This is a draft of a proposal to get initial feedback.
Rationale: Combat in Civ 5 is highly tactical, at high levels it relies on precision movement and attacks. While there is some randomness in the damage dealt, every other aspect of combat is highly regimented, it is precise and exact. With one exception....withdraw from melee. Such random mechanics do not belong as the core aspects of combat.
Further, often you need units to hold their ground for one reason or another. As such, a withdraw from melee unit is often weaker than a unit without it.
So the idea is:
New Mechanic - Melee Evasion "Take X% less damage when defending from melee" - When you take a melee attack, you take less damage. This is better than a simple CS adjustment for a few reasons.
Unit Updates (this replaces the "withdraw from melee" mechanic the unit currently has)
Rationale: Combat in Civ 5 is highly tactical, at high levels it relies on precision movement and attacks. While there is some randomness in the damage dealt, every other aspect of combat is highly regimented, it is precise and exact. With one exception....withdraw from melee. Such random mechanics do not belong as the core aspects of combat.
Further, often you need units to hold their ground for one reason or another. As such, a withdraw from melee unit is often weaker than a unit without it.
So the idea is:
- Remove withdraw from melee as a core mechanic. No unit should be "forced" to have this mechanic.
- Move these bonuses into leaf promotions. If a person really wants the mechanic they can take it through promotions.
New Mechanic - Melee Evasion "Take X% less damage when defending from melee" - When you take a melee attack, you take less damage. This is better than a simple CS adjustment for a few reasons.
- Precise and powerful: Damage reduction from CS is a lot weaker than just raw reduction.
- Melee units don't take more damage when attacking you. This is more in the spirit of an "evasion", than a Cs bonus that actually makes the melee attacker take more damage.
Unit Updates (this replaces the "withdraw from melee" mechanic the unit currently has)
- Commando: Take 25% less damage when defending from melee.
- Destroyer: Removed with no change (weirdly withdraws work primarily against fellow destroyers, creating a weird matchup where destroyers are weaker vs each other. Destroyers are fine units, they don't need a gimmic to make them work, so we are just removing it here).
- Nau: Take 25% less damage when defending from melee.
- Commanche Rider: Take 25% less damage when defending from melee.
- Camel Archer: Take 25% less damage when defending from melee.
- Alhambra: Jinete promotion now gives: Mounted melee units take 15% less damage when defending from melee.
- Blockade: Untouched (as a leaf promotion we leave this alone if someone does want to withdraw from melee.
- Wolfpack 3: Unit takes +10% less damage from melee (I would like people's thoughts on this one especially. I mean ultimately should subs have this at all? Destroyers are supposed to be their counter, and the sub protects itself mainly by not being there, its not supposed to get hit.