Unit Abilities

[lajzar]

On the treats X terrain as roads argument, I have one issue with it.

It makes sense that alpine units should be able to move on glacier/tundra/mountain as if it were open ground. Equally, rangers have a case for moving through forest/jungle as if it were open ground.

By what is the justification for them moving faster than 'open ground' on such terrain? That bit never made much sense to me. It always looked to me as if the civ2 implementation was just a halfway step between move 1 and move 3 defence units.

Basically, I think each terrain should have a default move cost, then individual units might have specific flags such as:

[Alpine Infantry]
move cost 1 in mountain/glacier/tundra

[Ranger]
move cost 1 in forest/jungle

[Desert Troops]
move cost 1 in desert

Here's another unit ability, tied in with terrain. Each terrain type should have a % chance of damaging/destroying a unit each time a unit enters the terrain. For most terrains, that is zero. It only really applies to hostile terrains such as desert, mountains, and ice floes. Certain unit types gain the ability to either ignore or reduce these chances, either in general or restricted to certain terrain types. Horses might suffer an extra penalty in desert, while camel riders would be safe in desert. Alpine troops should never be hurt by mountain terrain. This should be the principal advantage of troops optimised for particular terrains.

[Xorbon]

Originally posted by lajzar
...
Basically, I think each terrain should have a default move cost, then individual units might have specific flags such as:

[Alpine Infantry]
move cost 1 in mountain/glacier/tundra

[Ranger]
move cost 1 in forest/jungle

[Desert Troops]
move cost 1 in desert

I don't know if you realize this or not, but Civ 3 already has the ability for units to ignore the move costs of specific terrain(s). For instance, the Keshik ignores the movement costs of mountains and hills (i.e. it goes through them as if they were plains).

[lajzar]

Originally posted by Xorbon


I don't know if you realize this or not, but Civ 3 already has the ability for units to ignore the move costs of specific terrain(s). For instance, the Keshik ignores the movement costs of mountains and hills (i.e. it goes through them as if they were plains).

I wasn't aware of that, but I wonder if it goes as far as I envision. I don't just want the ability to ignore the cost for spcific terrains, but to be able to set the move cost to whatever I want, or even set it to impassable for that unit.

Can you clarify, does c3c allow custom move costs, or is the choice between the terrain default and "one move point"?

[Xorbon]

Originally posted by lajzar
I wasn't aware of that, but I wonder if it goes as far as I envision. I don't just want the ability to ignore the cost for spcific terrains, but to be able to set the move cost to whatever I want, or even set it to impassable for that unit.

Can you clarify, does c3c allow custom move costs, or is the choice between the terrain default and "one move point"?

It's the latter. There is no way to customize movement costs by terrain. What you can do for a unit is select which terrain(s) will cost just one mp (movement point). So, you could set a unit to ignore movement costs for jungles and hills, and that unit will go through those terrains at a cost of just 1 mp. This means it does nothing for 'move 1' units, such as spearmen. And selecting the unit to ignore move costs of plains, desert, etc. have no effect since those terrains already cost just 1 to go through.

As far as making certain terrains impassable to certain units, that can't be done either. However, you can toggle a "wheeled" flag for units which restricts units from entering mountains, jungles, and (I think) marshes. This flag is given to units like chariots and certain artillery units. You can change which terrains are affected by the 'wheeled' flag in the editor, but, unfortunately, this affects all 'wheeled' units.

Your ideas would be a step up from the Civ 3 implementation.