when units sustain enough damage...

[battlestar]

Ok Here's an odd idea, just throwing it out there.

It might be of more interest for later times.

When a unit sustains enough damage, the rider "dies" but the player retains control of the beast he was riding... ie: gryphon rider sustained enough damage that the unit changes into just the gryphon. Only a few units are possible for this though, such as the wolf riders and gryphon riders. Horse riders shouldn't possess this since horses can't fight by themselves.

[Ken_Oh]

Or maybe even the mount dies, but the rider can live to fight on.

[Stilgar]

Or maybe even the mount dies, but the rider can live to fight on.

This version makes more sense to me, after all, why would the beast obey without a rider?

This will most likely only happen in UMC, if at all, of course.

[Inigo Montoya]

horses can't fight by themselves

You've never been kicked by one, have you?

*Hastily rummages through notes*
Try this, it's a variation on something Fiach Dubh wrote for somebody's insect faction:

Code: Select all

#define DISMOUNT TYPE RIDER
[event]
name=die
first_time_only=no
[filter_second]
type={TYPE}
[/filter_second]
{STORE_UNIT_VAR x,y=$x2,$y2 max_hitpoints threshhold}
{STORE_UNIT_VAR x,y=$x2,$y2 hitpoints hp}
{STORE_UNIT_VAR x,y=$x2,$y2 side unit_side}
{STORE_UNIT_VAR x,y=$x2,$y2 user_description name}
{STORE_UNIT_VAR x,y=$x2,$y2 experience xp}
[variable]
name=threshhold
multiply=0.25
[/variable]
[if]
[variable]
name=hp
less_than=$threshhold
[/variable]
[then]
[kill]
x,y=$x2,$y2
animate=yes
fire_event=no
[/kill]
[unit]
type={RIDER}
side=$unit_side
user_description=$name
experience=$xp
x=$x2
y=$y2
animate=yes
[/unit]
[/then]
[/if]
[/event]
#enddef

When a {TYPE} unit kills an enemy (ie, whenever it fights and survives), this should check its HP. If they are less than 1/4 of its maximum, it should hopefully be replaced by a {RIDER} unit with the same name and experience.
You can use exactly the same macro to keep the mount alive instead, though in that case you might not want to keep the experience points, and definitely wouldn't want the name.

[Viliam]

why would the beast obey without a rider?

It could possibly become an ally. It does not obey you, but does not attack you, and attacks only enemy. And you cannot recall it later (the rider was the "experienced one", not the beast). -- I do not suggest this instead of previous idea, but as an addition (to be used on other types of units... e.g. Gryphons are intelligent enough to become units in your army, Horses are only allies).

It would be IMHO more clear if the unit would change to "beast only" or "rider only" when HPs reach zero. (The new unit would have nonzero HP, of course.) Because it would be difficult to remember "oh, this unit has 16 HP; be very careful because this type of rider dies at 15 HP".

[Inigo Montoya]

That was my first idea, but it gives mounted units too much of a boost - your Wolf Rider (or whatever) fights to the death, and then you get a wolf for free, which makes all units that have this ability more powerful in relation to other units.
My way, you lose the Wolf Rider earlier (in effect, it loses a quarter of its HP) to compensate for the 'bonus' unit (which is presumably much weaker).

You could do it at 0HP with new units which were designed with this ability in mind, of course, but with existing units it would involve a fair bit of rebalancing which can largely be avoided.