Squads-A nation concept.
 

I've been bouncing an idea around in my head for a while now for a nation, and one concept is that of multi-unit units, for lack of a better term, and I was wondering if this was a good idea. The general concept:

There would be a few basic units, all of which were slightly below average. A spearman with a shield, a pike troop, and a size 3 guy with an axe. In addition, there would be three troop sizes. Soldier, Pair, Squad, all in units. So there would be a Spearman Squad, a size 6 unit with around 35 Hp, consisting of 3 Spearmen (or more, tightly packed). 1 unit, it gets 3 spear attacks, and has a defense 2 above normal (odds are it gets hit with 3 attacks, so it averages out the same), standard protection, etc.

The upside to this nation is easy counters to some stuff. An elephant trample would be really easy to block with a screen of Spearman squads, which it can't trample, and it creates a unique sacred (The general concept is a bronze age nation, the sacred would be the Iron Guard, 4 tightly grouped spearmen using iron, with fairly decent stats.) It is also easier to enchant to some extent.

The big weakness is some spells. Stuff like Soul Slay is now a squad killer, and squads can be picked off by tageting large monsters.

So, could this work? It would play uniquely, and seems balanced, but I am no expert.

Re: Squads-A nation concept.
 

It'd certainly be interesting (try looking at llamabeast's Lizardmen mod, btw - I think something similar happens there). My first thought was that their item slots would need a degree of rearranging, as letting them wear boots or armour would give them access to Trample if they were GoRed (3 spearmen trampling a Cyclops, anyone?). They'd need a lot of ambidex too, I guess. 15 or more, thinking about it...

Re: Squads-A nation concept.
 

http://www.dom3minions.com/mods.htm
something like the MoreNations or MegaVanilla mods?

There are others also (other than mine). The nations have what would seem to be a basic nation made of basic units already in the game. Maybe you could build off of those to do what you want.

Re: Squads-A nation concept.
 

Don't the warhammer rats have a unit like that too?

Re: Squads-A nation concept.
 

Warhammer ogres, rats, lizards, and chaos all have units that are multiple units in one block. They all take the approach of needing to be killed multiple times, rather than having a big block of health.

Re: Squads-A nation concept.
 

Ambidex is probably key, but GoR is probably not a big deal here. It would be a huge waste after all, and with the shield guys it even kind of makes sense.

As for multiple blocks, I was considering low health-form shift, to a smaller size, but the issue is that breaks the lines, rather than having them filled in by someone else, which makes little sense.

Re: Squads-A nation concept.
 

I'd make blocks of size 2 infantry no larger than size 4. I don't care how many of them you fit into a square, there's no way they're stopping an elephant from walking on them.

Re: Squads-A nation concept.
 

The thing I think of when I hear this is "Mind Worms".

Re: Squads-A nation concept.
 

Agree with Squirrellord - size must be restricted. My own under construction Warhammer Tilea mod would also use this mechanics for pikemen to represent a "wall of points".

Re: Squads-A nation concept.
 

Oh, I agree. There were some plans for tightly packed cavalry as well, and its a lizard nation anyways, so packed bigger lizards would work pretty well too. Size 5 groups would be at least difficult to trample.