[Val]

Yeah, I do want to link troop experience/training to research. I thought in Gold there was a way to link Mounts to tech level researched, yes? That was the original goal of that. Plus, the Elites are a bit more on the expensive side, if you want to throw bodies on a backwater world, militia will often do.

All that being said, I do expect infantry / vehicles to be going through a MAJOR overhaul. I just ordered the B5 Gropos (discontinued) game, which has weapons for the major race's ground troops and vehicles. I'll be using that the same way I used AoG's B5 Wars Ship books to make a balanced system of weapons based on their 'cannon' (excuse the pun) material. I will also redo the research (as proposed) so that you will need to research levels of tech for the various areas, not just weapons and armor and vehicle sizes. I will also try to find creative ways to use the current combat system to our advantage. - like, I wonder if I gave certain troop types the 'armor' ability would they be hit first in the group, or does it just apply to the stack or what? Also, maybe give AA guns the 'Damage Engine' (or some other type) ability and make all flyers have their component include the engine statistic. This way AA guns will take out the ground troop's support flyers first. What do y'all think?