I posted this as "Soldiers as Followers" in Delta Dawn, but I thought that more people might be interested in this particular discussion.<br /><br />As I was participating in a discussion at the Gleemax blogs, I came
across some great ideas that will help Delta Dawn troop movement and
combat mechanics. The use of a "followers" mechanic would allow you to
control a squad, platoon, or whatever. Here's how it works.<br /><br />When I hammered out the unified combat system between AD and KH (See <a href="http://starfrontiers.us/node/353" target="_blank">AER: Combat</a>),
5 action types appeared. These are automatic actions, swift actions,
move actions, standard actions, and full round actions. Your character
normally has 3 of those actions in a round: swift, move, and standard.
The character can sacrifice their move and standard actions to have 3
swift actions. This is the basis from which controlling followers
arises.<br /><br />You may command your followers by using your actions.
You can trade a swift action to command any number of your followers to
use move actions. You can use move actions to command any number of
your followers to use standard actions. You can use standard actions to
command any number of your followers to use full round actions. If you
use 3 swift actions, you can command 3 groups of your followers to
perform 3 separate move actions. Commanding swift actions is automatic.<br /><br />Your
followers can be used to help you in battle or to defend you in battle,
performing a support roll. I think this accurately depicts a command
situation in battle. It also means that you are someone else's follower
and they may spend the same type of actions to get enhanced results
from you and other officers.<br /><br />A coordination mechanic (call it
Coordinated Effort?) could allow you to trade a full round action to
make a suggestion to an officer of equal rank or higher to perform a
coordinated maneuver. You and the officer of equal rank can then spend
actions as normal in the next round commanding their troops.<br /><br />This all transfers well to boardgame mechanics.<br /><br />There could be some standard command types, such as:<br /><br />Fall In<br />Disperse<br />Detach<br />Attack<br />Fire<br />Hold Fire<br />Move Out<br />Press Forward<br />Charge<br />Fall Back<br />Abandon Arena<br />Regroup<br />Take Cover<br />Take Position<br />Hold Position<br />Flank<br /><br />Each of these standard command types have action costs.
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