[Discuss] An idea: Champions

[Talita CS]

On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 1:37 AM, Andrew Asche <andrew.asche at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  The champion would be a proved hero, someone who is good on the
>  battlefield.  He will be like the Captain of all men, but he won't be
>  able to send orders, he will be like a human banner.  He will be able
>  to be killed, just like any other hero, but the benefits of the
>  position might be something like...
>  -Increased unit cohesion.  The men *love* being the elite soldiers of
>  the realm's Champion
>  -Increased unit size.  Maybe give him Cavalier-like benefits, but for
>  infantry rather than cavalry
>  -Increased strength on the battlefield?  The unit of the champion, and
>  perhaps the units around him, will be less likely to retreat, but if
>  the champion retreats, it will trigger greater retreats.  And perhaps
>  the Champion's unit itself will be "stronger" than a regular unit, but
>  I think both of these can be accomplished simply through higher
>  cohesion to his unit.
>
>  I'm sure there's other ideas to go along with this, and maybe its a
>  bad idea altogether....But I think it'd be fun, it would create that
>  "in there" position that is still a ranking position, and it would
>  create some fun RP potential.
>
>  Thoughts?

Firstly, I like it *very* much! Shows great RP potential... Actually,
before implementing any actual programming changes, the rank could
start as a title given by the king... Just so we can roleplay around
it and get used to the idea.

As for the battlefield:
- Units near, or all units on the Champion's side would have a much
smaller chance to retreat, until the Champion is defeated
- Also, unit in battle by the Champion's side would also have a chance
to be set to aggressive and break lines (imagine something like
bloodlust)
- The bloodlust could occur when the unit participates in an overkill,
they get bloodlust and... "Unit X breaks ranks and runs for the
attackers" - and get overkilled by their turn.
- The larger the army, the greater the confusion around the Champion's
unit - in settings, mostly (thus giving smaller armies a better chance
to win, or at least to cause way more casualties)

Effect in enemy troops:
- Enemy units smaller than the champion's that comes after his unit
are more likely to retreat
- If its a large unit, though, against a small champion unit -  they
will relish the chance to take down the champion
  and go after him more... possibly resulting in being ambushed and cut up :)
- There could be a good effect if the enemy Champion is wounded or
imprisoned in battle, or a bad effect for the wounded Champion's army.

- Winning a battle with a Champion could cause lesser morale loss

Now, there are downsides, like the higher chance to break the lines...
and there are upsides, like their larger unit, better cohesion so a
much stronger unit, and makes it less likely to retreat around them.