SuperUnits Proposal

[Vokarya]

I have some other ideas I want to work on as modmods. I don't think these are completely appropriate to make part of the base AND mod, but I think they are cool enough to present as add-ons. I'm still coding this so it doesn't have a download yet. I will post the download in a separate thread.

The SuperUnits module combines four different concepts into one package.

• Heroes (from the World of Legends mod)
  • Each civilization gets two Hero units: a Military Hero that is a very powerful unit for its time and a Cultural Hero that is slightly less powerful. The Military Hero also has the ability to join a city as a Great Military Instructor or force-build a Heroic Epic, even if you have already built one. The Cultural Hero can join a city as any kind of Great Person Specialist.
  • I am not going to incorporate the Achievement buildings from that mod. I want this to work with the Assimilation option if possible. One of the effects of an Achievement is to start a Golden Age and I don't want to give away that many in one game.
• Legends (from the Legends of Revolution mod)
  • Legends are super-versions of an existing military unit. Start with a basic military unit, make it a World Unit so it can only be built once, multiply the cost by 4, and add 3 +50% bonuses vs. other unit types and 3 free promotions. These units can upgrade, but upgrading means they lose their additional bonuses. They keep the promotions.
• Leaders (from early versions of Rise of Mankind)
  • Leaders are mini-Great Generals. Each is a National Unit so you can only have one on the field at a time. They are expensive and nowhere near as effective as a true Great General. Their ability to join units is the only ability they have.
• Warlords (also from early versions of Rise of Mankind)
  • Warlords are one-unit armies. Again, these are National Units. They have Hidden Nationality so they can attack other civilizations, but cannot capture. They are also very strong for their time period and have an innate bombardment ability. They are not only expensive to build but also have a large GPT cost to maintain.
  • Warlords can be captured and turn into Great versions of their base unit. These also function as mini-Great Generals.

 

[Vokarya]

The Warlords portion of this modmod is completely done. There are six units in the Warlord line. The first five were in previous RoM versions, and I added the last so the line wouldn't sputter out.

• Warlord Chief: Available at Warfare. Base Strength 8.
• Warlord Captain: Available at Heraldry. Base Strength 18.
• Warlord Corporal: Available at Leadership. Base Strength 32.
• Warlord Captain: Available at Military Science. Base Strength 45.
• Warlord Commander: Available at Logistics. Base Strength 80.
• Warlord CEO: Available at Megacorporations. Base Strength 200.

All Warlords have Hidden Nationality, collateral damage, and city bombardment. They also turn into a Great version of their base unit when captured, except that a Warlord CEO only turns into a Great Commander. The Great Chief and its upgrades provide 5 XP per level, topping out at 25 for the Great Commander. I didn't want a 30-XP unit at this point. They can be upgraded if you have the right technology, and the Great Colonel and Great Commander can also turn into a Great Military Instructor or build a Military Academy.

 

[<Nexus>]

Leaders are mini-Great Generals. Each is a National Unit so you can only have one on the field at a time. They are expensive and nowhere near as effective as a true Great General. Their ability to join units is the only ability they have.

But once they join a unit, you can train another, so you can add extra XP and Lead by Warlord promotion to each and every unit of yours.
And will the AI understand?

 

[Vokarya]

But once they join a unit, you can train another, so you can add extra XP and Lead by Warlord promotion to each and every unit of yours.
And will the AI understand?

I think the AI will understand. They use UNITAI_GENERAL which is what the Great General uses.

The primary check on building these for every single unit is their expense. The base cost for the Noble, which is the first unit in the line, is 150. That is 2.5x the cost of the Light Swordsman unit also available then. Also, each unit is limited to 1 and has a <ForceObsoleteTech> so you can't cascade downwards. Since the limit is 1, you can't have more than 1 city building these units at a time, and no city can build one while there is one on the field waiting to be used.

 

[Vokarya]

Here is the Leaders collection. There are five of these units. Each one does provide the Lead by Warlord promotion and a small amount of XP.

• Noble: Available at Monarchy. Provides 6 XP.
• Lord: Available at Feudalism. Provides 9 XP.
• Viceroy: Available at Leadership. Provides 12 XP.
• Officer: Available at Military Science. Provides 15 XP.
• Battlecomp: Available at Artificial Intelligence. Provides 20 XP. (This unit has a base cost of 2000. That is the same cost as the Dreadnought Armor.)

The original versions were in AND v1.72 before being removed. That version had the Noble, Lord, and Viceroy along with another Warlord Vassal unit between the Noble and the Lord. I thought that was too crowded, and it didn't make much sense to have more than one unit show up per era. I also ratcheted down the XP from these units. The Noble was originally 10 XP and it went up from there.

 

[Vokarya]

Here is the Legends collection. There are currently 20 units planned. Each is a super-version of an existing unit. The first one that shows up is the Trojan Horse. It is actually a super-version of the Battering Ram. It costs 4x as much, but gets +1 base strength, can attack, gets +50% against all of Archery, Melee, and Siege units, and starts with City Raider I, Looter, and March.

This is my full list of Legendary units and the original units they are based on:

Spoiler Legends List :

• Trojan Horse (Battering Ram)
• 300 Spartans (Axeman)
• Sacred Band (Light Swordsman)
• Legio X (Mounted Infantry)
• Helepolis (Catapult)
• King's Yeomanry (Longbowman)
• Swiss Guard (Heavy Pikeman)
• Hungarian Cannon (Bombard)
• Barbary Corsairs (Privateer)
• Victory (Ship of the Line)
• Old Guard (Grenadier)
• 54th Infantry (Rifleman)
• Rough Riders (Cavalry)
• Red Baron (Biplane)
• Paris Gun (Artillery)
• Bismarck (Battleship)
• Maus (Heavy Tank)
• 101st Airborne (Paratrooper)
• SAS (Special Forces)
• Red October (Stealth Submarine)

I don't have enough Modern Era legends for my taste and I would also like some ideas for Transhuman Era legends. I'm willing to accept fictional but not too over-the-top units as ideas (thus the Red October).

 

[<Nexus>]

I don't have enough Modern Era legends for my taste and I would also like some ideas for Transhuman Era legends. I'm willing to accept fictional but not too over-the-top units as ideas (thus the Red October).

Nautilus - an early submarine, or rather an iron-clad, that has the features of a submarine.

 

[Vokarya]

Nautilus - an early submarine, or rather an iron-clad, that has the features of a submarine.

One problem I can see with that is that there would be no counter-unit, at least if you based it off the Ironclad. Destroyers are the first unit that can see subs, and they don't show up until Radio. One of the ideas behind Legends, at least how I see it, is that you can overwhelm them with enough opposing units.

 

[<Nexus>]

I see. Maybe if it's only strength over a regular Ironclad is invisibility? It gets weaker when attacking anyway.