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Howdy folks. Haven't posted on Apolyton in years, but I was just reading one of the books in the Belisarius series (by Eric Flint), and a fantastic idea just popped into my head for Civilization (logistics play a large part in the story). I know its too late to make it into Civ IV, but I gotta tell somebody. Hopefully I'm not going to be "that guy" that comes up with the idea after four dozen others already have. But after skimming the List, I didn't see it.
So, here's the great (and relatively simple idea):
All units will require a set ammount of resources a turn. We'll use food, as thats the easiest. Just say that every military unit requires 1 food/turn. You can supply them as long as they're within 1 tile of your road/river network (and, of course, if you have surplus food). If they're not near your network (or if they're cut off from it, by enemy troops blocking the way) they must feed off the land. In friendly territory, they can get as much food from a tile as that tile normally produces. In neutral (unclaimed) territory, there will be a small penalty (no local farmers to help them out). In hostile territory, there will be a larger penalty (locals will be actively making their life hard). Every turn they go without food, they suffer some damage.
This would allow for alot of realism:
- No stone age Roman scouts pulling a Marco Polo and reaching China. You're limited to scouting the area around your Civ. Just like in real life. The Roman Empire knew Europe, North African, and the Mideast well. Subsaharan Africa was kinda foggy, as was India. China, while known, was complete darkness to them.
- Deserts, Mountains, and Tundra become actual barriers to movement, as they produce no food. Just like in real life. The Old Kingdom of Egypt never had to bother much with a military, as they were surrounded by desert, which kept everyone out. If you try to pull a Hannibal, you can do it, but its going to hurt (just as it cost Hannibal). In CivI-III, you could march a massive army over the Himalayas and take any casualties until you actually went to battle.
Roman Legions, assuming they can build roads (come on, we've all edited them to be able to do that at least once), all of a sudden pack a whallop, as they can keep themselves in supply much easier (build a road network and defend it). Just like in real life. The Legions were well trained, yes, but it was their logistics that made them so effective.
Forts could also be used as mini-granaries, holding a few units of food (and whatever other supplies your troops will need as your tech progresses) for the units stationed there. Makes them more valuable (I never found them too useful). Starve off the units stationed there (could take awhile, unless theres alot there), and they have to leave or die. You then can take the fort. Whee.
Problems with this:
- Ships. How would supply for them be modeled? All sea squares currently produce food, so they could go anywhere based on supply. Of course, your trade abilities in CivIII expanded out from shore gradually as tech progressed, so you could use that for ships. So, a Civ that hasn't discovered Navigation or Magnetism (those were the 2 techs, right?) would have to keep its ships close to shore to keep them in supply.
- For those units that are supplied by your Civ and not their own forraging, which cities should the food come from? The closest city? The one producing the most food?
- The ammount of food that tiles produce would have to be increased, to allow for the massive increase in demand.
Alright, thats my pipe dream. What'dya guys think of it?
So, here's the great (and relatively simple idea):
All units will require a set ammount of resources a turn. We'll use food, as thats the easiest. Just say that every military unit requires 1 food/turn. You can supply them as long as they're within 1 tile of your road/river network (and, of course, if you have surplus food). If they're not near your network (or if they're cut off from it, by enemy troops blocking the way) they must feed off the land. In friendly territory, they can get as much food from a tile as that tile normally produces. In neutral (unclaimed) territory, there will be a small penalty (no local farmers to help them out). In hostile territory, there will be a larger penalty (locals will be actively making their life hard). Every turn they go without food, they suffer some damage.
This would allow for alot of realism:
- No stone age Roman scouts pulling a Marco Polo and reaching China. You're limited to scouting the area around your Civ. Just like in real life. The Roman Empire knew Europe, North African, and the Mideast well. Subsaharan Africa was kinda foggy, as was India. China, while known, was complete darkness to them.
- Deserts, Mountains, and Tundra become actual barriers to movement, as they produce no food. Just like in real life. The Old Kingdom of Egypt never had to bother much with a military, as they were surrounded by desert, which kept everyone out. If you try to pull a Hannibal, you can do it, but its going to hurt (just as it cost Hannibal). In CivI-III, you could march a massive army over the Himalayas and take any casualties until you actually went to battle.
Roman Legions, assuming they can build roads (come on, we've all edited them to be able to do that at least once), all of a sudden pack a whallop, as they can keep themselves in supply much easier (build a road network and defend it). Just like in real life. The Legions were well trained, yes, but it was their logistics that made them so effective.
Forts could also be used as mini-granaries, holding a few units of food (and whatever other supplies your troops will need as your tech progresses) for the units stationed there. Makes them more valuable (I never found them too useful). Starve off the units stationed there (could take awhile, unless theres alot there), and they have to leave or die. You then can take the fort. Whee.
Problems with this:
- Ships. How would supply for them be modeled? All sea squares currently produce food, so they could go anywhere based on supply. Of course, your trade abilities in CivIII expanded out from shore gradually as tech progressed, so you could use that for ships. So, a Civ that hasn't discovered Navigation or Magnetism (those were the 2 techs, right?) would have to keep its ships close to shore to keep them in supply.
- For those units that are supplied by your Civ and not their own forraging, which cities should the food come from? The closest city? The one producing the most food?
- The ammount of food that tiles produce would have to be increased, to allow for the massive increase in demand.
Alright, thats my pipe dream. What'dya guys think of it?
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