City Defense
Preventing the Rush
I have been testing out some of the core strategic elements and one particular aspect still receives a low mark. City defense is just not up to where it should be. It feels too much like token resistance and not enough like people defending their territory. On an immersion level poor city defense battles leave cities without character. There is no struggle to defend a city or capture one. They just feel like stepping stones, even in the earliest portions of gameplay. From a game balance or strategic perspective, city defense is simply not a factor. At no point have I ever questioned whether or not I can take a city. I only ever question what to do with it after I reach it. In fact, I would be so bold to say that never have I ever lost a city battle at any point in the game, unless I was defending.
In my latest .983 playthrough, my good Lady Irane walked over to the nearest city, declared war, attacked the same turn, easily defeated an archer and clubsman from a level 2 city and had a late breakfast. It was not just easy, it was sad. This is supposed to be the capital of Resoln and yet it fought like a retarded duckling. From a balance perspective, the early game needs to prevent the rush. Rushing should be a viable tactic, but it should take an actual early game army, not a level 1 Sov with a crude shortbow and some wild gumption. I didn't kite or use spells, I just hit them first and never missed. They were slow and easy to kill. This can't be aloud early in the game. The player should not have to stack his cities with wage taking troops to prevent the rush. It almost goes without saying that each faction should be protected until the midgame to a reasonable extent. Allowing rushing earlier than that needs to take up a nations entire build queue and force some losses in economy. That is the only way taking over a new city can be anything less than a game ending victory.
I think a good way to balance this is to set a time in the game where capturing cities makes sense. On season 25 with one level 1 unit, is not it. I would say around turn 100 with at least 4 units is a good starting point for capturing a level 1 city. The next step is to make sure that with no special buildings, this attack provides some semblance of a challenge. Since the early game has no armor and only clubs, it makes sense to have alot of units of reasonable level protecting cities. If the enemy has 4, the defender needs at least 5; 2 archers and 3 melee of level 3. Even this as a starting point for city defense, is fairly easy for attackers to overcome. But at least one low level unit could never manage it and you have to admit that the reward of taking a city far and away constitutes a staunch challenge.
That would just be a level 1 city. Level 2 is where things should get interesting. I added in a special way for each city to defend in my latest mod and it did add some really nice flavor to city defense. I don't think that is something likely for the devs to choose, but even so, there are ways to make city specialization affect defense. Basically it seems that Fortress is set to be the only defender city. If that is the goal, fine. Make sure though that even choosing a Fortress adds defenders of decent level. Building a Fort and then a Castle should make a city nigh impenetrable. The labor costs are so high, choosing them needs to feel more significant and really protect a city from all but the most deadly attacks. I even took to giving these defenders set armor, traits, and items to make sure they held their own regardless of tech level. Having defender knights on call is a great way to protect from most armies.
After the midgame mark, we need a clear focus in siege specialization. If I want to build a force capable of taking down multiple cities, that needs to cost me something. I should need at least the Catapult tech. I should need to have good armor to take on the superior numbers of a city. I should need magics like Fireball and Blizzard. These things must be the necessities of siege. Choosing them should have a specifically different feeling than a player who focuses on defending territory with fast troops or the guerrilla fighter, who simply uses light infantry to attack weak points. Fleshing these things out is easy. You just play test each strategy and add some costs and benefits to each type.
