Alex_soldier
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Issue # 60: BATTLES IN THE CITY
As far as I know, this topic hasn't been touched upon at all. Although some individual ideas slipped through at the very dawn of the project (#31 - Storming the Castle):
Paladin:
Castle walls and towers destroyed during a siege must be rebuilt.
KYA:
During a storming, buildings are destroyed/damaged. Primarily the higher levels (via misses from long-range attacks). Buildings are destroyed in stages: minor destruction (reduction in unit production), medium (cessation of unit production), and total. Magic towers are destroyed floor by floor. Money must be spent on repairs. A city (during a long siege) can be completely destroyed, as neutral monsters can raze it to the ground.
Letyashchiy:
Like in real life... Storming a castle from different sides... Of course, the walls there are stronger and there are no gates. But instead, there is a chance that a flying army will bring an element of surprise and not all troops will be mobilized. That's more room for maneuvers.
As usual, the truth can be found somewhere in the middle. It's not worth overcomplicating things with repairs — players won't stand for it. So, the solution I'm envisioning is this: when storming a castle, not only the wall/moat/towers are involved in the battle, but also some of the buildings, which can also take damage or even collapse.
This will introduce some variety to the garrison placement — corners, passages, and pockets will appear, allowing for more effective use of the terrain during defense. Otherwise, all the pleasure is just hiding between war machines and managing to cover yourself, preferably in Tactics mode.
And sometimes there is a real urge to move the combat to narrow city streets — that's the only place where fragile archers can hide from huge monsters. Especially if the shooters have low health, while the monster runs fast or even flies, and moreover occupies 2 cells. Now imagine: a small building standing by the castle wall, a narrow vertical street between it and the next house, where our unfortunate shooters huddle. And at the edge of the entrance, a Beast runs around snapping its teeth — it has no chance whatsoever of squeezing inside. So it will either have to "gnaw" through the wall itself or wait until it is knocked down by an accurate catapult shot.
Next are the details. Only those buildings located in the immediate vicinity of the walls will be involved in the battle (remember, I suggested creating the layout yourself, placing buildings on the free areas of the castle). Here, a choice of distance can be made by the defenders: whether they wish to place troops right up against the wall — which is what we have now (then internal buildings will not be affected at all), or perform the placement with an offset (let's say, up to 10 cells deep into the castle).
In the first case, after the battle, only the walls and towers will have to be restored. In the second — all buildings that sustained damage. I dare say that this is a very modest price for the advantage of additional cover for troops. Furthermore, there is room for the idea of storming from different sides: since the castle is built asymmetrically, there will be an opportunity to choose which wall is preferable for attack!
Now to the main point. Each building occupies several cells (or possibly one). Each cell has its own health (HP) and a full set of parameters characterizing resistance to each type of damage (fire, magic, physical damage, ...). When health is at zero, the cell is considered destroyed: the fragment is ruined and units can now stand in that place. Catapult shots and massive spells can damage several cells at once; other types of influence are pinpointed.
After the battle, the repairmen summarize the sad results — so many cells destroyed in so many buildings, and so many resources will be required for their restoration. If you have enough — press YES. If you don't have enough for everything — choose the most important ones; others will have to be sacrificed — they will collapse immediately. Moreover, if you chose REPAIR for at least one object, nothing else can be built this turn (but instead, all buildings will be restored in 1 day)! Well, if neither of those warms your soul, press NO and start rebuilding the city in a new way, since there is plenty of free space now.
By the way, if all cells of a building are destroyed, then in theory, it should be considered demolished. But I would really not want to do that — let there remain the possibility to restore it from the ruins the very next day, even if paying its full cost — this saves time for other buildings.
This idea has three far-reaching consequences. First, while sitting in a deep defense, you should take care in advance of a substantial supply of materials, at least the same stones and wood for walls and towers. Second, if several armies attack the city in one day, the buildings don't have time to be restored, i.e., the destruction accumulates! And third, the attacking side receives additional experience — since there is significantly more HP on the battlefield!
That's all for now. Anyone who wants to discuss the topics of this or previous issues is welcome. Next time, I intend to put an end to the question of the change of day and night in the game.
