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by jltsiren 618 days ago
1UPT added tactical combat to the game. Before Civ 5, the lowest level of warfare was operational. If you got your units close to the enemy, they were in position to fight. You didn't have to worry much about battlefield formations, terrain, coordinating the actions of different units, and so on.

This addition of tactical combat crippled the AI, because it doesn't understand the situation on the battlefield, and it's not good at making and adjusting plans.
1 comments
danofsteel32 618 days ago
The combat system in Civ4 was deeper than you think. Stack composition, terrain, and positioning are crucial in MP games. This write-up [1] from a famous MP game where a 3v1 invasion was repelled by superior play shows how good the system was.

[1] https://sullla.com/Civ4/RBPB2-5.html

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jltsiren 618 days ago
It had depth, but no tactical combat. A stack is an operational unit. Tactics deals with what the individual units within the stack do once the fighting starts. Civ 7 is supposed to introduce commanders, which are effectively stacks for moving troops combined with more specialized great generals. You can get the troops more easily to the battlefield, but individual units still need to occupy separate tiles in the battle.
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