COMBAT: Summary

Victor Galis · July 1, 1999, 19:12

The following is the Combat Summary posted at the Firaxis forums. I apologize I did not have time to format it specifically for the forum, but rather posted it in pure HTML form.

<center><img src="http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Lair/2872/CivIII.jpg" border=0 width=500></img></center>

<center><h2>Combat resolution:</h2>

<h4>Suggestions for a more complex and realistic combat model in Civilization 3.</h4></center>Summarized by Victor Galis

COMBAT TYPES:

We will divide combat into several types to make the new model easier to explain. These will be Sea to Sea, Ground to Ground, Air to Air, and Surface to Air.

GROUND TO GROUND:

Each unit will have a certain number of men in it. They will function as the number of hit points, except that they cost actual resources to replenish, as opposed to repairs in the field. Mechanized units will also have a human cost to build, but the tanks, cannons, or whatever the weapon is, will be the hit points.

There will be three types of ground to ground attacks. Melee, ranged, and artillery. Each unit will only have one or two, but will have only one defensive value against all three. This way, musketeers for example, will always use their guns for the first few rounds, but should they engage a melee unit they will be counter attacked and have to use their bayonets (after a few rounds of ranged fire).

Units will have much larger attack and defense values than in Civ2 or SMAC. The reasons for this may become evident later.

Suppose our legion attacks a musketeer: (The following is a sample round based on stats that may or may not be accurate.)

LEGION:

Hit points: 1250 (This was an army made up of multiple legion units combined into one).

Melee Attack: 5

Defense: 3

Evasion: 2

MUSKETEERS:

Hit points 1000 (This was a single unit (more technologically advanced units will have more men.)

Range: 3 (This is the number of rounds they can fire at a target before it attacks them in melee combat. This would be divided by the number of movement points of the enemy unit, and then multiplied by the movement cost of the terrain. For example, a chariot would take 1.5 rounds to engage in melee combat. This means the musketeers would only have 1 round of ranged fire, but in the hills the chariot would take 3 rounds.)

Ranged Attack: 5
Melee Attack: 2
Defense: 2

Evasion: 2 (Infantry units will mostly have 2, 1 for their small foot speed, plus one for small size.)

Now regardless of who attacked whom, the following would happen: The legion would be attacked for three rounds by the musketeers. The legion would not be able to inflict any casualties back, but their armor (defense) plus evasion
(ranged defense) might reduce their losses from ranged fire (They can not avoid them altogether). Now on round four of the combat, the legion would engage the musketeers with their swords. The musketeers would have to use their bayonets (Melee attack). The units would now trade blows (melee attack against defense), until one dies or retreated.

Ranged vs. ranged combat would be much the same, except instead of closing into melee combat, the one with the smaller range would close until it was within range. For example, a unit of archers (range: 2) would close with musketeers for 1 round. Then they would take turns firing a volley. Each side would take casualties during a round. The round would have two parts. The shorter range unit fires (using its ranged attack vs. opponents ranged defense,) then the longer ranged unit would attack with its attack vs. the opponent's defense. This would continue until one unit was routed or eliminated.

Artillery would count as a special ranged unit. Artillery units could pound adjacent squares without engaging in actual combat. The number of rounds for this would depend on the unit. All these units would have a range of 10 if attacked directly. Unless stacked with a non-artillery unit, the artillery unit would not only be almost defenseless but also unable to retreat, due to the size and mobility of the artillery pieces. Against artillery, units would apply their defense plus twice the evasion. (To simulate the great joy of firing at a moving target;-))

Units with stronger melee than ranged attacks would close to attack. An example is a dragoon. When dragoons attack, they will charge. At the edge of their range they will fire a volley, but continue charging. They would continue firing volleys unit they had closed with the enemy then engage in melee combat.

SEA TO SEA COMBAT:

Would be the same as ground combat, except that all ships would fall into two categories: Long-range and Short-Range. The combat would function as on land between two ranged units. Long-range ships would be like artillery units, except that they would not be defenseless or easily defeated (after all, what was the last time a destroyer sank a battleship.)

