Strategic Points

[osean]

Hi, all,

I would like to suggest an idea, still raw, on how to introduce ‘strategic points’ into the game, particularly in NTWIII.


As far as I remember, in MP battles the mod developers have provided for ‘strategic points’ that need to be captured by the players to achieve a victory. These ‘strategic points’, however, are not supported by the game’s engine, and the capturing needs to be agreed between the players themselves..

But what if we transform the ‘general/commanding unit’ functionality by changing its properties a bit so that it serves as a strategic point indicator?

The General Unit (i.e. the one with a star on the unit card and a ‘command circle’ around, that cannot be hidden during the battle, etc.) could be given just one unit (say, a general with a flag), stripped (as a model) of all visual effects, save for the flag. Then it would be made immortal (or nearly immortal, I did not look into this functionality, but I guess it could be done), but its morale would be modded so that it would rout each time it is fully surrounded by the enemy with no friendly troops in sight. However, it would be made immovable too, so that it could not run when broken, and would not be able to fight. Once such a ‘general’ is broken, the morale of the friendly troops would drop significantly.

What would this give us?

If we give every player such a ‘general’ (or more?) in the beginning of a battle, each player would be able to put it (before starting the battle) into a place he considers strategic (a hill, a house, etc.). The players would only see a waving flag there. In a battle, the rest of the troops would be invisible to AI on the map (at least in NTWIII), but AI (or a human player in MP) would see this ‘strategic point’ and will attempt to capture it.

If the enemy’s troops somehow get to this unit (normally by fighting through your troops if defended), and there are no friendly troops left around it, this Strategic Point unit would break, which we would be able to see as the flag would turn white, but would not run. Which would mean that the enemy has captured this Strategic Point. (I assume that the enemy soldiers would not be seen fighting with this ‘invisible soldier’ as it would break as soon as all friendly units leave the place). As a result of the capture, the morale of your troops would drop – which would not lead to their immediate rout, but could seriously influence the result of the battle - that's why it makes it really strategic.

Once the Strategic Point is captured, you would be able to recapture it by throwing the enemy off it. Once friendly troops are again around it, the Strategic Point would strengthen its morale and stop routing. Once it stops routing, the morale of your troops would raise, and so on.

It is just a raw idea, and, of course, all these properties must be carefully balanced to get the desirable result. But the good thing is that all this functionality is already in the game and as far as I know it is all moddable. I will try to look into it further, but I hope that this will catch the attention of mod developers who are better placed to judge whether it’s doable at all and would probably implement it in the mod. All suggestions will surely also be welcome)))

[[N]Fullin]

we thought about it.....the problem is loosing those units spots.

Its a good idea and we will test it.... but we played LOc rules (line of communications ) every night and they work dandy.

But I keep you posted on the matter....

[osean]

Thanks for the reply, Fullin!
Unfortunately, I haven't played MP battles yet, and actually thought of implementing this feature in SP battles first of all, as LOC rules cannot be applied there. But if it works, why not include it in MP))
What do you mean by 'loosing' them? Automatically attaching them to each army? Perhaps, that could be done the same way as garrison troops are automatically attached to an army in a city... Not sure that is possible, but that would need to be explored.

[[N]Fullin]

Hmm... I only play MP...thats prob why we dont understand each other .....
Ill talk to Lord Sean to find out what he thinks about it.