Desired basic unit cost

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

Here is your answer.

Terraforming Unit = 6
Former (scout) = 2
Former (speeder) = 5
Former (foil) = 4

Terraforming Unit = 4
Former (scout) = 2
Former (speeder) = 3
Former (foil) = 3

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

I agree about former. Turned it back to lower price.
I agree about Scout Patrol as well. Cannot turn it back to 1, though. Whenever I change lowest armor cost or lowest chassis cost it jumps to 2. I can fix it to 1 as predefined unit but all of its modifications (like the one with Hypnotic trance) will be higher anyway. Maybe that is fine.

[bvanevery]

Scouts with 1 ability aren't higher cost in the real world.  The cost algorithm seems to round down.   That's why I have so many "Whatever Scouts" in my predefined units.

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

I guess my solution will be fine then. I'll keep it as is.

[Mart]

I would add something about crawlers costs.
Some time ago I tried larger costs and it worked, that I found it worth to place expensive crawler only on few tiles, that were giving large single resource, like nutrients on bonus with condenser or mine on bonus and rocky with road tile. Other uses pop booming, when for example a base has +1 nutrient, so for a few turns there is need for +2 and after that it is ok to get +1 or 0 to maintain population.

But very large use would be for instabuilding SPs. And here there is some advantage for AI, that have better opportunity to instabuild, e.g. AI starts a crawler or several of them. It can cash even several of crawlers into SP, I have seen such attempts. So when a crawler cost 30-50% of SP cost, it can get good result.
The drawback is that human player also has that a bit easier with unity pods, that can produce "mineral pods" giving practically limitless number of minerals. So expensive crawler gets them all in 1 turn. It is also micromanagement nightmare when you change production in bases to prepare for possible mineral pod.

After years of playing, I find, that strategies like crawlers-everywhere or ICS are not that useful. So I do not build a lot of crawlers any longer, I prefer to have a base somewhere near and place a worker on a tile to get all 3 resources and not only selected one from a crawler. Crawlers are pretty much not overpowered after population boom is possible, since you have workers available in greater number. Some factions have that limited, that is true, e.g. Morgan stays on limit 4. So crawlers help Morgan not to spam that many bases.
But with crawlers comes Hab Dome, so limit goes up to 11 actually. Factions that have difficulty pop booming may have larger use of crawlers. There is though Golden Age pop booming, that maybe many players do not use.

[bvanevery]

Interesting that the AI might do better building Secret Projects with more expensive crawlers.  But as I actually want to build Secret Projects myself, I'm not really looking to make it easier for the AI to do.     I'd much rather have the AI have an easier time at fighting or expanding or something.

I have been known to make multiple denominations of Supply Crawlers, costing 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 minerals.  That way in the later game, I can start projects that do not waste the output of big bases.

My Industrial Automation comes somewhat later in the game, although I'm not doing the super duper late thing anymore.  I also got rid of Morgan's population restriction.  In hindsight, I think it's completely stupid.  With all the crippling stuff they put on him like -1 SUPPORT, they seriously overrated the value of a +1 ECONOMY bonus.  In my mod he gets +2!  My Believers are the new Morgan, with a +1 ECONOMY bonus from "tithings".

If the AI actually rushed Secret Projects to the tune of 1000 credits at a go, things would be different.  But it doesn't.  It has a hole in its brain.