armored probe teams

[bvanevery]

In my mod I have experimented with armored probe teams.  The intended benefit was to defend against other probe teams.  However it turns out that if a probe team has armor, it is no longer considered a non-combat unit when calculating odds.  It does not receive the non-combat defender penalty, it defends against conventional weaponry just fine.  If it's by itself, it could even defend a square or a city from conventional forces, paying no support costs!  However if it's part of a stack, it will die when the last of the non-probe units is killed.

I tried making a predefined 0-2-1 Synthmetal probe team unit on an infantry chassis, to see if the AI would use it defensively.  When I gave it an AI "plan" of 2=defense, the AI wouldn't build any.  When I gave it a plan of 11=info warfare, it just uses it offensively against enemies.  It won't sit around waiting at a base, like I wanted it to.  So a defensive probe team basically doesn't work, the AI doesn't get it.

Offensively, armored Speeder chassis probe teams are useful, and I've put those in my mod.  They cost more, but they're hard to destroy before they penetrate a base.  Mindworms blocking squares leading to the base, are the best antidote for that.  Second best is doubling up any kind of cheap unit.