Suggestion: Forced marching

**boxleitnerb** · August 31, 2012, 11:52 AM

I'm reading a historical novel about a Roman-Parthian conflict right now and that spawned an idea for a feature:

A unit/legion could be commanded to force march to a location. Meaning traveling light and walking as many hours during the day as possible and as fast as possible. This could have three implications:

Stragglers. The unit/legion should "lose" a couple of soldiers that cannot reach the destination in time due to exhaustion. Lose in terms of not being available to fight when intercepted or when the commander initiates combat the the target location. They may "reappear" after a turn.
No fort. If a unit/legion moves quickly, they have no time or equipment ready to build fortifications each night.
If a supply system is in place: less supplies obviously. Maybe lower morale in fights due to exhaustion and small rations.

What do you guys think?

**Condottiere 40K** · August 31, 2012, 12:10 PM

Works in a realtime game, or one where the turns don't have a time span of seasons or years.

**boxleitnerb** · August 31, 2012, 12:14 PM

Of course the time scale would be an abstraction. In essence it would allow armies to travel further but at a cost.

**maximusdecimusm** · August 31, 2012, 04:28 PM

I like this idea. If they are keeping the generals' skill tree in the game then maybe this could be one of the options for it.

However, I would like to see it implemented like this:

You can toggle it on/off before moving your legion, or even partway through your move.

It increases your army's movement range this turn but inflicts a morale penalty upon all units (perhaps cavalry should be exempt from this; I'm not sure).

It increases your remaining movement by X% (e.g. 25%), so you decide to use it after already moving your army part of the way you wont go as far as when you use it at the start of their movement. This means that it's better to plan ahead with your forced marches to make the most of the bonus.

If you use it 2 or more consecutive turns your army suffers attrition (representing units left behind due to exhaustion, lack of supplies and desertion)

**Akrotatos** · August 31, 2012, 06:26 PM

Title of the novel?

**boxleitnerb** · September 01, 2012, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by Akrotatos

Title of the novel?

"Centurio" from Simon Scarrow.

**The Great Montrose** · September 01, 2012, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by boxleitnerb

"Centurio" from Simon Scarrow.

I've read the whole series from Simon Scarrow, they're excellent!!

**Markas** · August 31, 2012, 07:33 PM

Legions have stances such as 'defensive' 'forced march' etc when moving so it's kinda in really.

**Condottiere 40K** · September 01, 2012, 01:58 AM

It would be possible in FotS, with an increased possibility of falling victim to ambush or having a fatigue penalty during the current and following turn, as I think it's a time span of two weeks.