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If civ retains a system based on units, as all civs have had, I think two simple changes could make a fundamental difference.
The more importan change would be the addition of a morale factor: morale would determine when a unit stopped fighting (besides annahilation). Haing such a system woul help in immense ways:
1. Allow the makers to make units more expensive and more important, given that they would be less likely to die, since combat would not always be to the death of one unit (yes, I remember the civ3 retreat function, but this is different)
2. Allow the implementation of Attrition (more on this later)
3. Change the significant of having veteran and elite forces-this would no longer mean HP differences while at the same time making elite units more important and powerfull
4. Allow significant modificaions to allow home bonuses, give Cv bonuses and so forth.
So, how would this system work? it need not be too complex. All units would have a scale graphically shown, and the level of morale would be measured by color (imagione for now, dark green for full, then light green, yellow, orange, red, and black).
Each unit would have a base morale-the level at which the unit resets when at rest and not in any dangerous situations. Now, how would morale influence fighting?
The simplest method is to program it so that the morale has a chance to go down each time a unit looses HP, or speds a turn in dangerous terrain-you can also add a chance for morale to go up each time damage is done to an enemy, or the units s in favorable terrain. Now, as morale goes down, it becomes easier for it to keep falling- a unit in dark green will be less likely to drop down than a unit at orange ad it is easier to go up from orange to yellow than yellow to light green...
How would this work in battle? lets take two units, each with 10 hps, one with 4 attack after all bonuses, the other with 3.5 defense after all bonuses-both begin at yellow morale- lets say the first two attackes fail, the attacker goes down to orange- it succeeds once, then again fails and goes down to red..it wins twice and goes back up to orange, then looses again, going donw to red and finally looses again, going down to black- once black is reached the attack is called off. After loosing 5 HP the attack failed, while the defense, loosing 3 HP's, holds on. The attacker lost, while his unit is still alive and capable of either retreating back to a city, or trying to regain some confidence on the field.NOw, if the attackres basehad been dark green morale, even with the same 10 HP, it very likely would have dirven the other unit form its positions, though certinly loosing perhaps as many if not more HP's- all the same, we have an inatsnce were an elite unit would do what a normal one could not, withou having to manipulate HP's, which is utterly unrealisitc.
How can morale work with attrition- as I said, attrition would be a signiifcant strategic change for a civ ganme- for example, if terrain like mountains and jungles were given huge attrition values (meaning armies trying to cross them would soon be wiped out simply by mother nature), it would make jungles and mountains real obstacles to invasion, not just ways to slow down something. If attirion and morale are mixed, it would mean that certain trips could only be made by very professional and well trained armies, while regular armies would fall apartt-again, increasing the value of professional units.
As for civ bonuses-one could very well add certain morale bonuses on defense or attack to civs, making them more defnsive or offensively minded- attrition morale losses for certain terrains could be modified, making civs better able to deal with their surroundings than foreigners, and finally you could institute dfense bonuses for units fighting for hom, or atatck bonuses if your civ is ideologially driven.
The more importan change would be the addition of a morale factor: morale would determine when a unit stopped fighting (besides annahilation). Haing such a system woul help in immense ways:
1. Allow the makers to make units more expensive and more important, given that they would be less likely to die, since combat would not always be to the death of one unit (yes, I remember the civ3 retreat function, but this is different)
2. Allow the implementation of Attrition (more on this later)
3. Change the significant of having veteran and elite forces-this would no longer mean HP differences while at the same time making elite units more important and powerfull
4. Allow significant modificaions to allow home bonuses, give Cv bonuses and so forth.
So, how would this system work? it need not be too complex. All units would have a scale graphically shown, and the level of morale would be measured by color (imagione for now, dark green for full, then light green, yellow, orange, red, and black).
Each unit would have a base morale-the level at which the unit resets when at rest and not in any dangerous situations. Now, how would morale influence fighting?
The simplest method is to program it so that the morale has a chance to go down each time a unit looses HP, or speds a turn in dangerous terrain-you can also add a chance for morale to go up each time damage is done to an enemy, or the units s in favorable terrain. Now, as morale goes down, it becomes easier for it to keep falling- a unit in dark green will be less likely to drop down than a unit at orange ad it is easier to go up from orange to yellow than yellow to light green...
How would this work in battle? lets take two units, each with 10 hps, one with 4 attack after all bonuses, the other with 3.5 defense after all bonuses-both begin at yellow morale- lets say the first two attackes fail, the attacker goes down to orange- it succeeds once, then again fails and goes down to red..it wins twice and goes back up to orange, then looses again, going donw to red and finally looses again, going down to black- once black is reached the attack is called off. After loosing 5 HP the attack failed, while the defense, loosing 3 HP's, holds on. The attacker lost, while his unit is still alive and capable of either retreating back to a city, or trying to regain some confidence on the field.NOw, if the attackres basehad been dark green morale, even with the same 10 HP, it very likely would have dirven the other unit form its positions, though certinly loosing perhaps as many if not more HP's- all the same, we have an inatsnce were an elite unit would do what a normal one could not, withou having to manipulate HP's, which is utterly unrealisitc.
How can morale work with attrition- as I said, attrition would be a signiifcant strategic change for a civ ganme- for example, if terrain like mountains and jungles were given huge attrition values (meaning armies trying to cross them would soon be wiped out simply by mother nature), it would make jungles and mountains real obstacles to invasion, not just ways to slow down something. If attirion and morale are mixed, it would mean that certain trips could only be made by very professional and well trained armies, while regular armies would fall apartt-again, increasing the value of professional units.
As for civ bonuses-one could very well add certain morale bonuses on defense or attack to civs, making them more defnsive or offensively minded- attrition morale losses for certain terrains could be modified, making civs better able to deal with their surroundings than foreigners, and finally you could institute dfense bonuses for units fighting for hom, or atatck bonuses if your civ is ideologially driven.
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