Alright, I am convinced. Trained units need more options. The Traits they get are decent, but most of them only modify one stat or give a slight trade off between two. Traits need to be more creative. Mounts are a not all too well implemented in .77. They should be vulnerable to spears.
But here is what I was talking about with archers:
Mounting them makes them immune to all knockout attacks, an excellent archer counter.
Leather makes them slightly more expensive, but also more durable.
Chainmail makes them very durable but more expensive.
Platemail makes them the perfect counter to other archers, but also very expensive.
Trait combos can reduce encumbrance with Strength, give extra Initiative, extra damage, extra moves, extra defense, or make them cheaper.
Combining these options in meaningful ways is not necessary right now because the AI will never threaten my archers. I can stop at leather and longbows with no worry or mages, archers, or cavalry killing them off.
I agree though. There is something left to be desired here. I know exactly how I would fix it, but for some reason I am not the head of Stardock. I don't know what happened there, but I think me and Brad got mixed up by the storks.
(joke of the day)
We could brainstorm some new trait ideas as examples for the devs though:
Some Traits should come from the Magic and Civic Trees.
Hardy: Units get +25% HP.
Tech: Aggriculture
All current bonuses should either give a larger boost or increase with level.
+6 Dexterity, -3 Strength could replace +3 Dexterity, -1 Strength. 3 Dexterity only matters for about 50 turns and then gets really pointless. Plus trained units cannot ever crit. I think this is a bug. It kind of ruins trained units.
+1 Dexterity per 2 levels. An excellent trait that will reward units for leveling. Trained units get 50% less XP, remember. There is no danger of the overshadowing heroes.
Then there could be abilities for regular troops.
Staggered Fire: +3 Initiative, -33% Accuracy when activated.
Barrage: Attacks a radius of 2, -3 Initiative for next round. AoE should be possible for archers.
First Strike: +10 Initiative for first round.
There should also be a Path of the Leader that has mostly bonuses to the rest of the group. A command class if you will.
Command I: All units get +1 Initiative.
Battlecry: All units get +20% attack for one round.
Banzai: All units get +2 Movement for one round and -1 Initiative for two rounds.
There is alot that can be done. What would you add?