Umm, in the upgrades spiel it says that the first upgrade cost 2.

The 2nd 3, total 5.

The the 3rd 4, for a total of 10...

Now my mathmatical skill is a little rusty, but there seems to a problem with this progression.

Shouldn't it be; 2, 5, 9, 14, 20, 27. etc?

+2, +3, +4, +5, +6, +7 etc.


Just an observation.

the cost goes up 2 by 2, except for the first. So the additional cost is 2/3/5/7/9/11

Which makes, in total, 2/5/10/17/26/37/50...

The Civlopedia is pretty vague about required EXP / Level.

Promotions occur on a sliding scale of experience points. A unit gets
its first promotion upon achieving 2 XPs. The second promotion requires
3 additional XPs (for a total of 5), the third more XP (10 total), etc.

It implies that the EXP cost goes up by 1 every level, which is what I thought too - back in the day.

The actual cost, can be expressed as:
XP Cost to Next Level = 1 + ( Level ^ 2 )

Level
1 ^2 + 1 = 02 XP
2 ^2 + 1 = 05 XP
3 ^2 + 1 = 10 XP
4 ^2 + 1 = 17 XP
5 ^2 + 1 = 26 XP
etc

Oftopid but I've always though that the exp cost rose far to fast. Getting 5 or more promotions is pretty much impossible, and happens a couple of times per game max. I always thought that the exp needed should be the triangle numbers +1:

level 1 - 2
level 2 - 4
level 3 - 7
level 4 - 11
level 5 - 16
ect....

That way experienced units would be very much stronger than normal ones and represent the historical value of a veteran army.

Oftopid but I've always though that the exp cost rose far to fast. Getting 5 or more promotions is pretty much impossible, and happens a couple of times per game max. I always thought that the exp needed should be the triangle numbers +1:

level 1 - 2
level 2 - 4
level 3 - 7
level 4 - 11
level 5 - 16
ect....

That way experienced units would be very much stronger than normal ones and represent the historical value of a veteran army.
yep definitely, XPs offer a whole wealth of possibilities, the only problem is, one can rarely use the top ones. i've only had the opportunity to use the commando promo once or twice in over a hundred games im sure... it would have been awesome if it was considerably easier to achieve so i could actually use a small group of elite troops in such a manner. even blitz is v.difficult to come by, an advanced unit has to kill upwards of 40plus obsolete units before it can get its hands on blitz, thats a bit crazy.

It's not impossible, just use Great Generals to attach to units, instead of Settling all of em. http://michaelmckiel.com/_CIV4/4Generals_V.jpg

Verci, in the end, got to level 14+, over 200XP. I lost my screenshot of that.

yep definitely, XPs offer a whole wealth of possibilities, the only problem is, one can rarely use the top ones. i've only had the opportunity to use the commando promo once or twice in over a hundred games im sure... it would have been awesome if it was considerably easier to achieve so i could actually use a small group of elite troops in such a manner. even blitz is v.difficult to come by, an advanced unit has to kill upwards of 40plus obsolete units before it can get its hands on blitz, thats a bit crazy.

Barracks + West Point + Pentagon + GG + Tokugawa = 11 XP= Infantry with Combat IV, Drill, and City Garrison without ever seeing a battle. If you can get one of those every other turn, you should be able to beat one or two civs. Especially if you beelined Assembly Line and everyone else only has rifles.

You said you want a group of commando infantry, just settle another great general or two in that city and you only need to kill 2 or 3 riflemen to get him to 17 and get commando. Even without that, a SoD of 20 of those can destroy an entire civ if all they have is rifles and cannons.

The Civlopedia is pretty vague about required EXP / Level.

It implies that the EXP cost goes up by 1 every level, which is what I thought too - back in the day.

The actual cost, can be expressed as:
XP Cost to Next Level = 1 + ( Level ^ 2 )

Level
1 ^2 + 1 = 02 XP
2 ^2 + 1 = 05 XP
3 ^2 + 1 = 10 XP
4 ^2 + 1 = 17 XP
5 ^2 + 1 = 26 XP
etc

Just went back and checked, in Sword it says "the third 4 more Exp (10 total) etc.

So it really doesn't add up. (at least in my copy :);) )

Commando isn't hard if you play as an imperialistic leader. I got 5 GGs in my last game and could have had more like 10 if I had been more aggressive. I probably wouldn't have lost either if I had been more aggressive.

(vanilla)
In my current game, i have tried to set a goal of exploring advanced promotions. I find i have to reload the crap out of my game to hold on to them!!

Even with combat odds upwards of 95% in my favour, the AI still wins enough of those to wipe out my entire crop of advanced units in no time at all if not for reloading.

Something needs to drastically change if i want any chance in hell of exploring advanced promotions without constant game reloading!!