Commando Unit Missing

[robinm]

Us Navy seal as a UU - bah... rubbish.

Every civ should have access to a Commando or Special Forces unit.

This would be:
Reconnasance type unit (so it can be carried by submarines)
Strength 10
Movement 2
Starts with woodsman I, guerilla I, commando, amphibious, sentry, mobility, 50% chance to retreat
Can attack and can pillage
Can retreat when attacked.

Available with Industrialism (same as Marine).
Explorers can unpgrade to commandos.

The idea is that the unit is too light to stand up to a full strength modern unit, but it is incredibly mobile, great for pillaging, scouting and picking off unattended workers, can pick off the occasional injured unit, and if attacked in favourable terrain stands some chance of doing some damage then escaping. In other words just like a real special forces unit. If the US still wants Seals as its UU then you could have them as an upgraded version of commando, rather than an upgraded version of Marines that really should be called "US Marines"

How about it?

Robin

 

[*Nosferatu*]

Give Navy Seals a 3 movement, and 12 strength and that'll work, oh and Speacial forces sound better they should also able to paradrop and/or swim in coasts.

 

[ranger999]

10 might be strong with the other attributes. I would not consider it balanced to be able to get fortification/defensive bonuses along with retreat when attacked--something no other unit has. One or the other--you get free retreat, you give up 360-degree fortification vs attacks. I also would not give them mobility without promotion; they already get commando. Why are they more mobile than explorers? Is it because their logistical tail is even smaller (no mules & horses to carry their rations)? How much SAW & LAW ammo can you carry without mules & horses through ? Do we envision 10 ten guys running through the mountains alone, like SEALs. Or more like a US Ranger battalion, and trust me those IFVs/jeeps don't turn invisible when driving down enemy-held roads. SS commando Skorzeny disguised his English-speaking commandos during Operation Greif by dressing them in US uniforms (he had what 40? men) & using captured US jeeps; can't do that for a whole battalion with support vehicles!


The problem with the concept is that the small-unit special forces guys really are intended for infiltration & surgical strikes. The idea of a fortified special forces unit sitting on a forested hill & fighting off waves of rifleman attacks (or even more ridiculous, cannon attacks) just doesn't capture what they do. If the unit has to fight a siege, it is too late for the unit; they screwed up. From a game balance standpoint, a full strength infantry should easily be able to kill one of these guys in the open, and I would argue should be able to destroy someone hiding in forested hills much of the time. Giving this unit a free retreat (possibly multiple free retreats) as multiple units attack it in a turn is unbalanced--do we want a lucky unit to really retreat 3 squares in one turn? And then they pillage more squares on the way out! Too much of a free lunch.


Something closer to the spy is needed for the concept of small special forces teams. Civ's mechanics don't quite capture this, but the invisible spy that ignores borders (and more importantly, does not require declaration of war) has some key aspects of this. Special forces need to be invisible & need to avoid combat--possibly they could simply damage enemy units, but this is emotionally unsatisfying, I'll grant you. Another important aspect of spies: you can't build more than a fixed number. Just like the US can't field 10000 Delta Force field operators just by throwing money at it--it seems there is not enough population in the country for this level of eliteness.

If you want to go big, ala Ranger battalions, throw away most of the special abilities since they're unrealistic & it's unbalanced to be able to crank out 5 per turn in your big empire. Trus me, upping the hammer cost will not balance the unit out if it keeps all those special abilities.

 

[Red Boxer]

Thats why we have 'National limits.'

Allow a SpecOps type of unit, but just put a national limit of 2 or 3. That way people could have them, and they could be relatively nasty, and you wouldn't have to worry about facing 40 of them, or raping the AI with 40 of them because they just don't understand how great they are.