There are many features that may be present on the field upon which battles are fought that have strategic or tactical significance to the fight. Whether placed there intentionally or a pre-existing part of the landscape, these features can be a benefit (or hinderance) to the armies fighting around them. This article covers many commonly found features, and how these features are treated in a strategic combat.
Terrain
The type of terrain a battle occurs on can have a marked impact on the course of a battle: Sheer cliffs can allow ranged units to rain death from relative safety, thick mud can inhibit troop movements, and trees can provide cover for units to move unseen and protected from ranged fire. Typically, the terrain of a battlefield is known before the engagement begins, and commanders can plan around them. Only in rare circumstances, such as hidden hazards or an army that was denied the ability to perform basic scouting, does an army not know the types and properties of terrain beforehand.
Most general terrain features, such as forests, cliffs, water, and fields are covered in
Battlefield Terrain. The terrain listed here is typically small scale and artificially crafted, such as trenches, berms, and pits.
Structures
Structures are a common feature of battlefields in civilized areas, and can vary from hovels and farmhouses to defensive towers and walls. All structures are given a hit point value representing how much damage it takes to destroy it, but structures cannot be damaged by regular units. Only units with the siege attacker ability, or spellcasters using spells capable of damaging structures can remove these hit points. Many structures can be manned, allowing one or more units to inhabit the structure, gaining bonuses or penalties based on the structure itself. Each type of structure will list whether it can be inhabited, how many units can inhabit it, and any benefits or penalties that structure applies to said units.
Units Occupying Structures
If a structure is inhabited by a unit, the unit within takes half of all damage the structure takes from ranged siege attacks (rounded down) unless the structure has the protective quality. Protective or not, any structure that is destroyed typically takes any units within down with it, dealing damage equal to the maximum health of the structure to each occupying unit as it collapses. Some weaker structures have the vulnerable quality, and can be damaged by non-siege attacks as well. These buildings are treated as having a defense of 10, and take half damage from all non-siege attacks.
Deployable Features
Deployable features are those that an army brings with it and deploys on the field of battle. Similar to
Battlefield Equipment, deployable features differ in that they cannot be moved, manned, or modified mid-battle, and are effectively treated as terrain once placed. These features can include trenches, palisades, stakes, and traps. The effect each feature has on the battlefield is detailed in its individual description.
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