Just have to get it off my chest

[st.patrik]

Ok I have a game suggestion which I've been thinking about for months and I just need to make it. I know it's pretty much absolutely ludicrous to make a game suggestion when the beta is at Version 2.01, but here goes anyway:

It bothers me that province defense is made up of national troops, when you can't build them in the province. It makes much more sense to me, given that province defense is a measure of how well local defense is organized , that defense be made up of local units, obviously changing for each province, but of roughly equivalent strength. So a feudal province might have a commander and longbowmen (up to defense 10), whereas another province might have crossbowmen, or heavy infantry, or amazons, if they are recruitable there. IMO they wouldn't need even to all be perfectly balanced - it would add depth to the gameplay to have certain provinces more ably defended than others. Of course if you were to have a castle you ought to get national troops - in fact perhaps a slightly improved defense over what you get in Dom I (thinking of Man here).

OK, suggestion made. Now I can rest a little easier knowing I at least threw it out there, even though it is almost certainly too late to be implemented, even if the devs thought it a good idea.

[Yojinbo]

This has always bothered me as well. It touches on issues of population makeup. Who is living is that Ulm province that I just took over? Do any of my 'people' (or fauns) follow me to live there? Do they get along with the locals as long they all worship me?

The way it works now, I guess I'm training garrisons back at home and billeting them in the conquered province... but what about geographic isolation?

[st.patrik]

while I'm on a roll…

another advantage of having defense be local units is that land nations, upon conquering a sea province, would be able to buy province defense. This has always frustrated me (that I can't do this). It's a minor point, but at least to me seems an advantage.

[Psitticine]

It's a good idea, definitely. Maybe this would be a case where one more building (a keep, possibly?) could be added, just to give the capacity to recruit local defensive troops. If you don't build it, you have to use the locals, who are probably not very motivated.

[Nerfix]

This is something i would like to see.
Perhaps in a patch?

You would get "your" militia at forts, where you can already get your national troops.

[ September 29, 2003, 17:29: Message edited by: Nerfix ]

[st.patrik]

Reading more Posts on comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic and came across a couple of interesting suggestions:

What about province defense changing on what buildings you have in the province - so if you have a temple you get a priest in addition to what you would get anyway, or perhaps sacred troops instead of regular troops, if (and only if) they're available in the province, and if you have a lab and a locally recruitable mage, you get a mage in addition to what you would get anyway.

This would go hand in hand with getting national troops if you have a castle, whereas only local (i.e. independant) troops if you don't.

examples:
Ulm home province (incl. temple and lab):
Heavy Infantry + Commander + priest + smith

Ulm province w/ castle (C) but neither temple (T) nor lab (L):
Heavy Infantry + commander

Ulm province w/o C in Barbarian province w/o T or L:
Barbarians (+ archers at higher levels?) + Barbarian leader

Ulm province w/o C in Amazon province w/o T, w/ L:
Amazons + Amazon Sorceress

etc.

The only problem I can think of would be provinces in which there are no leaders who don't have priestly authority or magical power - like an Amazon province - and in which you haven't buit either a temple or lab. But you could solve this by giving the player a lab for free with such provinces - due to the magical nature of its inhabitants

What I like about this idea is the added benefit of having structures on provinces - maybe not a huge advantage, but a little detail which adds richness to the gaming experience

Additionally, I would like to see a limit to how much defense you can buy - it seems kinda crazy to have a tiny, poor province with a defense of 50 or 60. Of course most of the time it's pretty stupid to but 50 or 60 defense…