Should units cost 1 pop?

[johncmcleod]

I am thinking of modding the game to make units (maybe not air units) cost 1 pop. To make things balanced I'd lower their costs in shields. It's more realistic. When a military unit is created they don't make the people, they take people from the city and train them and make them into a unit.

Would this disrupt the balance of the game?

[dexters]

Give it a try and let us know

[Atahualpa]

I also think you need to increase growth rate.

Please tell us if you got any interesting results and how the AI handles the situation.

[Panag]

hi ,

some units yes , for example the ICBM , tactical nuke and nuclear sub , lets say due to the radiation , ......

and if they where to put a worker soldier , that one also , the rest seems fine , .....

have a nice day

[alva]

It's been tried a couple of times and the AI can't handle it as far as I know

Try the creation forum for more info though

[johncmcleod]

Yes, to balance the game I'd make settlers and workers cheaper. It'd make that more realistic also (it shouldn't take long at all to 'train' a worker or settler, they don't really need training).

The problem is, I'm a really crappy civ3 player. I think I'd be the worst to test it out. I guess I'll try it, but I'm kind of in the middle of an interesting game where I'm the Zulu.

BTW, something is wrong with my rep in that game. The most I could get for wines was 2 gold. I've invaded a neighbor once and that's it, and now I can't do business. And the computer has invaded neighbors but they don't seem to get hurt.

[Carver]

Units costing one pop point seems quite disruptive to the game. Your high production military "factory" cities won't be able to maintain their production due to population loss. Also, I don't think it's realistic; one military unit (although it represents more than one man) doesn't represent the chunk of population 1 pop point represents.

[Panag]

Originally posted by johncmcleod
Yes, to balance the game I'd make settlers and workers cheaper. It'd make that more realistic also (it shouldn't take long at all to 'train' a worker or settler, they don't really need training).

The problem is, I'm a really crappy civ3 player. I think I'd be the worst to test it out. I guess I'll try it, but I'm kind of in the middle of an interesting game where I'm the Zulu.

BTW, something is wrong with my rep in that game. The most I could get for wines was 2 gold. I've invaded a neighbor once and that's it, and now I can't do business. And the computer has invaded neighbors but they don't seem to get hurt.

hi ,

you might want to give it for free the next time , if they dont have money then they cant pay you , ......

it should go better depending on the amount of money they have , the amount of lux they can get , etc , .....

have a nice day

[Randolph]

Maybe a unit could cost a certain number of food to build? 1 pop wouldn't work due the nature of civs combat system; it would lower the total number of units too much, making randomness to great a factor (we all know unpredictable a single combat or a few combats can be). Numbers control randomness, without numbers the combat system becomes too random.

OTOH, manpower has been a major factor in many long conflicts (ww1&2 being the modern examples). Maybe a unit could cost 2-6 food?

[Dominae]

How about making all land military units Cavalry onward cost one population point?

This keeps the early-game the same, but makes the late-game more interesting, as you could not just pop out any unit in under 2 turns. It would also force you to Irrigate more. I'm not sure if the AI could "deal with it", but it seems promising, given the AI's love of Hospitals, Irrigation and pop. Finally, I think it would make naval and air power a lot more important (again, which the AI prioritizes too much as is).


Dominae

[johncmcleod]

To take away randomness you can change the hitpoints. Conscript units could have 8 hp, regular could have 12, veteran could have 16, and elite could have 20. I've heard of people doing this to take away the number of upsets there were (ie archers beating tanks). It takes away the randomness.

This new system would also make barbs way more effective. Growth of your civ and military forces would be slower and the barbs would be very tough.

What do you guys think I should do? Have it cost food or population?