Did People Overreact to Losing Units Between Ages?

[Gorbles]

There isn't some underlying design rationale behind arbitrarily deleting some of the player's units at certain points throughout the game.

I truly, sincerely wish we could return to an age where folks were happy expressing a (valid!) opinion. Nowadays, everything has to be tortured into seeming more "objective", and therefore something that is disliked, and / or not understood, is automatically called "arbitrary" instead.

If it were arbitrary, you wouldn't be able to save them by stacking them inside Army Commanders. You wouldn't get a free Commander. They wouldn't regenerate a while after death. And yet, all of these things happen. It's very much intentional, which is the complete and direct opposite of "arbitrary".

 

[Krikkit1]

Maybe some simple, but more brutal approach. Keep all units, but turn all of them into some kind of "militia" with a lot of restrictions. No more 6/9 or commander saving, just a bunch of pretty weak units you can't upgrade and probably look to replace as soon as possible.

I think you do need to keep some.
perhaps all your last eras units become "Militia"/"Ceremonial guards"* of the proper unit type and Everyone gains 6/9 New Era Infantry units in their settlements

I think "Ceremonial" is better than Militia, since these units are renowned and ancient... but useless now
But they can't heal more than 5 hp, are disconnected from Commanders (no benefits either way) and 10 CS weaker than standard units, and can't be upgraded... can be cashed in for small lump sum culture or gold in your cities.
Infantry: Ceremonial Guards
Ranged: Ceremonial Archers/Gunners
Cavalry: Ceremonial Cavalry
Naval: Ceremonial Fleet

 

[Taefin]

I think you do need to keep some.
perhaps all your last eras units become "Militia"/"Ceremonial guards"* of the proper unit type and Everyone gains 6/9 New Era Infantry units in their settlements

I think "Ceremonial" is better than Militia, since these units are renowned and ancient... but useless now
But they can't heal more than 5 hp, are disconnected from Commanders (no benefits either way) and 10 CS weaker than standard units, and can't be upgraded... can be cashed in for small lump sum culture or gold in your cities.
Infantry: Ceremonial Guards
Ranged: Ceremonial Archers/Gunners
Cavalry: Ceremonial Cavalry
Naval: Ceremonial Fleet

It could be interesting that way.

In terms of rubber banding, the current system does help AI upgrade its units to reduce completely anachronistic matchups. In contrast, weaker AI units are so easily dismantled by player units/commanders, that it might actually make the AI a softer target for the player if they choose to put their weaker units into defending districts.

I do tend to get 4-5 commanders (and 2-3 fleet commanders) full of units at age transition from exp to mod. I get two commanders to high level, and the rest can just go initiative+mobility.

This is a good chunk of what I can produce in the end of a typical era, and as a soft cap it feels about as firm as the settlement limit, where any more risks becoming a liability (e.g., dipping into gold that would better be spent converting cities on turn 1).

 

[Yzman]

Why can't people just build commanders to save units? It's clearly the design choice, especially with latest update warning you to purchase more. Do people just build huge stacks of doom? I can't imagine more than a few units getting deleted unless you are purposefully ignoring commanders and spamming units.

 

[aelf]

Why can't people just build commanders to save units? It's clearly the design choice, especially with latest update warning you to purchase more. Do people just build huge stacks of doom? I can't imagine more than a few units getting deleted unless you are purposefully ignoring commanders and spamming units.

"Don't tell me what to do!"

It basically comes down to that.

 

[y10]

Why can't people just build commanders to save units? It's clearly the design choice, especially with latest update warning you to purchase more. Do people just build huge stacks of doom? I can't imagine more than a few units getting deleted unless you are purposefully ignoring commanders and spamming units.

Commanders get increasingly and prohibitively expensive pretty quickly in my experience. My main problem is the non linear increase in the cost of maintaining an army through the ages. I think if the want to make large armies more costly, they should increase the unit production cost and the unit maintenance cost (which would both be a linear cost increase) as opposed to relying on ever more expensive army commanders to preserve your army.