As far as I know, this topic hasn't been touched upon at all. Although some individual ideas slipped through at the very dawn of the project (#31 - Storming the Castle):
Paladin:
Castle walls and towers destroyed during a siege must be rebuilt.
KYA:
During a storming, buildings are destroyed/damaged. Primarily the higher levels (via misses from long-range attacks). Buildings are destroyed in stages: minor destruction (reduction in unit production), medium (cessation of unit production), and total. Magic towers are destroyed floor by floor. Money must be spent on repairs. A city (during a long siege) can be completely destroyed, as neutral monsters can raze it to the ground.
Letyashchiy:
Like in real life... Storming a castle from different sides... Of course, the walls there are stronger and there are no gates. But instead, there is a chance that a flying army will bring an element of surprise and not all troops will be mobilized. That's more room for maneuvers.
As usual, the truth can be found somewhere in the middle. It's not worth overcomplicating things with repairs — players won't stand for it. So, the solution I'm envisioning is this: when storming a castle, not only the wall/moat/towers are involved in the battle, but also some of the buildings, which can also take damage or even collapse.
This will introduce some variety to the garrison placement — corners, passages, and pockets will appear, allowing for more effective use of the terrain during defense. Otherwise, all the pleasure is just hiding between war machines and managing to cover yourself, preferably in Tactics mode.
And sometimes there is a real urge to move the combat to narrow city streets — that's the only place where fragile archers can hide from huge monsters. Especially if the shooters have low health, while the monster runs fast or even flies, and moreover occupies 2 cells. Now imagine: a small building standing by the castle wall, a narrow vertical street between it and the next house, where our unfortunate shooters huddle. And at the edge of the entrance, a Beast runs around snapping its teeth — it has no chance whatsoever of squeezing inside. So it will either have to "gnaw" through the wall itself or wait until it is knocked down by an accurate catapult shot.
Next are the details. Only those buildings located in the immediate vicinity of the walls will be involved in the battle (remember, I suggested creating the layout yourself, placing buildings on the free areas of the castle). Here, a choice of distance can be made by the defenders: whether they wish to place troops right up against the wall — which is what we have now (then internal buildings will not be affected at all), or perform the placement with an offset (let's say, up to 10 cells deep into the castle).
In the first case, after the battle, only the walls and towers will have to be restored. In the second — all buildings that sustained damage. I dare say that this is a very modest price for the advantage of additional cover for troops. Furthermore, there is room for the idea of storming from different sides: since the castle is built asymmetrically, there will be an opportunity to choose which wall is preferable for attack!
Now to the main point. Each building occupies several cells (or possibly one). Each cell has its own health (HP) and a full set of parameters characterizing resistance to each type of damage (fire, magic, physical damage, ...). When health is at zero, the cell is considered destroyed: the fragment is ruined and units can now stand in that place. Catapult shots and massive spells can damage several cells at once; other types of influence are pinpointed.
After the battle, the repairmen summarize the sad results — so many cells destroyed in so many buildings, and so many resources will be required for their restoration. If you have enough — press YES. If you don't have enough for everything — choose the most important ones; others will have to be sacrificed — they will collapse immediately. Moreover, if you chose REPAIR for at least one object, nothing else can be built this turn (but instead, all buildings will be restored in 1 day)! Well, if neither of those warms your soul, press NO and start rebuilding the city in a new way, since there is plenty of free space now.
By the way, if all cells of a building are destroyed, then in theory, it should be considered demolished. But I would really not want to do that — let there remain the possibility to restore it from the ruins the very next day, even if paying its full cost — this saves time for other buildings.
This idea has three far-reaching consequences. First, while sitting in a deep defense, you should take care in advance of a substantial supply of materials, at least the same stones and wood for walls and towers. Second, if several armies attack the city in one day, the buildings don't have time to be restored, i.e., the destruction accumulates! And third, the attacking side receives additional experience — since there is significantly more HP on the battlefield!
That's all for now. Anyone who wants to discuss the topics of this or previous issues is welcome. Next time, I intend to put an end to the question of the change of day and night in the game.