Forms of Battle

from Elemental Forums

Not sure if this was already recommended, but I didn't see it on the comprehensible suggestion list, so I'm going to assume 'no'.

The Glade Runner, a start-level Elven unit in Age of Wonders II, was designed for skirmish combat. Due to the game mechanics, he failed horribly and was little more than a decent scout.

I've been thinking...why is it that the only battles that seem important involve 10,000 vs. 10,000? Guerilla warfare and brief skirmishes, to harass enemies, have been forms of tactics for a long, long time. One nation gets taken over by a vastle superior one (militarily speaking) and, although they have lost a number of cities and their own grand army has been scattered, they fight back with small groups, harassing key points and making it so the enemy never rests.

If nothing else, the ability to concoct these sort of strategies ought be an option. Skirmishes would impact the morale of both sides - you can never rest, as you're constantly on the lookout for attacks - and guerilla warfare would use small numbers in a strike team to try and optimize damage. Not only a subtle way to fight, but a brutally effective one, especially if spells of invisibility and concealment become an option. It will require thought to properly initiate, but could be even a sort of game or a unique combat mode. Say, give an overland army a 'skirmish' mode button. When in such a mode, they move slower and have concealment in rough terrain - heavily forested areas, deserts, mountain ranges, etc. Such a mode can be used only be very small armies.

When attacking, then, you don't just initiate tactical or automatic combat. Instead, you are given the option to engage in a brief skirmish (a timed tactical) or guerilla warfare. For guerilla warfare, your small band of soldiers appears on a battlefield at, say, night, with the enemy camped out ahead. What happens then is up to you...but begin with the soldiers caught unawares, have some sentry soldiers patrolling, etc. To be caught ends up having the alarm raised, and an angry army facing your small band.

4,703 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Ever wonder why they never made a video game starring Rambo's enemies?

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

i suppose one way of doing it could be that a surprising or ambusing force can split an army... drawing off a multiple of the power of the concealed army. So a concealed army of 50 (power 50 to keep it simple) could attack 10,000 (all 1HP/power units) and fight a battle against a fraction of that army, say 10 turns against 500 (10x ambusing power) or 5000 (army split in half) before the rest of the army joins in... that way you could improve the odds. Have counter strategies being that certain troops could be selected for partrols allowing you to defend the army... better stealth units are more likely to have a larger portion of the weakly ranked troops in combat? more turns before the army joins in? Just a thought... not sure if I actually like the idea yet

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Leadership of the armies might play a significant role. If the large army had a very poor leader and few mobile troops and the skirmishers had a great leader and fast troops, then maybe.  However, if the big army had a decent leader and reasonable troops, it wouldn't be long before the little band of attackers got trapped in a valley and slaughtered by a dozen groups of 200 each.  So the attackers may continue the fight for a long time but they will also suffer continuing higher casualties than the dominant occupying force.

As an example, we could look at the Afghans fighting Nato now.  A lot more afghans die but they keep fighting for what they perceive as their independence.  The same thing in the US Revolutionary war, the rebels kept getting beaten again and again by the British regulars, but didn't give up and wore them down (with critical help from the French, of course).