[Chris Byler]

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
There seems to be a consensus, amongst most players, that light infantry and militia are fairly worthless. And specifically, that they are worthless because everything light infantry and militia do, heavy infantry does better. Plus, they Last much longer.
[snip]

So, if you have more suggestions, or want to praise/slam and extant one, comment here.

-Cherry

I just came up with an even more radical one: allow strategic moves that end in enemy territory (i.e. move through a friendly territory into an enemy territory that isn't adjacent to where you started). This could allow a LI army facing a HI one to move into a province that the HI couldn't even reach to defend it. And potentially keep doing so, turn after turn, until the enemy came up with a more mobile army or split his forces to cover several directions.

Cavalry (especially light cavalry, which has the same problems as light infantry and is more expensive) would benefit even more from this change.

After all, one of the main benefits of mobility is to be able to hit them where they are weak, then move somewhere else before they can effectively respond. Light armies should be able to effectively damage the enemy while avoiding battle. (If you're actively trying to use a Fabian strategy, you could give your troops a far-back deployment and retreat or fire-and-flee orders, so they would retreat quickly if engaged. Which reminds me - any squad that retreats due to orders shouldn't take the -4 def for routing, and all such squads and commanders should go to the same province. There's a huge difference between a retreat and a rout.)

In the same vein, I'd also like to see "Move and Pillage". Pillaging shouldn't require that an army stand still for a month - it really doesn't take that long. Move and Pillage could be really nasty for Vanheim (which is entirely appropriate, it's how viking should (and did) work). Combined with the above suggestion, Light Inf (or Light Cav) raiding forces could be a real pain in the *** for someone who is depending on a concentrated force of Hvy Inf with their limited mobility.

Orderly retreat, move and attack, and move and pillage would all tie together into a new strategic way of using light forces that isn't possible in the current model, that would allow them to actually outmaneuver heavier, less mobile enemies (unless stopped by terrain, fortifications or other mobile forces). Stealthy light forces would be even more dangerous, because they can switch unpredictably between sneaking (at their full strategic movement, of course), move-and-pillage, etc.

If that still isn't enough, implement the skirmish (fire but stay out of melee) order too.


Needless to say, if these suggestions are implemented, the AI (which loves to build armies of light units) should use them ruthlessly and, if possible, unpredictably.