Ranged Unit Upgrade Path

[void_genesis]

Rearranging existing units would be preferable to stacking on more.

For realism- weren't muskets terrible for ranged combat while rifles were good at reasonable range?

The simple solution could be to upgrade crossbows to rifles and make rifles a ranged unit with lower defense strength, and upgrade other earlier melee units to muskets as melee with defensive bonuses.

England gets rifleman with extra range promotions, china with double attacks.

Another thought- should there be an upgrade path that leads into air plane units? No other class requires being built from scratch in the modern era.

 

[Atwork]

The simple solution could be to upgrade crossbows to rifles and make rifles a ranged unit with lower defense strength, and upgrade other earlier melee units to muskets as melee with defensive bonuses

Maybe that could work, but historically, muskets to rifles meant the obsolescence of muskets. Once rifling came along, muskets were militarily obsolete. Rifles were the next generation of gun. And as far as gameplay is concerned, it would be strange to see rifleman taking cover behind musketman on the front lines. Also, what would the mobile-ranged-line look like beyond the age of rifleman?

The real simplest solution is just to add a couple of units to complete the line....possibly rearrange a unit in the modern era, as some have suggested above.

 

[warrengb]

An interesting mod or addition might be traditional elite units- which is essentially what we are talking about when up grading an existing formation to a new technology.
In the case of the crossbow we have historical examples that fit the concept of upgrade with range. Sharpshooters with rifled weapons were used in both the American Revolution and by the light infantry of Britian. The musketeers/grenadiers of France had a higher ranged combat. The Southern Confederacy in the American Civil War used units with Sharps buffalo rifles to pick off enemy officersand to destroy artillery units. Portable Mortar Units used indirect fire at range to harass infantry units.
It increases the fog of war and can punish the careless- Not every formation learns from unit history- some colors are cased and forever forgotten.
Such a unit could be called Sharpshooter and eventually could upgrade to sniper to attack command structures, and with some attacks could paralyze units for a turn or attack generals stacked with other units solely. Such units would have weaker attack/defence since they were normally company size or less, but increased stealth makere them harder to detect- but the possiblity of command paralysis or general assassination might make for interesting fodder in a multiplayer game. As it is - a rank eleven scout unit can not become anything else= an archer with range becomes the same as a new rifleman. Elite units tend to persist - especially in cultures that have military tradition and schooling- see kingdom of Sparta, Macedonia, Alexander the Great, Xenophon, French Foreign legion, ect. ect.

Just some thoughts developers might like to add as an alternative upgrade/ addon
Military Elites available for only 19.99- now when you play the Aztec you too can have jaguar warriors to match the Incas.
thanks for the time to read it.

 

[Camikaze]

Well, looks like they're doing something with ranged units, what with the machine gun in the expansion.

 

[Atwork]

Well, looks like they're doing something with ranged units, what with the machine gun in the expansion.

yup. this expansion is looking really promising. besides everything else that sounds really cool, no more crossbowman in the modern ages alone makes me happy.

 

[PSPSoldier534]

It looks like they are working on the modern era too. That's good to know, I always felt like the modern era was much less important than the others, even though it's my favorite one to play in.