Base defence and intercept commands

this is based on X-com right?

from Elemental Forums

So, stardock said that this game is master of magic meets X-com.   I certainly can see the Master of Magic influence, but what about X-com?

It doesn't really have trading, civics, magic, or even armies (at least not the version I played).  You just built bases and dispatched guys out to defend earth.  Occationally you'd come to something similar to the turn-based combat we have.  

Now, I guess the influence X-com has is the fog-of war on a pretty open battlefield where you explore caves and wrecked ships and stuff.

But has anybody considered the whole hanger defence system?   I mean we don't have that much info on how things are going to be handled, and the screenshots given so far doesn't exactly look like a grid-based Civilization map.  (X-com's over world map wasn't a grid really either )

In the screenshot here you can see the bird just to the lower right of the town.   Now this could just be a bit of nature, or it could be the falcon sent by that scout.  His skill is 'falcon', so obviously the falcon does something away from the character.   I originally thought "oh, it must be something that lets you see a discance through fog-o-war like the magic eyes ogres throw in Warcraft II.  But then as I sat there trying to struggle through X-com, I realized... what if you dispatch falcons, dragons, and other things in a similar way that you dispatch stuff in X-com.  At first I dismissed the idea, but then it occured to me that the entire game could be that way.   Dudes wouldn't just sit out in the middle of nowhere when you arn't giving them orders.   So for armies to leave hom, they would be sent somewhere with orders.   You could place orders, and the armies might move out with the orders in mind, and then they would be followed by AI until it is achieved then they would return back home, just likes planes do in X-com.   Only 'patrol' orders or 'garrison' might do otherwise where they stay out away from the town, fort, or whatever sent them.

Its something that hasn't really been discussed of late.

I imagine it would in a way feel like the game 'magisty' except you could give some direct orders.

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Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

...I realized... what if you dispatch falcons, dragons, and other things in a similar way that you dispatch stuff in X-com.  At first I dismissed the idea, but then it occured to me that the entire game could be that way.   Dudes wouldn't just sit out in the middle of nowhere when you arn't giving them orders.   So for armies to leave hom, they would be sent somewhere with orders.   You could place orders, and the armies might move out with the orders in mind, and then they would be followed by AI until it is achieved then they would return back home, just likes planes do in X-com.   Only 'patrol' orders or 'garrison' might do otherwise where they stay out away from the town, fort, or whatever sent them. ...

Mentioning X-Com makes me worry about the game requiring furious clicking for all combat, but I definitely think a bit of unit autonomy along these lines would help any game like Elemental.

You also remind me that GalCiv 1 had something close to meaningful 'patrol' functionality (it was based on map quadrants, which might or might not have been tactically reasonable patrol zones) while GalCiv 2 lacks anything similar. Maybe engine work for Elemental will mean both it and GC3 will let us assign patrol routes to a unit or stack by selecting a series of waypoints.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Mentioning X-Com makes me worry about the game requiring furious clicking for all combat, but I definitely think a bit of unit autonomy along these lines would help any game like Elemental.

Oh, I'm sure that part will be fixed.   (ok, it wasn't just me.  Double-clicks shouldn't be in games without an obvious UI sign such as highlight = 1st click, act = 2nd click)

Yeah, I just imagined like you pick a few units then you select an enemy city and choose siege.  They will then automatically leave your town, and do whatever needs to be done for that to work.   When they've broken the walls or whatever, it would tell you and you'd be informed.   Then click on the battle to go into tactics mode or whatever.

Multiplicity - Control multiple PCs using one keyboard and mouse
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting landisaurus, reply 2

Yeah, I just imagined like you pick a few units then you select an enemy city and choose siege.  They will then automatically leave your town, and do whatever needs to be done for that to work.   When they've broken the walls or whatever, it would tell you and you'd be informed.   Then click on the battle to go into tactics mode or whatever.

It had better not start the tactical battle after the walls are down... I wanna aim my trebuchets and watch the glorious destruction, not just mop up the remnants of the enemy troops as I march my army in.