PC Zone preview from Myrddin on Apolyton

Drakan said:
Spearman have a 100% bonus defense against horse units. This changes some things dramatically. No longer can you rely on building huge SoD of horsies to take down a civ. You really must build combined forces: catapults, archers, trebuchets ...
That's the impression I was getting from the previews and what Soren has posted.

I'm not quite sure a single strength factor is such a good idea. Why should a chariot have a defense value of 4 ? This really simplifies the game and makes it easier. I guess they want to reduce the complexity of the game. The removal of A/D values makes it lose a strategical thinking to it.
Civ is a strategic game. When one unit attacks another it's not really 1 (or a few) people attacking the other - it's large formations battling it out. Who is actually attacking and defending in the battles is something out of our control... when a unit moves into a tile we can assume it's advancing to face an enemy and that is all. So saying a Chariot would be 'defending' wouldn't be quite accurate, in my mind.
 
Yes and no.

Chariots with blades on there wheels were excellent at charging and piercing through enemy formations composed by lightly protected men (or non at all). The problem was there manoeuverability once they were enveloped by enemies, they just couldn't move (=defend), they needed plenty of land to turn around.

If they lacked backup they were wasted pronto.

So chariots are conceived for piercing formations much like a spearhead and making the enemy flee before them, the ongoing disorder will make the enemy tramp all over each other. But the chariots must have infantry right behind them to support them and breach the enemy lines.

That's why I think A= 4 is ok but D=4 is not good. Egiptian chariots were devised to fight on flat land like the phallanx, not on hills or rocky areas where they just cannot manoeuvre unlike the roman legions which could.
 
Perhaps Chariots have a strength penalty on rough terrain then? That simulates both the trouble on attack and defense... I think this system will be much better gameplay and realism-wise than Civ 3's.
 
CurtSibling said:
Those screenies are looking rather kinky!

:D
At first glance I thought the one on the top left was a pov shot from a rider ...(or the clown with the scooper dooper) ... at the end of a line of Horses :mischief:

Actually, they are quite enlightening - it really seems to be 3D with the ability to zoom around and get up close and personal...the bottom right is interesting too - it shows the curvature of the world in the background...or is that a curved monitor???? :crazyeye:
 
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