The Lykaon myth unit is underwhelming and hard to use
Problem statements: The unit cannot transform at will and cannot used in MU mode without first fighting* opponents or buying an upgrade. If you are attacked by an age 2 Greek hero it will die in 1 hit without even transforming. If you are attacked by a military unit it will transform at greatly reduced health bc 10 dmg on 55 hp vill translates to a high % of the myth mode hp. Since the villager is only 3.8 speed it is hard to transform without being hit first as you need to hit your opponent to transform.
The upgrade is too expensive at 300 food and 20 gold
The upgrade gives 2 pierce damage and crush damage - This seems more confusing than 2 dmg is worth, it would be more effective to just give 6 hack and 2 divine damage if that is the intent.
The unit without the upgrade is too slow at 3.5 base speed. Once tranformed the unit feels fairly useless as a combatant who cannot catch even villagers.
Suggestions:
Allow manual transformation without upgrade
Reduce upgrade cost and or increase stats
Adjust upgrade so it gives 1 or two types of damage not 4
Improve base speed to at least 3.8 to match villager mode.
Potentially allow the unit to heal to full when transforming from vill similar to SOO or Shogun (Would need to be balanced somehow so you cant transform back and forth for super fast healing)
This unit has a lot of potential with some QOL changes and small adjustments but it’s feels very risky to even go pan at the moment if an opponent just snipes your lykaons.
Example of the problems without manual transformation early
That’s easily fixed. They should be classified as human units for whatever first attack turns them into a myth unit, or maybe even the first few frames of the transformation then the switch is flipped to MU.
Probably because it’s meant to be a trap, not a MU you go on the offensive with.
there’s more. i can poke vills with kataskopos or any scout just to trigger the transformation forever until he gets the expensive upgrade, which is really odd
also they die so bad to myth units, i remember watching one guy lose 3 of them to 1 anubite because most of the damage gets done before/while transforming to in the transformed mode he will start fighting with like 30% hp
i don’t understand why they didn’t make the werewolves in original form when they spawn at temple also add some digitigrade shaped legs with a more running animaiton (but not ridiculous and crazy like anubites), make them move slower than anubites but let them be tankier than anubites. let them transform at will to villagers with an upgrade who can not only hunt but also farm more effectively and have slightly higher hitpoints. reduce the cost of the upgrade and make the base cost change to just wood, gold or food with favour. simple as that.
The Lycaon has the the same problem as the Anubite, they run as they are fast unit but they’re not (Lycaon is very slow btw), resulting in goofy animations when they move.
Back on topic, the Lycaon is not a trap for the opponent, he is indeed a trap for yourself because spending 300 food and favor to upgrade this thing is a big trap.
This unit is a f*cking Licanthrope, he should move WAY FASTER in his werewolf form, he should be used like a Minotaur, in a middle spot between a raid unit and a tanky unit, something that you want to use offensively sometimes.
I Agree with EveryBodysFoo1 that he should have an increased gathering rate from every food source, including farms.