PolyCast Episode 305: "Civ Fanatics Are People Too"

[agonistes]

Forts IRL carried some real use in that you'd stall for reinforcements...not bad especially in times before professional armies existed and people were relying on levies.

Also before modern time coastal forts were nigh-unassailable by ships. This was particularly relevant to the Bosphorus strait because it's so narrow, but it was not trivial elsewhere either.

Claiming they were "not useful" is definitely inaccurate. They won't win you offensive wars by themselves in either game or IRL, but they can be significant to the outcome.

Forts are/were pretty useful as a base for roving patrols too.

 

[DanQ]

To Weraptor, Scaramanga and agonistes: thank you for joining the conversation, which I believe is the first time for you with respect to PolyCast. Did you listen to the episode, which is what led you to join in here, or..?

 

[legalizefreedom]

Love the idea of railroads allowing land transfers as a precurser to airlifts. I guess that would require a building if they were to work the same. So maybe railroads auto appear once you've built a terminal in two cities. That would enable faster movement and 1 turn transfers between those two cities.

For loading and unloading transports, it could allow you to unload to adjacent land tiles, but use a movement per unload. That would do two things. It would allow for strategic landing areas (where more surrounding land tiles could unload more in a single action) and it would allow the mechanic to improve over time as your ships gain more movement.

 

[Ferocitus]

They are still military units, so they should have a defense (however low) and need to be attacked at least. Air units are some of the most expensive; .

OTOH, if they are expensive and vulnerable, then they are worth
protecting with strong units.