I know we haven't seen tactical combat.  I know.  This isn't a whine thread, this isn't a "gimmie back continuous turns."  The dev's have stated that it wasn't as fun, and hey, they had a chance to play it, we didn't.

This is, however, a serious idea about a tactical combat implementation that would not require a rework of the system and I feel would be a fresh, original, and interesting implementation.  I don't care about what other strategy games have done before, I don't care where the inspiration came from.  I want fun, I want a game that we're all going to be playing a year from now.

I'm suggesting this NOW so that you all can comment and improve the idea (if you feel it is good enough), and, if Stardock likes it, they can implement it before beta3.  I don't think it would require a serious coding overhaul, and I think the overhead of trying this would be low, but once we're in Beta3, we're to the tweaking stage, not the change stage.

Bill_door, I know you saw this before, sorry. 

Idea:

We have tactical turn-based.  But a number of people have expressed concern that this is:

a ) not epic
b ) done before (same 'ol, same 'ol)
c ) not actually as strategic as it might seem.
d ) visually boring

Now, we haven't seen Stardock's implementation, and they haven't revealed combat yet.  We could be way off the mark with our interpretation.

My current interpretation is that players simultaneously take turns, moving one unit (squad, company, whatever) at a time.  They make their move, and once both players have submitted, we watch the results.  Perhaps the combat speed may indicate when a unit can move, so we may already have multiple units moving at a time, we just don't know.

My proposal is to make an attribute in the civilization, soverign, champion, whatever (need your help on the whatever) that is, say, a tactics rating.  This tactics rating describes how many units they can move in their turn.  Say I have seven tactics, and you have six.  I can pick any seven units to move, you can pick six.  We plan simultaneously, and then submit our turns to see the results.  This is still turn-based, and still simultaneous turns.  We haven't changed the underlying code here, as the code already has to handle simultaneous turns and a moving target.

What you can do is limited by your combat speed, giving a boost to warfare civilizations which might have research to bump this tactics rating (also leads to more epic battles over the course of the game).  A Magic civ might be able to magically boost their tactics for a round.

This gets even better when you start thinking about the tactics being lower than the number of units on the field.  If I have 10 units on the field, you have to anticipate which units I'm going to move, and provides a very easy way for the developers to implement reinforcements.  If I have 5 units back behind the fog of war for the opponent that he doesn't know about?  I have a choice when I bring those forward, flank, whatever, and he has no idea what I'm doing.

This also address the old problem with turn-based (looking at you HOMM), where you don't have a chance to counter the enemies cavalry coming charging from half-way across the map to thwap your archers.  This idea would address this, by giving you multiple units to move, and the chance to anticipate your opponents charge and move a defender to cover.

Benefits:
a ) feasible reinforcements implementation.  I can't move all of my units, so some hang back until I want to bring them in.
b ) gives a way to offer advantages to warfare oriented civilizations.
c ) VERY strategic, I feel, as flanking, rushes, reinforcements, and counter-moves are all possible.
d ) Visually engaging, as the repercussions of a turn are stronger, and more happens.
e ) Potentially, more epic feeling, as tactics ratings can increase over the course of the game.
f ) Speeds up combat, to a degree.  Planning turns takes longer, but you don't have to wait as long before the unit can move again.
g ) Fully adjustable!  Place a slider in the Options Menu so that it can be scaled back to simultaneously moving unit by unit!  No loss?
e ) Little recoding necessary.  (I think)
g ) Seems original to me.  Certainly fresh.

Drawbacks:
1) We lose the individual unit's combat speed (See proposal 2 below for an attempt at keeping this)
2) Planning phase takes longer
3) More difficult for the computer to adjust for moving units, as it is not just 2 units moving simultaneously but N, where N is up to you all, and maybe your tech.

Proposal 2:
Above, I outlined how this idea caused us to lose the individual unit's combat speed.  This is a bit of a bummer, as I think the developers like this as a way to further customize units.  If we wanted to keep these, it is possible to mesh these two ideas:

The secondary idea is to make the tactics more like a resource.  So if I have 7 tactics and you have 6, I can move units as much as I like, so long as I don't go over my tactics limit.  So instead of moving seven units as above, Say I'm moving 5 units, because my underdroth can attack up to two units in it's move (and I want to use both), and my cavalry are charging, which consumes an extra point.  Something like that.  Personally, I feel this complicates battles, but it may be worth it/may not be anything to worry about.

Benefits:
1) As above, but we also get more customization of units.

Drawbacks:
1) Interpreting battles becomes more complex, as units can be a bit of an unknown.  It is less clear what you are facing
2) Planning phase is even more complex, as you are managing a resource, as opposed to N units.

Comments, improvements, discussion welcome.  Particularly the improvements.  However, if the idea doesn't fit, say so.  I firmly believe Elemental should have the combat that fits.  I wanted to propose this now, as opposed to in Beta3 when it would be too late.

Thanks for you patience, and best wishes.
~Cyro

P.S.  In the words of Frogboy:

"Combat Speed. Your combat speed determines how many “moves” / attacks you get during a particular turn.  In the begging of Lord of the Rings, what makes Sauron such a bad ass is that he can attack so many units at once. He has, in game turns, an incredible combat speed."

What if Sauron is my sovereign?  He can attack so many places at once.