Download the Army Set (version 1b4, stuffed & binhexed)
Note - Version 1b4 (still beta) is the latest version. I corrected a few minor bugs (like, I didn't enter in all the army data properly! - oops!). I also improved the documentation for cowards and tweaked the retool costs up a little. Last modified May 28, 1996
Philosophy:
Those were the goals - here are the army stats - play it and let me know if it works!
The army set may still need some fine-tuning (especially unit costs), so let me know how it plays. Tell me what game settings you use and how it works in that environment; I've optimized it for playing on standard terrain without cities having the ability to build allies, but it may work elsewhere too.
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Bob's Armies Table:
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--- Bonuses --- --- Costs ---
Unit Name Str. Time Speed Movement Combat Produce Retool Notes (default equiv.)
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Scouting Units
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Voyageurs 1 1 16 for/hil -- 2 60 Scouts w/ retool higher
Vampire Bats 1 1 16 fly -- 5 100 Bats w/ retool higher
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These are just your basic scouting units, only it costs a little more to learn how to make them. They are slower than some of the other units because their role as mappers and their lack of beasts of burden.
City Specialists -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Footmen 1 1 12 +1 city 5 100 Light Infantry Swordsmen 2 1 6 +1 city 6 180 Heavy Infantry Vikings 3 2 12 +1 city 7 500 Minotaurs Spiders 5 3 12 +2 city 12 900 Spiders Griffins 6 4 18 fly +2 city 16 1500 Griffins Pegasi 5 4 16 fly +1 stack-city 16 1400 Pegasi ===========================================================================
Footmen are your basic peasant fighting force: cheap, solid in fighting over tangible property (cities), but not especially cost-effective for fighting elsewhere - unless they're well-led!
Swordsmen are more heavily armed and armored than your basic foot soldier, but they still share the city-dweller's combat mentality: it's only worth fighting over if it contains loot or its my own city. Their weaponry costs more and slows them to a crawl, but they build as quickly as light infantry. Their inflexibility and lack of speed is balanced by their increased effectiveness in fighting where it really matters.
Vikings are more powerful than their basic infantry cousins, but otherwise similar. The extra strength is due to advanced training, which is reflected in the cost and build time too.
Spiders are just like in the default set - highly efficient urban warriors. But their build time has been boosted to reflect their power, and their retool cost has been reduced to compensate somewhat.
Griffins are much like in the default set, but their flight ability and extra speed require extra training, and so they take a little longer. They are somewhat faster and cost a little less, in compensation.
Pegasi are not as valuable outside of cities as they are inside. Their flight ability is less useful in the open, but in cities their presence in the air is a morale-booster to an entire stack, much like a waving standard. This power comes only at a price, however - they take a little longer to build and are the most costly of the city specialists.
Plains Specialists ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cavalry 3 2 18 +1 plains 9 500 Light Cav. Pikemen 4 2 8 +1 plains 6 350 Pikemen Knights 5 3 14 +1 stack plains 14 800 Heavy Cav. Unicorns 7 4 18 +2 stack plains 18 1500 Unicorns =====================================================================================
The plains units require some additional training and equipment to fight well in the open, but they are rewarded with higher-than-typical strengths.
Cavalry are your standard horse-mounted fighters, not heavily armored, so they have excellent speed. Build time is minimal, though the troops must learn how to ride. The thundering hooves of the horses give them an edge in battle. The upkeep on the horses makes them somewhat expensive.
Pikemen are cavalry-killing infantry, with long pole arms to provide solid defensive power and more reach on the attack. But their heavy arms and armor slow them down, and they need extra training too. They are good for defending towers on open terrain, and for fighting in the open in densely populated areas where they don't have far to walk.
Knights are highly-trained, heavily-armored cavalry-type units whose esprit d'corps and thunderous presence make them a morale-boosting addition to a stack, though they lack some of the speed of their lighter cavalry cousins. They take a little longer to train because of their advanced, expensive equipment.
Unicorns are the ultimate cavalry unit, with natural weaponry better than a knight's, the speed of a cavalry, and that musical horn which rouses the whole stack to extremes of valor. But they can be a little high-strung, so it takes a few turns to train them to the rigors of combat, and they're costly to maintain.
Forest Specialists --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elves 3 2 14 for +1 stack woods 7 450 Elves Wolves 5 3 16 for +1 in woods 12 800 Wolfriders ===========================================================================
Elves are swift, intelligent units whose forest skills are transferable in a pinch to the whole stack.
Wolves are cunning packs of hungry, flesh-rending intelligent carnivores, whose sheer ferocity overcomes most opposition in the woods. They are less comfortable in the more open terrains. It takes a bit longer to train them for directed use in combat, and their handling is more costly than for the more civilized elves.
