Naming Units, Upgrading Units, and Battle Honours

Rakki · September 27, 2001, 17:23

At the risk of being micro-management, I'm just summarizing some military unit behaviours that would making things interesting and so much more "historical".

1. Ability to name units. Both the "Army" they belong to, and the unit's name. (E.g. naming an alpine unit the "3rd Ranger Battaltion", belonging to the "SOCOM" army. Or say, the "CVN Theodore Roosevelt" aircraft carrier, of the "TR Carrier Group")

2. Following on from 1 should then be the ability to upgrade units instead of disbanding them for the sake of production shields. This would allow continuity of military units, and allow option 3...

3. Battle Honours. When a military unit has earned a certain amount of experience (maybe less than the veteran/elite ranking improvement) then they earn a battle honour. The battle honour would say, have the name of the nearest city ("Battle of Mukden") or if there's a "land feature tag" someone mentioned earlier (being able to name an area "The Great Desert"). The player could even add extra notes "Successfully defended Mukden against 3 Egyptian chariots")

Or indeed, batle honours could replace the "unit experience rank" altogether. (e.g. 3 battle honours = regular, 6 = veteran, 9 = elite)

The in the video Sid says he wants us to be able to tell our own story. Well, The military of the world has always sought to build "espirit de corps"..... and battle honours would reflect how tradition and experience affect a unit's performance in battle - the British Coldstream Guards vs the French Imperial Guards at Waterloo, the US Marines at Chosin Reservoir.....

it would certainly make a save game much more interesting to read.

Of course, you could just ignore it all together and never look or touch this stuff. But for scenario builders it would be a godsend as they can represent historical units at a certain point in time....

Shiva · September 27, 2001, 17:25

I dont think it would be that hard to add. It would be real nice if they did.

Dida · September 27, 2001, 18:24

Great idea, can someone let email this to Firaxis so they can consider this.

Christantine The Great · September 27, 2001, 19:01

I'd like to be able to add numbers to my units or maybe an indicator to show what level of "training" he's at. Maybe rename a hoplite Elite Guard for the sole purpose of guarding Christantinople, my capital.

TVA22 · September 27, 2001, 19:18

I've been thinking this for some time now. I always thought it would be cool to have units we could name, for me it would be mostly Battleships! AND, I think the land tag option should be in too! Whoever said someone should send this to firaxis, I second the motion!

dearmad · September 27, 2001, 20:02

A definite YES to all this stuff except the unit advancement- just add the story-telling part so we can enrich our experience, but leace the game bal;encing alone...

This would be a great addition to the game's flavor!!!!

Falconius · September 27, 2001, 22:48

I would LOVE to be able to name my units. It gives you a sense of attachment to them. In Games where this was possible (Empire, for instance, one of the inspirations for Civ), I used to include the year of creation in the name. Then you had a sense of how old and accomplished the unit was.

If a unit is victorious at a key battle, you could re-name it to reflect that (eg Heroes of Austerlitz).

Anyway, hope someone is listening. Maybe we'll see it in Civ IV.

And after writing "Civ IV" above, I realized that CIV is the Roman number for 104. Maybe someday we will see Civ CIV.

gremalkin · September 28, 2001, 03:18

Great idea!

Doubt that they've got time to put it in tho!

Sava · September 28, 2001, 08:03

Great idea! But it's too late. Civ 3 is in the final stages if not already completed. Anything else that gets released will be in the form of patches to fix gameplay bugs.

Soren Johnson · September 28, 2001, 13:10

I have seen some confusion on this point, so I just wanted to clarify that units CAN be upgraded in Civ3. Leonardo's Worksop is still a Wonder, but it now halves the costs of upgrades.

HalfLotus · September 28, 2001, 13:16

Soren speaks!

gannon · September 28, 2001, 13:17

if i'm reading this write all civs have the ability to upgrade!

HalfLotus · September 28, 2001, 13:22

Soren, do you mean upgraded to a more modern equivalent unit, or upgraded to more powerful version of same unit?

Ralf · September 28, 2001, 13:31

Quote:

Originally posted by Soren Johnson Firaxis
I have seen some confusion on this point, so I just wanted to clarify that units CAN be upgraded in Civ3. Leonardo's Worksop is still a Wonder, but it now halves the costs of upgrades.

