Adding horse requirement to war elephants

[LukaSlovenia29]

Hi again.

I'm playing a game where ivory is involved. It seems somewhat unbalanced that horsemen need horses for each unit, whereas you can build "unlimited" amount of war elephants with one copy of ivory. Perhaps the game would be more balanced if every unit of war elephants would require a copy of horses (and maybe then take away the barracks requirement to compensate)?

Thnx for the replies!

 

[ElliotS]

1- If you don't have horses you're already punished because you can't upgrade the elephants.
2- That would mean elephants require horses, which is silly.

 

[JimBobRedneck]

It's debatable if war elephants are even worth using when you have the option to do so. You're spending more hammers to get a unit that's only marginally stronger than the same-era spearman/swordsman that it will be going up against while still having all the same weaknesses of the horseman (no defensive terrain bonuses), but you lose the part of the movement that makes the horseman good at what it does - flanking, raiding and harassment.

Sure, you could try using them as frontline units, but that lack of defensive terrain bonus is going to hurt and, unless you have enough horses available to upgrade them to knights, you're going to be throwing away a lot of hammers and experience come the next era.

War elephants are far from overpowered as is.

 

[Enginseer]

2- That would mean elephants require horses, which is silly.

Siam's Unique Unit says otherwise.

 

[Takagi Hiro]

War Elephants don't need the defensive bonus to stand their ground. They have a lot going for them: solid power, good mobility, and enemy debuffs. The fact there is no resource requirement for them and that there is little technology beelining to get them makes them too much on the tough side... but that's just my two cents.

 

[Stalker0]

War elephants are far from overpowered as is.

I have consistently found that war elephants are just straight up better than horsemen, and a very strong unit for their time. Are they OP? Debatable, but they are definately stronger than the strategic units of the time.

 

[ElliotS]

Siam's Unique Unit says otherwise.

It doesn't require ivory though. It's just basic transmutation. Jeeze, have you forgotten your 'basics of historical magic 101' already?

 

[Meticulous]

It doesn't require ivory though. It's just basic transmutation. Jeeze, have you forgotten your 'basics of historical magic 101' already?

Yeah it's well known that anyone can turn a single elephant into infinite elephants, but only Buddhist wizards from Siam can turn a horse into an elephant.

 

[Hreat]

I have consistently found that war elephants are just straight up better than horsemen, and a very strong unit for their time. Are they OP? Debatable, but they are definately stronger than the strategic units of the time.

This. I disable war elephants in my games.

 

[LukaSlovenia29]

Hreat, how does one disable war elephants? I think unless something changes with them, I'd rather disable them.