AIR TO AIR COMBAT:

Again, same as ranged ground combat. The type of airplane does not matter. (Helicopters would count as a ground unit.) Bombers would fight the same as fighters (except their stats would be much worse). All stats used in Air to Air Combat are different for Surface to Air combat. Airplanes would have 1 defense. They would have only evasion to protect them (only works in the air).

SURFACE TO AIR COMBAT:

All airplanes will be able to attack their victims for a set number of rounds. An airplane can attack for 2 rounds (at the cost of one movement point), thus you have to attack your target over and over, (but be sure not to run out of fuel!)

All units will use defense+evasion to determine how much less damage they will take than the maximum (of course there will be other modifiers). The planes will all have an Air to Ground attack value (separate from their normal attack.) This is what they use. Their evasion value will serve as defense against ground fire. Units on the ground will be able to fire back if they have a Surface to Air attack. (Phalanxes won't, modern units with AA weapons (special ability) will). Additionally all air defenses in that area will fire at enemy planes. The planes and units will fight for two rounds (per attack made) or unit one unit is destroyed, whichever comes first. Damage from an aerial assault is inversely proportional with size. Small targets will take proportionally less damage than big ones.

Airplanes will also have the option to fly over the target, but any AA guns will be able to fire at the plane. The planes will have double evasion as defense.

Bombing runs: These would be what happens when one of your air units attempts to move into an enemy city. You get a menu, similar to the spy's menu, when it enters a city, but with different options.

*Carpet Bomb: This would take several move points, but damage virtually everything in the city a bit.

*Bomb installations: This would take one move point. The chance of fully destroying the target would be slim, but a second attack could finish the job. You could target a specific improvement.

*Target population centers: This would only take one point. The bomber would reduce the city's population a bit (unavailable to a Democracy or Republic) if population is represented by a large number instead of the old point system.

*Bomb airfields: This would also take one point. Unscrambled fighters and bombers would be hit, along with any airfields themselves. To do significant structural damage several attacks or several aircraft would be required.

*Bomb ports: This would attack any ships in a port. Again, only one point, but if you want to sink something bigger, or if there are many targets, you'll need multiple attacks.

*Strafe Units: This is a direct attack on units. It functions just like an attack in the field except units will have a maximum evasion of 2. Bunkers (a city improvement) would keep units safe.

*Neutralize Air Defenses: One point. This would target all AA defenses in a city including (units, ships, fighters, and actual SAM batteries and AA guns). This would function as a normal assault on those structures or units, just that you specifically hit targets that can fire back.

During a bombing run, air defenses in a city would have X rounds of fire at air units. X is equal to the number of move points expended to make the attack. Any scrambled fighters would also attack air units. If the attacking unit was an airfleet, the number of rounds of fire is equal to the movepoints expended by each aircraft, not the whole group total; in other words if there are 6 aircraft attacking for three rounds, the enemy would get three rounds of fire. If there were fighters in the airfleet, they would engage scrambled fighters first.

Collateral damage: When an air unit attacks any target, there is a chance some damage will be done to the surroundings. Normally, this in not much of a problem. It is very hard to destroy a road with bombs. You have to watch out when an enemy unit is in your territory because you might hit your own mines or farms. The chances of actually destroying them are slim. The only really worrisome part is when you attack an enemy city. If collateral damage kills civilians (hits population centers) you have just commited a minor atrocity. This becomes a major problem for a Republic or Democracy if done repeatedly or if a particularly severe blunder happens. In addition, it may rally enemy civilians into a militia, should you ever take the city, or simply make it harder to govern (more revolts if taken.)

ADDITIONAL COMBAT-RELATED CONCEPTS:

ARMIES:

Another major part of this combat system are armies. An "army" in Civ3 would be a group off different types of units. There would be a combine command, and this would combine those units into a single unit called an army. The army would have as many movepoints as the lowest of its components. It would have the sight of the highest of its components. When attacking it would attack as a whole. It would be in a formation where the units are organized by range. When in a battle the components of an army would become separate in the calculation again. Cavalry units would regain their extra move points. Melee units would charge in front, and ranged would advance to the edge of their range and fire at enemy melee units. An army might require a command unit, such as a general in order to be formed. A general would be trained in a city with some sort of improvement such as a Military College.

