Rules of thumb for estimating unit power.

[BajMic]

Hello,

I am currently scripting AI for the scenario and I have a question for savvy users.

Are there any known estimators for unit strength at each level? E.g., is there a factor that each level up makes the unit 2x as strong? Or a rule of thumb that N+1 level unit is as strong as three N level units?

This is for AI decision making and strategizing, so I simplification is fine.

Sincerely,
MB

[Spannerbag]

Others may have more useful information but as I understand it units are (theoretically) configured so that the "combat effectiveness per unit gold" is approximately the same for all units.
I.e. a battle between two sides with equal starting gold should (all things being equal) result in a (more or less) balanced and hopefully enjoyable battle.
Of course there are a myriad of other factors that influence this.

So comparing units costs, whilst not an exact metric, is a workable starting point IMHO.
FWIW I tend to consider relative starting gold and income rather than individual units as the ai might not recruit as you expect.
Tweaking the map and ai aggression, caution and [limit]ing numbers of certain units can make a surprisingly big difference.

[unit_worth] doesn't really help here unfortunately.

BTW there has been considerable... debate over unit balance in general and what it means for multiplayer (MP) vs single player (SP) given both gameplay modes share the same core units.

Hope my random witterings help.

Good luck with your campaign!

Cheers!
-- Spannerbag

[lhybrideur]

IIRC, the AI uses gold cost of the unit to estimate the unit importance.