Repulsion
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Repulsion
I've been doing some thinking on various theoretical concepts for playing Wesnoth, and here is one: repulsion.
Repulsion is a tactical and emergent ability of units, and sometimes formations, describing how they can dominate their surroundings and the behaviour of the opponent. Repulsion can be divided into two parts: direct and indirect repulsion.
Direct repulsion is the ability of a unit to discourage attacks on itself. The main determiner of direct repulsion is being able to do retaliation damage (a unit with no melee or ranged attack will have zero direct repulsion against attacks of that type). Other factors that increase direct repulsion are attack specials (eg poison) or being hard to hit. A unit which is very close to leveling also carry a repulsive effect. It is an effect that also works well against the AI.
Indirect repulsion is the ability of a unit to discourage opponent units from exposing themselves to attack. Anyone who has faced horsemen or knights in the open is likely to have experienced this effect - their simple presence tends to dominate a huge area around them, but other units also have it to varying degrees, and its power can also come from the combination of more than one unit. Units which lack or have little direct repulsion can still rely on indirect repulsion (their own or of friendly units) to discourage attacks.
From what I can tell, indirect repulsion is something that the AI doesn't understand (well), but it is highly useful against human opponents, and it can be used against you as well. One thing to remember about it, is that its main value is as a threat. One old adage of chess that applies here is that the threat is almost always more powerful than the realisation of the threat: the threat is always at the maximum value, and can also be multiplied, while the realisation of a threat reduces the maximum level of the threat to the inflicted level, and also quite possibly removes several other threats.
Against human opponents, indirect repulsion can be a very powerful tool in shaping the tactical landscape. It is unlikely to stop the main effort, but it can discourage skirmishing units (ie in the tactical role of skirmishing, not the game ability) or flanking movements. At the same time, this shaping power can cover so large an area that it nullifies itself. This is a somewhat paradoxical result that can be explained by an example.
Say that you have two avenues of approach in a secondary front, but can only afford one unit to send: a horseman or a heavy infantryman. The HI can cover one approach, while the horseman, being more mobile, can cover both. Send the horseman, right?
But if the opponent wants to or must approach there, the repulsive effect is constant on both avenues, so it becomes the opponent's decision on where to approach. On the other hand, with the HI the repulsive effect is greater in the covered avenue than in the uncovered. You have shaped the battlefield, and can then use that in your planning.
Repulsion is a tactical and emergent ability of units, and sometimes formations, describing how they can dominate their surroundings and the behaviour of the opponent. Repulsion can be divided into two parts: direct and indirect repulsion.
Direct repulsion is the ability of a unit to discourage attacks on itself. The main determiner of direct repulsion is being able to do retaliation damage (a unit with no melee or ranged attack will have zero direct repulsion against attacks of that type). Other factors that increase direct repulsion are attack specials (eg poison) or being hard to hit. A unit which is very close to leveling also carry a repulsive effect. It is an effect that also works well against the AI.
Indirect repulsion is the ability of a unit to discourage opponent units from exposing themselves to attack. Anyone who has faced horsemen or knights in the open is likely to have experienced this effect - their simple presence tends to dominate a huge area around them, but other units also have it to varying degrees, and its power can also come from the combination of more than one unit. Units which lack or have little direct repulsion can still rely on indirect repulsion (their own or of friendly units) to discourage attacks.
From what I can tell, indirect repulsion is something that the AI doesn't understand (well), but it is highly useful against human opponents, and it can be used against you as well. One thing to remember about it, is that its main value is as a threat. One old adage of chess that applies here is that the threat is almost always more powerful than the realisation of the threat: the threat is always at the maximum value, and can also be multiplied, while the realisation of a threat reduces the maximum level of the threat to the inflicted level, and also quite possibly removes several other threats.
Against human opponents, indirect repulsion can be a very powerful tool in shaping the tactical landscape. It is unlikely to stop the main effort, but it can discourage skirmishing units (ie in the tactical role of skirmishing, not the game ability) or flanking movements. At the same time, this shaping power can cover so large an area that it nullifies itself. This is a somewhat paradoxical result that can be explained by an example.
Say that you have two avenues of approach in a secondary front, but can only afford one unit to send: a horseman or a heavy infantryman. The HI can cover one approach, while the horseman, being more mobile, can cover both. Send the horseman, right?
But if the opponent wants to or must approach there, the repulsive effect is constant on both avenues, so it becomes the opponent's decision on where to approach. On the other hand, with the HI the repulsive effect is greater in the covered avenue than in the uncovered. You have shaped the battlefield, and can then use that in your planning.
Re: Repulsion
You know what I like more than repulsion. Just being out of the way. If your units are too far away to target, it is equivalent of having a terrain defense of 100%.