User Interface Improvments Wanted

[General Tacticus]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
I tend to "retire" my wounded or cursed units into a province patrol. It feels good. Maybe because Im a veteran.

And I tend to put them on my arrow catching, lance fodder frontline. Wait, most of them were already on that line Strange, but my tactics often call for an expendable frontline to take most of the hits, while my elite units escape relatively unharmed...

But I can see the point about volunteers that show up. Those have been a pain for me. I wouldnt mind being able to discharge units from my service deirectlry into defence points of a province. That seems like a good idea.

edited: new thought. Then what happens with nations that get alot of free units? Pangaea maenads, is it Mictlan that can just summon troops of some sort? Hmmm no that wouldnt work since it would allow converting crappy troops into better defense.

Mictlan's Tribal Kings and Priests King can enslave and train slave soldiers, for free. They are, indeed, very poor soldiers. But the problem is not only for them : I wouldn't mind to be able to discharge Ulm plate infantry into my province defense at times, since it get very expensive to raise...

Maybe Saber's idea is better. A pretender should be able to snap their fingers and dispose of an army. Can that be abused? Are the free units SUPPOSED to force you into finding something to use them on?

More importantly, are they supposed to force you to divert a commander to lead them, drag them all to somewhere useful, finding support troops to make them a halfway decent trôop, and use them ?
Come on, instead of giving us 60 militia, can we have 5 knights if we take luck 3 ? Those would be worth the hassle to integrate...

[ January 21, 2004, 17:24: Message edited by: General Tacticus ]

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Are the free units SUPPOSED to force you into finding something to use them on?

For a supposedly "good" event, this event isn't all that "good".

[Wauthan]

I would say that free units do force a pretender god to do something with them. What sets Dominions 2 apart, from other strategy games I have played, is that it is not easy to see the reasoning behind certain features. Simply because the developers put a lot of thought into the game.

Lets say a province sends you 30 young men who are ready to die for your cause. Trouble is that these wellmeaning soldiers are in a backward province, and armed only with spears and simple leather cuirass. But what to do with them? You can't just snap your fingers and have them drop dead. Your dominion would sink trough the floor in the province that sent the units. Nor can you afford to have them do nothing because they expect the same treatment as any other soldier in your army.

It's a pain. But it is a royal one that's historically very correct. The roman empire had a lot of trouble with young men, "larger than life", show up in their camps and expect the same benefits as a legionaire. In the game it might be a way for the downtrodden people to try and appease a vengeful god, or a diplomatic way to gain favor from the ruler.

Thank the heavens that the Illwinter crew didn't have the dominion go down in provinces where a lot of recruits return in caskets.

But there should be some way to retire units "gracefully". Perhaps they would not be added to a provincial defence, since they are retiring, but add experience to their home province PD. These are veterans coming home and teaching the tricks that kept them alive to their kinfolk.

But if the more expensive commander units are retired I have no problem seeing them added to a province defences. They are exceptional individuals and would be very likely called upon to guide the militia should the province be attacked. It thoughens the PD but it's a very expensive way to do so, and it's very unlikely that players will invest a lot into it since commanders are better used as active units in the campaign.

[ January 21, 2004, 13:42: Message edited by: Wauthan ]

[Kristoffer O]

The romans gave old veterans land and riches. Retirement fees has been considered. Unrest could be an option if you do not pay their pensions.

Only fanatics (sacred units) leave their jobs if told to do so by their God.

[Evil Dave]

Originally posted by Kristoffer O:
The romans gave old veterans land and riches. Retirement fees has been considered.

Please? I'd be willing to pay a one-time charge to get afflicted and cursed units off the payroll.

[Gandalf Parker]

I tend to "retire" my wounded or cursed units into a province patrol. It feels good. Maybe because Im a veteran.

But I can see the point about volunteers that show up. Those have been a pain for me. I wouldnt mind being able to discharge units from my service deirectlry into defence points of a province. That seems like a good idea.

edited: new thought. Then what happens with nations that get alot of free units? Pangaea maenads, is it Mictlan that can just summon troops of some sort? Hmmm no that wouldnt work since it would allow converting crappy troops into better defense.

Maybe Saber's idea is better. A pretender should be able to snap their fingers and dispose of an army. Can that be abused? Are the free units SUPPOSED to force you into finding something to use them on?

[ January 21, 2004, 12:47: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

[Targa]

In response to some of the comments, and because I myself find it annoying at times, I've made a new mod, "Mighty Militia" to deal with these so-called "volunteers". It changes "militia" to "fanatic", raises morale from 8 to 10, and makes them holy, so they can be blessed, and consume less resources. In the interest of game balance, you'll be required to build a temple if you wish to recruit any, and their original armor, hit points, etc all stay the same. If it needs to be tweaked, let me know. This changes all 4 militia units (that includes C'tis lizard militia). I e-mailed it to Kris, but for now you can grab it here:

http://www.techno-mage.com/~targa/militia.zip

[olaf73]

Very nice post.

I would really like to be able to disband units. Its quite tedious trying to cull the wounded and then finding a productive use for them, or even a convenient end.

Tedium=not fun.

olaf

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Targa:
In response to some of the comments, and because I myself find it annoying at times, I've made a new mod, "Mighty Militia" to deal with these so-called "volunteers". It changes "militia" to "fanatic", raises morale from 8 to 10, and makes them holy, so they can be blessed, and consume less resources.

Hallelujah!

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by olaf73:
I would really like to be able to disband units. Its quite tedious trying to cull the wounded and then finding a productive use for them, or even a convenient end.

A good question is why would you cull the wounded? Unless they have battle fright, they won't negatively affect the entire squad that much.