The Complete Guide to Promotions

Promotions are the means by which you make your units individual. Once your men prove themselves in action, they can take a promotion which improves an aspect of them and heals them a little. This is a guide to using promotions most effectively; in the form of a list of them. Comments and suggestions are gladly accepted.

Combat Promotions

These promotions are the most basic honours conveyed on units; they give a small increase to the unit’s Strength across all battles. Since they are basic, most of them unlock other, greater promotions.

Name: Combat I
Available to: All units
Requires: Nothing
Effects: +10% Strength
Usage: This promotion is a good starter for versatile units which can expect to come up against anything and air units, since they get few promotions. It should be given to field units as opposed to defensive units and ships, since they have no conception of terrain. What is most important about it is that it paves the way for more, specialist promotions. Bear in mind that Aggressive leaders get it for free.

Name: Combat II
Available to: All units
Requires: Combat I
Effects: +10% Strength
Usage: Like Combat I, this is a jack-of-all-trades promotion, since it gives a small bonus across all combats. It still only gives +20% in total, so if you expect to need to, say, attack cities a lot then it is not worth taking, but it does open up the path to other promotions which is a feature of this line.

Name: Combat III
Available to: All units
Requires: Combat II
Effects: +10% Strength
Usage: By now, a unit with all of the Combat promotions has enviable power, so I recommend taking this on ships and air units. You also need it for some of the best promotions, so take it on Tanks and air/sea units which want the high-up lines like Ace and Blitz. Scouts may want it, since it unlocks Sentry.

Name: Combat IV
Available to: All units
Requires: Combat III
Effects: +10% Strength, Heals +10% in neutral lands
Usage: Although I do not think that a level 4 unit with Combat IV is a good idea, it is the highest Combat promotion which unlocks something else. It makes your ships almost invincible, which is good since they can not take terrain promotions. When you have the specialist lines that you want started, and your unit is expecting to work as a general-purpose unit, take this; for it can fight hard in the enemy’s country then pull out to a neutral country and recover, before returning to finish the job.

Name: Combat V
Available to: All units
Requires: Combat IV
Effects: +10% Strength, Heals +10% in enemy lands
Usage: This is the highest Combat promotion that can be unlocked without a Great General in command, and by the time that you have all of these you are at 150% Strength, so an Infantry unit, with a base of 20, gets 30 with all of these – better than a Tank! Beware anyone with five Combats on their colours; for they will hit hard and not stay down for long

Name: Combat VI
Available to: All units
Requires: Combat V, Lead by Warlord
Effects: +25% Strength
Usage: A unit with this promotion is truly fearsome, since they have three quarters on top of normal strength levels! If you give a Great General to a sea unit, then this will be the method you have of ruling the waves.

Anti-Type Promotions

These promotions are given to land units to fight against specific other land units, based on their type (or combat).

Name: Cover
Available to: Archery, Melee and Gunpowder units
Requires: Combat I or Drill I
Effects: +25% against Archery units
Usage: In contrast to the Combat line, which gives a small, generalist, bonus, this promotion gives a fairly large bonus against one type of unit – archers. I recommend giving this to men who will be attacking cities, since before gunpowder they are often protected by archery units, and to units who expect to fight a lot of barbarians, who often use Archers in attack. It can be granted by an event to all of your melee units; and is also good on units which expect to be attacking cities without the City Raider line, like Musketmen as it will lead to better odds against common defensive units.

Name: Shock
Available to: Archery, Mounted, Melee and Gunpowder units
Requires: Combat I or Drill I
Effects: +25% against Melee units
Usage: This one is like Cover in its effects, and it can also be granted by an event to all Axemen. Give it to Axemen, to further increase their bonus against melee units and to men who defend cities as Swordsmen have a natural bonus in this field, and melee units are the most likely attackers (horsemen take resources and archery units tend to be defensive). On Mounted units, it provides protection against Spearmen and Pikemen, which is useful

Name: Pinch
Available to: Mounted, Gunpowder, Armoured, Helicopter and Air units
Requires: Combat I or Drill Iand Gunpowder
Effects: +25% against Gunpowder units
Usage: As soon as Musketmen enter the scene, you can best them with Pinch. It is available to all units who can expect to see action against powder units, and provides the key to getting the edge in both attack and defence. Use it as an early promotion for your men if the enemy have Gunpowder.

