One Unit Per Tile and Foriegn Units

[grant2004]

The one unit per tile rule has been confirmed. I like the idea in general because I'm certain it will lead to more strategic battles as SODs are now gone for good. I'm wondering though how this rule will affect your interactions with foreign units during peacetime.

In Civ IV you were able to occupy the same territory as a foreign unit during peacetime, no problem. Will it still be possible to do this in Civ V? I can see a lot of problems, and opportunities depending on which way this rule goes. If you are forbidden from occupying the same tile as a foreign unit it would be possible to seal off an area of the map by blocking an important pass. In Civ IV I would sometimes build a city to block important passes, even if it was a bit of a stretch to build there, being able to do this with a unit instead would be much easier. However I could also see this becoming very overpowered in a map with many mountains, and many chokepoints.

Not being able to move through foreign units during peacetime would also cause problems when moving through enemy territory. It would be possible for their military to get in your way, and if you and the AI entered a chokepoint headed in opposite directions a traffic jam might result.

I'm not sure which way I should hope the rule works. I can see some good strategic possibilities if I can block AI movement when we're at peace, but I can also see a lot of headaches if they can do the same to me. For now I'm going to assume that units will be able to move through each other in some way, even if they can't occupy the same tile at the end of a turn. I'll be interested to see how this works.

 

[Dark_Jedi06]

In Civ3 you could use units as walls to prevent foreign settlers from claiming neutral terrain as well as a variety of other cheap tactics.

I'm sure they will have a work around, perhaps each tile can hold one unit from each Civilization. Another question is how this will affect domestic units...will only one worker be allowed on a tile? Or have they decided to scrap the worker system?

 

[Dragonlord]

Good question. I assume the rule will be for military units, so workers (assuming there ARE still workers) shouldn't be affected.

Also, it has been confirmed that units will have a base move of 2 and can move through others if there is an open space on the other side. That at least should work for allied or neutral units as well. So, blocking off a choke point would take 2 rows in any case.

I'm assuming there will be exceptions to the 1-unit rule, though, since some kind of transport will be necessary, to cross water if nothing else. Probably you can load multiple units on a transport, but can't fight with them until they are unloaded - where the 1-unit rule comes into play again.

 

[Ahriman]

It is a good question. I'm sure they can still move *through* you, but you might be able to block a pass still with multiple units.

I'm guessing they won't let multiple units from different nationalities stack though, or allied countries would have a huge advantage during wartime.

The IGN preview (I think?) confirmed 1 worker per tile, but you can have 1 military unit and 1 worker on the same tile.

 

[LDiCesare]

A 2-hex-deep wall of workers could prevent 2-move settlers from going through your territory.

 

[Hypernova]

It is a good question. I'm sure they can still move *through* you, but you might be able to block a pass still with multiple units.

I'm guessing they won't let multiple units from different nationalities stack though, or allied countries would have a huge advantage during wartime.

The IGN preview (I think?) confirmed 1 worker per tile, but you can have 1 military unit and 1 worker on the same tile.

I'm sure I saw confirmation somewhere that the one-unit-per-tile rule was purely military.

 

[cephalo]

I really don't like the idea of controlling friendly nations through force that cannot be recognized as such.

 

[CTH]

There is according to the newest previews a maintinance cost (that seems higher than in Civ 4) for units and there is a maximum number of units per resource so it might just work out by it self. But I agree that there prob is some kind of mechanism that allows friendly units to go around you.

However, it cant just be that it is one of your own units per tile, if you are in war with someone togheter with an allied they should not be able to stack upon your units. Tricky...

 

[Nkat]

Yes I like this limit per resource for military units. This would stop someone from making an endless wall block. So I am thinking there will be fewer military units than like in Civ 4. Gotta love the checks and balance system =D

 

[awesome]

The IGN preview (I think?) confirmed 1 worker per tile, but you can have 1 military unit and 1 worker on the same tile.

oh, i was about to say that settlers and workers better be able to fight.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

A few points


1. Only 1 Military unit per tile, that friendly settler can slip right through (if its willing to abandon its escort)

2. Transports might not be Units. A GroundUnit might just get "Transport enabled" by moving through a city with a harbor (giving it Transport stats until it landed)

 

[Ahriman]

I'm sure I saw confirmation somewhere that the one-unit-per-tile rule was purely military.

The quote said something like "You can have 1 military unit and 1 worker on the same tile, but not two of either."

oh, i was about to say that settlers and workers better be able to fight.

Why?

1. Only 1 Military unit per tile, that friendly settler can slip right through (if its willing to abandon its escort)

But if there is a non-military tile cap too, then that doesn't work.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

The quote said something like "You can have 1 military unit and 1 worker on the same tile, but not two of either."


Why?


But if there is a non-military tile cap too, then that doesn't work.

Well that means you need at least 2 Settlers/Workers (if workers are in) to block enemy expansion.. why not just found a city.

 

[Greizer85]

Workers should be able to stack imo. There's no reason not to; disallowing their stacking will only lead to unnecessary micro and frustrating, artificial situations (if you must hook up some resource very fast and must wait for one worker to do it).

 

[Drago Askani]

I'm sure I saw confirmation somewhere that the one-unit-per-tile rule was purely military.

Yes and no. Its been confirmed in one of the interviews this week where shafer said that you could have 1 military and one non-military unit on the same tile. The non-military being workers and settlers unless they have added another type of non-military unit.

 

[grant2004]

1. Only 1 Military unit per tile, that friendly settler can slip right through (if its willing to abandon its escort)

This could be a good way around such a blockade. I wonder if the AI would send their settler through unescorted in such a situation though. In Civ IV they seemed very careful about protecting their settlers from barbarians, even if barbarians weren't on. I wonder if they'd be smart enough to ditch an escort if the military unit prevented them from getting where they want to go.

And if you're right and 2 workers are needed to block a pass from foreign settlement I'll probably just stick with building a city in the way.

Also @ the idea of allied unit stacks: I didn't think of that one, that would be a huge exploit especially in multiplayer. For that reason alone I'd be tempted to enforce a one unit per tile rule across nationalities if I were a developer.

 

[cspyr0]

Transports might not be Units. A GroundUnit might just get "Transport enabled" by moving through a city with a harbor (giving it Transport stats until it landed)

Ooh I absolutely love this idea. Transporting troops oversea is a pain in my ass and this would alleviate a lot of it.

 

[mechaerik]

Then the ocean would more or less just be land you can't build cities on.

 

[cspyr0]

Then the ocean would more or less just be land you can't build cities on.

I feel like that's a premise with no conclusion. Yeah you could send all your units out to the ocean, but they would become non-combat units. There would also be a tech and building requirement before you could do that. It removes busy-work IMO.

 

[cardgame]

It would certainly work with the 1UPT system!