Why can only"fast" units retreat?

[Chieftess]

Thread reopened

 

[ivory]

While it would be nice to see my swordman live to fight another day in an advanced age, I do oppose the introduction of more dependence on the RNG. The odds of retreating, the chance of surviving all go against the idea of a strategy game, where strategies are based on estimated guesses. Those quesses only have meaning as long as the number of random events is negligably less than the number of ''known'' events.

 

[JonathanValjean]

Personally, I like the game as it is. It works for me.

@Chieftess, you poor dear, you had to work on this thread far too much! Thanks for your excellent moderation!

 

[The Last Conformist]

Originally posted by Vietcong

[W]hat im saying is ALL unist shold have a chance to retreat. but depending on waht kinda unit it is and land its on, the odds change.. like a foot troops chold have a 5-10% chance of retreating in hilly land and a 15-25 in flat grass lands.. see my point is u can allways retreat if needed even from a unit that is faster then u.. dont tell me that troops in ww2 didnt retreat from tanks divisons!

You mean that the other way 'round, don't you? It's easier to escape prusuit in hills or forest than on open ground.

That apart, what you're saying makes perfect sense - I'm not denying that. I hope Firaxis gives it due consideration for possible inclusion in Civ IV. I do, however, stand by my above expressed opinion that the current system is perfectly fine from a gameplay perspective - we're representing combat, not simulating it.

If you crave rationalization, just imagine that the remnants of a beaten Infantry unit does indeed retreat from the victorious Tanks, but are too weak to be represented by a unit any longer. The survivors straggle home, and many are eventually integrated in the new units being sent to the front. That's how I've bean thinking of it since I first began to play civ, long before SMAC introduced retreats.

 

[Siegmund]

Just one quick addition...

I too would like to see 3MP able to retreat from 2MP. It might also be reasonable to have it be based on MPs remaining instead of total speed of the unit.

As for "rarely do you see a 3mp unit against a 2mp unit" ... I see it every game that isn't won in the early middle ages: cavalry against knights, or riders against knights (or older 2-mp units) if China is in the mix.