Idea: Bridge battle maps
 

Simple idea. Whenever attacking a province across a river, a bridge battle map is loaded. It would work similarly to a keep in that the attacker should be the force that crosses the bridge (not the defender).

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Re: Idea: Bridge battle maps
 

That would be cool. And sounds like something the devs would jump on.

Re: Idea: Bridge battle maps
 

I agree, it sounds very cool. You could even do three:

River Bridge, Mountain Pass, and Isthmus.

Amphibious units should be able to go across water though, so that does create some extra work for correct implementation. And what happens if both sides have amphibious units? They should be able to fight in the water. Also amphibious units should not be affected by missiles when in the water, and if they are on fire then perhaps the fire should be extinguished when they enter the water.

Feel free to ignore these complications if you like http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif.

Re: Idea: Bridge battle maps
 

simple, ALL river have creature-eating critters in them, preventing anyone from crossing them.

All mountains top out at the imaginary dome that covers the world to prevent flying units from cheating.

and, and... um..hmm.

Like the idea, actually like the complications as well although I would just say amph units can cross/fight and ignore arrow/fire restrictions.

Re: Idea: Bridge battle maps
 

Urrrgh. This potentially gets far more complicated than it seems.

* Flying armies.
* Amphibious armies.
* Armies involving a mix of movement types.
* Attacks from multiple provinces including from stealthy forces already on site, possibly including multiple attacking factions.
* Surprise attacks.
* The improbability of a strat-move 1 army being able to commit entirely to defending one bridge while still being able to respond in force on every other border, as well.


Not to mention that if bridges become strategic elements, you really should have
* options to build bridges
* options to destroy them

Re: Idea: Bridge battle maps
 

Flying units will work just fine, like they do in a siege.

But here's one more complication: When that water global turns the oceans to ice, can all units just walk on the ice? Also cold scale +3 might mean ice too.

And I want that cool battle spell from LOTR that makes the river wash the nazgul away http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif.

Re: Idea: Bridge battle maps
 

@taqwus

All the problems you listed can be easily gotten around. The real problem is whether the game can be coded to select the battle terrain based on crossing a border, and if it can be made sophisticated enough to know which ones to pick.

As for building and destroying bridges, Dominions isn't about that kind of management. Remember, time in this game passes by in seasons and years. It's not necessary to simulate things that are on such a small time-scale. You can assume that bridge building and destruction happens all the time in the grand scheme of things.

=$=

Re: Idea: Bridge battle maps
 

Really what the game needs is a 3 dimensional battle map. Total War does it best. Their maps are divided into 9 squares, with one at the center where the attacked province is. Attackers AND defenders can enter in from multiple sides.

This is easily beyond the scope of Dominions 3, though.

Jazzepi