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lancer -> Civilians (9/21/2019 4:13:47 AM)
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Hi,
One related thought (going off the fake units thread) is that of the high risk of civilian casualties in urban environments. Perhaps you could have an indication that there is a unit present in a building. With further observation it could resolve into a military unit or a neutral one. Is it a threat? Can I afford to wait to find out? Should I order artillery down on that position?
The game portrays high intensity cold war combat in heavily populated environments. The presence of civilians is under represented, especially in buildings where they are most likely to be found. The player can, at present, blast away at will with little fear of causing civilian casualties as they are assumed to have mostly left the area (bit of an ask in a fast moving cold war scenario with clogged roads). Collateral damage issue is becoming a bigger and bigger deal, especially in the west and is now a serious consideration in any modern urban conflict.
Whether that's something you'd want to model in-game is best left to your judgement but it'd certainly make for a more realistic battlefield and give the player another layer to their decisions to take into account.
It'd also allow scope for a political dimension to your campaign structure. Cause too many civilian casualties, as the NATO forces and you may find yourself relieved of command. If the intention is to move the game in the direction of more modern conflicts it may well be a necessity to have something like this in place. If you wanted to get fancy you could have a game option that provides a certain civilian density on the battlefield, anywhere from 'none' to 'lots'.
'Lots' could, perhaps, encompass traffic jams from escaping civilians caught up in the conflict that block a road or a bridge. Or a steady stream of mobile neutral units spawning from an urban centre and heading down the main roads to safey.
Implementation would be, I'm guessing, straightforward as you've already got the ingredients baked in. All that you'd need is some feedback on civilian casualties, both at the time (a simple message) and in the end game summary. If you moved a unit into a building with neutral units present they could automatically disappear down into the basement.
It'd also be a human player only issue as everybody knows that The Terminator didn't care.
Cheers,
Plugger
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