16-04-2003 10:12									#1
	The HORDE and the HOST! Increase the size of your Attachments

Say I'd like to create a medieval empire-building scenario. I want each of the player positions to be viable for SP. I want a human player to be able to take control of a small but potentially powerful state and expand it quickly. However, I'd like very few actual units both available to build and on the map at the start of the scenario. Each state would have only 2 or 3 army units. These would be the medieval feudal HOST unit. It would have to be powerful enough to take cities by itself, yet be either so prohibitively expensive that very few could ever be built, OR only be created by events or at the start of the scenario. The idea is that once these powerful, empire-building units are gone, so is the growth potential of their empire.

I'd also like to create units strong enough so that the AI will be able to take well-defended cities. These units would only be available to the AI, and be created via events at either specific turns or on random turns set at designated intervals. Again, not many of these in the game, and couldn't be built.

This seems to require a special touch to unit numbers, in terms of strength, hp, and fp, not to mention movement. And the creation of special types of land units.

What I don't want is a game where an uber -unit type runs amok and takes over the map in 30 turns.

If one creates units with high strengths, in the 12-16 range, but relatively low defense values, in the 5-8 range, how does the AI use these units? What are your experiences with units like this?

	16-04-2003 10:37									#2
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

*points at the Shogun in his recent scenario*

	18-04-2003 01:58									#3
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

Usually, the AI uses these bad. For example, the "Alexander" scenario that came with CiC: playing the Persians, I never saw the "Companions", while playing the Macedonians, I saw the "Immortals" once, but never again. Of course, the AI will use them as their roles (defense etc), but that should be obvious.
I have seen some AIs using the hero units in an extensive, yet not dominant way (see for example Jesús Balsinde's "War Of Granada" scenario).