Elites

Ok so i think the introduction of elites could be interesting, first i'll explain how they're different and then how you produce them.

I kind of like the idea, but I think I'd like them more as a different unit type all together, instead of them just being a higher tier.  This could be a way to introduce special units like winged units or magical units maybe or be something new altogether.

Waylander are you kidding?! if the elite units cost double the upkeepand but 30% better there is no point building them other than as commanders, even 80% better but double the upkeeps is utterly pointless. If you look at the current T1 & T2 military units in terns of Stats V.s. upkeep the defense of T2 is about 80% better and attack is about 120% better (relative to a 100% increas in upkeep)
If I can have 2 Pikemen with a combined stats of 32 attack and defense of 58 34 22 34 what would the point be of having a single unit with stats of  30 attack and defense of 50 30 20 30 Having the two pikemen are better in every single way.
If Tier 3 units were introduced it'd be kind of cool if they were specialised units that could only effectivley be used for certain tasks. Perhaps defensive cavlery that are 160% better at defense but exactly the same in attack. Or spearmen that were actually good in attack, but only when in mountain terrain (maybe orcs only, they really should have some good units against dwarves). Or even units with a racial enemy bonus.


Edited by col0005 - 29 Jun 2010 at 04:29

Waylander suggested that the units were 30% better not 80% better which would certainly not be a bargain. I agree with what your saying however, although, should elites really take only slightly more time? it becomes much harder to increase skills the better you are. wouldn't it be more appropriate to make elites take much longer to train and actually be reasonable value in terms of money and/or resources.
For your idea i think it'd be more appropriate to introduce an emergency training camp which trains basic units which are 20% WORSE, have the same upkeep and building cost, yet take only half the time to build. This would be far more realistic yet wouldn't detract from gameplay.
Furthermore elites should be something to take care of, if they have high upkeep compared to what they can do then you'd prefer your elites to be killed rather than your T1 or T2 units.

Rather than elites being T3 perhaps after fights we could get commander XP and unit XP, the unit XP is not given to individual units but shared in a pool which can be seen in a Veteran tab, it could take say 50xp to create these Veteran units or 10,000 to upgrade a commander. The commander will loose unit type to become a general (one per city) which unlocks a new stratergy tree to be researched. Generals could have terrain bonus's or bonus's against certain races that will apply to the whole army, not just a division.


Edited by col0005 - 30 Jun 2010 at 13:51

I'm guessing that hanoth either ment that you could make a new generalist unit type for an elite commander or that your top racial unit (ie infantry for dwarves, archers for elves) could command any type of elite.