From: rob@theo.ucsb.edu (Robert Buckles)
Newsgroups: rec.games.empire
Subject: Land Units
Date: 4 Sep 92 10:36:25 GMT
Organization: University of California, Santa Barbara


        Hmm.  I've been reading the newsgroup and playing empire for
a few years now, but I rarely post anything.  I guess that will be
changing now.

        Land units are a great idea.  But I see no problems just
visualizing them as armored transport or tanks, etc.  They cannot
possibly replace normal military.
        Ever have an enemy airfield rebel on you?  Your planes are
still your planes until someone else attacks the sector.  When you
attack the sector, your planes are still there, and they are unaffected
by your absence even though the "old" owner had possession of them for
a little while, and he had military there...
        The only way to gain ownership of the land units would be to
build them yourself, or take the sector they are in.  That may be
difficult...  The only use I can see for them is to move through
conquered territory (no mobility).  Don't go changing the game drastically.
Don't change the way mobility is accrued.
        Land units have their own intrinsic mobility, independent of the
sector's mobility, but make it difficult for them to win, like
paratrooping... Say, 1/2 normal odds or so.  But normal mils do not
aid in the attacks unless the sector has mobility.
        As for defense, make them simply a mobile fort.  If they are
in range, they fire and do damage just like a fort.

attacker gets message like "incoming shell(s) does x% damage /
odds are now xx%"
Perhaps by the damage percentage he can tell if it was a fort
or land unit that fired on him...

There should be no way to tell if land units are present in a sector
since that is the case with planes... Unless of course you do
a pinpoint bombing mission, or take the sector and get a message like

"land unit #xxx blown up by crew..."

And perhaps there will be some left over at low efficiency... just like
planes.

But perhaps a special type of land unit made just for spying can tell
if land units are present...

Don't go whining about fairness... Tough.  If you attack a sector and lose
because of land units, well, then you know you better be careful with your
next attack...

This doesn't seem like a real problem.  All the land units should do is
beef up your mils' combat odds, or allow land units to continue advancing
through conquered territory, provided of course if you have enough landunits
vs. enemy military.  
If Idiot Joe forgot to leave mils in important
places, that's his problem.  But one way to limit the effectiveness of these
land units is obvious.  The mobility is inherent with the land unit, not the
sector it's in. Each time a land unit is used, some of it's mobility is used
up.  Make the cost whatever you want to limit its effectiveness.  i.e. 50 mob
(out of say 127 max).
        Land units would require a certain amount of mils to make and be used
up as "crew".  Some would be different.  They would have a "crew" that cannot
be removed from the unit, but also have the ability to carry infantry.
Whether or not these are allowed to fight and/or just transport is up to
the coder. They would just be like cargo planes or bombers or merely
firepower to damage the enemy units like fighters.


Let's quite arguing about ridiculous points and ask about serious coding
matters...

Respectively,
until now quiet Shockwave...
Newsgroups: rec.games.empire