From: ccoprdj@prism.gatech.EDU (Jorge Diaz)
Newsgroups: rec.games.empire
Subject: Re: Update Stuff & Land Units
Date: 3 Sep 92 22:12:21 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <1992Sep3.183340.26757@col.hp.com> smithw@col.hp.com (Walter Smith) writes:

>A few thoughts on UNITS.  

I'm assuming you're reffering to land units.

>1) I think if implemented, they should *replace* mil,
>   not just suppliment them.  

I disagree.  First, units will cost money to build, that some people
might not want to spend (OK, mils cost money too, but still).

Second, units are going to require a certain level of tech.  Until you
get that tech, you can't build them.

>2) If you take a sector with a UNIT, how is the OWNER/OLDOWN
>   calculated?

I would assume that he still owns the units.  Unlike planes, units
are not 'sitting ducks' when they're on the ground.  They can fight
just as well in enemy territory (otherwise they'd be pretty damn
useless :-).

>   If you have a unit in an enemy sector, does
>   that mean you own it, and he becomes oldown?

No, I think units would just allow you to fight better (the way guns
and shells do).  You still need to attack the sector and kill all of
his mils/units in order to take it (another reason for leaving mil in).

5 different countries can have units in one sector, but only one person
can own it.  The person who has the mil in it (or, if no mil, the 
old_owner).

>   What if
>   you BOTH have units in the sector?  What happens when
>   you move out of the sector, do you lose the OWNER flag?
>   How about if you are killed out of the sector?

Again, I don't see why units would determine ownership.  If I move a tank
into Athens, GA, do I get ownership?  No.  I can do some serious damage,
making it easier for ground troops (or paratroops) to take the city, but
the tanks themselves don't give me control.

>3) Would paratroops have their own planes, or need to
>   be loaded onto transports?  If they have their own
>   planes, how do you handle moving them by ship?

Paratroops would remain implemented the way they currently are.
Why change it?

>4) How would you handle UNITS on ships that try to board
>   each other?  

The same way you handle planes on ships that try to board each other.

>5) Can you BUY/SELL units?

Can you buy/sell planes or ships?  I guess that would depend on trade.

>6) Could units "pass thru" a sparsely populated foreign
>   sector, without capturing it, and not be seen by the
>   owner?  (picture an island with 1 civ/sector that
>   you want to quietly pass thru, to sneak up on the
>   harbor at the far side of the island)

Yes, absolutely (although it would probably be noticed).  Ownership
shouldn't automatically go to whomever moves a unit in.

>7) Would UNITS contribute to a sector gaining eff?
>   If not, how would you go about taking and developing
>   new islands?

The old-fashioned way - with ships.


I have a question for Tom.  Someone else brought this up, but I never
heard anything else, and I thought it was a good idea....  If Countries
A and B are allied, and C shells a sector owned by A, and B has ships/
forts in the area, why not code it so that B fires back as well as A
(assuming B is also at war with C)?


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