Name: Formation
Available to: Archery, Mounted, Melee and Gunpowder units
Requires: Combat II or Drill II
Effects: +25% against Mounted units
Usage: Although it needs more training than other anti-type promotions, it is also the most useful promotion. The most dangerous units in the pre-Tank game are mounted, as they are fast and powerful, and so I recommend taking this at least once in each defensive stack or division operating in the field.

Name: Charge
Available to: Mounted, Melee, Armoured and Helicopter units
Requires: Combat I
Effects: +25% against Siege units
Usage: This is the easiest promotion in its class to get, but it is also the least useful, since siege units are not a challenge in field combat anyway. I suggest that you should give it to mounted troops to boost their ability against artillery which they naturally have from their flank attack, and to defensive units if you use any of the applicable classes in defence (not that likely, but I know some people like Axemen in defence).

Name: Ambush
Available to: Siege, Gunpowder, Armoured, Helicopter and Air units
Requires: Combat II
Effects: +25% against Armoured units
Usage: In the modern age, this is your red flag to be raised against the tyrannical oppression that you get from Tanks. Anti-Tank units get it for free, and if given to a Gunship it makes a deadly anti-armour unit; and seeing as Tanks are not likely to defend cities Gunships (which can’t take cities) are a good choice to take it, especially since they get a natural anti-armour bonus.

Special Promotions

These promotions have an effect not in the usual stat-based changes, and which fundamentally change the character of units.

Name: Amphibious
Available to: Recon, Archery, Mounted, Melee and Gunpowder units
Requires: Combat II
Effects: No penalty for attacking over rivers or off ships
Usage: You could write a whole article on this (indeed, I have). It lets you go over water without losing any advantage – so cities on islands or those in the meanders of rivers are no longer safe from you. The only down-side is that Tanks cannot get it, but Marines get it for free, as does the Viking Berserker.

Name: March
Available to: Recon, Archery, Mounted, Melee, Siege and Gunpowder units
Requires: Combat III, Medic I
Effects: Can heal while moving
Usage: This is one of the best promotions. It means that when you are wounded, you can run away at speed while re-gaining health every turn. Combined with Medic promotions, it can make a unit into a healer and a hit-and-run unit with no match, especially with Flanking; and it gives whoever takes it a lot of endurance. Mechanised Infantry and Navy SEALs get it for free.

Name: Blitz
Available to: Mounted, Armour, Helicopter and Naval units
Requires: Combat III, Military Science
Effects: Can attack multiple times per turn
Usage: Do I need to tell you what this does? It turns a deadly attack unit into metaphorical machine-gun firing atomic bombs. It can be used in attack, allowing your Gunships to scythe down lines of the enemy, or to allow men posted to protect cities to sally out and kill the enemy before they even reach the city. Armoured units get this for free, just increasing their awesome power.


Name: Commando
Available to: Recon, Archery, Mounted, Melee, Gunpowder and Armoured units
Requires: Combat IV, Military Science
Effects: Can use enemy roads
Usage: This promotion is the key to moving fast in enemy territory. Traditionally, when on the defensive an army has the advantage of being able to move at speed to bring a lot of men into contact with the enemy and fight them off, but with this you are on an equal footing. It takes a lot of training, but is a must for any plundering unit – and Spies get it for free (it is the only promotion that they can get)

Medic Promotions

These promotions increase the rate at which the unit which has them and nearby units heal. They are very useful in the field, and complement March perfectly.

