Your own TW style game: What features would you like to see?

[fomalhaut]

The ability to upgrade an existing veteran unit to a different unit. For example, upgrading a 3 chevron hastati unit into a 1 chevron principes unit, at a cost. Alternatively, being able to upgrade a unit of veteran levy phalangitai into a proper, professional phalangitai unit.

this simply can't be a true reflection of reality, the units are an abstraction of the roughly the same people of a social class. Levies being 'promoted' like that en masse is wholly unrealistic, a group of farmers don't simply become citizens, which is what a professional soldier would be.

[Ichon]

Weren't many of the class divisions based on age though? Just like modern times it takes a decade or few to accumulate wealth and the lower tier warriors might still be 'citizen' and come from good families but not have the wealth or experience to be considered a phalangitai or principes? Although I am not sure if this works across all civilizations or would be worth the effort.

[Foot]

Weren't many of the class divisions based on age though? Just like modern times it takes a decade or few to accumulate wealth and the lower tier warriors might still be 'citizen' and come from good families but not have the wealth or experience to be considered a phalangitai or principes? Although I am not sure if this works across all civilizations or would be worth the effort.

I think his point is that a Hastati unit in a game such as TW is not the same group of people fighting over a number of years, such that after a certain number of years they all progress to the rank of Principes because they have all reached that age. A unit in TW is just a body of men of a certain class, the individuals that make up that class will certainly change over time. Over time the individuals who make up that unit will change in small numbers. Perhaps in one week, a group of 5 or so reach an age where they are then reorganised into a Principes unit, while in that same week five new individuals replace them from some other unit.

You are trying to represent minutiae as an important gameplay mechanic, and so it stops being historical and starts being gamey. Its important to maintain the correct perspective across the game to ensure that what you represent is relevant to your representation. Focusing on small things that aren't important to your chosen perspective is what TW do, and what I wish they wouldn't.

Foot

[fomalhaut]

Weren't many of the class divisions based on age though? Just like modern times it takes a decade or few to accumulate wealth and the lower tier warriors might still be 'citizen' and come from good families but not have the wealth or experience to be considered a phalangitai or principes? Although I am not sure if this works across all civilizations or would be worth the effort.

as Foot said, this could perhaps be done on an individual basis, but not per taxeis/cohort/unit and thus could not be reflected in the game engine meaningfully.

I completely disagree, Civilization has gone done a path I cannot follow in recent iterations. If you want how diplomacy, culture, politick and warfare should feel on a macro level Alpha Centauri is the standard. Turn based then real time battles are the way to go though, real time? leave that to those games where you trade men for meat and swords turn buildings on fire by wacking them (Age of Empires or whatever)

[Ca Putt]

The problem of promoted units mainly arises because a) many players don't train armies that give the entire spectrum of society (through financial problems or because they like to spam a certain unit) and b) most campaigns don't take a season or maybe two but several years due to the 4tpy which in turn makes it strange to run around with a unit of ... jugunthiz for 5 years as by that time they'd probably all be dugunthiz. With more tpy or realtime this "problem" would be somewhat removed as a campaign can end at harvest time.

[I_damian]

Obviously I would like an AI that is actually intelligent, or at least able to keep its army in formation and carry out simple manouvers, such as keeping spearmen in reserve to counter your cavalry, or using their cavalry to take out your cavalry rather than just using it to headbutt your front lines and die. But since games now are about shiny shiny and nothing more, I can't have that.

SO! What I would like that I can think of off the top of my head: Unlimited factions so that every historical people can be represented in mods, and I would also like for there to be some recognition of human and AI behaviour. If I'm good and I don't attack my allies, the longer I don't attack them, the more loyal they should become, until a point is reached where nothing will make them declare war except me doing something really, really bad. Empire had this, kind of, but it was just a little box that said your allies trust you. In reality, if you shared a border, they were going to attack eventually, no matter how many gifts you have.

Above everything else though, I would love for it to become more difficult to manage your faction as it grows bigger and in to an empire, as historically was. This has kind of been present in all the TW games so far, but for example in RTW, a settlement far away might rebel, but only that settlement, and they would throw out the troops and governor. What should happen, is the settlement should rebel WITH the governor and troops, declare independence, and other cities around it should join in to form a proper faction. This happened in MTW, why they took it out is just baffling.

[Ibrahim]

The problem of promoted units mainly arises because a) many players don't train armies that give the entire spectrum of society (through financial problems or because they like to spam a certain unit) and b) most campaigns don't take a season or maybe two but several years due to the 4tpy which in turn makes it strange to run around with a unit of ... jugunthiz for 5 years as by that time they'd probably all be dugunthiz. With more tpy or realtime this "problem" would be somewhat removed as a campaign can end at harvest time.

or, you could just implement a mechanic that allows for individuals in the first unit to be transferred to the nearest Dugunthiz unit (or even create a new one), as soon as the unit gains a certain level of xp.

so maybe:

1 bronze chevron: 5 dugunthiz
2: another 5
3: another 5

It's just another suggestion.

and so on.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

What I so far forgot to mention:

- decimation of your troops on campaign due to sickness, famine, and bad weather! In reality by far the biggest share of casualties was due to these factors.

- blood and mutilation on the battlefield! But that's not a top priority I admit.

[war is hell]

I would like to see more realistic sieges that are actually fun to play. Not sure how to do this exactly.

Two things for starters.

1: Could we atleast make the battle field look like it is undersiege? Like the cities should be surrounded with camps, waggons, baggage, supplies, animals, servants etc.

2: Dismountable Cavalry units. Chariots are effectivly useless during a siege. Casse bodyguards should automatically be dismounted into a Calawre or whatever.

[Ibrahim]

What I so far forgot to mention:

- decimation of your troops on campaign due to sickness, famine, and bad weather! In reality by far the biggest share of casualties was due to these factors.

- blood and mutilation on the battlefield! But that's not a top priority I admit.

1-at least until WW1. maybe we could have diseases varying, so that say, in areas that are awampy we get Malaria and yellow fever? or along floodplains and in siege conditions, have severe outbreaks of Typhus or Typhoid? or, if we're in the right spot, bubonic plague or smallpox. these all have varying lethalities (from almost 100% for bubonic plague to ~33% for smallpox), and those who are affected by don't die tend to be unfit for combat for a while (or invalided home). that's why in my list, I stated the need for a medical department: if you could implement a script that creates regulations or similar on an army, that effects hygene, you could lower the death rate (or raise it?). then of course it's needed for the wounded: better the medical service, the higher the survival rate from a serious injury.

2-it's not, but it adds feeling.