posted August 26, 1999 23:51            

It always annoyed me how any old warrior or pikeman could get to the South Pole if he could reach it. This is my suggestion for making some terrain less attractive to travel through, even for one MP units.

Each terrain except the most hospitable ones (forest, grassland, hills, plains, etc.) has a Danger Rating and Danger Category. For example, it could be something like this:

Desert
Danger Rating: 25%
Danger Category: Heat

This would mean that, if a normal unit entered the desert, it would have a 25% chance of being lost. However, some units might have special attributes, like:

Cameleer
Resistance Rating: 20%
Resistance Category: Heat

The Resistance Rating of the particular unit would be subtracted from the Danger rating of the terrain. Thus, a cameleer would only have a 5% chance per turn of dying in the desert.

However, there would be multiple other Danger Categories, such as Cold, Elevation, and Wild Animals. A Cameleer with 20% Heat resistance would still have to bear the full brunt of an Arctic square.

An expansion to this idea that might or might not work would be cultural adaptations. If a city has 5 Desert squares in its radius, units produced by that city might be given a Heat Resistance bonus of 15% or so. ( I suggest squares*3). This would make a much better representation of guerilla warfare, as more powerful units might perish in perilous terrain while units of a culture native to that area survive.

A Road through such a square would, in addition to its normal functions, reduce the danger by 10%.

Ocean squares would also contain these ratings. A typical Ocean square might be

Ocean
Danger: Storms
Rating: 20%
Danger: Giant Squid Attack
Rating: 2%

In addition, there would be Polar Ocean, which adds 10% iceberg, and Coastal Ocean, which adds 4% Rocks. This could cover the Tririeme penalty, if done right.