Siege Units

[NTJedi]

Endoperez said:
Your sidenote is reflected by the province's resources.

Why should the siege engines be seen? We can presume they are already built, because we agreed that the siege engineers aren't throwing boulders on their own. I thought we already agreed in that the siege engines won't do any fighting.

Siege engines such as Siege Towers and Battering Rams would do none or very little on the battlefield. The catapults would be the most effective on the battlefield by actively hurling boulders or diseased animals. Of course balance would need to be setup regarding siege damage, battlefield damage and cost of unit.

Endoperez said:
They wouldn't hurl anything in the battle, would they? And if they aren't in the battle, where else should they show?

The units would be both in the battlefield and traveling as units. Ideally these units should not be allowed to travel in swamp, mountains and probably forests too.

Endoperez said:
They aren't actual units with hp, they are tools with which the (unseen) workers bombard the castle walls and the defenders.

A wooden construct magically animated has a specific amount of hitpoints until it's destroyed. The same would be true with catapults and other siege equipment. The only difference between the two is one is magically activated to work and one is manually activated to work.

Endoperez said:And siege animations can't be done with two-sprite graphics,

Siege Towers don't need to do anything in the battlefield. Catapults only need as many animations as used by the archers we see now... firing boulders already exist.

The Siege Engineers have an icon for their Siege Bonus. It is a stnoe-hurling device of some kind IIRC.

The actual siege engine(s) cannot be destroyed... my suggestion would make them realistic targets along with the engineers instead of just the engineers.

Endoperez said:
We never see anyone hurling the boulders, so your first point doesn't come up.

Jotun giants hurl boulders short distances... the catapult would allow actual engines to hurl boulders on the battlefield as what's happened in history. My suggestion only makes the battles more realistic.

Endoperez said:
Destroying individual catapults would also only make a percentage of the total siege value, into which the units and the other siege engines would still effect. I don't see what you are trying to say with that.

What I'm suggesting is a new type of unit for Dominions which existed within history for many nations. A mobile unit which cannot fight back in melee combat with it's effectiveness towards sieging fortications. The catapult would have some effect on the battlefield.

Endoperez said:
With the current setup, it is possible to try to disable the individual commanders (Siege Engineers, or Catapults) which are most efficient at sieging; if the catapults were units instead, they couldn't be assassinated. Because of this, I think it's better to have the siege engines be commanders instead of units - otherwise it would be harder to try to disable the catapults.

Yes siege engines could be individual commanders with engineers as the units... additionally players could set guards for the siege engines if they wish.

Endoperez said:
If we make the catapults be commanders, the effect would be exactly the same as changing current Siege Engineers' graphics into that of a squad manning a catapult. That can be done, but it is then only a matter of taste.

It does more... The catapults would also be able to shoot heavy long range damage on the battlefield. Currently this does not exist for units without magic paths or magic weapons. Currently every unit has the ability to melee fight... these new siege units would not. My suggestion adds new types of units. One for purely increasing the speed of storming and one for increasing storming and providing heavy long range damage which was also part of history.

Endoperez said:Again, I thought you mentioned the catapults wouldn't be seen on the battlefield.

Read my posts again and you will see siege units should be on the battlefield thus allows those breaking the siege an opportunity to break the siege weapons.