1: So ALL civs (regardless if they have LW, or not) can upgrade their units (halfprice with LW)? Yes, I suppose
2: Is LW a great wonder or a small wonder?
3: Only units in cities can be upgraded? (one should be forced to bring them in)
4: What happens with combat elite/veteran-status?

Soren Johnson · September 28, 2001, 13:49

Quote:

Originally posted by Ralf

1: So ALL civs (regardless if they have LW, or not) can upgrade their units (halfprice with LW)? Yes, I suppose
2: Is LW a great wonder or a small wonder?
3: Only units in cities can be upgraded? (one should be forced to bring them in)
4: What happens with combat elite/veteran-status?

1: Y
2: Great Wonder
3: Y
4: Elite status is lost

hetairoi22 · September 28, 2001, 14:04

Quote:

Originally posted by Soren Johnson Firaxis

1: Y
2: Great Wonder
3: Y
4: Elite status is lost

Thanx Soren! Your a cool guy!

Ralf · September 28, 2001, 14:05

Great!

The Civ-2 version of Leonardos Workshop was really overpowerful, to say the least. This time around, it seems far better balanced. Very worthwhile to get, but still; if you dont get it you have not lost out completely, as in Civ-2.

lockstep · September 28, 2001, 14:19

Quote:

Originally posted by Soren Johnson Firaxis
I have seen some confusion on this point, so I just wanted to clarify that units CAN be upgraded in Civ3.

Another great SMAC feature incorporated!

September 28, 2001, 14:48

excellent. what about the naming of units/armies??

Admiral PJ · September 28, 2001, 15:05

I think it would be nice to see how many units destroyed, or battles won, for each of your units in total.
This and other statistics could be shown, as well as the units age.
Units should also advance determined on the power of their enemy which they defeated, becoming veteran/elite less often.

Jaybe · September 28, 2001, 15:23

In Civ2 disbanding a unit would recover 1/2 the production shields used to build it. Now, Soren says that with Leonardo's you get to upgrade for 1/2 the cost (in a city).

Therefore, either disbanding doesn't recover the 1/2 production anymore or Leonardo's is really useful when the unit you are upgrading to costs a LOT more than the unit you are upgrading from.

Dida · September 28, 2001, 15:39

yo, can someone ask the Civ team if the ability to name a unit is in the game.

Sava · September 28, 2001, 15:43

This was information that I already new. You apolytoners have short memories. We learned about this like 2 months ago.

Ralf · September 28, 2001, 16:13

Quote:

Originally posted by SoulAssassin
This was information that I already new. You apolytoners have short memories. We learned about this like 2 months ago.

A link to that 2 month old info would sure help. Anyway, did you read Soren Johnsons follow-up reply?

Regardless: this info seems to have eluded the attention of the extensive Civilization Fanatics Infocenter, so I guess it wasnt known by all.

cyril25376 · September 28, 2001, 17:55

I am really happy that upgrading is in.

And I like the idea that upgrading is only possible in cities, IMHO this is good for game-balance

Cyclotron · September 28, 2001, 18:01

Ah, shoot. And I liked disbanding so much... Oh well. It'll do. At least it's in cities, and at least veteran status is lost, and at least LW isn't as cheap... Actually, it's almost what I wanted!

Naming? Maybe, although fat chance of getting it in now.

DarkCloud · September 28, 2001, 19:18

If this feature is implemented, Medals will be shown on another screen... if they are shown then there should be different types of medals, 1 for the ancient age, 1 for the medieval, etc.

dainbramaged13 · September 28, 2001, 19:21

Quote:

Originally posted by SoulAssassin
This was information that I already new. You apolytoners have short memories. We learned about this like 2 months ago.

ummm.... no... how come this was a news item...

*sam realizes that actually, everything is a news item these days, so his argument says nothing*

RobC · September 28, 2001, 19:42

Quote:

Originally posted by Falconius
I would LOVE to be able to name my units. It gives you a sense of attachment to them.

Hope this doesn't make you too conservative ("I'd like to take out Rome, but I just can't risk my precious 'LoneRanger' horsemen!)

Falconius · September 28, 2001, 21:50

Quote:

Originally posted by RobC
Hope this doesn't make you too conservative ("I'd like to take out Rome, but I just can't risk my precious 'LoneRanger' horsemen!)

That CAN be a problem, giving you a tendency to be overprotective of your favorites. I used to get really ticked in Panzar General when I would lose an old established veteran.

But hey, its a personal problem, and one I can live with. Not everyone will react that same way. I'd still like to have name-able units despite this.