What about interactive Tactical Combat ?

[PhilD]

AMF said:
what I would love to see is a combat simulator, where I could pick and choose from my available forces, make an army, and then send them against another army I picked out, and then watch the otherwise regular combat ensure...this would help me, a lot, to learn how strategies work, what the strengths and weaknesses of units are, etc...

Interestingly enough, this (low-level, IIRC) simulator was in Dom:PPP (the first one), and for some reason was left out of DomII and not brought back in Dom3. Too bad, really.

But...I fully realize that purists will say that half the fun of the game is finding out, in "real games" what the various units are really capable of, etc...

...and half the time I agree with that sentiment, alas!

The thing is, if you really want it, you can set up mostly anything you want, by scripting a map and making some "test" game with enough filthy rich nations and whatever (although actually limiting spell availability would be more tricky, I think). It's just that it's boring as hell to do.

All this talk of "learn the hard way" is fine, but some people like to experiment in controlled settings. With an easy to use battle simulator, I'd probably run some tons of tests to see, say, how many of troop X or Y I need to beat such and such poptype - which, as I never manage to really pay close attention to troop stats and what it means, might help me get a better feel for which troops I should use in which situation. But as it's so boring to set up, I just don't.