Unit Cost

[UnOrthOdOx]

One of the bigger things we need to discuss out relatively quickly is how much to charge for our units:

Rentals now will cost us a support cost for being out of our territory. I don't know the precise figure off hand, but we need to get that, and factor it in to that cost.

Flat out purchasing of units. Anyone know the rush costs off hand?

[polarnomad]

By rush costs, do you mean using Universal Suffrage?

[UnOrthOdOx]

yes, the X gold = y hammers formula.

[polarnomad]

1H=3.6G

That's for rushing on the first turn of production, which is what I understand by "flat out purchasing".

EDIT: This is incorrect, sorry. There is another modifier... Probably based on the number of turns it takes a city to produce it. Will look into it some more.

[polarnomad]

Ok, from what I can tell the only modifier in my cities in the current game I am playing that seems to affect the equation seems to be presence or absence of a forge.

Presence of Forge: 1H~3.6G
Absence of Forge: 1H~4.3G

By "~" I mean approx. Multiplier varies slightly depending on units. Strangely, it differs most when comparing land and water units.

There's probably more to this than I can tell right now, so if someone else wants to have a go at it...

[Kloreep]

Just found a thread with lots of great links.

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=146080

Checking them out now.

[Kloreep]

Here's a thread explaining the factors in rushing. http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=145687 Covers both population and gold. (And it appears pop rushing is somewhat buggy, and is screwed up on speeds besides normal.)

[Kloreep]

Excellent information on Unit Cost and Unit Supply factors. http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=141475

I found this bit interesting:

- In combination with the article on civic upkeep, one can see that the additional free unit support from the vassalage civic is less than the upkeep cost of this civic (except for very small empires). (The vassalage civic gives 0.1 N + 5 extra free unit support, but it costs more than 0.15 N as a civic.) This doesn't make the civic useless as it also offers 2 experience to all units that are trained, but it is something to consider when choosing this civic. If your leader is organized, then the civic upkeep costs are halved and the additional free unit support offered by the vassalage civic is actually comparable to its upkeep cost.

[polarnomad]

Re: Unit Cost

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
Rentals now will cost us a support cost for being out of our territory. I don't know the precise figure off hand, but we need to get that, and factor it in to that cost.

So are we renting the units whilst maintaining control, or gifting for a specific number of turns?

[UnOrthOdOx]

Maintaining control is my preference. Too much opportunity for abuse gifting.

That's why I'm suggesting 2 costs:

1, our control, tell us how to move it for 10 turns.
2, it's yours forever.

[polarnomad]

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
1, our control, tell us how to move it for 10 turns.

Won't this be rather complicated to coordinate in a PBEM style game? I'm just not sure how it will work...

[Kloreep]

They will have to contact us each turn to inform us how to move it, but it's not complicated beyond that.

[UnOrthOdOx]

I'm thinking a good starting place for rental costs will be 1/4 the hammer cost/unit + 1/2 number of units (support). Discounted to 1/5 hammer cost if it returns alive. This is rather insignificant in the beginning, but becomes a decent rebate if you apply it over multiple units in the medieval-modern ages.

Any thoughts?

Outright purchasing now...

A part of me wants to say 2*hammer cost, to keep it cheaper than them rushing their own. I'm leaning that way, actually.

3*hammer cost...I don't see folks being capable of affording.

[polarnomad]

So if someone wants say 6 Horse Archers, then according to your rental example, they would need to come up with 75G+3G. If they are all returned alive, then we return 15G, bringing their cost down to 60G+3G.

I'm not 100% clear on the "+ 1/2 number of units." Is that per turn the units are rented? Or just a one-off fee to offset support for what I'm assuming is 10 turns? Are we renting for 10 turns at a time?

[UnOrthOdOx]

Yeah, that is what our per turn cost will be, assuming all units are over the 'free' support units for being out of our territory.

Should look something like:

H/4 + (N*10)/2
H being Hammers, N being number of units.