29-06-2000 20:16									#1
	Openciv3 - Generals and Commanders Enter the AD-FREE zone

There is a special military unit called a Commander. He is only one guy sometimes, or he could be a number of guys representing a command chain. Basically, he imparts bonuses to the army he's attached to. The army works like this:
On the map, there are army units which once clicked on reveal the nature of the unit. This can be something like:
"25 Legionnaires, 12 archers, 15 Robotic Lazer Artillery" and a commander unit would just be added in under this "1 commander" These armies can be combined, split, reinforced or diminished. When produced, the facility spits out x number of a given unit per turn. Say the sword factory in Geneva produces enough swords for 50 horsemen per turn. You would have 50 horsemen to deploy as you wish, you could create new units or reinforce existing units within the deployment zone.
Commanders, however, can come about one of two ways:
a)Veteran Units can produce commanders. Out of an army that has seen a generous ammount of combat can arise someone that has the necessary leadership skills to become a commander for either the unit he's in or to be reassigned to another unit.
b)Military Schools can teach x number of commanders per turn how to be commanders. However, the bonuses afforded by these commanders are set to the particular school.

While regular commanders can affect morale a little and provide a +1 bonus here or there, there are also Great Generals. These guys rock. They only last for a short while before they retire (or die) but they do all of the following:
a)You get political support from lots of people because the guy is so popular with so many groups
b)You get generous bonuses to any military unit he is assigned to, way beyond a single +1, you may get +2s or +3s
c)You get a blanket of high morale for all yours and allied units. Soldiers on the other side of the world believe they can win simply because this guy is on their side.

In the normal game, these guys are called "Great Generals" and they provide a random set of bonuses. However, there should be an optional download called a "Flavor Pack" which allows players to name their generals and set their stats. Some of the default names would be:
Scipio
Robert E. Lee
Sun Tzu
Yamamoto

By the way, I think Robert E. Lee would be honored to command a legion of cyborgs...

	30-06-2000 19:07									#2
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

Sounds good. The Great General system would add a lot to scenarios; what bugged me f.ex. in Alexander the Great scenario in civ2 was, that Alexander's units didn't fight any better than the other units.

I'd also like to add, that to produce units, you need men, weapons, and training. All these are needed also to support the units - men die and retire, weapons rust, and when the dying or retiring men are replaced, the new men need to be trained. So, some of the production from your weapons factories would go to support. This amount would naturally be increased during wars, especially with modern units, that need lots of ammo. In addition, supporting units requires money and food, of course. This way, very militaristic playing style would be discouraged. The game is, after all, building the world. War should be only a part of it.