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Ok, this idea has been going around in my head ever since I read a thread about some ideas that Jesse was bouncing around. I can’t seem to get it out of my mind so I guess I’ll just have throw it out there and see what people think.
First a preamble; Civ games have never had any sort of provision for supply lines, units have always had unlimited food/ammo/fuel, no matter how far they are from their home bases. I think this denies us a lot of strategic possibilities, especially when it comes to naval combat. Now I know that some you are already thinking “It’s to complicated to implement.”, but I don’t think it has to be. Here’s some of my ideas as to how to make it work.
Every unit and every supply source; i.e. City, Colony, Fortress/Outpost etc. would have a number I’m calling a Range Factor. The Range Factor (RF) of the unit is multiplied by the RF of the nearest supply source which would give it the maximum distance that unit can move without penalty. If it moves beyond that range, it takes a percentage risk each turn of losing a hit point, much like Galleys now take a risk of sinking if they travel in Oceans. If it Fortifies on a square and doesn’t move, there’s no risk of taking damage. Only while a unit is on the move does it suffer any penalties.
For an example, if Cities have an RF of 4 and Fortresses/Colonies are 2, and a Horseman has an RF of 3, it could safely move 12 squares from a City, or 6 from a Fortress/Colony. Anything beyond that and it risks a 50% chance of losing a hit point each turn that it continues to move. As well, some units such Scouts and perhaps certain UUs would have an infinite RF, to reflect their ability to forage and live off the land. Since all of this would be determined by a single number, it would be very easy to make it moddable.
And some of these numbers could increase with certain techs/improvements. For instance, Engineering could increase the RF of supply sources by 1 (or more) to reflect the improvement in road construction. Connection of a supply source to other cities via a Railroad could increase it again, to reflect it’s ability to quickly draw supplies from other centres, not just it’s own. And finally, Motorized Transport would add a further increase because of the more efficient transportation methods being used.
As well, some units can devolve as they suffer hit point losses. For an example that I’ve used elsewhere already, a Knight happens to be riding a perfectly good food source. If that type of unit falls below 1 hit point while in the field, it loses its mount and becomes a Medieval Infantry, and continues on foot, with all but maybe one of its hit points. As well, it would lose a ranking, i.e an Elite unit becomes a Veteran, since it wasn’t trained for that type of combat. This devolution could even continue as a reverse upgrade path, so the Veteran Medieval Infantry becomes a Regular Swordsman, becomes a Conscript Warrior, before you actually lose the unit altogether due to starvation. For later era units, Tanks would devolve to an Infantry unit, which would devolve to a new type that fights using bayonets and/or hand-to-hand.
When it comes to moving in stacks, the entire column would use the RF of the best unit in it. So if you had 5 Catapults (RF-1), 5 Swordsman (RF-2) and 5 Horseman (RF-3), the entire stack would use an RF of 3. This would reflect the fact that a Horse can carry more than a single man is able to, so it could carry additional supplies for the entire stack. As well, there could be a new type of unit called a Supply Unit, in this case a Wagon, which could be added that might have an RF of 4. And with different techs, new Supply Units come into play, with even higher RF numbers. Supply Truck with Motorized Transport for instance, RF of 6? Keep in mind that the mumbers I’m throwing out are just examples. And like I said before, they would be fully moddable, being determined by only a single setting.
In the case of Sea units, I think this concept would open up whole new areas for naval conflict/supremacy as well. My idea is that if a special supply ship is parked along the coast, it acts just like it was a Fortress/Colony would on land. That would give any unit nearby an increase in range. If that supply ship is attacked and destroyed, the land units would start to suffer from hit point losses if they tried to advance further.
Well that’s not exactly it in a nutshell, but that’s my ideas so far.
First a preamble; Civ games have never had any sort of provision for supply lines, units have always had unlimited food/ammo/fuel, no matter how far they are from their home bases. I think this denies us a lot of strategic possibilities, especially when it comes to naval combat. Now I know that some you are already thinking “It’s to complicated to implement.”, but I don’t think it has to be. Here’s some of my ideas as to how to make it work.
Every unit and every supply source; i.e. City, Colony, Fortress/Outpost etc. would have a number I’m calling a Range Factor. The Range Factor (RF) of the unit is multiplied by the RF of the nearest supply source which would give it the maximum distance that unit can move without penalty. If it moves beyond that range, it takes a percentage risk each turn of losing a hit point, much like Galleys now take a risk of sinking if they travel in Oceans. If it Fortifies on a square and doesn’t move, there’s no risk of taking damage. Only while a unit is on the move does it suffer any penalties.
For an example, if Cities have an RF of 4 and Fortresses/Colonies are 2, and a Horseman has an RF of 3, it could safely move 12 squares from a City, or 6 from a Fortress/Colony. Anything beyond that and it risks a 50% chance of losing a hit point each turn that it continues to move. As well, some units such Scouts and perhaps certain UUs would have an infinite RF, to reflect their ability to forage and live off the land. Since all of this would be determined by a single number, it would be very easy to make it moddable.
And some of these numbers could increase with certain techs/improvements. For instance, Engineering could increase the RF of supply sources by 1 (or more) to reflect the improvement in road construction. Connection of a supply source to other cities via a Railroad could increase it again, to reflect it’s ability to quickly draw supplies from other centres, not just it’s own. And finally, Motorized Transport would add a further increase because of the more efficient transportation methods being used.
As well, some units can devolve as they suffer hit point losses. For an example that I’ve used elsewhere already, a Knight happens to be riding a perfectly good food source. If that type of unit falls below 1 hit point while in the field, it loses its mount and becomes a Medieval Infantry, and continues on foot, with all but maybe one of its hit points. As well, it would lose a ranking, i.e an Elite unit becomes a Veteran, since it wasn’t trained for that type of combat. This devolution could even continue as a reverse upgrade path, so the Veteran Medieval Infantry becomes a Regular Swordsman, becomes a Conscript Warrior, before you actually lose the unit altogether due to starvation. For later era units, Tanks would devolve to an Infantry unit, which would devolve to a new type that fights using bayonets and/or hand-to-hand.
When it comes to moving in stacks, the entire column would use the RF of the best unit in it. So if you had 5 Catapults (RF-1), 5 Swordsman (RF-2) and 5 Horseman (RF-3), the entire stack would use an RF of 3. This would reflect the fact that a Horse can carry more than a single man is able to, so it could carry additional supplies for the entire stack. As well, there could be a new type of unit called a Supply Unit, in this case a Wagon, which could be added that might have an RF of 4. And with different techs, new Supply Units come into play, with even higher RF numbers. Supply Truck with Motorized Transport for instance, RF of 6? Keep in mind that the mumbers I’m throwing out are just examples. And like I said before, they would be fully moddable, being determined by only a single setting.
In the case of Sea units, I think this concept would open up whole new areas for naval conflict/supremacy as well. My idea is that if a special supply ship is parked along the coast, it acts just like it was a Fortress/Colony would on land. That would give any unit nearby an increase in range. If that supply ship is attacked and destroyed, the land units would start to suffer from hit point losses if they tried to advance further.
Well that’s not exactly it in a nutshell, but that’s my ideas so far.
(excluding mine of course 
hehe)
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