How would a Real Time Tactical game on a 1:1 scale play?

[Geoffrey S]

A bit different. Imagine the units being people who hold hands. If one man moves 3 metres forward his neighbours would go 2.7 metres, their neighbours 2.5 and so on with the man at the end of the line noticing nothing of that man moving forward as the movement is "absorbed" by the many people between the two.

Sounds good. So it'd also be a matter of making sure a part of the line doesn't move too far ahead, since it'd mean your line would break or at least expose flanks to the enemy.

I was thinking of that initially too, a bit like the Osprey battle maps (if you know them). It would make the engine a hell of a lot quicker to finish, but the loss of seeing the soldiers might be too big to still feel immersed in the game. Or not?

It might be an idea to start off this way, to at least get the AI sorted whilst keeping work on the graphics engine to a minimum; keeping things abstract in that way would ensure gameplay and decent tactics are kept as a priority. Once the AI can handle the battles a move to full representation of the battlefield would be in order.