Name: Medic I
Available to: All units except Air and Armoured units
Requires: Combat I
Effects: Units in the same tile heal +10% per turn.
Usage: This promotion means that a stack (including the bearer) heals faster; in all territory. You should put this in every stack, except possibly defensive stacks, and not risk the unit; I use Explorers for this since they have 2 moves, meaning that they can keep up with Tanks (who can’t take Medic promotions) and will rarely get used in attack anyway. The Red Cross wonder gives this free to all units built in its city.

Name: Medic II
Available to: All units except Air and Armoured units
Requires: Medic I
Effects: Units in adjacent tiles heal +10% per turn.
Usage: With this, the unit which held a stack together in the field can now anchor a whole army across nine tiles! This makes it strong for combined-arms attacks, where you will want some units to shield the ones behind, and you can surround a group of Medics and thus have a lot of healing power to your men.

Name: Medic III
Available to: Recon, Archery and Gunpowder units
Requires: Medic II, Lead by Warlord
Effects: Units the same and in adjacent tiles heal +15% per turn.
Usage: Beware the army with one of these in it; all friendly units within a tile of its position heal +25%, and its own stack heals +35% per turn! This can hold together a large force through a lot of action; since your men need not worry about wounds so long as they win their battles.

Terrain Promotions

Terrain promotions give a boost to your unit in particular terrain, namely Hills, Forests and Jungles, and at high levels give another bonus which is meant to help in those terrains.

Name: Guerrilla I
Available to: Recon, Archery and Gunpowder units
Requires: Nothing
Effects: +20% hills defence.
Usage: If you build cities in hills, to give you a bonus in city defence, then give this to units defending them. It provides a bonus only in defence as of yet; but with the natural advantages of being in a city and carrying a bow or gun it can lead to large bonuses – and the Celtic Dun gives all units built in a city it for free, and the Gallic Warrior gets it for free as well; meaning that the Celts are the masters of hill warfare. It is also good for units expecting to go behind enemy lines (the enemy are slow in the hills) and for Scouts and Explorers, if only due to the later promotions on this line.


Name: Guerrilla II
Available to: Recon, Archery, Melee and Gunpowder units
Requires: Guerrilla I
Effects: +30% hills defence, double movement in hills.
Usage: Any unit with this promotion becomes a master of evading the enemy in his own lands – they can flee to the high ground and sit out waves of enemy attack, safe from the attacks that they make. The Gallic Warrior can take this, as can other Celtic melee units who got the Guerrilla I promotion from the Dun; so they can carry out commando missions better than anyone else. It also allows Recon units to move faster over difficult terrain.

Name: Guerrilla III
Available to: Archery, Melee and Gunpowder units
Requires: Guerrilla II
Effects: +25% hills attack, +50% withdrawal chances.
Usage: If Ché Guevara played Civilization, he would use troops with this. Units with this can attack fortified positions swarming with the enemy after long, fast marches through the hills and then half of their defeats leave survivors. This means that a Guerrilla III unit behind enemy lines is a thing to fear; if you see them, close them down or expect a lot of trouble.

Name: Woodsman I
Available to: Recon, Melee and Gunpowder units
Requires: Nothing
Effects: +20% defence in Forest and Jungle
Usage: Apart from the hills, wooded terrain is a good place to hide from the enemy, Soldiers with Woodsman are good when you have a lot of forests on your border as frontier defences; as they can be positioned at strategic locations to block the enemy advance. The Aztec Jaguar gets it for free.

Name: Woodsman II
Available to: Recon, Melee and Gunpowder units
Requires: Woodsman I
Effects: +30% defence in Forest and Jungle; double movement speed in Forest and Jungle.
Usage: This is like the Guerrilla II promotion except it works in forests and jungles; it turns the unit that takes it into an expert in forest warfare. If you play Boreal maps, then it is incredibly useful, and it is also good for moving under the cover of the trees into and through enemy lands.

Name: Woodsman III
Available to: Melee and Gunpowder units
Requires: Woodsman II
Effects: +50% attack in Forest and Jungle; +2 First Strikes; +15% heal rate to units in the same tile.
Usage: This is a scary promotion. When the enemy are in a forest, in your lands, then they are almost impossible to kill and will attack you relentlessly; with two First Strikes so that they can hurt the enemy before they can hurt you. If you have these, then plan routes through forests into enemy lands, caused damage then pull out along the same route. At level 6, you can have Guerrilla III and Woodsman III which make the best commando unit for its level ever.

