I apologize for that. I created this map intending to play strictly offline just for myself, but then saw all that sugar and thought it might be fun for someone to play. I didn't even play a single turn on the map, and I cannot even access the World Builder due to locked modified assets. I was hoping, with the map type and all, that we might get a good opportunity to see Numidians, but I guess not.
I want to like the Numidians. I try very hard to like them, in fact. Maybe the extra withdrawal chance, or even what AZ used to argue that AI just builds more metal units, etc... maybe they all come into play. I was looking to see if there were anyone who had a differing point of view than mine. It seems as though the forum is pretty much united on their opinion towards this unit.
Whoa... that map is old! ^_^ Another Hannibal map I could play for myself offline. Thanks for sharing.
There are a few key points with numids that I think people are overlooking:
1. Withdraw chance + charismatic means that
after a single withdraw, they get their second promo, and if they win once with stables + barracks, they get their third
2. Numid with shock + combat 1 beats spearman with combat 1 (with a difference of 0.1 strength, but still enough to cause you to win at 62% odds). This point is huge because it: protects you from spear counterattacks, lets you fight stacks directly on the open field without losing too many or even any at all, and lets you take cities by sacrificing an average of about 1 unit less per spear (which is massive in the early eras!).
3. Numids, especially with shock, totally roll over swords and axes. A shock numid
negates walls + fortify bonus, and
almost has winning odds against a fortified sword in a city with combat 1. If the city has no walls or the sword is not fortified, the numid WILL win against most swords and axes in cities, regardless of how holed up they are. And no sword or axe will dare attack out of the city based on how large the bonuses are.
4. Numids don't get much worse odds against units they're weaker against. Versus archers...you will often lose when you would normally lose with HAs. Versus chariots...you will often win when you normally win with HAs. The only major difference is fighting opposing HAs (and war chariots), which are super niche and stuff the AI doesn't even normally go for (or, for WCs, unique to a single civ). And of course you will die to elephants anyways with HAs, so why care about that?
5. As AZ said, the AIs will love to spam metal units the second they get metal. A bonus against the strongest and most common enemy units are well worth a lesser debuff against the weaker, rarer ones. Assuming they build them in about equal quantity, there may be about 3 melee units for every 1 archery one, as there are three types: swords, spears, and axes.
Applying the above, I managed to accomplish -
Taking out 2 civs with a HA replacement - almost unheard of on deity!
.
I love maps with lots of ships too.... especially during the Renaissance era.
