Curious: Why are battles resolved instantly?

This isn't so much a suggestion as a question, since imagine this was discussed countless times back before I joined, but why don't battles require time to resolve? Wouldn't giants clashes of 10,000 or more troops take longer than small skirmishes? And having battles take time would allow for reinforcements to be sent to aid in holding a spot, assaulting a city, etc.

Just wondering what benefits instant resolutions have. Sometimes I'm underwhelmed when I send out troops and POOF! Win or lose.

geofrey wrote: hmmm this brings up all kinds of really good points and suggestions.  If battle length was determined by the odds of the troops, we get a much more interesting combat calculator.  I'd suggest if implimented the combat length calculator be based on 2 things. Max # of troops, and ratio of troops.  With the right number of troops, someone could create a battle against a much larger enemy and have their allies join the battle midway through to shift the battle in their favor. This seems like a great concept to advance military tactics without altering the current combat mechanics.  The full potential would be that the first army to attack an encampment/city would not have to suffer 100% casualties every time.  They first army to attack would begin combat, and they would begin loosing troops much faster than the defenders. While combat is still going on additional troops could join forces.  This seems to heavily favor attackers instead of defenders, so defensive reinforcements midbattle would have to receive additional buffs to compensate. But I think it could be a fun addition to the game.  Max time for battle resolution would have to be like 2 hours or something. to prevent these things from lasting forever.

Oh! I figured I'd be beating a dead horse, glad to see someone likes the idea too.

I especially like what you pointed out about the first army not needed to receive full casualties. And our time calculator sounds about right. I would also suggest that the unit type should come into play; a horde of charging cavalry is going to kill and be killed faster than an assault by archers imposing a battle of attrition.

Also consider this possibility: if battles take time, scouts and assassins can be sent into the battle as it goes on to turn the tides, and messengers can be send to call for retreat. For this reason, I would suggest a time cap of about 12 hours (for a VERY even match between GIANT armies), just to give players time to actually get their reinforcements there. And battles against NPC animals could take far shorter than that, considering wild beasts generally don't have much of a strategy.

There is no such rule against naming other games or even *gasp* comparing Illy to other games on the forums. No need to be secretive. ;)

I like this idea.

not after pathfinding, and killing enemy armies so that they cant break sieges or defend siege camps on your own terms would be great, also can only be done once we have pathfinding.