Given some of the debate on how MP should work I was thinking of a few commands that could help handle how units move. And would be useful even if turns aren't Simulations. Along with some general unit handling changes in general. Anyway here they are.
Queue Commands - The ability to queue up several commands would really help speed things along in turns for MP. For example like in Civ4 if you hold down shift when issuing commands it lets you queue up several commands. This can be handy for mapping out a route around something the auto path finding might go right next to. It was also handy in Civ4 for queueing up orders on workers to setup several improvements without having to issue the orders every turn they finish. In E:WoM queuing up commands can be handy when you see a bunch of goody huts around your area and you know you want to grab them, When you want to send a pioneer to claim a resource, and so on.
Move To Unit Command - In most TBS games you issue orders to move your unit based on a curtain tile. Well what if you want to attack a unit and that unit is on the move? Every turn you have to move your unit depending on where the enemy unit it headed. This is extra time being eaten up you simply want to go after that unit. In some cases though your trying to move new units up to an army you have which is on the move. So again every turn you have to order that unit to move based on where the army has gone to. Unless you simply have the army sit and wait for that unit to catch up.
Patrol/Intercept Unit Command - One thing that was always a bit frustrating in games is units simply moving by other units unchallenged. Well I think it would be nice if while in your own territory with at least 1 movement left you could set your units to Patrol/Intercept. This would have them attack anyone who tried to move past them, as in from on adjacent square to another. This way units could be set along the borders to intercept enemy units without having to worry about a player clicking faster then the enemy and letting their units slip by. Also units set to patrol/intercept stay in the mode until canceled so the player doesn't need to do it every turn.
Ability to have units on the same tile not merge - When you move a unit onto the same tile right now they merge into on unit. And what I mean by this is I've noticed several bugs that are an indication of this, reported them in the Bug section. For example when a unit leaves the group at times it causes some or all of the other units to go back to the point they were in when they joined the group. While I know that is a bug and is going to be fixed what is annoying is having to be move one group through another group. The two groups merge so I then need to select the units and divided them up again so they can continue on their own seperate paths. Again I refer to Civ4 as I like the way it handled this where I could have all my catapults in one group, archers in another, and so on. It just makes things so much easier to be able to divide up your own groups.
Ability to select multiple groups/units on the same tile - This ties back to the last request but also something I noticed in game. If you select multiple units in a city and have them exit they don't exit as a single group they exit as the individual units on a single tile. But you are forced to select only the top unit on the pile. Well even if the above idea isn't implementent it would still be nice to be able to select multiple units/groups on the same tile. Cause it then begs the question can allies move units onto the same tile and if so how do they select thier units vs your units?
That about covers it for now. I think when more things get implemented in MP beta I might think of some more things. I already have some other ideas but it really depends on how some of the other systems are implemented. So in the meantime I'd like to hear what you think of these as well as any additions you might have.
