Needless to say, it was great fun to try to sneak those ones into the back yard of the enemy and then wreak havoc. I and many others loved the damn thing.
So, what I propose, is something similar in freeciv. There are two ways to do this (and they aren't really mutually exclusive)
- add new units to the game
- give the suggested capabilities to already existing units
- Commando: Appears roughly at the same time as the riflemen and spy in the tech tree. Land unit. Same movement as riflemen. Is invisible, just like the submarine. I suppose it does NOT exert ZOC (otherwise that would give away that a commando was hiding in the tile). Maybe it should be unaffected by enemy ZOC, but I'm not certain about that one. Weaker defense than riflemen, but stronger offense. Can be carried on subs (YES THIS IS A MUST). I think we should skip letting it be carried on a bomber, as the paratrooper unit already covers that concept and two units both being airborne but in different ways only cause confusion. Also perhaps skip the 'move one tile on water' capability (it would however make sense to give that capability to the marines, wouldn't it). The unit is as loyal as any military units the player has.
- Ninja: The ancient counterpart to the commando. I put it there because I like the concept of sneaky warfare to appear a bit earlier in the game. Japanese ninja-movies (and Doctor McNinja) nonwithstanding, the freeciv ninja behaves pretty much like the commando. It is just a stealthy land combat unit that is slower (move rate of Phalanx and friends) and is weaker in attack and defense and there is no "perhaps" regarding the 'walk on water' capability: the Ninja CANNOT traverse any sea tiles! (for that one needs more modern technology, ancient wisdom won't be sufficient here!) For the sake of consistency with the commando unit, I would suggest that the ninja is as loyal as other military units the players have at their disposal.
- Secret agent: Like a spy, but invisible. I have mixed feelings about this one, maybe it is better to just make the already existing spies invisible (and submarine and bomber transportable!) instead.
- Scout: Like an explorer/partisan, but invisible and perhaps not treating all terrain as roads. NOT minimal in size so not something you can carry in a sub. Mixed feelings here too, instead of adding one more unit, maybe we just grant invisibility to the already existing explorer and/or partisan units.
I know, there is another thread about ninjas in this wishlist section, but that one focused on turning the ninjas into a spy-like assasin unit with special actions while I just try to make it an ancient landbased combat unit with the sneakiness of a submarine... hence starting this new thread. The ninjas I suggest only have the special actions to... you know... move, move again, wait some... wait some more... sneak up and... ATTACK! (other special action is the usual one for subs... getting spotted and then perish shortly thereafter because hell breaks lose and they have weak defence against said hell...)
Granting commando-ish and ninja-like capabilities to already existing units:
- Explorer: make this invisible turns it into a good scouting unit. Together with "treat all terrain as roads" it might be to powerful, but it could make the start explorer a strategic asset in the first part of the game!
- Partisan: making this one invisible turns it into a commando, essentially, except that it still treats terrain as road (turbo speed commandos!) and is generated upon communist and democratic loss of cities (if founder lost it) which actually could make sense... stealthy resistance resulting from capturing the city!
- Diplomat: Wouldn't these fit nicely in submarines, you think? Making them invisible would probably be too much though, they are dreadful as they are already
. - Spy: These transported on subs should be fun! Also, making them invisible would be interesting!
- Marines: These guys really should be given the ability to "walk a bit on water". If they start the turn on land or in a transport, they should be able to end the turn on water. If they begin their turn on water, they must end the turn in a transport, on land or they perish. Of course, when on water, they can attack land units and cities!