Unit points

Well, how are you assigning the point values to the units at this moment?

You''d also have to give some details about the gameplay, because I think each game needs its own set of unit point allocation rules.

What exactly can a player do with the points he earns? Can those be used to create more troops? Or is it simply a way of showing victory? (you received more points than me, therefore you won)

As for the general concept of rewarding players with points depending on the units they destroy... Do players get a penalty in points for units of their own that have been destroyed by the opponent? I kill your tank, you kill mine: we''re even.

AP above is right - there is too much positive feedback in this system - Whoever gets the advantage first will almost always win.

Unless you counteract this effect with some negative feedback factors, the game will not be much fun.

Nope, not necessary. Try playing Shogi where if you take your opponenent''s piece, it''ll become yours to use in future turns. (Say if I take your silver samurai this turn, I can deploy that same silver samurai as my own troop on the next turn instead of the regular chess move. Play Shogi and you''ll know what I''m talking about.)

There''s also a strategic positioning factor besides the military strength and economy.

SilverMyst has a point there. How do you calculate your point cost ?
A unit value (from paper wargames) could be:
Unit = (offensive factor + defensive factor + movement factor) * TL modifier

You can reduce that effect by showing that war is destructive. The points salvaged to build up new units is a fraction of the Unit cost: a destroyed tank is just worth its alloys (20% or less of its starting cost). You can also implement like Mooglez said special units that capture paralyzed enemy units to be able to salvage more points (see Homeworld where you can capture enemy vessels you may reuse - Shogi analogy).

Another way is not to link the production to the units destroyed but to the player's country policy and adjust the victory conditions in consequence: example, the units allowed for building depends of the player's country political decision (see paper wargame Imperium from the defunct GDW).

Another way is to only allow the replacement of destroyed units (not the building of new units). A destroyed unit will come back into play after a certain delay that is inversely function of the complexity of the unit (a small unit with low technology is faster to replace than a huge unit at high technology). All destroyed units are queued in the player factory. The factory can only produce one unit per x seconds. If you still wish to build new units, you can let the user manage the replacement priorities: either replace a destroyed unit or build a new unit with the same cost. (see paper wargames Imperium).

A last way is to allow building points to a player according to the number of strategic points taken by the player units: towns provide production points since they have factories, or to buid units you have to take factories. (see paper Wargame Victory by Columbia Games or the computer game Z by the bitmap brothers)

Hope that helps.

Ghostly yours,
Red.

[edited by - Red Ghost on April 22, 2002 8:31:57 AM]

[edited by - Red Ghost on April 22, 2002 8:34:02 AM]