Denote Ranged Special Forces

[Marlboro]

Title: Denote Ranged Special Forces

Summary: Tell Special Forces apart from each other on scout reports and army lists.

Details: We have all been on one side or the other of this; I have been on both. You cannot tell melee Special Forces apart from ranged Special Forces on scout reports or in army lists. This could be fixed by simply splitting the unit type into two unique descriptors, or perhaps an (R) after Special Forces in the case of ranged ones. Exact range need not be included, as it is not with Archers.

Benefits: A marshal would know exactly what kinds of Special Forces he had under his command, or be able to plan based on what the enemy has brought.

Possible Exploits: I feel that not having it at all is practically an exploit; a scout or a marshal ought to be able to tell dead-eyed forest snipers/elite crossbowmen/ranged SF apart from unstoppable barbarians/heavy infantry/whatever you want to call melee SF.

[Penchant]

There is more division than simply, ranged and non-ranged, where some act like cavalry, and possibly do have them,and others, well have other abilities , just we aren't let in on that. So as long as we don't learn the abilities of SF, I disagree with having it shared. I could come up with a RP reason for you if you would like.

[Dishman]

I like the idea that special forces are a king of 'wildcard' in terms of how they are used. I wouldn't mind a marshal or general having the knowledge, but scout reports shouldn't be able to easily differentiate. Guess that would be hard to code, though...so spreading the information from unit commander to general/marshal is probably easier.

[Eirikr]

When I had ranged SF, I was pretty sure that they consisted of really big guys throwing much smaller guys who would often die on impact.

Explain that in your scout reports!

("Sir, I see 50 big men accompanied by a horde of children. Clearly, the children won't be fighting, so we should only worry about the men." Poor guy never knew what hit him.)

More seriously, though, I was thinking of this myself. Even if we know whether or not SF are ranged, I know they sometimes have other abilities or oddities to them. Personally, I don't think this would hurt the role of SF.