At sea, fleets would work the same way as armies, except at least one ship would have to be able to serve as the flagship (adding 10% to its construction cost, this would include the commander). The flagship would be just a normal ship with the +10% cost and some non-cumulative bonuses to its fleet.

An air fleet would work just like a fleet, except the command aircraft would be a different type, which would be solely a command aircraft. (More advanced versions might have improved radar, helping detect Stealth Fighters, or just seeing farther.) The advantage of an air fleet is that all AA and SAM batteries overflown still get only one round of fire, but now it is at the whole fleet instead of one round at each passing aircraft.

A carrier group would be a combined air/naval unit. It would have one or more carriers, one or more of which would be able to serve as a flagship. This unit would scramble fighters and bombers when attacked, or it could send its air forces as to attack a target. The only difference between this attack and that of an air fleet is that no command aircraft (slower and more vulnerable) is exposed to AA fire.

Also, each such combined unit could be named if the player pushed a certain hotkey. Otherwise, the computer would assign a name, such as third fleet, or so. They could be renamed anytime like cities. Single units would not be renamable, for efficiency purposes.

Defenders on a square all defend as an army, with or without a command unit (although they suffer penalties doing so). The only units that don't defend are the ones that don't stand a chance, like phalanxes will not attempt to defend against tanks.

SIEGES:

Sieges should be made a more viable option for taking an enemy city. Several things could make this happen:

Unhappiness factor: For every square adjacent to a city occupied by a fortified enemy unit there should be a number of people ready to surrender. These people would not necessarily be unhappy but would be treated as such. Happy people will not be ready to surrender, even if the siege is held out. If ethnicity is implemented, people of the same ethnic group as the besieger, should go into this ready to surrender state. Also, if a city belonging to a more tyrannical government is under siege by forces of a democracy people would be put into this state. At a certain point when the number of people ready to surrender exceeds a certain point the city would possibly surrender or suffer penalties.

Resource factor: A square occupied by an enemy unit should produce only 50% of its normal production. A fortified enemy unit could cut all production in that square. If a cavalry unit is sentried in a square, then 75% of that production would be cut off plus 25% of all adjacent squares. A cavalry unit sentried in a square with a fortified unit would cut adjacent squares production 50%, or 75% if the square is not adjacent to the city itself. An enemy unit simply passing through a square would cut production 25%.

Isolation factor: If the siege is good enough to cut the city off (surrounded on all sides), then all science production of the city would be cut off. Money made in that city would only be spendable there, and maintenance would only be payable with money made from that city. Buildings that can't be maintained would take damage instead of being sold. If the province resource sharing concept (Cities within a province share resources. This would only be implemented if specialized resources (i.e. metals, wood, etc.) are implemented. This way cities would get the stuff that is not within their own radius.) is adopted, that city would no longer be able to participate.

Morale Penalty:Units in a city under siege would suffer morale penalties. This is of course if morale is implemented. If they fight to lift the siege, they would have a bonus though (units defending their homecity are much more motivated than the units trying to take a foreign city.)

Artillery bombardments:Artillery in a square next to a city, along with a fortified unit, could make artillery bombardments at the city. Early units, like cannons could target large structures, units, or population centers. Later units like howitzers could target basically anything an airplane could target. If that artilley was inside a fortress, then it would gain a bonus to damage (to reflect higher accuracy). Artillery inside a city would fire at the sieging units, targeting the artillery first. If not attacking artillery units would be there it would then shoot at the sieging units.

