Archers into Machine Gunners? Why don't they upgade?

gonzothinker · July 30, 2003, 11:53

Well that title might be a little misleading. I know why they don't upgrade--Archers merge with Light Infantry during Enlightement. But I'm really wondering if there is a way to...kinda "un-merge" them again in Industrial?

So the question is: does the game keep track of each individual unit, or just the total numbers of the units in each class? If the game did somehow keep track of each individual unit it would be (maybe) a simple matter of upgrading all your LI, that once were Archers, into MG's once Industrial rolled around. However if the game only knows how many total LI i have at any given time, the archers that became LI are hopelessly lost and there would be no way to just upgrade them, at least that i can envision.

If the second case is true perhaps some talented modder outthere could whip up a little "bridge" unit for Enlightenment. Something that would fill the gap. Tho, this raises a few balance questions. Is an Archer really in the same as, or at least a reasonible facsimile of, a Machine Gunner? They're both strong vs HI and weak vs Cav(Tanks)...but LI technically are strong vs archers, while MG's are supposedtobe strong vs infantry in general. Also MG's are pretty dangerous buggers and i don't know i feel about a half of an army of them. I never have that many in the real game. But pikemen tend to die horribly when they first clash with gunpowder age shooting units, so maybe there could be another "die-off" for the new Enlightenment Archer. Or maybe archers should just turn into HI instead of LI. Just thought of that. Guess i got excited about the prospect of a new unit.

So anyway. Just some food for thought. Bytheby, yea i suppose this is just a long mooch post, i can't do anything about anything i just spoke about. My RoN modding skills equal precisely nothing. But maybe this will spark someone...?

One_Dead_Villy · July 30, 2003, 12:17

actually its like one line u have to change to make the upgrade to MG's from archers BUT right now the archers already upgrade to riflemen/gunpowder light infantry. Achers dont turn into HI cause that would mess up the counter system. Archers supposed to counter HI, and weak vs cavalry. So LI is the best fit really.

Skanky Burns · August 1, 2003, 06:50

If you wanted archers to (eventually) upgrade into machine gunners, then you would have to add another infantry type for them to upgrade into in-between. For example, they could upgrade into LI2, which are exactly the same as light infantry but in name, and then when enlightenment arrives, all LI2 are upgraded to machine gunners and all LI are just upgraded to the more modern LI.

If someone wants to take the idea and run with it...

ded_man_walkin · August 3, 2003, 14:56

Yeah, good point, you cant just have the same units every age, but with different names, icons and attack numbers!

Perfect General · August 5, 2003, 05:46

Quote:

Originally posted by One_Dead_Villy
actually its like one line u have to change to make the upgrade to MG's from archers BUT right now the archers already upgrade to riflemen/gunpowder light infantry. Achers dont turn into HI cause that would mess up the counter system. Archers supposed to counter HI, and weak vs cavalry. So LI is the best fit really.

I wonder if it would be possible if you could machineguns also counter heavy infantry by editing the balance.xml file. This way, the ancher -> granadier -> machinegun updrade line would sound much better.

gonzothinker · August 6, 2003, 09:39

yea yea yea. thats what i'm talking about. why don't archers upgrade into machine gunners. i don't think i always make myself clear, but let me assure you the original post was supposed to ask/suggest this on face. i realize my first post was a little confusing, asking about technical limits of mods and such.

so is this possible? perfect general, seems like you have some ideas on this, and anyone else. could you elaborate, what would a new counter do exactly-i'm dumb? i see three posibilities, but have three questions: is a new unit necesary, or can we really just change the archer upgrade path or "undo" the LI archer merge?
if you can't tell by now, i really quite ripe about modding posibilities-sorry