of units, though.

Regarding mines and anti-tank ditches etc. imho those are already included in the fortification bonus. No need to handle those separately. Although, I second the idea of an anti-air promotion.

Cheers,
Uluk

 

[Poseidon_55]

The AA promotion would have to be unlocked with a certain tech and is that possible.

 

[Uluk]

Yes. Here's a line from CIV4PromotionInfos.xml:

<TechPrereq>NONE</TechPrereq>
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