[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Artillery and sea units (PR#1476)

["Ross W. Wetmore" <rwetmore@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 04:19 PM 02/05/24 -0700, Thanasis Kinias wrote:
>scripsit Brandon Craig Rhodes:
>> "Ross W. Wetmore" <rwetmore@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>> 
>> > Having destroyers stand up to a sub attack sounds interesting, and this
>> > might make them the preferred defender. I like the scissors/paper/rock 
>> > combat strategies that simple attack/defense modifiers really doesn't 
>> > handle well.
>> 
>> I have been thinking about this very hard.  The idea of having RPS
>> (rock paper scissors, the order I learned them in) relationships among
>> various groups of units is intriguing, but can it be made to have any
>> historical basis?  
>
>RPS doesn't map neatly onto real relationship, but the principle of a
>system which isn't clearly min-maxable is appealing and realistic.
[...]
I think you answered Brandon's question pretty accurately and thoroughly.

>I adapted Dupuy's QJM to handle similar scale combats over the period
>AD 1000 to 2000 for another wargame project, and I'm working on how it
>might be used for Freeciv, if we can get stacking.

Can you give us a quick summary of its highlights or a reference?

>There's a lot of math involved in the system, which makes it hard to
>min-max, but it's all basic plug-and-chug arithmetic so it shouldn't take
>long for the server to crunch the numbers, particularly because a combat 
>would be resolved in one iteration, or two if there were a pursuit
>battle.

There are some advantages to a multi-round battle. In Freeciv the 
firepower is insufficient to knock out any unit in one round, so it
takes (generally some multiple of five) rounds to resolve. This allows
for graphics effects, optional strategies like retreats, and generally
smooths the odds to a more strategic level while not completely ruling
out the freak chances of battle.

Exploiting the rounds can introduce interesting effects like switching
the unit in a stack for the next round or other pre-programmed strategies
that make battles more interesting and subtle. There is a realistic
element to this in that battles typically were decided in phases over
a reasonable period of time, and not with a single blow.

>-- 
>Thanasis Kinias

Cheers,
RossW
=====