[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Patch: Fighter Cover and Torpedoers

[John Paul Rodman <jp@xxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 11 Jun 2000, Chad wrote:

> > Great concept.
> > What happens when there is a stronger unit in the square to defend,
> > but that unit is a fighter, but doesnt offer fighter cover ?
> 
> Yeah, I looked into that and decided to leave it alone.  The concept is,
> what happens when a medium level attack unit attacks?  Should the heavy
> defender unit defend?  It can take the attacker but it might get weakened.
> If the wimpy unit with fighter cover defends, it will most likely get
> destroyed but it will hurt the attacker enough so next round you can
> clean-up.  The best option I could think of was something that pop-up up a
> screen asking if you want fighter cover when a unit attacks.  That can get
> annoying however.  Anyone have ideas?

You could do it the way Alpha Centauri does.  (This would have the added
benifit of helping to move towards Alpha Centauri compatibility.)

In Alpha Centauri the user can designate a unit as a bodyguard.  Bodyguard  
units always defend before non-bodyguard units in the same stack.  (You
could have your fighters default to bodyguard status when they are built.) 

Also in Alpha Centauri, if a defending unit in a stack in the open is
destroyed, the other units only suffer collateral damage, they are not
necessarily destroyed.  

It would be good to have both of these be ruleset options.  
There could be a global "Units can be bodyguard" option, or it could be
specified for each unit.
The collateral damage could be a percentage.  
A value of 100 would give CivI/II and FreeCiv behavior.  
A value of 0 would give FreeSpace behavior.  
A value of 20-50 would get close to Alpha Centauri behavior, although I
think SMAC applys collateral dmage somewhat randomly.

Btw, FreeSpace looks great.


JP Rodman,
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
--Steven Wright