This is just a fun idea, not a suggestion. If outposts would get a garrison space and an arrow?
How feudal fights would be changed?
Outpost usage is more to signal enemy presence than attack them, as in “do not alarm the ennemy you know they’re approaching by shooting arrow to them”.
On the balance side, if you look at it, easy buildable wood towers. Well, imagine tons of outpost shooting that arrow instead of let’s say, walls, palissade, what so ever. With insane line of sight, garisson for one archer so that archer is into “a bunker” and then unleach its real attack power when tower is dead. I only think it would break the balance.
However, having the outpost capable of shooting arrow as a civ bonus could be a think, but with additionnal gold cost (to represent the soldier payment) to compensate the damage capability bonus.
Given the so low cost of an Outpost, it should not be able to shoot arrows by default.
Maybe make the Arrowslits unlock this capability.
I prefer there is a civ bonus that villagers can drop off stone at outpost.
Palisade wall : 3 wood, HP 150 (dark), 250 (feudal), Armor : 2/5, Build time : 7s
Stone wall : 5 stone, HP 1080 (feudal), 1800 (castle), Armor : 8/10, Build time : 10s
Fortified Wall : 5 stone, HP 3000, Armor : 12/12, Build time : 10s
Outpost : 25 wood 5 stone, HP 500, Armor : 0/0, Build time : 15s
Watch tower : 35 wood 125 stone, HP 850 (feudal), 1020 (castle), Armor : 1/7, Range 1/8, Build time : 80 s
If outpost can be garrisoned he have the cost of a stone wall. With this hypothesis outpost will replace stone wall because you can build them faster than a watchtower for the price of a stone wall (I don’t count wood because is the most abundant resource). Also you can spam outpost faster than building a watchtower, this will become villager or archer bunker. Also you can outrange the town center, a strategy originally used by Teuton in AoK and removed in The conquerors. It’s a bad thing.
Another thing is to permit to garrison villager without attack like the Khmer bonus (villager can garrison in house)
A better thing is to limit the garrisoning only to one unit. Or to put a range of 3 + ranged upgrade for a maximum of +6 range. With this you can garrison one villager like a TC without breaking the game like the fortified monastery.
Maybe the technologies Town watch and Town patrol can increase the amount of garrisoned unit by 1 for a total of 3 units.
With this you can protect some villager during a raid. With 6 maximum range in imperial age you can not broke the early game (as Teuton player deleted your original TC and rebuild near a enemy town center). In feudal age you have only 4 maximum range so you cannot use this offensively and feudal outpost can be easily destroyed by men at arm. This very short range make them outranged by any ungarrisoned unit, defensive use against melee unit only.
Another good thing is to simulate siege in campaign because in siege many temporary wooden fortification are build and with outpost attacking at maximum 6 range you can better simulate siege without outranged stone fortifications (tower have more HP , range and attack, castle even more). Imagine if an Alesia siege scenario is introduced in Chronicles. Cesar build a double palisade wall with wood tower. Then the Gauls attack him and with outpost who attack at 6 range this scenario will become more realistic.
A god thing is you can wall your villager near a deposit with palisade wall + 1 outpost so you must not destroy a palisade wall to exit, you have only to garrison and ungarrison the unit to pass the wall. Also for footed unit you can build one outpost in replacement of a palisade gate.
Ranged outpost and civilization bonus
Chinese
Great Wall : more Hp for stone fortification, don’t apply to Outpost
Britons
Yeomen : +2 attack for tower, only +1 attack for outpost, apply to outpost
Japanese
Yasama : +2 arrow for tower. Maybe +1 arrow for outpost because Outpost are more tinier than tower.
Georgians
Svan Towers : Defensive buildings +2 attack. Towers fire arrows that pierce multiple units, only +1 attack for outpost , apply to outpost
Koreans
Eupseong : +2 range for tower, apply to outpost Castle age tehcnology, in this age you more likely to envoy an army against your opponent base and your opponent can defend himself with heavy cavalry and siege so this don’t break the game.
Celts
Stronghold : +33% attack speed, apply to outpost
Slavs
Detinets : tower cost less stone and more wood, apply to outpost In castle age lowering the cost of Outpost cannot break the game. Outpost will cost 3 stone and 28 wood.
Teutons
Crenellations : garrisoned infantry fire arrow, apply to outpost
Watch Towers can garrison up to 10 units : Double the amount of unit garrisoned but I think it’s better to add only +2 units garrisoned in Outpost, at final we have 5 units : 1 (base) +2 (Teuton bonus) + 1 (Town watch) +1 (Town patrol)
Incas
Building cost -15% stone : rounded at 4 stone and 25 wood
Malians
Building cost -15% wood : 5 stone and 21 wood
Ethiopians
Stone cost removed. With the removal of stone cost Ethiopian can theoretically bunkerise their bowmens but in practice the short range of outpost made them unsuited for offensive use. In defensive use ethiopian can build wall of outpost instead of palisade wall making them unbeatable in dark and feudal age. They can build an equally number of outpost than they have villager and ranged unit, so they don’t loose any villager or ranged unit in defensive. This is the only thing than is broken game in my point of view. Maybe if we change their team bonus to -1 stone Outpost cost by age starting in dark age, with this they still can have cheaper outpost but cannot mass them.
Maybe a Castle age unique tech, that can be interesting to have the outpost becoming more than they are later on the game.
Since it only has an arrow if garrisoned, I don’t think it would be too strong (and would therefore be viable as a civ bonus). Might be practical for garrisoning a forward vil, but wouldn’t do much in the way of damage. Would see some meme strats where a player walls in some enemy vils and then builds an outpost to slowly kill the trapped vils. Outside of that, it’s combat capabilities are almost negligible (meaning the value is primarily in the garrison space). But outposts are cheap enough that the garrison space could be useful.
The other meme strat I could see is dark age outpost rush. I don’t think it would be particularly game-breaking, but it would be the only ranged attack in feudal age (outside of TC fire and atypical starting units)
Yup! good idea to finish the game when its past due.
Outpost could garrison. But I don’t feel they should shoot arrows. Thats the job of watch tower.
Maybe just change it to 50% cheaper