With the evolution that CA adopted by including line of sight, I think that other aspects of the gameplay will also have to be adapted.

First of all, I’d like to say that I am very much in favour of this evolution, which brings a lot of new potential tactics and strategies to the battlefield. Combined with the fact that the defender now will have to defend a zone, this will allow full scale ambushes during a battlefield while at the same time preventing the enemy from hiding indefinitely in the shadows.

A new probable feature will then be that you’ll now most likely be able to hide your general, on the contrary of all previous Total War games. You will now be confronted with a strategic dilemma: either you could hide your general and so avoid him getting into trouble (and so avoid the moral drop that occurs when you lose him) or you could keep as close to your lines as possible at the risk of seeing him being sniped like it could happen in previous games. Of course, a combination of both of those tactics, depending on your enemy’s army and your own strategy, will probably be the most efficient.

Another important aspect will be scouting, like has been mentioned a lot in other topics by many people. I totally believe that the hide and seek game will make the game more dynamic and also more enjoyable. Deception and using the terrain will be even more important than it used to be.

But then, sometimes, I think a few things could just become highly annoying. It’s when you know that an enemy is behind a hill or in a particular place because it’s only logical seeing the disposition of the rest of his troops but you can’t see him because you don’t have any units that have a line of sight. Your ranged units would then become useless as you wouldn’t be able to make use of them. And if you have the ranged advantage but your main battle is somewhat weaker, you would be screwed. That’s why I thing that archers should get a target zone ability, like siege weapons have since Empire. As ammunition is limited, you’d have to be sure that your enemy is really there before using the target zone ability, and on the other hand someone hiding would have to make sure that his troops are well hidden and that his position is not too easy to guess.

What do you think about giving all ranged units a target zone ability? And what about hiding your general?