Hills Specialists --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dwarves 3 2 12 hill +1 stack-hills 7 400 Dwarves Giants 5 3 16 hill +1 in hills 12 800 Giants ===========================================================================
Dwarves are stout creatures who make up in stamina what they lack in raw speed. Their intelligence assists the whole group in the hills.
Giants are the mighty rulers of the steep, rocky terrains (which are so much less steep and rocky to they who are so tall). Their size makes them expensive to feed, and they also take longer to grow. Less intelligent than the dwarves, they require more training time, but in the end they make up for it with their size and strength.
Unique Units --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cowards 1 2 18 for/hil +2 in city 2 -100 Orcish Mobs, see below Catapults 3 3 10 cancel city 12 700 Catapults Elephants 6 4 14 -1 enemy stack 18 1500 Elephants ===========================================================================
Cowards are strange, reclusive, special creatures - perhaps mad scientists, exiled political leaders, or just your run-of-the-mill Unabomber-type hermits. :) They can run swiftly through any terrain when out-of-doors, but are pathetic warriors. However, when fighting over cities, their unique talents come to the fore, and they have a significant advantage over their other infantry brethren. Their mission in life is to fight desperately to keep or obtain housing in cities. They are such reluctant warriors that it takes forever to train them, and in fact they cannot be purchased as units, but may only curse one's city. Rumor has it that they are special units, sometimes found cowering in ruins. However, on the rare occasion when a city can build cowards in a single turn, they are an incredible blessing, providing the combined features of scouts, footmen, and swordsmen at low cost. Beware, however, for these special units can become the objects of quests, so leaving them exposed to a questing enemy hero can be like handing an opponent 3-5 angels on a silver platter!
Catapults, the mighty siege engines, are neither strong nor swift on their own, but their ability to negate enemy fortifications makes them an invaluable too. Their build time and cost have been adjusted to make them viable units for both human and AI players. These units are especially useful when made into swift-moving naval units.
Elephants! Not as strong as one might think, these units nonetheless strike fear into an enemy stack. But their ponderous size and voluminous appetites make them a little sluggish and very expensive.
Ally Units
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Giant Worms 6 5 14 cancel city 18 -1800 Giant Worms
Ghosts 7 5 12 -1 enemy stack 18 -1500 Ghosts
Demons 6 5 20 +1 stack 21 -1500 Demons
Elementals 6 5 14 for/hil +1 stack 21 -1500 Elementals
Wizards 6 6 36 for/hil +1 stack 24 -2000 Wizards
Devils 8 6 14 for/hil +1 stack *and* 24 -2000 Devils
cancel non-hero
Angels 7 6 16 fly +1 stack *and* 27 -2000 Archons
cancel hero
Dragons 9 8 20 fly +1 stack *and* 35 -3000 Dragons
-1 enemy stack
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Giant Worms can tunnel underneath an enemy fortification, and either undermine its foundations or allow surprise infiltration attacks. So they cancel fortification bonuses. Their innate ferociousness makes them stronger and faster than the functionally-equivalent man-made catapults. As allies, they take a little longer to build when the option is enabled.
Ghosts are to elephants what Giant Worms are to catapults - stronger units with similar ability to induce fear in the enemy. The terror ghosts induce is reinforced by their might as combat units.
Demons are speedy but not particularly strong. They are the weakest of the allies which carry the full +1 stack bonus.
Elementals are slower than demons, but their elemental nature allows them to ignore ordinary difficulties with hill and forest terrain.
Wizards are extremely fast, and have stores of knowledge which make a journey through wild woods or hills no more challenging than a stroll in the park. Their leadership value is unquestionable. (I have slowed them down relative to the default set, but given them movement bonuses, so now they travel further in hostile terrain but not as far in friendly terrain as in the default set. This made more sense to me. Now you can't ignore their reach even if there's a huge forest between you and them!)
Devils are very strong, share the wizard's ability to ignore terrain, but are a bit slower, perhaps owing to the inherent conflict between their negative nature and the positive energies of the living world. However, their ability to terrorize their troops into action gives them strong leadership value, and their powerful skills also negate enemy non-hero bonuses.
Angels are the winged messengers of divine will, whose presence debilitates an enemy commander while giving a sense of divine purpose to those they escort. Their flight ability and speed make them extremely annoying enemies. Note that they are not as strong now (in this godless age!) than they once were (in the default army set), and they themselves can benefit from visiting a temple or two.
Dragons are the mightiest of the mighty, and alone among units scoff at the thought of visiting a temple. Swift, mighty warriors of the air, dragons rally their own troops while simultaneously forcing their foes to shrink in fear. But their power comes only at a steep price, should you have the opportunity to build one.