COMBAT BONUSES:

Morale: Based on how you are doing in the war and how this unit has done in the past, along with social engineering. (Expect a volunteer unit for a democracy to have more morale than a conscripted unit in a tyranny.) Your unit will receive a +25% to -25% bonus. (Morale will go beyond this, but the bonuses will be limited here.) Should a unit get the equivalent of -75% morale (morale gets worse or better in the middle of combat depending on this combat; this is mostly temporary. If this reaches -60%, the unit will attempt to retreat (allowing a ranged unit time to pick off a few men before they get away.). If the enemy is faster, your unit will take heavy casualties while retreating (the men will scatter, making them easy to pick off, but hard to totally annihilate.) If your unit is faster they will retreat with few casualties, except for ranged fire. If they are the same speed, combat continues with a certain chance to retreat each additional round, based on terrain (good in forests, jungles, bad in plains and hills and mountains.)

Experience: Will be -50% to +100%. A new unit will always have a base experience of -25%. Over time it will be able to increase 1% at a time. (-25% -> -24%, and so on.) A unit, fortified in a city or fortress with a training facility, will slowly accumulate experience. (Units built in such places will have an automatic bonus.) A unit that starts with -50% will be a guerilla unit that springs up to repel foreign invasion. Experienced units should also have slightly higher rates of fire.

Home Government Bonus: This would be a bonus based on you governmnet type. Despotic governments would have a bonus, monarchies would have a smaller bonus. Both of these would be fixed regardless of location. Social Engineering might alter these a little. Democracies and Republics defending their own territory would have a large bonus, unless the people are unhappy (that would neutralize it.) Defending home territory against a government less free than your own would be a bonus (depending on the difference). Democracy against some form of Tyranny (big bonus), Monarchy against Despotism (small bonus.) A communist government is considered far more free that it is against ordinary tyrannies, but this bonus is ignored against a democracy. Democracies would have a penalty attacking other democracies (reduced if the other committed atrocities.) Anyhow, you get the idea...

MISCELLANEOUS:

Hit Points: A unit does Hit Points multiplied by attack damage. So now a half dead unit doesn't stand half a chance against a similar fresh unit. It doesn't make any sense for 1000 musketeers to do as much damage as 2000.

Rate of Fire: This would be a number between .25 and 2, which would determine how often a unit fires. .25 would mean that it takes .25 rounds to fire, 2 would mean it takes 2 rounds to fire. This would be used in ranged combat only. (Melee attack based on number of attacks*damage of each/round.)

Heavy Armor: Some units like tanks will have a defense that looks like this: 10(6). The 10 is, of course, the normal defense value. The (6) is the minimum attack in order to even hope to deal some damage. Archers (attack 3), no matter how lucky they got, could never penetrate tank armor, let alone destroy one.

Higher Attack/Defense Values: Unit's stats will be much higher, to differentiate more between the different ages, although the ratios may remain the same. This way a Pikeman may have slightly more attack than a phalanx, while a tank might still have about ten times the attack of both.

Line of Sight: A limitation for the line of sight depending on the terrain is called for. Riflemen may have a range of 5, but if they can’t see that far it doesn’t help them. Let’s say:

Plains & oceans: max. visibility Los=10

Hills: Los of 5

Cities: Los of 3

Forest, Los of 2

Jungle: min. visibility, Los = 1

Since each terrain square is different, you could have a random LoS, based on a base value for the terrain. Like a particular forest might have a Los of 4, while the average is 2.

It means, that only short range combat is possible in such terrain with small Los. (eventually, additional indirect fire) It would be the ideal terrain for infantry (high melee values) to fight against units outranging them.

For clarification: All units in a tile will defend together if the tile is attacked. The enemy will have the option of combining his units into armies and attacking like that.

Interdiction: Interdiction (use of bombers and artillery to slow movement). This would be an option to add 1 to the cost of moving across a terrain square.

Structural damage: Buildings would have hitpoints based on era and type (city walls would be almost indestructible, except by a long draw out assault.) This way buildings could sustain damage in bombing runs without being destroyed. Their effectiveness should shrink as they become more damaged, but that should be a curve. A 25% damaged building would still be 90% effective, but a 75% damaged building would be less than 5% effective. This is because a hole in the roof won't disturb the functionality of a library that much, while having a foundation with nothing above it won't do you much good.

