The fantasy units that got re-integrated would have to be renamed. You can't have a "dragon" in a route themed as "protestors".
I think some of the units would work in some routes. If not, we can come up with weird "fantasy" names for units that people would enjoy but would fit in with a specific route.
I also think that given the volume of players that enjoy playing the various fantasy branches, it seems a shame to just scrap it altogether because you don't "like" it - if they can't be given a specific theme (we seem to be lacking a "self-generating" army route, bribing a different army doesn't count... and I can't see any route themed hugely towards "anti-health/living units, rubbish against armour/vehicles" particularly... gaps?), then either invent a theme or keep them as a "generalised" route, and find a way to remove the bonuses without removing their purpose/functionality/strengths
I'll address this in a bit once I've finished quoting other people.
It seems you're adding in a lot of NLT units, but nothing to counteract them. Overall I agree with removing the fantasy routes as they really don't do anything that other routes have already done.
I don't think I've added that many NLT units? Only the military and thug ones and thugs have NLT anyway. However, based on feedback I'm thinking the Military Barricades unit may not fit into the route too well but would still keep the Military Police unit. Also non-lets are slightly more vulnerable with some of the changes.
I don't like the removal of INN targeting on POMs though. With the addition of so many other NLT units that fire before Gurus and target them, POMs would get run out of the game.
Well Serfs would be removed so it's only "Arsonists" that would fire before gurus/poms instead of Bikers - pretty much the same as now. But this idea was more of a "I wonder what people will think of this, dunno how it'll work out" idea and isn't too important in the grand scheme of things.
Packet Analysing - Idea's been floating around for a while now and would add alot to early game play, should defs be done, although make it scramble id's as has been said. Don't scramble eta's though, that would make it not really worth the delay on spies.
Agreed pretty much. I would reduce the cost I suggested for each scan use though as they're very expensive atm.
Fantasy Removal - tbh I think vampire route has kind of found a place in the game. Perhaps change the mummy unit to make that place solid. But gargs have a definite place in early/mid play, vamps could maybe use a tweak but have a place as an SA type unit that can also be used offensively against other SAs. Sorcs can go though. Some nice ideas on sorc route, but as has been said, if you can do ok with sorcs you'll do much better with anything else.
Out of the 2 Fantasy branches, Vamps are definitely the more useful and do sort of have a place in the game but I think there's only a couple of units in the route that are decent, the rest seem to be there just to fill up the quota. But as I said in reply to Azzer's post, I'll address this a bit further down.
---- Extremists - Makes it worthwhile. Only worry is over the price of dragons, considering their high init and how you've taken their armour down.
---- VDs - All looks nice. Sorcs with new init, higher health and damage look like they could be very strong though. Whether overpowered would depend on whether those stars are high or low end.
---- POM - Better balanced, makes landing on a PoM more realistic, although maybe a star of health added to gurus if they are going to become the main INN stopper, which for alliances will mean taking repeated hits from ALL targeters? Wouldn't want to detract from PoMs land blocking ability too much.
Stats and prices are there more as a general guideline, not as fact. As you say, it depends how low or high the stars are.
Robotics, agreed, pretty much fine as they are. Just give me cyborg soldiers back
This is one of the things I was going to say when I bothered to write something for Robotics. I'd definitely add in CSs as an alternative to Nanobots (gives players slightly more customization in their route like Spec Ops has).
So, onto the whole Vamp/Fantasy thing as I said...
I'm still sure that the Sorc sub route should be removed. It has no "identity" and is just a rehash of Thug imo. It's also very rarely played, almost as rarely as VD, last-tick prot, dogs and thief are. But its units, with alterations, do fit in nicely with the whole Prot/Thug hybrid routes so can be reused there. I also see nothing wrong with having a "Magic/Fantasy" side of Protestors. Maybe change the names a bit to make them more mage-like so they sort of cast magic or mind control or something instead of using guns and stuff. I dunno, I'm not a fantasy guy.
As for Vamps, I do like that one unit in the route but not the route as a whole, hence trying to reuse it on the Bunker sub-route. However, instead Bunkers could be left as they are (well, with a reduction in cost and firepower for Bunkers and Sentries) and a 4th sub-route of Special Ops introduced (as I feel Spec Ops is the most appropriate route for Vampires).
We could have something like:
SGT
[Choice of 3]
Ninja
Werewolves?
Zombies
Vampires
Unit names can be changed to maybe be slightly more Spec Ops-y but still Fantasy like. Can keep them as they are though. *Shrug*
To Azzer's post earlier: this can be a strong against health, rubbish against armour, self-generating route. Obviously the first 3 units are just generic Spec Ops but then we get the first Fantasy type unit. This can be whatever really, maybe with a low conversion rate. Then we have Zombies in the normal place of Cloners. This is because Zombies have a high conversion rate (could up this even more along with price?) so do a similar job to Cloners but stick to the self-generating principle. Then we finally get Vampires with their Lesser Vampire generation (maybe up the conversion rate and price too?).
Overall, this should fill the niche that Azzer mentioned.
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However, if people/Azzer are really adamant that they don't want to alter Fantasy - I still want to push the changes to last-tick prot, thug, military and briber just to balance things overall and introduce a few new concepts for us experienced/bored players.