10 lines
3.7 KiB
JSON
10 lines
3.7 KiB
JSON
{
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"id": "fortification",
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"name": "Fortification",
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"category": "combat",
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"summary": "How units dig in for defense, how terrain provides natural protection, and how armor-piercing attacks counter both.",
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"body": "The fortify action orders a unit to dig in at its current position, sacrificing mobility for increased survivability. A fortified unit gains a defense bonus that increases over multiple turns of remaining stationary, representing the construction of hasty earthworks, stone barricades, and firing positions. Any movement or attack breaks fortification, forcing the unit to start over. This creates a meaningful tradeoff: fortified defenders are very hard to dislodge, but they cannot respond to changing battlefield conditions without giving up their bonus.\n\nTerrain provides its own layer of defense independent of fortification. Hills grant a defense bonus to any unit occupying them, representing the advantage of high ground. Forests provide cover that reduces incoming damage. Mountains are impassable to most ground units but can be occupied by specialized troops for an even larger defensive bonus. These terrain bonuses stack with fortification, meaning a unit that fortifies on a forested hill becomes extraordinarily difficult to kill through conventional attacks. Smart defenders choose their ground carefully, while smart attackers avoid charging into prepared positions on favorable terrain.\n\nThe Fort improvement extends defensive terrain advantages to any land tile. Built by Engineers over several turns, a Fort provides a 50% defense bonus to any unit occupying it, equivalent to natural defensive terrain. Forts are permanent structures that persist until pillaged, making them valuable for securing strategic chokepoints, mountain passes, and border regions. A line of Forts along a frontier can turn open terrain into a formidable defensive barrier, slowing enemy advances and giving defenders time to concentrate their forces.\n\nCities function as the ultimate fortification. Garrisoned units receive a defense bonus from the city itself, and cities with Walls gain an additional +50 HP and +5 defense. Upgrading to a Castle adds another +50 HP, +5 defense, and a ranged defense value of 8, allowing the city to strike back at besieging units. The Infirmary building heals garrisoned units 10 HP per turn, making a well-built city nearly impregnable against anything short of dedicated siege equipment. The Bastion promotion further enhances garrison defense by +50%, turning a veteran defender in a fortified city into an almost immovable object.\n\nThe armor_piercing keyword exists as the direct counter to all forms of defensive stacking. A unit with armor piercing cancels both terrain defense bonuses and fortification bonuses when attacking, stripping away the defender's accumulated advantages and forcing a fight on raw stats alone. This makes armor-piercing units essential in any attacking force that expects to face entrenched defenders. Without them, assaulting a fortified position on a hill behind walls becomes prohibitively costly. The tension between building up layered defenses and bringing the right tools to crack them open is at the heart of strategic planning.",
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"design_notes": "Fortification mechanics follow the Civilization V model where digging in is a deliberate choice that rewards patience. The armor_piercing keyword ensures that no defense is truly unbreakable, preventing turtle strategies from being dominant. The Fort improvement gives players agency over the defensive map, turning infrastructure investment into military advantage.",
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"related": ["combat_system", "zone_of_control", "city_siege"],
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"tags": ["fortification", "defense", "terrain", "hills", "forest", "fort", "walls", "castle", "garrison", "armor_piercing", "city_defense"]
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}
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