Multi figures unit or "Munit"

In standard civilization games, a unit is represented by a single figure animation.

For example, here is how 2 units fight.

Stephen Andrews, alias Kryten, came with the idea of multi figures units, (or "munits") to give the feeling of a real army fighting.

The screenshot on the left show 2 units fighting. Each one have 6 figures, but is really one unit, with one complex animation.

Note that to give a better effect, the figures are not synchronized.

Here is how it looks in game : the player really has an army to command.

Depending on the army type and size, different formations can be used : compact lines for phalanx, staggered for archer, small lines for cavalry.

With a munit, it is also possible to have several kind of formation, and so several new units. For instance, there could be a unit that fight in square, and has a higher defense.
As a munit can comprise several kind of single units, the number of possible units is highly increased, without the need of actual new graphics. Combining different existing units, gives variation for each civilization.

Creating a munit is not very difficult, but can take some time. The basic idea is to generate all the storyboards from the FLC using FLICSTER, and then to copy & paste different parts of the storyboard to make a new one.

The jobc could be quite difficult, because of several aspects that must kept in mind to produce a nice munit.

Doing all of this needs a lot of time, especially because the munit designer needs to test his work often to detect flaws.

That's where SBB comes into play : with it, it is quite easy and fast to produce the storyboard of a munit.