How can I differentiate Hell Hounds and Spiders in my turn-based strategy game?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

Okay, so the Barracks is the first combat production structure, and with some unlocks, it produces Commandos (Basic Infantry), Hell Hounds (Ground-only anti-small infantry), and Mages (Expensive, but powerful spell caster).

The problem I'm having is Hell Hounds fill a similar niche to the Spider, which is the new name i have for the Factory unit which is anti-small infantry too.

===

Spider

Gold Cost: 75

Oil Cost: 25

Build Time: 3

Supply Cost: 2

HP: 100

Armor: 1

Attack (Ground) D10, 2D10 vs Small

Move: 3

Mechanical Medium Vehicle

Cargo Size: 2

===

Hell Hound

Gold Cost: 50

Oil Cost: 50

Build Time: 2

Supply Cost: 1

HP: 60

Armor: 1

Weapon (Ground Only): D10, 2D10 vs Small

Move: 2

Biological Small Infantry

Cargo Space: 1

Heal

Hell Hounds naturally heal by +5 HP per round.

===

Gold is usually the limiting resource, because everything costs Gold, but not everything costs Oil.

Cargo space determines how many units can stand on a given space on the map. The map grid spaces each have a capacity of 12 so a unit with a cargo space requirement 1 can stack 12 units on the grid space, while a vehicle with cargo space requirement 2 can only stack 6 units in a grid space.

Neither of these combat units can attack Air, so they are vulnerable late game to air assaults. This means you can't afford to over-invest in ground-only specialist units forever, or you'll eventually lose.

What might i do to make these units more unique from one another?

Updates

14 d

By the way, a Barracks costs 150 gold and 50 Oil to produce.
A factory costs 250 gold and 150 oil to produce, so more up-front costs, which makes it slightly harder to mass vehicles than infantry. Star Base also costs 250 gold and 150 oil, so typically to go air units you'd need to be ahead by an entire base.

[Anonymous]

You could even make the Hell Hounds excellent at flanking, while Spiders are better when they're positioned behind a defensive line.
The important thing is that players should have a reason to build both. If the only difference is damage, health, and cost, one will eventually just become the obvious choice.

[Rorroto]

yeah, if one's just cheaper and less good I think that tends to make things less enjoyable. I like having to weigh pros and cons.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

Oh I agree. There should be a reason to build all units. One idea I had was Hell Hounds can start fires in forested terrain to smoke out enemy troops. I also thought of having Hell Hounds ignore terrain penalties, so they'd be twice as effective in forested terrain as other units. Another possibility is to give Hell Hounds "First Strike" so they get one free attack at the start of every battle.

I'll have to continue theorycrafting these ideas, because I think the Hell Hound is a tad weak in its present form and needs a slight buff.

Good post and well appreciated.

[Rorroto]

Give the hell hounds some kind of run away ability or something so they can escape and heal so that the spiders are better fighters but the hell hounds are more like skirmishers that pick off stragglers then run away and heal.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

I thought of "Rolling Retreat" before in the past, but i was trying to give it to all units. You might be right. Like the ability to take a free move after a kill or something like that.

[Rorroto]

I used to play Starcraft and liked the Zerg best. They were the "hit them early" group. They had many cheap, fast units. They had one type of unit that healed rapidly. They had zerglings with which were extremely fast and quick to produce. Pretty much all their units could burrow underground too.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

This game unashamedly draws on StarCraft and Lords of Magic, both of which are now owned by Microsoft since they bought Blizzard and Blizzard had bought Sierra. Yet, I hope to make my game unique enough not to get sued.

[NathanDavis]

by the number of legs...

one of them has four, usually... and the other, eight

[SeekerOfTruth007]

Hell Hound is just a name for a human mutant soldier.
Spiders are going to be a small 8-legged mech walker.

[NathanDavis]

human mutant soldiers can also have four legs... still applies