21-12-2001 03:06									#1
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Hi all,

I was planning on starting work on a city-siege type scenario whereby the defenders (AI) will have access to a pretty much city-wide "rail" network while the attackers (Human player) won't.
As I didn't really want to just institute a "house rule" forbidding the human player from moving along the "rails" (In order to prevent grothgarian-type blitz tactics ) I was thinking of having a second map containing the actual railway network with only the defenders units able to access this second map. As the attackers destroyed more and more "targets", more of the defending units would lose access (via flags) and be forced to remain on the city map.

Question: Has anybody actually done anything like this before and more importantly, is the AI up to using the second map in this way? All terrain on the second map would be impassable and produce no resources (No settle units in any case) the exception being that containing a railroad.
I know the fantasy game AI makes good use of popup attacks but that has the alternate maps widely traversable and colonizable - this would be using the second map solely as a transport network.

Thanks for any insight.

	21-12-2001 08:18									#2
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The idea sounds possible, but I'm pessimistic. Using captured cities as triggers to eliminate the inter-map capability of successive types of units will certainly work. One problem may be trapping units which are on the wrong map when the trigger affecting them is sprung.

I haven't experimented much with AI units using intermap movement. What I have observed is that units move between maps more or less as they move on one map - randomly. So, my guess is that units will move between the maps and occasionally pop up at the right place and attack, but maybe not often enough. They may also pop up in the wrong place if the front has moved on the main map, but not on the secondary one.

I hope this helps.

	21-12-2001 08:57									#3
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Thanks,

I would have hoped that no units would have ever been stuck on the second map as there wouldn't ever be anything else there, henceforth no reason to stay other than getting from one place to another which could always be done in a single turn but you may well be right.

The units popping up in the "wrong" place (behind the front lines on the main map) was more or less the idea but they wouldn't be able to move about on the second map to anyplace that wasn't "railroaded" due to the impassable flag for all other terrains. There wouldn't actually be a front on the second map as no human units would ever be able to access it.

I don't remember whether or not "impassable" terrain prevents units from entering from another map but even if it doesn't any units entering while not on "railroads" wouldn't be able to go anywhere except back to the first map. In any case this could be explained away as guerilla-type forces "going to ground" and would fit right in.

I also thought about eliminating the Native transport capability entirely, replacing the railroads on the main map with teleporters, adding teleporters to the railroads on the second map, and refusing the human player the ability to exist on the second map, but I have a nasty feeling that teleporters act as "railroaded" terrain on the main map anyway and that a human would just pillage them out of existence...