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I would really like to see naval movement and combat abstracted, in order to add realism and fun to the game.
Except for cities use, the seas are not treated as tiles, but instead are treated as zones. My example assumes modern times, so bear with me.
First, let’s start off with some assumptions, you have continents A and B which are five sea zones apart. To move into a zone costs one movement point. Moving into port is free from a zone which touches it, moving from a port into a zone costs one point, since its moving into a zone. Units can do several things in sea zones, move through them, evade detection, or search for the enemy.
Consider that you’re at war, with a civ on B, and you’re on A. You have 3 naval task forces including destroyers (8), cruisers (7), battleships (5), carriers (8), transports (5) (movement points are in parentheses). You’ve somehow detected that the enemy intends to invade your coast, and has vessels with similar movement capability. You continent is touched by three different sea zones, and you have ports in each task force which can patrol your coastal zones. You send all your units out for patrol duty in the closest zone, which means only one movement point is used for movement, and a lot more can be used for searching out the enemy. You take a chance on being able to detect some unprotected tansports and happen to have a small task force of a carrier and a couple of destroyers and a cruiser which you deploy to the middle zone. The carrier launches aircraft to begin sweeps for a) patrols, b) transports, c) both. This improves carrier detection as if it used one less point if using props, and 2 less if using jets. Detection is handled on a die roll based on a combination of searching power-evasion power +random element. The random element should include opportunities for surprise of the searching side, and even the evasion side and even stranger, both sides suprised. Surprise grants the ability to pick out selected targets or not engage the enemy, unless both sides are surprised, in which case combat must be fought, with probably disastrous results for both sides.
Subs may operate independently of the task force and also have a greater chance of surprising the enemy. Civs with helicopter units on destroyers, carriers can negate some of the sub’s surprise through ASW operations in their zone. Subs can also engage in ASW.
Planes in coastal cities can engage in naval recon and combat. Their recon abilities are half of their standard bombardment range, considering there is a lot of ocean to cover. Planes in support of task force operations lend their firepower to the task force, and have less chance of being shot down, planes operating in combat singly have a huge chance of being shot down.
Combat happens on a task force scale, with picket ships taking the brunt of initial damage, and later more valuable ships are damaged. Bombers and fighters aboard carriers should be able to be called in and SINK ships, at least occasionally. Coastally based planes assigned to naval operations lend their firepower.
My rationale for this is to remove battleships as the preeminent naval unit, the only one worth being produced in previous Civs. It actually utilizes the concept of pickets, as these are the first units to detect an enemy task force, sometimes being lost in the process of protecting the capital ships. It really gives the carrier a purpose now, besides simply a movable, if vulnerable, airbase. Subs wouldn’t be so limited because of their movement.
This is a modern example, but in ancient times, the similar rules to CIV3 could apply, coastal zones are passable to all shipping. A seafaring advance or wonder could expand it to zones bordering coastal zones (call them sea zones). Once magnetism is reached, deep sea zones, which are bordered exclusively by sea zones can be traversed. Travel through deep sea and sea zones could cause a unit to be misdirected and arrive in the wrong zone near the intended zone. If small wonders are implemented, building Longitude, available with Magnetism will aide in navigation and allow correct navigation intended zones through sea and deep sea zones. Zones could also be smaller in the ancient era. In the example above, say there are 8 zones between A and B. 2 coastal, 2 sea zones, and 4 deep sea zones. Moving through multiple sea and deep sea zones, increase the chance of the ship being lost (delayed, not necessarily being destroyed) to getting to the destination.
My rationale for these changes take into account the historical fact that ships often foundered at sea or arrived at the wrong destination, because of an inability to measure longitude accurately. Note that for the US, this was often the case with the initial colonists, and of course we all know how well Columbus was able to navigate…
I know this was a long post, and it’s a radical concept from previous civ games, but naval combat and movement in CIV is horribly lacking, and really needs significant changes.
I've left out issues of supply, which could be resolved by tenders and other support vessels along with a combination of less movement (to use for evasion/detection) for ships staying out of port for multiple consecutive turns.
