Upkeep cards allow you to do a few things:

1) You can get an expensive buff for cheaper up front, but you will drain your economy if the buffed unit stays in play for a long time.
2) You can get units for cheaper up front, similar to enlists, but if they stay alive they will drain your economy.
3) You can force your opponent to aggresively use a unit by putting an upkeep debuff on him.

*If you cannot pay upkeep for ALL upkeep cards affecting you, ALL upkeep effects are removed and you do not lose money for those effects that round. Any upkeep units that cannot be paid for remove the unit, and any upkeep buffs that cannot be paid for just remove the buff.

Name: Hire Infantry
Type: Discount Units
Duration: Permanent (upkeep)
Cost: 15g
Text: Place an Infantry unit in your starting area. Pay upkeep of 10g each turn or remove this unit and all upkeeps affecting you.

Name: Hire AA Halftrack
Type: Discount Units
Duration: Permanent (upkeep)
Cost: 45g
Text: Place one AA Halftrack unit in your starting area. Pay upkeep of 10g each turn or remove this unit and all upkeeps affecting you.

ETC for all unit types.

Name: Hire Tech Fighter
Type: Buffed Units
Duration: Permanent (upkeep)
Cost: 210g
Text: Place a Fighter with +20% armor and +50% firepower in your starting area. Pay upkeep of 10g each turn or remove this unit and all upkeeps affecting you.

ETC for all unit types.

Name: Constant Overhaul
Type: Heal
Duration: Permanent (upkeep)
Cost: 25g
Text: Heal one ground vehicle by 15 HP each turn. Pay upkeep of 10g each turn or remove this buff and all upkeeps affecting you.

Name: Constant Air Overhaul
Type: Heal
Duration: Permanent (upkeep)
Cost: 25g
Text: Heal one aircraft by 15 HP each turn. Pay upkeep of 10g each turn or remove this buff and all upkeeps affecting you.

Name: Hire Veteran Mercenary Heli
Type: Mercenaries
Duration: 5 turns (upkeep)
Cost: 60g
Text: Place Veteran Mercenary Heli in your starting area with less HP than a regular Heli unit. This unit comes into play with 2 kills. Pay upkeep of 10g each turn or remove this unit and all upkeeps affecting you.

ETC for all mercenary unit types. [2 kills is veteran status, +25% firepower and +15% armor]

Name: Hire Mercenary Fighter Hero
Type: Heroes
Duration: Permanent (upkeep)
Cost: 165g
Text:Temporarily place a Mercenary Fighter Hero in your starting area. It has higher HP and damage than a regular Fighter unit. Pay upkeep of 10g each turn or remove this unit and all upkeeps affecting you.

Name: Rent Firepower Equipment
Type: Damage/Armor
Duration: Permanent (upkeep)
Cost: 20g
Text: Permanently increase one ground mechanical unit's firepower by 50%. Pay upkeep of 10g each turn or remove this buff and all upkeeps affecting you.

Name: Constant High Octane
Type: Movement
Duration: Permanent (upkeep)
Cost: 0g
Text: Permanently increase movement speed of one ground mechanical unit by 100%. Pay upkeep of 10g each turn or remove this buff and all upkeeps affecting you.

Name: Constant Ballistics Boost
Type: Vision/Range
Duration: Permanent (upkeep)
Cost: 35 [one of the few cards in this set that is MORE expensive up front as well as later]
Text: Permanently increase one ground vehicle's weapon range by 2 hexes. Pay upkeep of 10g each turn or remove this buff and all upkeeps affecting you.

Name: Rent Ground tech
Type: Super Buff
Duration: Permanent (upkeep)
Cost: 95g
Text: Give one ground mechanical unit +20% armor and +50% firepower. Pay upkeep of 10g each turn or remove this buff and all upkeeps affecting you.

Name: Propaganda
Type: Debuff
Duration: Permanent (upkeep)
Cost: 30g [That unit has to stay alive LONGER than 3 rounds for this to be cost effective, plus you use a card slot]
Text: One enemy unit gains an upkeep. The owner must pay upkeep of 10g each turn or remove the unit and all upkeeps affecting them.

[I'm imagining a picture with pages being dropped from a plane that say something about wages on them]

Great ideas.

While the idea is great, i am afraid cheaper units will only encourage more baserushes.

The upkeep on unit buffs is great and fine i think, the cheap 'rent an army' cards would make an airlift baserush way to easy, and would make defending against it almost useless (you then also cut in the costs of the unit upkeep with killing them).

I could see something in it if those rent units are impossible to airlift (any moment), otherwise they make to easy and cheap reactionary forces.

I see how the cheaper units could be abused for baserushing, and you're probably right. My only defense to that is with the upkeep the baserushing player will have less money to buff/debuff/heal - but that is probably not enough.

I think this is a great way to make very expensive cards viable again though, as the biggest issue with expensive cards is that they are too difficult to use in a timely manner. Cards with can be less expensive up front, allowing you to play them sooner, but still take resources relative to their power.

You heard the idea straight from Rothmorthau, The Last of the Great BaseRushers.

(and maybe he should stop trying it, like the rest of us...

ok mayby when i post them in this topic someone read
KAMIKAZE PILOT
cost 80
place a kamikaze pilot on your build arear he loking same and has same hp,vision like a normaly fighter when he move on a oponent unit he self destroy and make 100 damage on this unit

INF PUPPET
cost 20
has same hp,vision,movement like a normaly inf but can not capture buildings when the oponent not gife a preoritae on a unit he shot first on this inf

TANK TRANSPORTER
cost 60
tarked one frendly light tank and replace him with a transport when the transporter is destroy replace the light tank for the transport

HELVY RECON
cost 120
has the same vision,range movement like a normaly recon but he make more damage on inf and has 100lp

i hope for comint so i know someone find the ideer good or find i must change a littel think