Raiders

[ohms_law]

I realize that a lot of (especially Union, it seems) players already consider "raider" units to be overpowered, based on what's been said here on the forums. Still... they just don't seem to fulfil their purpose, in my mind.

So, I was thinking... what about turning their supply usage off? I was considering essentially setting their supply usage to 0. Would that really be too unbalancing?

[Mickey3D]

A player would then use them to wander through all the map without any limitation in an unrealistic way : raiders could get support in their home State, certainly not in ennemy regions.

[ohms_law]

Yea... that thought occurred to me right after posting.
They can't be locked to a region either, because then the Union (or Confederate, actually) player would know where they were and just send a division through there periodically. Which, actually, could still be somewhat useful (mostly thinking about Missouri, there).

I don't know, what about bumping up the forager ability somewhat? I just think that it should be easier for them to "live off of the land" (for as long as they're independent, at least).

[Merlin]

They live off the land spectacularly well. Once you start concentrating them, then the available GS which can be scrounged by foraging is rapidly outstripped by demand, as it should be. If you want to give raiding leaders the foraging abilities, that would be more appropriate, and the only ability I would like to see attached to raider units is the state tag militia gets.

[ohms_law]

I agree about adding a state tag (although, it really doesn't do anything...).
Unless a raider unit is within the normal supply radius, they most definitely do not live off of the land. Players are required to either move them back to a friendly depot every other turn, or to successfully raid an enemy depot. Or you just don't move them outside of friendly territory (which doesn't seem appropriate).

[Merlin]

They can pillage just like any other unit, though it takes some serious movement to keep them remotely supplied. The state tags are what give the militia a 10% lower cohesion outside their home area.

[ohms_law]

though it takes some serious movement to keep them remotely supplied.

Right. That's, essentially, my "complaint" (for lack of a better term).

The state tags are what give the militia a 10% lower cohesion outside their home area.

I thought that they took that out?
...maybe I'm thinking of something else.

[grimjaw]

ohms_law, it's still in the unit & model files. I have no way of knowing if the game engine is still using the tag, but it should be easy enough to see in the game.

http://www.ageod.net/agewiki/Home_Area

Assuming that information is still current, there are bonuses and (mostly) penalties which you may already know.

HOME AREA PENALTY/BONUS
// see HomeArea at the model level
areaOutsideHomeAbi = -1 // -1 level to abies (can render them inactive)
areaOutsideHomeStr = -2 // Strategic
areaOutsideHomeOff = -2 // Offensive
areaOutsideHomeDef = -1 // Defensive
areaOutsideHomeTQ = -3 // TQ (and 5 time that to max cohesion)
areaOutsideHomeMR = 66 // Move Ratio Coeff (x0.66)
cohLocalAreaBonus = 10 // bonus to max cohesion if at home

I think the biggest hit to raiders would be the movement penalty, since that's one of their best attributes.