New Recon Unit: Riders

[xienwolf]

I was looking at the fact that Griffons now spawn in the wilderness and started to think how nifty it would be to have Griffon Riders as a unit. Then I remembered the Wolf Riders and how they are really nifty because you defeat a wolf with a goblin and then you get a Wolf Rider upgrade.


So, after my brain spun that idea around and it collided with the idea to have more creatures in the wilderness, I thought of making a new generic unit: The Riders.


It would be a Recon unit, probably about the same strength as a hunter, and available with either Horseback Riding or Stirrups. And it would be set up so that if it ever killed a Bear, Griffon, a Mounted Unit, or any future animals deemed appropriate, it would auto-upgrade to become a Mounted unit on the mount it just killed.

Thus you could have Polar Bear Riders, Griffon Riders, Bear Riders.... And it would make it more enjoyable to add more units into the game in the future for the mechanic to make use of.


Now, the big problem with the unit is that it wouldn't be possible to have any UU versions of it too easily, as that would mean you have to create a UU version of EVERY mounted possibility as well. The Racial Graphic changes MIGHT work though, not sure on that one.

And another small issue would be that smaller races (goblins, dwarves) aren't completely appropriate to have riding certain animals, just as letting a Human sized race ride a wolf seems silly.


But, it could be a pretty cool mechanic, and doesn't seem like it is that graphically demanding.

 

[Nikis-Knight]

That's a lot of art for units that probably would have very little mechanical distinction. (Is is scarier to face an dwarf riding a wolf, lion, or tiger? probably about the same...)
However, Griffon riding goblins would be a cool Easter Egg type upgrade.

 

[Tarquelne]

And another small issue would be that smaller races (goblins, dwarves) aren't completely appropriate to have riding certain animals, just as letting a Human sized race ride a wolf seems silly.

I suggest having it be a unit associated with only 1 civ. That'd avoid quite a bit of graphics work.

And go ahead and make it a race with small individuals - goblins, say.

Just assume that they bore into the body cavity of any too-large animals and control them using necromatic machinery. Heck, I would think that's obvious.

Then you could use the same graphics as the animal, but with glowing red eyes, and say... oh, steel tentacles.

 

[popejubal]

Baselraph Human Riders.

That is all.

 

[TheJopa]

What happened to the Doviello Bear Rider? It was cool. Not that bison isn't cool but bear is just... more fitting.

 

[seZereth]

hmm, good idea, why not give one of the more plain civs the abuility to mount their recon units on defeated bears and griffons? that would be a cool thing. and goblin or svartalfar spider riders would be awesome too. Graphically it would be easy I think. so we just need our designgod ^^ to say it is a worthy addition and here we go!

 

[westamastaflash]

All I know is the Svartalfar need to be able to turn tigers into their UU horseman!

 

[jimi12]

i dont think every animal needs a mounted version but spider riders would be pretty awesome! maybe even a gorilla rickshaw

 

[Fenboy]

Spider and Griffon riders would definitley be worth implementing. The others, not so much.

 

[jernau]

Really great idea. Allowing certain civ's to ride specific animals. Would add a lot of badly needed flavor to the Dovello (they are beastmen after all) and possibly Illians (Polar Bear riders?). My favorite though would be Svartalfar + spider = Driders, possibly requiring one of the magic techs? The main advantage to Griphon riders would be they fly not sure which civ would make the most sense for them though.

Might make sense to allow animals to continue to spawn after the barbs pop, just make them mega rare.

 

[Wyrmhero]

Personally, I think griffons would work best for the Bannor, flavourwise. (I guess I love Heroes of Might & Magic almost as much as FfH)

 

[jimi12]

i would say griffons would probably best fit with the kuriotates. i see griffons as something amathaon would have come up with and she is kind of the patron god of them.

i agree, illians and doviello definetly need some polar bear units

 

[xienwolf]

The nice thing about the idea is that, as seZ stated, it is graphically easy. You just take the unit art & the Animal art and mesh them into one file, then assign the vertices for a mounted unit and snag their animations. Only huge issue would be making certain the rider is in the right spot on the mount (don't want legs going THROUGH the wings...).


My preference was to have a single unit that can ride ANYTHING and is available to pretty much everyone, then have large diversity in what the mounted versions are capable of, if it were to limit to a single Civ, honestly the Bannor are the best aim. They are all about Law and Order, which means that taming wild beasts to become functional beasts of burden is right up their alley (even though most would aim for people with affinity for animals, that is actually precisely the WRONG way to go IMO).

If it were just making a rider version of each animal out there and doling them out to individual Civs that's pretty nice as well.