Unit Action

[JC Denton]

is there a way i can make a unit the host civ owns completly disappear off the map without it being killed or disbanded - via events? Like in Favoured Flight's Fellowship of the Ring, the Frodo units disppeared and than a few turns later a new frodo unit was created via events.
How do i do that? The disappearing process?

 

[Evie]

I believe that the way FF did it involved terrain changes. At least, that's how it seems to me, from taking a quick look at the scenario (and the events).

 

[kobayashi]

quite true if you know the location of the unit.

any change in terrain will wipe out units (and cities for that matter). just change it back to the original terrain in the same turn (i.e. have it lower in the events.txt) and you have a disappearing act.

I believe another way is to change the terrain of the city (presumably hidden) that the unit is home to. This way you do not need to fix the location of the disappearing unit.

 

[Boco]

Like Kobe says, the ChangeTerrain trick is pretty versatile. It's been used to either cut down city production (i.e. eliminate mining) or eliminate cities (change city square).

Another related trick is to use Leo to 'upgrade' units into something completely different - Leo only requires the same role and mated obsolete/preq techs. For example, ground-slogging Frodo turns into a range 1 flying pickle (or a trireme far out on the ocean). Upgrade him when you know he's far from a city/base, and he'll crash. The crash text (@FUEL & @TRIREME in Game.txt) can then explain his disappearance, and Frodo II can appear elsewhere. If the setting's right, it's effective and uses very little event space, but ... it uses up unit slots, requires a special geography, and requires an exclusive use of air or trireme units.

Right now, I'm using Leo to 'upgrade' a hero to a nonhero unit (his leaderless followers). At the same time, a ReceiveTech trigger, linked to the same 'upgrading' tech, creates a new hero on the other side of an impassable barrier.

My explanation's kinda complicated (I'm tired ), but it's pretty easy to do.

 

[JC Denton]

thanks guys!!! all of that really helps!
forums rock.

 

[MajorGeneral2]

Just be sure to playtest vigorously if you decide to use Leo's, and even more so if you use the Musketeer/Knight slots. These can easily turn any scenario into a hopeless mess.

 

[Boco]

Yeah, it can be tricky at first, but there are some basic rules to Leo upgrades. Techumseh's Russian Civil War has some great examples of Leo in action. If you can't play the scenario, just look at the @UNITS section of his Rules.txt. You can do some basic testing simply by giving the appropriate tech in cheat mode and examining the result.

It's always a good idea to avoid Muskie/Knight slots unless you know what you're doing.