Mitigated 1UPT.

[Naokaukodem]

What if we could stack units endlessly, but be also able to reduce all stacked units health averagely equally without taking damage similarly to how ranged units work in Civ5 and Civ6 ? That could lead to interesting strategies, and if not still be 1UPT. But, if a Civilization doesn't manage to build ranged units, it could suffer dramatically during a war, hence the need to build them in the first place, which would be a no brainer choice (in risks of war) and hence force players to build them even if they go defensive ! (I mean siege units, basic range units would still do 1 to 1 damage)

Maybe stacked units would cost more also ?

 

[The googles do nothing]

Could you add more detail? I'm not able to picture what you are asking for.

 

[Naokaukodem]

Basically that would be the other way around (sorry) : Stacks of Doom but with safe ranged units a la Civ5/6 (as opposed to "suicide" catapults in Civ4), that could damage ALL units in a stack in one shot, and kill the stack with several shots, including if those shots come from another stack of ranged units. I say ranged but i'm not quite sure, within Civ6 combat class units scheme it may have to be siege units only.

I'm not sure either whether one should be allowed to stack units of different types. The problem is that I can't remember if my former idea had it clear of it is an issue that came after reflexion/idea development. (i like thinking about Civ ideas smoking at my window)

[[[I nearly added another paragraph to the OP, when i would have been talking about unit upgrades incorporating range abilities, and why not also cavalry. That may work if those units are always better than the previous ones, even if they do not change the core technology. (for example, you could have muskets, then muskets with field cannon and cavalry), but I finally judged it was kinda off topic, you know, you think about something and suddenly you jump to another one, believing it's groundbreaking and deserving a whole topic to itself ]]]

Well. To sum it up. I considered stacks to be damaged without any damage implication from the other side, thus inviting the attacker to caution whereas still allowing him to have stacks or prefer 1UPT(-ish). Kind of best sides of both worlds. Those kinds of deployments could be useful however in bottlenecks, in case of confidence or simply for moving units. Air warfare could play a great role too, showing its power with scouting/giving view with fighters and bombarding with air bombers, and at the same time not being a game killer (Civ5). Surprise could play a great role too, either surprise attacks (blitz) or tech "rush" (well, advancement).

Hope it's a bit more clear.

 

[Lord Lakely]

There's definitely room for a compromise here yeah.

How about each unit is assigned a certain value - let's call this value SUPPLY, and each stack of units may not exceed this number. Melee, Support and Recon have a low supply value, light cavalry and ranged medium one, while siege and heavy cavalry have the most. Civilian units have no supply value.

These units can be stacked, but with one caveat: Every tile in the game has a Supply Limit, and the total accumulated supply value of the stack may not exceed the supply limit.

Some features improve supply for instance:

Forts add +3 Supply Limit
Rivers add +2 Supply Limit
Roads add +1 Supply Limit

However, other features could reduce supply

Woods remove -1 Supply Limit
Marshes remove -2 Supply Limit
Rainforests remove -3 Supply limit

Furthermore, districts could also influence the supply limit. City Centres, Encampments, Harbors, Air Fields, Spaceports and Neighborhoods should all have pretty hefty supply limit, making them good defensive districts. City Walls also increase the supply limit, etc.

I suppose the value for naval and ranged units are fixed to a certain number.

Civs that could get a bonus towards supply or supply limit

Rome - Can support armies larger than the tile's supply limit
England - Naval units have a lower supply value, allowing them to stack more units
Vietnam - Supply limit of owned tiles is higher for enemy units
Greece - Higher supply value for units, but individual units are stronger.

Whether an AI can handle yet another variable remains another question?