"Support" feature request

[Ed Kolis]

I have a little feature request that I think would help quite a bit with battle strategies... I'd like to see a "Support" order that you give to a commander or battle group, and when you give it, the unit will follow the targeted commander or group around, staying behind it and giving support (missiles, spells, etc. directed at it or at its target as appropriate). That way you could have a Nature mage serve as a "medic" for a battle group or combat commander, or have your archers actually follow your big line of pikemen and get in range to have a chance to hit people (while still being protected from the enemy by the pikemen)!

edit: oh yeah... and why CAN'T you do what's called in American football a "blitz" or (when successful) a "QB sack"- tell regular troops on the sidelines to Attack Rearmost (or Fire Rearmost) in order to overwhelm the commander, forcing his troops to do their best to fend off the horde from their current positions? Yeah, I'm not a big football fan, but I do like the strategic aspect of the game... kinda like a simplified wargame when you think about it

[ January 29, 2004, 19:49: Message edited by: Ed Kolis ]

[Arryn]

Now this is a truly splendid idea!

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Ed Kolis:
That way you could have a Nature mage serve as a "medic" for a battle group or combat commander, or have your archers actually follow your big line of pikemen and get in range to have a chance to hit people (while still being protected from the enemy by the pikemen)!

This would be very nice for Man's spell songs as well. Being able to have the bards keep up with Groups of troops would be very nice.

[PvK]

The support order idea is good, though it might (?) be somewhat tricky to add and get right.

Originally posted by Ed Kolis:
...
edit: oh yeah... and why CAN'T you do what's called in American football a "blitz" or (when successful) a "QB sack"- tell regular troops on the sidelines to Attack Rearmost (or Fire Rearmost) in order to overwhelm the commander, forcing his troops to do their best to fend off the horde from their current positions?

You can. It doesn't work perfectly every time, and sometimes, not at all, but often it does work. It'd especially good for fast units such as cavalry or fliers. It helps if they are on the side and slightly behind your middle, with orders to either Attack Rear, or Hold and Attack Rear. Depending on the positions, timings, and what happens during the fight, it can work really well to either blitz the enemy commanders, and/or roll up the enemy flank. The AI even uses this sometimes, and having such forces yourself can also serve to counter enemy flank attacks.

Yeah, I'm not a big football fan, but I do like the strategic aspect of the game... kinda like a simplified wargame when you think about it

I'd say Dominions is a wargame (and other things), and more complex than many.

PvK

[Raz 24]

I think he meant that football is a wargame and its pretty obvious that Dominions 2 is it

[Ed Kolis]

Yeah, I meant the strategic aspect of football is wargame-like - I certainly don't mean to say that Dominions is either simple or not a wargame!