Power Projection: 'Power borders'

[Lambiorix_be]

Similar to cultural borders I think Civ4 also needs 'Power Borders'. A city or unit should have certain influence around his present location. The easiest way is to link it current striking distance that a unit has today.

So if a carrier filled with bombers arrives at the borders of an island-like empire it falls partly within the military influence of your empire. Or suppose at the border of my empire I start piling up bombers,artillery, tanks... the military influence reaches well within the other empire and maybe encompass some of their cities. This should give rise to diplomatic tensions between the empires. If your neighbour starts massing an army at your border it would only be natural that a) you start doing the same and b) ask your neighbour to pull them back.

If you combine this with diplomacy and espionage you could simulate a cold war arms race, while peace agreements could also contains chapters like 'no city can be in a 'power border' of the opposing empire.

What it about it?

[LDiCesare]

That is an interesting idea, but what effects would this border effectively have?
One possibility is that, in case of war, all cities inside your power border are conquered immediately, or units inside suffer damage. Otherwise it's a zone of control?
I alreasy thought of something like this (for instance remove unit fights but provide them through projection of power the way culture builds up), but I can't think of a way this could work. What's the effect of being inside one's military influence?

[Fake Boris]

I don't see real use in it. The AI stacking units near my cities is enough to get me worried.

[Lambiorix_be]

Originally posted by Oncle Boris
I don't see real use in it. The AI stacking units near my cities is enough to get me worried.

It is true that it worries you but you cannot actually react against it (except by declaring war). There is no way you can tell the other empire that you consider this an 'unfriendly' act and that you want them removed. As a consequence you need to re-inforce that border (maybe unnecessary) while you need that army in a conflict with another empire.

[Lambiorix_be]

Originally posted by LDiCesare
That is an interesting idea, but what effects would this border effectively have?
One possibility is that, in case of war, all cities inside your power border are conquered immediately, or units inside suffer damage. Otherwise it's a zone of control?
I alreasy thought of something like this (for instance remove unit fights but provide them through projection of power the way culture builds up), but I can't think of a way this could work. What's the effect of being inside one's military influence?

non-allies:

If a city is inside the military influence of another empire it would have a lower morale, it would focus more upon military units, less shields from the tiles that are in the influence.

The more military influence you are exerting on a foreign city the easier it becomes a target for spy missions. It may even flip over out of fear (analogue to cultural flip over)

allies + you own empire:

If an allie has a military influence over your city then that city receives a morale boost

If one of your cities is outside your own military influence because it has no military unit and 'far away' then it should have the same effect as being under the influence of non-allied empire.

In your early empire you would then notice that although you have a cultural continuous empire your military influence will be non-existing in some places. Those places should be paradise for barbaric uprisings.

It would also give a mean to tune 'right of passage'. When I give right of passage to an empire I do not want him to place a very large army in my empire. I only want to give permission for a settler protected by a very small number of units. Or if the the other empires really needs to transport a big army through my empire because he is attacking an empire that I don't like either I want that army to be passing by in small (i.e. defeatable) parts.

[LDiCesare]

One thing this would work fine for would be to prevent pirates. Okay, we don't have pirates striking trade routes in civ, but CtP2 has it. Military influence would then be good in order to prevent trade routes to be attacked by pirates.

[Flinx]

The AI needs to be a more reactive to troop movements and this idea would certainly result in that.

A demilitarized zone treaty might be easier to implement and by extension the AI could automatically look at any troops in the DMZ or where it would be.