Some issues in current (more or less current at least) SVN

Yes of course, but Warcraft III was real time strategy game and you were limited to a 14 unit group selection if I remember correctly... in terms of turn based strategy, I believe a somewhat similar approach to what Somebody is describing could be the Age of Wonders series... somewhat, and it had a 1-unit-per-tyle rule to compensate.
 
Unless you're talking about WoW (which I didn't play at all), Warcraft 3 is actually very far from what I'm talking about.
It has basically ZERO "promotion variability", allowing you to promote your Heroes in ONE way ONLY (just in any order of upgrades).
My point is the exact opposite - you only build "basic units", and then "train" them into more "advanced" units via promotions.
So (oversimplified) you can "train" your Warrior (no specifications) to become a Swordsman (Melee) or an Archer (Ranged), and then you can "train" that Swordsman to become a Horseman (Mobile Melee) and that Archer to become a Musketeer (Gunpowder Ranged), VERY OVERSIMPLIFIED.
But in that example a Swordsman CAN'T become a Musketeer, because it's a different Upgrade Lineage, so to speak.
It works the same way in the normal Civ, of course, but my point is that you wouldn't be EVER able to BUILD Swordsmen or Musketeers under ANY conditions - only Warriors.
Whereas unlocking any and all possible upgrades would be done via Technology AND via Resources (AND via Equipment, when finally enabled) - AND via Experience (hence promotions).
So you'd need Sword Fighting AND Iron AND Swords AND Level=5, in order to promote (NOT build) a Warrior into a Swordsman.
And a zillion other such changes, cultural and maybe even religious, but within the same guidelines, lol.
Also, "training" would also be possible via buildings (and "staying in town for X turns", maybe even via missions like what happens to "not really dead" Commanders now), not just via battles.
I'd be so enthused to see this happen, hehehe.
 
It also sounds a little bit like what Beyond Earth tried to do, again if I recall correctly... units had promotions trees that specialized them extensively. I'm sure that when we'll see the equipment mechanic, between that one and standard promotions, there's gonna be already a heck of a lot of specialization and customization options for units. Each unit's promotion list is going to look like a Christmas tree. We might need a UI rework to make it manageable at that point.
 
WHY? We can instead make promotions COMBINE themselves into more complex ones made from several "lesser" ones, like the way the Quality ones replace each other. Or they did when they were promotions, not sure how it looks now, lol. This would significantly reduce the UI issue, maybe even making it LESS "crowded" than it is now. It all depends on the specifics and imagination, lol.
 
Oh they do combine already (if they are an upgrade of the previous tier), but if you train certain cultural units that start with two or three free promotions, and add another three or four, in between spotting, terrain and normal promotions it's already a huge mess. Reading out promotions in large stacks of units is a bit challenging to me at least.
 
Like I said: combining. Maybe even heavily so. Probably very much based on cultures as well. So you take 3-4 "lesser" promotions, spice it with a specific culture, and then create a single "cultural" promotion out of them. Kinda like Ancient Customs, but with the actual prerequisite of each and every "lesser" part as well. Pre-make enough such variants, and you will actually reduce the UI slog, if done right.
 
It works the same way in the normal Civ, of course, but my point is that you wouldn't be EVER able to BUILD Swordsmen or Musketeers under ANY conditions - only Warriors.
They same warrior for Prehist./Ancient as for Modern (or Galactic)?
 
If I understand correctly: you train a neutral unit - a bunch of dudes with nothing - and through equipment promotions they evolve over time, changing weapons as the technology allows to do so. Meanwhile, they also gain experience and thus specialize in certain areas, such as recon, hunting, warfare, etc. I'm not sure the end result is a lot different than just upgrading older units to newer ones, other than perhaps you can suddenly refit a unit with a completely different type of weaponry in case of need. Promotion lines are, well, lines, and you can't turn an archer into a swordsman.
It's cool but I'm not sure the game can handle this just with the current unit promotions mechanic, although we do have removable and toggleable promotions already, think about extra cargo for naval units.
 
Not to mention: I'm quite sure that no part of military training has stayed the same "even" since Roman time, much less since Prehistoric. And what parts of military training will remain unchanged until the Cosmic Age?
 
Yes, "unit units", lol.
Kinda "military citizen with no specifications" as a, well, JOB of sorts - and yes, not different in any era (maybe only changing when you start switching "humans" with "robots", lol).
The difference between my idea and the current upgrading is that you'd NEED to train the units to get them into better equipment, not just put a laser onto an archer and tell him to use it.
The experience would PREDATE and UNLOCK/ENABLE further upgrading, not FOLLOW/IGNORE it like it does now.
Also, swapping between types of available equipment WOULD be a thing (and ISN'T now) - the whole idea STARTED from the point about "fighters and hunters swapping jobs", lol.
And "merging promotions" WOULD be a huge thing that absolutely doesn't exist NOW - being much more rooted in culture/religion and maybe civics or something else.
You'd have REALLY "branched out" units, while also having potentially LESS promotions (in number of icons) on any single unit at most of the times.
This is ALL very "experimental", obviously, I'm just "thinking aloud", lol.
 
Yeah it's a project. And this idea of 'unit units' is something I'd do with a new game but not so much here due to the assumptions of civ, though more evolved towards it, yes. The plans are going to take time to get there but they are fairly strongly envisioned.
 
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