Does anyone know how the points values of the different units in Epic:Armageddon are calculated?
  I'd like to use other units with different values to make up a unique army, not just some "counts as" stuff.
  I know of the other 6mm sci-fi games that have a formula for "make your own' units, but prefer E:A.
  Thank you to anyone who can help.

Well I'm not sure there's a hard and fast formula but I usually base points costs of Tactical Marines. They have 4+ stats so a 50% on everything so nice even base. If you count Rhinos as 10 points each (roughly, and perhaps not taking ATSKNF into account) you get 45 points for each unit in the formation.

The hard part is working out special rules etc. I usually guesstimate around 25+ points depending on what effect it has on the list/unit.

Just some ideas anyway.

Applying points costs in Epic is more of an art than a science.

_________________
Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

Agreed. You make a guestimate, then adjust it according to your feeling of it gained over much experience.

You could have a basic formula where speed + armour + weapons + special abilities.
but really the value of the thing (as in real life economics) is how much people are prepared to pay for it

It's to do with the way the attributes of a unit fits in both with any formation it belongs to and with that formation's place in an army.

For example Terminators transported in Land Raiders are probably slightly less valuable than terminators teleporting or transported by Thunderhawks.

Thus the formula 4 * Fixed Cost of Terminators + 4 *  Fixed cost of Land Raiders probably doesn't give the most representative value and perhaps needs to be tweeked by an amount derived by feeling

Now

On some actual occasions in a few army lists in EA some units indeed don't always have a uniform cost, but the costs vary depending on the contexts in which a unit may be it may be present

_________________
[url=http://tinyurl.com/bott2015][img]http://i62.tinypic.com/205fcow.jpg[/img][/url]

Unit point valuesare based on a combination of the unit's abilities, the formation they belong to's abilites, and the army they belong to's abilities; so yes, it's more of an "art" than a "science", as various formational and army synergies will not be obvious looking purely at units.

Most armies have "per formation" costs over direct unit costs as their core formations.

_________________
"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

I was going to recommend you ask here ... I saw your post on 6mmSFWG Yahoo ...  But I don't know of any formula to do what you ask.

_________________
Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

The best way to get a rough cost estimate is to compare to similar units. For example, Chaos Space Marines have the same stats as Space Marines, but don't have "And they shall know no fear", and the formation doesn't come with transports as default. Likewise, the army's strategy rating is lower. Due to these factors it's logical to price them cheaper than normal marines.

Of course some lists may deliberately make some units over or undercosted to promote or disuade certain list styles. For example the Dark Eldar list has deliberately overcosted unit upgrades to promote multiple small formations.

It also depends on the structure of the list; some armies have deliberately overcosted "core" formations which are cancelled out by slightly underpriced (though more limited in numbers) "support" formations.

As others have mentioned, it's an art rather than a science. You can make a best guess by comparison, but playtest is the only way to be sure.

There is no hard and fast formula, but don't let that stop you giving it a go. Post your list here for comparison and people will notice if any prices seem off

_________________
http://www.troublemakergames.co.uk/
Epic: Hive Development Thread

Find similar lists and units in armies that appear to be accepted as balanced - otherwise understand if they are costed too highly or low, and use this info as a guide for yuour own units.

Excel is your friend when working out similar combat results between units.

_________________
Frogbear is responsible for...
Previous World Eaters
Previous Emperor's Children
Previous Death Guard
Previous Imperial Fists
Previous Chaos Squats

I knew FWC, Sol Prime 3, DS2 and others had a formula and points values to add up the cost of a unit & was hoping something similar applied to E:A. Anyway, I've got a few pointers now and will work from there. Thanks everyone.

I don't know if this is true, but I suspect that when designing the game Jervis started with Space Marine Tacticals

3 Squads at (lets pick a figure out of the air) 100 points, each with a rhino, gives you a tactical detachment of 300 points.

Then pick another formation and give it a value relative to the tactical detachment.
4 Preds = 300
4 Vindicators = 300
(we now know that these values are slightely off and that they probably should be a little cheaper)
4 Whirlwinds = 300
4 Land Raiders = 400 (4 Land Raiders must have been considered to be better than a Tac Detachment)

etc.

So the basic unit cost revolves around 50 points tactical stand.
Though it is agreed that it is better to judge formation costs and leaving unit costs as some kind of guide for upgrades.

_________________
[url=http://tinyurl.com/bott2015][img]http://i62.tinypic.com/205fcow.jpg[/img][/url]

I'd suspect that to be true too. Just like in Warhammer 40,000, they're the bedrock that everything else can be compared to.

_________________
Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter