MOM 2: How would you improve combat?
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The combat aspect of the original, though still reasonably fun, could definitely stand some improvement. But aside from improving the graphics, what would you all like to see? Here's some of my thoughts. Please comment and pick apart at your leisure.
Larger: The battles seemed kind of rinkydink and devoid of any serious terrain considerations even back in the day. I don't think action points are necessary and still like the idea of keeping the move/attack concept the same, but anything to make battles feel a little bet less like they take place on a piece of graph paper would be cool. Visible elevation bonuses for cities on mountain and hill squares would be cool too.
Castles: Having multiple levels of castle walls with and defensive fortifications would be neat, especially if players have the option of building small forts on the frontiers to help thwart Barbarian raids and protect their borders. If you were to say, add some kind of a tinkerer race even more technologically advanced than the dwarves, they could have really nasty castles to make up for their otherwise lackluster regular units. A good race for nonmilitant colonizer/city builders. And of course, magical fortifications are always fun too. Perhaps units could garrison towers much like they did in Command & Conquer Red Alert 2. Smashing a tower with a wall crushing unit would do some damage but otherwise mostly just leave the unit exposed.
Enclosure bonuses: I'm against changing the rules TOO much, but units really should gain some serious bonuses for surrounding another unit. I still like the idea of an ultra-elite swordsmen holding off four units of green spearmen singlehandedly but if the spearmen manage to surround the swordsmen it should be much more of a fair fight. This could lead to some good early game spearmen rush tactics and could also make conquering cities with a single super unit a much more challenging affair. So, a bonus for every unit on an enemy unit's face? After all, 10,001 Orcs should be good for something.
Ranged Attacks & Surprise: If I remember correctly, it was always defenders that gained initiative in MOM and that was a pretty nasty advantage if you had slingers, longbowmen, or powerful heroes. I don't think any battle should begin with ranged attackers able to fire on the enemy with such an arbitrary intiative rule unless they have superior movement ability like mounted bowmen. On the other hand, making initiative a new statistic could be cool. If an army makes an excellent intiative roll, they should be able to surprise an enemy and begin the first round of combat with the ability to get freebie arrow attacks in range of the enemy if they choose. Obviously spells/abilities like invisibility and pathfinding should give bonuses to initiative and smaller armies should gain an initiative bonus. Other factors like rank and heroes with a tactician ability could make or break an army's initiative score as well.
Range: Let's face it. Steam Cannons weren't as cool as they should have been. In a new environment with initiative and castle defensive fortifications, they would be fantastic if their range was superior to most typical medieval defensive weaponry. You could simply bombard a castle's defenses and then move in with an army. Likewise with slingers vs. longbowmen. I've got no problem with halflings laying the smackdown the way they did in the original game but even standard bowmen should have at least had the range advantage.
Level dependant abilities: If a race's regular units are going to be lame like the Orcs and not start with standard abilities like Negate First Strike for Halberdiers, they should at least gain this ability when they become elite. This would be a great option for balancing races that aren't as warlike but have other great benefits and could make certain races a lot more interesting if you choose the Warlord option, especially if certain races start off a lot weaker but get superior to most others at ultra elite status.
Increased Army Size: More than nine units would be nice but not too many more. I agreed with another poster who said Age of Wonders 2 battles tended to drag on for way too long. Especially in and around castles. I'd prefer to simulate siege warfare rather than experience it in real time.
Animations: More animated battles would be interesting. For instance, units with large shields turtling when being attacked by ranged weapons would be very cool.
Larger: The battles seemed kind of rinkydink and devoid of any serious terrain considerations even back in the day. I don't think action points are necessary and still like the idea of keeping the move/attack concept the same, but anything to make battles feel a little bet less like they take place on a piece of graph paper would be cool. Visible elevation bonuses for cities on mountain and hill squares would be cool too.
Castles: Having multiple levels of castle walls with and defensive fortifications would be neat, especially if players have the option of building small forts on the frontiers to help thwart Barbarian raids and protect their borders. If you were to say, add some kind of a tinkerer race even more technologically advanced than the dwarves, they could have really nasty castles to make up for their otherwise lackluster regular units. A good race for nonmilitant colonizer/city builders. And of course, magical fortifications are always fun too. Perhaps units could garrison towers much like they did in Command & Conquer Red Alert 2. Smashing a tower with a wall crushing unit would do some damage but otherwise mostly just leave the unit exposed.
Enclosure bonuses: I'm against changing the rules TOO much, but units really should gain some serious bonuses for surrounding another unit. I still like the idea of an ultra-elite swordsmen holding off four units of green spearmen singlehandedly but if the spearmen manage to surround the swordsmen it should be much more of a fair fight. This could lead to some good early game spearmen rush tactics and could also make conquering cities with a single super unit a much more challenging affair. So, a bonus for every unit on an enemy unit's face? After all, 10,001 Orcs should be good for something.
Ranged Attacks & Surprise: If I remember correctly, it was always defenders that gained initiative in MOM and that was a pretty nasty advantage if you had slingers, longbowmen, or powerful heroes. I don't think any battle should begin with ranged attackers able to fire on the enemy with such an arbitrary intiative rule unless they have superior movement ability like mounted bowmen. On the other hand, making initiative a new statistic could be cool. If an army makes an excellent intiative roll, they should be able to surprise an enemy and begin the first round of combat with the ability to get freebie arrow attacks in range of the enemy if they choose. Obviously spells/abilities like invisibility and pathfinding should give bonuses to initiative and smaller armies should gain an initiative bonus. Other factors like rank and heroes with a tactician ability could make or break an army's initiative score as well.
Range: Let's face it. Steam Cannons weren't as cool as they should have been. In a new environment with initiative and castle defensive fortifications, they would be fantastic if their range was superior to most typical medieval defensive weaponry. You could simply bombard a castle's defenses and then move in with an army. Likewise with slingers vs. longbowmen. I've got no problem with halflings laying the smackdown the way they did in the original game but even standard bowmen should have at least had the range advantage.
Level dependant abilities: If a race's regular units are going to be lame like the Orcs and not start with standard abilities like Negate First Strike for Halberdiers, they should at least gain this ability when they become elite. This would be a great option for balancing races that aren't as warlike but have other great benefits and could make certain races a lot more interesting if you choose the Warlord option, especially if certain races start off a lot weaker but get superior to most others at ultra elite status.
Increased Army Size: More than nine units would be nice but not too many more. I agreed with another poster who said Age of Wonders 2 battles tended to drag on for way too long. Especially in and around castles. I'd prefer to simulate siege warfare rather than experience it in real time.
Animations: More animated battles would be interesting. For instance, units with large shields turtling when being attacked by ranged weapons would be very cool.
