Idea for the future: Home ground

[Optimizer]

Another idea that would be simpler to implement, and add a lot of flavor to the game.

Some units - let's say veteran foot units - should gain a "home ground" terrain if they spend long time in that terrain within your borders. They could get movement, vision, combat and healing bonuses in that terrain.

This way, you could have special mountain, jungle and desert units if you have somewhere to train them. You could even have troops trained for city combat.

[bobbo008]

not bad, in a way, i could see how that would be justified. Troops do get to know terrain and stuff like that...

[alva]

That's how I would like to see FOG be executed. The longer a units sits in a tile, the more it knows about it's surroundings.(maybe even get a defesive bonus on that tile(after X turns), on top of fortification.

[Cyclotron]

Well, units already get healing bonuses and transportation bonuses in home or unclaimed territory... and vision is already assured in your cultural borders.

[bobbo008]

maybe it's like how the Mongol horseman/knight can travel mountains just fine. they know the terrain and can travel it easier, without roads/railroads

[Jaybe]

I agree with cyclotron that this has already been implemented, and in an elegant* way.

*Not involving a lot of detail, no problem for either the AI or the player to keep track of, and also handles other aspects as well. That is: elegant.

[alva]

True,

I merely ment it as a 'personal view/hope/wish/opinion' kind of thing.
Where if two armies met in the field you wouldn't be able to know the excact details of all units involved. Rather that would become more clear as turns pass.

I surely don't disagree with Civ3 design on keeping things 'simple' so that the AI can handle it.

[bobbo008]

"Rather that would become more clear as turns pass."

unfortunately only works, it seems, when in cities

[Optimizer]

I want the home ground skill to be terrain-specific, not just generally favouring the defender.

If there is a lot of desert between you and your enemy, you could put out some of your troops in the desert inside our borders to give them special desert training. If you have no desert, bad for you.

[bongo]

Agreed. There are some types of terrain that are so hostile that troops not trained or equipped for them will face serious trouble. Deserts, tundra and jungles should all have negative effect on your non-specialist troops, like removing one health-point each turn you spent in such terrain.

[Master Zen]

I think Civ3 should differentiate between mobile and infanatry units. Mobile units should be at a disadvantage when attacking, say, forests, mountains or cities. Infantry units should get a bonus since in real life it's the grunts to slog through the towns, not the tanks. This could also reduce the amount of bombardment necesary to subjugate a city which I think is waaaay too much.

[Cyclotron]

raguil, a good way to do a lot of that is to flag vehicles as "wheeled" in the editor. I believe that with this flag they are unable to cross mountains or jungles without a road (chariots, for example, and catapults, have the wheeled flag).

[TacticalGrace]

Re: Idea for the future: Home ground

Originally posted by Optimizer
Some units - let's say veteran foot units - should gain a "home ground" terrain if they spend long time in that terrain within your borders. They could get movement, vision, combat and healing bonuses in that terrain.

This way, you could have special mountain, jungle and desert units if you have somewhere to train them. You could even have troops trained for city combat.

Question: how long does a unit have to stay in a particular type of terrain in order for it to get the required training?

Would 10 years suffice? That'll be one turn then (in the earlier stages of the game)

[bongo]

The way unit promotion works today is a good example of how it could be done. Units built in cities with a lot of tundra(maybe 25%) in it radius can be flagged with 'polar', and units that wins combat on tundra can also be promoted to 'polar'. Same goes for other types of hostile terrain.

[Patroklos]

I would say that every unit (where it is relevant) should have four types; desert, mountain, winter and general. You would pay gold in a city to change the orientation of a unit (paying for the training, it woud be like an upgrade) thus you could change your desert troopers to winter troopers when you invade a cold nation, then change them back when the enemy is no more.