A simple improvement

[Loren]

Gandalf Parker said:
It would add quite a layer to the turn processing. Every province would have to be checked (1500 provinces) and then processed if need be.

It would add almost nothing to the turn processing. (Note: I've been making my living programming for half my life now.)

1) Checking even 1500 provinces would be a triviality on modern processors.

2) There's no reason to check them in the first place. The check would be made when new units are created or when units executed new-unit orders.

It does, however, affect the storage format. You need to add a flag to every province saying where to move to and you need to add a flag to units saying that they are executing new-unit orders.

[Gandalf Parker]

The game doesnt do things that way. It doesnt keep track of things. You can see in the logs that it checks each province for many things that would fall into the category of "if" checks. And those checks do take measureable time. Adding another would be felt.

Im not saying its an idea killer. Just that it would be part of the "con" side of it.

[PhilD]

Gandalf Parker said:
The game doesnt do things that way. It doesnt keep track of things. You can see in the logs that it checks each province for many things that would fall into the category of "if" checks. And those checks do take measureable time. Adding another would be felt.

No way. If the game programming is done half correctly, this would take no more time than processing an equal number of orders - exactly as much as it would take if each nation's player had issued the order, province by province, except they wouldn't have to bother doing it.

Giving more options, ways for players to automate their order-giving (like letting them issue multiple turn movement orders, and so on), would not make turn processing significantly more complex. It's more work to code in, sure, but that's another matter.

[Loren]

PDF said:
I can't see how it can unbalance anything if it works by the rule (ie you need commander to carry the troops).
It'll just save mm so would be great, as would be waypoints for multi-turn moves, "armies" (multi-leader) allowing to better distinguish the groups by mid-late game, and several other things ...

I would permit it to happen without commanders. Soldiers don't really need commanders to be told "Go to city X".