Ever since I started thinking about Tactical Advantage, I have been concerned with coming up with a method to maintain the importance of infantry units. Obviously, infantry armor is a bit lacking compared to your average tank and a wimpy little rifle round doesn't hold much up against five tons of lead. Previous games have tried compensating by putting infantry in squads. Pathing and other interactions may prove to be a royal pain in the future if I use squads in this game... but they're my most attractive option right now.
Still, this isn't like most RTS games, and unless the squads have fifty soldiers a piece, a tank wont have much of a problem obliterating them. For human players, I can supply semi-effective anti-vehicle weapons, but I fear that giving them to an AI player will make it overpowered (especially in squads). Instead, I think I will aim for a cover system, much like that of EndWar, but one that is automatic. As infantry squads are fired upon, or if they reach their destination, they will automatically seek out cover if it is near and available. They'll still be ineffective, but it will give the team time to bring in some more effective weapons (perhaps rocket infantry).
What about structures, though? Cover wont help, but a rifle isn't going to do anything against a power generator. I was thinking about the Titan games for Battlefield 2142, where enemy players had to enter the floating fortress, disable its defenses, and destroy its core in order to win. I think that something of a smaller scale will be appropriate.
Team structures will be able to be entered, just like any scenery structures from any other games, but at each door will be a sort of field. If an enemy walks through the field, the automatic defenses inside the structure will attack it. These defenses can be destroyed through various tactics, or players can steal one-time access from dead officers/commanders and walk in unnoticed. If the infantry can reach the control panel within the structure, they can set a remote detonation or, if they are the correct type of infantry, may have some other options (stealing tech, shutting down base power for a short time, capturing "tech" buildings, ect).
Hopefully, these ideas will preserve the effectiveness of infantry units and I can avoid making them cheap fodder like so many other games like to do.
Still, this isn't like most RTS games, and unless the squads have fifty soldiers a piece, a tank wont have much of a problem obliterating them. For human players, I can supply semi-effective anti-vehicle weapons, but I fear that giving them to an AI player will make it overpowered (especially in squads). Instead, I think I will aim for a cover system, much like that of EndWar, but one that is automatic. As infantry squads are fired upon, or if they reach their destination, they will automatically seek out cover if it is near and available. They'll still be ineffective, but it will give the team time to bring in some more effective weapons (perhaps rocket infantry).
What about structures, though? Cover wont help, but a rifle isn't going to do anything against a power generator. I was thinking about the Titan games for Battlefield 2142, where enemy players had to enter the floating fortress, disable its defenses, and destroy its core in order to win. I think that something of a smaller scale will be appropriate.
Team structures will be able to be entered, just like any scenery structures from any other games, but at each door will be a sort of field. If an enemy walks through the field, the automatic defenses inside the structure will attack it. These defenses can be destroyed through various tactics, or players can steal one-time access from dead officers/commanders and walk in unnoticed. If the infantry can reach the control panel within the structure, they can set a remote detonation or, if they are the correct type of infantry, may have some other options (stealing tech, shutting down base power for a short time, capturing "tech" buildings, ect).
Hopefully, these ideas will preserve the effectiveness of infantry units and I can avoid making them cheap fodder like so many other games like to do.