Militias: When a city is threatened with capture (i.e. the defenders are almost beaten, a militia unit would spring up. The size would be based on the age, your social engineering choices (i.e. Democratic Civ's cities will fight Despotic attackers quite severely), how much the city hates the other civ (have they bombed population centers?). The unit would be armed with mixed firearms, or mixed melee weapons (before firearms).

Stealth: Certain units would have stealth. Guerillas, subs, stealth fighters would have this. This allows them to ignore ZOCs. Stealth will be expressed as a percent. This is the chance that they will attack first, regardless of the range of the defender. The guerillas would have something like 50%. For each round of combat that would go down 25%. (Thus a guerilla has a 1 in 4 chance that they might attack two rounds before being fired on). Terrain will offer modifiers to this. In a jungle units may have +50%. This may replace the line of sight concept. Stealth fighters will start with 100%, but and remain that way (air combat is 1 round only (you can attack repeatedly)). Remember: each round of air combat is one movement point. Subs will start with a 95% stealth, but for each round lose 30%.

CREDITS:

This summary was compiled by Victor Galis, with information from the posts on the following forums. The posts on the firaxis forums were used more, and thus, the credit for any repeated idea goes to someone on the Firaxis Forums. In order to recognize some original ideas, everyone who posted at Apolyton will be listed.

Firaxis Forums:Q Cubed - Victor Galis - korn469 - SnowFire - Picker - Aussie - bab5tm - eNo - Hannes - The Joker - MikeH

Apolyton Forums: ember - Frank Johnson - Shining1 - Bell - Redleg - Doo1284 - Diodorus Sicilus - Pythagoras - NotLikeTea - Flavor Dave - Chowlett - Eggman - Mo - Black Dragon - don Don - Ove - Jimmy - Captain Action - Alexandr's Horse - korn469 - FinnishGuy - CyberShy - Theben - Francis - Darkstarr - mingko - AXM - Agent 000 - Jakester - E

EnochF · July 1, 1999, 19:19

Er, I can't read the bits in yellow... and I have to strain a bit to read the orange bits.

(Or should this complaint be in the Graphics section?)

Victor Galis · July 1, 1999, 20:03

The yellow bits worked fine in the Firaxis forums, but I dind't have time to change them. You could highlight the text to look at it.

Maybe if I could change the background to dark blue(like Firaxis) or black (like my site) it would display right, but I don't know if that can be done within the post.
[This message has been edited by Victor Galis (edited July 01, 1999).]

Theben · July 1, 1999, 21:49

I thought the idea was to summarize everyone's ideas, not just pick the one you liked. I'm disappointed with this summary.

Victor Galis · July 2, 1999, 00:59

It's a system: I can't have something saying: It does this, but if this is like this then it does that, unless of course this particular option were included.

These are all the ideas from the Firaxis forums, the Apolyton ones were added as an afterthought (yin e-mailed in the evening me asked me to do it, it was done by next afternoon.)

P.S. If you feel anything good/important/major was left out, we can have a nice debate about it. All I can say is, you should have posted it where I was TM (if you want it in my summary.)
[This message has been edited by Victor Galis (edited July 02, 1999).]

yin26 · July 2, 1999, 01:16

Victor was the only one who answered my repeated requests for a COMBAT thread summary. If you are not happy with it, please make sure that your ideas get added to version 2 of the list. Version 1 is almost done and will include the summary above.

Victor,

We cross-posted. First, my thanks for working so quickly to get this done. I also greatly appreciate your willingness to work on a new version of the summary based on people's feedback. But your summary above is the one going to Firaxis.
[This message has been edited by yin26 (edited July 02, 1999).]

Theben · July 2, 1999, 01:55

Actually I'm wondering why you posted the Firaxis list here at all. Don't they have their own list? When you say, "the posts at firaxis were used more," I feel like I've wasted my time posting here, especially when you reply, "the Apolyton ones were added as an afterthought." Aren't both lists supposed to be considered? How do I get my ideas across if they're not included? Am I being naive? If I post at Firaxis will I have a better chance?

yin26 · July 2, 1999, 02:21

Theben,

The problems here are COMBAT thread specific. Nobody at Apolyton offered to help. If you are interested in doing a summary that combines Victor's work and the comments here, please let me know. I've already written two summaries for other topics that people bailed on, and with putting the whole list together in some coherent form, I don't have the energy anymore to summarize this thread as well.

