Fortifications: Digging In

DarkCloud · July 30, 2000, 13:29

I just thought of something! When you fortify your units you are digging up the ground! If you fortify your units, even if you don't destroy farmland or roads the drills they do while stationed there or the food they need will have to be taken.

So, what I propose is a yearly maintnance on roads and farmland such a 1/2 a gold piece per square of improved land.

So what are your ideas?

-Just a a note "Do these ideas get posted on "The List""

Napoleon I · July 30, 2000, 17:10

Well, DarkCloud, frankly I'm not sure about that one. It really would increase micromanagement to a point where it would become next to impossible to play a multiplayer game in a reasonable timeframe. A player would have to really plan out his use of irrigation, roads, etc. for many turns in advance, slowing the game down to a snail's pace.

Next thing we could do is start arguing that buildings also need to be maintained, and that taxes should be collected dependent on the amount of people, and that people would have to work in the buildings like the courthouse. All these changes are great, but if they are implemented we won't have Civ anymore, we'll have SimCity on the empire scale or something.

Just a thought

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Napoleon I

DarkCloud · July 30, 2000, 19:46

Well Napoleon everything you said I agree with although I may need to clear up my reasoning.

The road builing implementation can be handled like the 'public works' in Civ Call to Power.

It would only be a tax paid every turn and would be very small (it would only be on roads)

did you not notice in the game that the buildings DO need to be maintained with gold?

Stuff2 · July 31, 2000, 19:01

I think that soldiers should be able to build fortresses. In reality it has mostly been soldiers that built fortresses not seattlers or engineers. In in old ages soldiers also built roads and other things aswell.

Shadowstrike · July 31, 2000, 19:29

Fortified units should be building fortifications where they are situated. Say after 10 turns, they get a defense bonus, and after 50 turns, a fortress is built. If the unit is fortified there long enough (say 150 turns) then the player has a choice whether or not to build an outpost there (kinda like MoM) and eventually, it will turn into a city.

Just an idea.

Evil Capitalist · August 1, 2000, 01:51

Yes, but it should hapen faster. The fortresses on Hadrian's wall quickly got small towns surrounding them. Perhaps the greater number of units, the faster the units create these things.

Adm.Naismith · August 1, 2000, 03:07

Stuff2, I haven't checked on history books but I remember that only early minor fortification was built by soldiers (e.g. roman legions).

Later fortress was built on accurate design (and sometimes also early major fortification as the chinese Great Wall, but that's already a Civ wonder

), often with the work of many slaves/war prisoners and local population.

At the time of WWI diggin simple trenches went back to the common soldiers shoulders (but military engineers worked on main fortification), and almost the same happened on WWII.

Still main fortification was build by civil workers in peace (Maginot line) or by prisoners (Normandia beaches' defense).

In short, I suppose that digging trenches is actually represented by (F)ortify units, where building Fortification really is the job of engineers.

I agree that often soldiers built roads, not only some centuries ago but during WWI and II too (usually under the project of commanders that have engineering skills), and that could be added for infantry units but at a slower rate than proper settler/engineer.

As I already wrote on some old threads, I would indeed prefer some special feature we can add on the Unit workshop, paying the price.
Do we want a unit able to build things AND strengh enough to fight and survive? That's good, pay the prize please!

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Admiral Naismith AKA mcostant

Napoleon I · August 2, 2000, 22:35

Some great here, hehe
I would agree with Admiral that some sort of option should be added to the Design Workshop or the equivalent that should enable us to give infantry units engineer abilities.

Meanwhile, let me clear up a few of my ideas from my last post here. What I meant DarkCloud was that at some point we would end up saying that a building would need to be maintained not only by the abstract gold, but also by a concrete material like wood, or stone. Taking that into consideration, I just really didn't want to add that kind of micromanagement to the game that already has more than enough of it.

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Napoleon I

DarkCloud · August 11, 2000, 00:21

No,no,no,no Napoleon I wasn't talking about concrete and wood. Sorry for the misinterpretation.

There should be a special feature in the unit model to allow some units to make better fortifications that work better faster. The feature would be 'engineer training'

Well? Any thoughts...?

UltraSonix · August 12, 2000, 01:53

A bit unrelated but maybe if a unit is fortified too long long on a square then any improvements start getting destroyed.

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