Emigrants/Colonist unit

[MoonWolf]

I'm thinking it would have been nice with a unit called "Emigrant" or maybe "Colonist". This unit will be used for moving of population instead of building a worker or settler (build in city A, added to city B). I haven't decided wether it should cost 1 or 2 population units yet, maybe 2 too make a move of a city more efficient. Or maybe one of each. The cost will be less than worker if it "contains" 1 pop and between worker and settler if it "contains" 2 pop. ADM = 0/0/1 and may be captured. So my questions:

1) Does anyone have/know of a unit suitable for this? Should look like a settler, but not quite the same.

2) Does the AI currently add workers/settlers to it's cities? I use (often foreign) workers to increase population in small cities and my own to add "my" people to newly captured cities.

3) What is your opinion about this idea? (Just interested, I do what I want anyway....)

Thanks and regards,
The moonloving Wolf

[Iron Chancellor]

Good idea to beef up those wobegone expansionist tribes, if you ask me.

[Poor America/Russia/Iroquois, doomed to Civ3 mediocrity ]

[MoonWolf]

Yeah, could be! Or maybe if the expansionist tribes got a cheaper/better version of this. Maybe with a defence factor. Still, how would the AI handle this?

[Admiral PJ]

Yes the Ai can use other workers, but I don't think it knows how to use units that only have a few worker abilities, as these can't be set to be terraform workers.

My Mega Mod, called Mantra Human Evolution has about 6 extra worker/settler types, the ai seems to be able to use combined settler/workers which is good.
my mod will be out very soon.

PJ

[MoonWolf]

Hi PJ,

Unless you want to wait, can you post details of your workers? In addition to this Emigrant/Colonist, I've been thinking of some additional workers as well.

[Rusty Nail]

iN MY CURRENT MOD I AM USING DOUBLE UU'S for all civs. ONE OF THE NEW ONES IS AN "ARMED WORKER" WITH A=1, D=1, two extra HP and "all terrain" capabilty. It is very attractive. Great against barbarians.

[Rusty Nail]

I also have an "armed settler" UU with the same characteristics as the armed worker. You can send him out alone without an escort. Makes for faster development.

[MindsBigger]

i just used the Horse and cart unit....i think its called merchant......sure looks like a Wagon full of people looking for someplace to call home...

[Underseer]

Silly idea: combine all the abilities of workers and settlers into one "homesteader" unit (since that's essentially what homesteaders did). To avoid balance problems, I suppose the buggers would have to cost a lot of shields or something.

[Inverse Icarus]

i tried several ideas to improve settlers. one thing i started to do was to design better settlers for expansionst players (give them a REAL kick). i game up with these ideas (options from a poll i made when determing "house rules" for my gang) :

Expansionist Civs should get a cheaper settler (20 shields instead of 30)
Expansionist Civs should get an optional wheeled settler with 2 moves (40 shields, they can build BOTH)
Expansionist Civs should get an optional settler with a defense of 1 (40 shields, they can build BOTH)
The Expansionist Ability should not be changed

[The_Aussie_Lurker]

You could give the American's a "Pioneer" UU. Basically like a settler, but doesn't become available until Navigation. Treats all terrain as roads, and has an A/D of, perhaps, 1/2. Only costs 1 population point

Just a thought and, as has been mentioned, it's at least one expansionist civ which gets a bonus!

Yours,
The_Aussie_Lurker.

[Amesjustin]

Re: Emigrants/Colonist unit

Originally posted by MoonWolf
I'm thinking it would have been nice with a unit called "Emigrant" or maybe "Colonist". This unit will be used for moving of population instead of building a worker or settler (build in city A, added to city B). I haven't decided wether it should cost 1 or 2 population units yet, maybe 2 too make a move of a city more efficient. Or maybe one of each. The cost will be less than worker if it "contains" 1 pop and between worker and settler if it "contains" 2 pop. ADM = 0/0/1 and may be captured. So my questions:

1) Does anyone have/know of a unit suitable for this? Should look like a settler, but not quite the same.

2) Does the AI currently add workers/settlers to it's cities? I use (often foreign) workers to increase population in small cities and my own to add "my" people to newly captured cities.

3) What is your opinion about this idea? (Just interested, I do what I want anyway....)

Thanks and regards,
The moonloving Wolf

I like this. The name should represent that the purpose of this unit is for a population shift, not terraforming or colonizing, so something like Immigrant would work. It should have no defense and be slow, making using them risky. No idea how the AI would handle it.

Since this has more to do with population shifting between cities than expansion, I don't really see tying this to that trait, I do like some of the other settler/worker ideas floating around in this thread.

1. Teturkhans mod has quite a few unique units. I would start there and look at other mods.

2. Again, no idea.

3. Interesting and Unique idea. The only time I could see myself using this unit would be if I could see a massive army coming to destroy my town , but I know that A LOT of people use workers for pop shifting, so they will love it.

Good luck, can't wait to see the finished product!