I see a lot of proposals here for improving Warlight. Most are unrealistic; some are simple and great ideas. (I recently made one which I think would be easy to implement and fun to play:
https://www.warlight.net/Forum/82395-deployment-limits-easy-new-rule-implement.)
So here's a proposal (from the "least used Warlight settings" thread). It's not as realistic or easily implementable, but I think it would be one of the SIMPLEST ways to make Warlight exciting and even more variable.
The idea is this:
* Divorce visibility from adjacency.
In other words, moving from a territory to another and *seeing* from one to another are not always the same. Currently, you can see adjacent territories, and you can attack territories you can see. What if this were not always the case, but designed as connections on a map? Sometimes you can move from territory A to territory B, and sometimes you can see from A to B, but there can be places where you can only do one or the other.
What could you do with this simple change?
You could create a map with a bunker: anyone adjacent to it can attack it, but no one can see how many armies are inside.
You could also create an "observation tower". It's a regular territory in every sense, except that anyone in that territory can see up to 4 territories away (or the whole bonus, perhaps).
A "headquarters" in a security facility could have "security cameras" - anyone in the headquarters can see several key spots on the map.
Controlling this spot now becomes a strategic necessity, even if it's not worth any armies per turn.
This would also make for some fun cards: you could extend your ability to see things (like the current Recon/Surveillance cards, but you can only use them on areas adjacent to your armies), hide certain territories or bonuses from view, and so on.
I can imagine a Light Fog game where you can hide a bonus from view while you take it over, and no one knows what happened until after the bonus appears again.
You could make things like a "canyon" on a map: anyone around can see into the canyon, but troops traveling through the canyon cannot see out - only behind and ahead of them. They can be ambushed "from above".
Imagine a card which can impose a different Fog level on a part of the map, temporarily or permanently.
It would certainly open up some exciting possibilities.
A swamp or asteroid belt, where visibility is nil. Moving through complete fog, allied armies end up attacking each other or bumping into wastelands.
An area of the map which anyone on a higher level of the map can see, even though players in that area can't see who is watching them.
I know it's probably not an easy change to make, but it would be a very simple change which would open up very dramatic possibilities.
What would you do if this was possible?
Edited 6/29/2015 22:40:33