Roads...

[Pocus]

Originally posted by Saxon:
If you want roads, take Pythium.

??? I dont see the point. A legionary moving in swamp will stop as other units. What I propose is to create a simple road rule by understanding that a castle in Dominions show the mark of a budding empire. Coding wise, it would asks for a mere handful of minutes to make the test. I'm not saying that Dominions is Civilization in an heroic fantasy setting. New buildings would not fit the gameplay.

[Cohen]

Well, new buildings could be nice, like some "castle required" building like a training camp (troops produced there gets 1 experience start), or defensive postation/trebuchets (sieging force suffer some casualty when sieging, depending of defenders strenght) and something similar.

I believe he told to take Pythium because historically Romans were the first to use roads for moving fast their armies and to keep armies supplied. I mean, to use roads massively, since roads were built a very short time later the army conquered the province.

[Saxon]

The reason I mentioned it is that it is in the manual, the nation description talks about them using roads. As I am in the office, I can not check, but I believe that there is some movement bonus associated with the nation, which is because of their road building. The inclusion of roads would change the balance against this race.

Logistics are at the heart of war and any would be conqueror should have to grapple with the issues associated with it. Bringing troops together at the right time and the right place is critical and the limited movement in Dom II emphasizes the need for long term planning. I agree, roads are an essential part of modern logistics, but with the exception of the Romans, they did not play a big part in wars for most of history. The Franco Prussian war in the late 19th Century and the American Civil War a bit earlier were noted for the revolutionary effect that the railroad had on warfare. Sudden concentration of forces became more common and possible, rather than the mark of a genius.

In my opinion, roads do not have a big role to play in Dom II, but you know what they say about opinions…

[HJ]

Originally posted by Saxon:
The reason I mentioned it is that it is in the manual, the nation description talks about them using roads.

This used to be the case in Doms:PPP, where Pythium was able to move further within its own borders than other nations. Now I believe this is represented by stratmove of 2 for legionairres, whereas other heavy infantry mostly has 1. If I'm not mistaken, that is.

[ June 03, 2004, 09:52: Message edited by: HJ ]

[PDF]

Originally posted by HJ:

quote:

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Originally posted by Saxon:
The reason I mentioned it is that it is in the manual, the nation description talks about them using roads.

This used to be the case in Doms:PPP, where Pythium was able to move further within its own borders than other nations. Now I believe this is represented by stratmove of 2 for legionairres, whereas other heavy infantry mostly has 1. If I'm not mistaken, that is.

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In fact Pythium lost the ability in Dom2 : the strat move of 2 is more often than not "killed" by intervening terrain, plus the fact that a Pythium army usually doesn't comprise only nation troops- Archers come to mind .
But Pythium is powerful enough without ...

[Saxon]

Fair enough, I thought there was more to the advantage that that. Sorry, I do not have the manual next to my work station, though it is tempting!

What I wrote about the roads in history still stands, I prefer the need for long term planning. I never liked the “instant army on your border” in Civilization II. Well, I did when I was using it…

[PvK]

I'm with you, Saxon.