Comments and criticism welcome!
Except for cities use, the seas are not treated as tiles, but instead are treated as zones. My example assumes modern times, so bear with me.
First, let’s start off with some assumptions, you have continents A and B which are five sea zones apart. To move into a zone costs one movement point. Moving into port is free from a zone which touches it, moving from a port into a zone costs one point, since its moving into a zone. Units can do several things in sea zones, move through them, evade detection, or search for the enemy.
Consider that you’re at war, with a civ on B, and you’re on A. You have 3 naval task forces including destroyers (8), cruisers (7), battleships (5), carriers (8), transports (5) (movement points are in parentheses). You’ve somehow detected that the enemy intends to invade your coast, and has vessels with similar movement capability. You continent is touched by three different sea zones, and you have ports in each task force which can patrol your coastal zones. You send all your units out for patrol duty in the closest zone, which means only one movement point is used for movement, and a lot more can be used for searching out the enemy. You take a chance on being able to detect some unprotected tansports and happen to have a small task force of a carrier and a couple of destroyers and a cruiser which you deploy to the middle zone. The carrier launches aircraft to begin sweeps for a) patrols, b) transports, c) both. This improves carrier detection as if it used one less point if using props, and 2 less if using jets. Detection is handled on a die roll based on a combination of searching power-evasion power +random element. The random element should include opportunities for surprise of the searching side, and even the evasion side and even stranger, both sides suprised. Surprise grants the ability to pick out selected targets or not engage the enemy, unless both sides are surprised, in which case combat must be fought, with probably disastrous results for both sides.
Subs may operate independently of the task force and also have a greater chance of surprising the enemy. Civs with helicopter units on destroyers, carriers can negate some of the sub’s surprise through ASW operations in their zone. Subs can also engage in ASW.
Planes in coastal cities can engage in naval recon and combat. Their recon abilities are half of their standard bombardment range, considering there is a lot of ocean to cover. Planes in support of task force operations lend their firepower to the task force, and have less chance of being shot down, planes operating in combat singly have a huge chance of being shot down.
Combat happens on a task force scale, with picket ships taking the brunt of initial damage, and later more valuable ships are damaged. Bombers and fighters aboard carriers should be able to be called in and SINK ships, at least occasionally. Coastally based planes assigned to naval operations lend their firepower.
My rationale for this is to remove battleships as the preeminent naval unit, the only one worth being produced in previous Civs. It actually utilizes the concept of pickets, as these are the first units to detect an enemy task force, sometimes being lost in the process of protecting the capital ships. It really gives the carrier a purpose now, besides simply a movable, if vulnerable, airbase. Subs wouldn’t be so limited because of their movement.
This is a modern example, but in ancient times, the similar rules to CIV3 could apply, coastal zones are passable to all shipping. A seafaring advance or wonder could expand it to zones bordering coastal zones (call them sea zones). Once magnetism is reached, deep sea zones, which are bordered exclusively by sea zones can be traversed. Travel through deep sea and sea zones could cause a unit to be misdirected and arrive in the wrong zone near the intended zone. If small wonders are implemented, building Longitude, available with Magnetism will aide in navigation and allow correct navigation intended zones through sea and deep sea zones. Zones could also be smaller in the ancient era. In the example above, say there are 8 zones between A and B. 2 coastal, 2 sea zones, and 4 deep sea zones. Moving through multiple sea and deep sea zones, increase the chance of the ship being lost (delayed, not necessarily being destroyed) to getting to the destination.
My rationale for these changes take into account the historical fact that ships often foundered at sea or arrived at the wrong destination, because of an inability to measure longitude accurately. Note that for the US, this was often the case with the initial colonists, and of course we all know how well Columbus was able to navigate…
I know this was a long post, and it’s a radical concept from previous civ games, but naval combat and movement in CIV is horribly lacking, and really needs significant changes.
I've left out issues of supply, which could be resolved by tenders and other support vessels along with a combination of less movement (to use for evasion/detection) for ships staying out of port for multiple consecutive turns.
Comments and criticism welcome!