Detection of units

As a mortal keeping your glorious leader out of sight may be a wise thing to do, especially if they are weak.

Has anybody played Chaos Overlords? Its a kinda card game, but not really, and its very good. Basically you (technically your gang) are represented as a card and if that card is eliminated then its game over. So in Chaos Overlords you make some stealth gear to make it hard for the opposition to find you. Of course the opposition does the opposite, they make detection gear. Every card in the game has a base detection and stealth level that determines what they can see and what can see them. Another game that does something like this is Panzer General III.

So how about something like this in Elemental? It wouldn't need to be overly complicated but could allow you to hide your avatar. Make it so the vast majority of units are all pretty much the same, but have some units stealth specialists and some detection specialists. Give magic spells to increase detection and stealth (or decrease it, make it so a unit doesn't know its stealth or detection has a negative spell affecting it, kinda like each turn the afflicted unit gets a check and if they fail then they are still under the effect of the spell but don't know they are, when they make a check then they realise they were under a spell and the spell is removed). Imagine a high-level world spell that allows one unit to become very stealthy, kinda like sneaking a dragon into the enemy heartland. Make the AI smart enough to use this strategy and also be able to counter it.

Make it so there is a fog-of-war, but roads in your lands give a base detection level (so you can see somethings on them like armies but a stealthy party of adventures passes un-noticed). Make a "world spell" that increases detection in all you lands. Make quests that have to be completed in enemy lands, and thus a small stealthy band of adventures sneak in to complete it. Make detection kinda like the detection system used in the 4X space game Stars!, so the closer to the source of detection the greater the detection, the further away the less detection.

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Ah the old GC2 cloaking question...

All good ideads these, I have no idea if stealth is going to play a role in Elemental but what the hell...You could also have a seeing spell which basically reveals everything once but doesn't update, which would allow you to keep loose tabs on an approaching army everytime you use it but at cost to battle effectiveness...watchtowers would of course be crucial...though I especially like the road idea, fast travel exposed or slow travel stealth.

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Thinking on it, having a system like in Stars! where detection lessens the further away you are would work only with static detectors (like cities, outposts and roads) because then players would feel like having to move individual units everywhere to maximise detection, and that would be dull and a chore, even with AI assistance in setting up patrols.

I still think this would be a good idea, especially in multiplayer a good fog or war and stealth system would be very fun. It doesn't need to be overbalanced or game ruining. Perhaps it could even be a strategy, invest strongly in stealth and remain hidden but generally weaker than others.

The other thing is the game still going to include the investment of essence by the main character into other characters? If so presumably this leaves the main character weaker. I'd think hiding the main character would be a good strategy in this case.

*edit* Thinking about it, you could learn a tech for "Way of the Forest" or something like that, allowing a newly trained unit to have a stealth bonus in forests, but with a larger cost. Same could be done with any terrain. Kinda like the hidden units in Age of Wonders 2.

Also I'd keep the system simple, if you can see one unit in a stack you can see them all.

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I would like to be able to keep stacks partially hidden. Toss an invisiblity spell on your knights and suddenly that force looks like an easy target. Other player sends in a force to take em out, only for the invis knights to stomp all over them.

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