Are you interested? I'll need you to follow a certain format if you are.

Flavor Dave · July 2, 1999, 13:22

On siege warfare--the unhappiness/ready to surrender stuff is really good. A very good summary/synthesis/extension of what we've talked about here. Putting these ideas into the game would make it alot better.

The resource factor was kinda stupid, tho. If the point was the make sieges MORE effective, why would you weaken this? As it is now, the city under siege gets NOTHING from an occupied square. Why increase that to 50%??? This baffled me.

Victor Galis · July 2, 1999, 13:48

I have once launched a successful siege in Civ2: Babylon was defended by three veteran riflemen. The Babylonians were a democracy. The city had city wall, and it was taking upwards of 10 Cavalry units to kill one rifleman. So I did the only thing I could. I took 20 cavalry units and filled up every square in the city radius. The Babylonians lost two riflemen (had to disband them for lack of shields). The third was killed in a big attack.

Now more on the topic itself:
I weakened the resource factor for one reason: to avoid sieges being too powerful.

A fortified unit in one square would have trouble patrolling neighboring squares. A sentried cavalry unit, is better at this, but it can't be everywhere at once. You have to assume that every square that has a patrol they might run into the local militia, or simply the farmers with shotguns. Now to avoid this you would have to send many men, but then you would spread yourself thin.

Also for play balance. Imagine a size 10 city. It has a half food supply (55 food). Suddenly It generates virtually no food (now its losing 20+! food a turn, and its defenders more than likely become disbanded.)

This would make sense if it was besieged by 12 or so units, but with 4 or 5??

The best thing to remember is that Firaxis will probably not used the idea exactly. They should leave the percentages easy to change (in the rules.txt.) and also so beta-testers can play balance them. Who are we to say what will be too strong or too weak, without the actual game in front of us?

Revision for next summary: Percentages will be editable in rules.txt, and those give are only an example, real percentages would be determined in play balancing.

Victor Galis · July 2, 1999, 13:53

Sorry, thought you were talking about something else.

A unit would have to fortified (perhaps sentried) in a square to cut off the production completely. Potentially, a unit that spent its entire turn in that square could count as if sentried or fortified for this particular case.

A unit that just moves into a square can not immediately cut off all production, it would have to set itself up organize its patrols (These squares are somewhere betwen 1600 to 10000 sqaure kilometers!)

Robert Plomp · July 2, 1999, 14:04

YIN was wrong,
I offered to help him with the COMBAT thread, but.... he was right as well. I was never able to fill my promise.

I'm very happy to see this summary !
Thanks a lot, Victor Galis, for helping Yin out ! I'm sorry that I had to break my promise.

I wasted my time to much to write naughty e-mails to Firaxis. I'm sorry Yin, but I'm glad to see it all is ok now !

CyberShy
Certified Word Breaker

yin26 · July 2, 1999, 18:06

CyberShy,

I'm not blaming anybody. You've done PLENTY of hard work on this list project--more than I could ask of you. Sorry if I gave you a bad impression. I just hope people understand that at some point I have to take what people give me, put it in the list, and hope Firaxis can do the rest.

Theben · July 2, 1999, 22:38

yin,
Send me the format specifics, & I'll decide. I can't promise anything, as "the real world" takes up a good piece of my time.
yin & Victor,
Nothing against either one of you, but if this summary is already going to Firaxis via that site, why is it necessary to combine the Apolyton suggestions with these?

yin26 · July 3, 1999, 00:18

Theben,

Long story short: Apolyton is making the first list (that will be sent next week). The Firaxis site barely started. And rather than send two lists, both sites decided it's better to combine our efforts.

I'll send you a format.

[This message has been edited by yin26 (edited July 03, 1999).]