City Promotions

City Promotions give a bonus to combat in cities; the side of which depends on which of the two you take.

Name: City Raider I
Available to: Melee, Siege and Armoured units
Requires: Nothing
Effects: +20% City Attack
Usage: This is the basic promotion for a budding aggressive killing machine. I recommend giving it to units which are already aggressive or talented at attacking cities; Swordsmen (who will upgrade to Gunpowder units which can take out cities) and Armoured units (with a free Blitz promotion, they make great raiders). If an artillery unit takes it; then they will be able to batter the enemy in their positions.

Name: City Raider II
Available to: Melee, Siege and Armoured units
Requires: City Raider I
Effects: +25% City Attack
Usage: With this promotion, your men will be skilled in taking cities, with +45% against the walls. This can help to negotiate defensive bonuses like walls and culture, but you should still take along artillery to reduce the defences to rubble first; although a Modern Armour with this does not need to worry about much in the way of the enemy, regardless of where they are.

Name: City Raider III
Available to: Melee, Siege and Armoured units
Requires: City Raider II
Effects: +30% City Attack; +10% against Gunpowder units
Usage: This promotion means that a soldier with it can join a raiding pack (it only needs level 3) which can be used to capture cities. I recommend using tanks and other armoured units for this, giving you a fast, powerful group of troops which can hit hard and move on to the next objective without needing to delay in lines.

Name: City Garrison I
Available to: Archery and Gunpowder units
Requires: Nothing
Effects: +20% City Defence
Usage: When you defend cities, you want this. It provides a good addition to the natural bonuses you get for defending cities, especially if you use an Archer, and provides a good counter to City Raider divisions. Protective Leaders get this for free on their units; which just shows its usefulness.

Name: City Garrison II
Available to: Archery and Gunpowder units
Requires: City Garrison I
Effects: +25% City Defence
Usage: This should, in the early game, be your vehicle to invincible defence (as Sun Tzu pointed out, invincibility comes from defending) and with Walls and high Culture bonuses, not to mention a hill or the Archer’s natural capability in cities it will provide a lot of defensive power. When walls obsolete; it helps to offset the loss.


Name: City Garrison III
Available to: Archery and Gunpowder units
Requires: City Garrison II
Effects: +30% City Defence; +10% against melee units
Usage: You thought that Garrison II made you invincible? Think again – this is the god of defensive promotions. Not only does it mean that a unit with it has 175% of normal capacity in defence, but it means that those pesky Swordsmen have absolutely no chance; if you are an Archery unit then you have an advantage over them, and Gunpowder units are on equal terms, even when the enemy has Raider III.

Drill Promotions

Drill promotions do not increase the amount of fire that a unit lays down or the strength of its blows, what drill does it enables them to time their strikes more effectively to bring down the enemy. This is manifested in the game by First Strikes, which is a fair representation of what drill really does. As well as being defensive, all of these can be used on field units to enable the army to move faster (since it doesn't need to heal so much)

Name: Drill I
Available to: Archery, Siege, Gunpowder, Armoured, Helicopter and Naval units
Requires: Nothing
Effects: +1 First Strike Chances
Usage: When we think of Drill, we think of lines of red-coated men with rifles opening a barrage of lead on the charging enemy, forcing them to either disengage or killing them where they attack; like the Thin Red Line of Balaklava. In keeping with this image, it is a defensive promotion; allowing a unit to strike before the enemy can even open fire; meaning that a weaker unit with it can potentially see off, weaken or kill a stronger unit. Japanese Samurai get this promotion for free, as does the Oromo Warrior

Name: Drill II
Available to: Archery, Siege, Gunpowder, Armoured, Helicopter, Melee and Naval units
Requires: Drill I
Effects: +1 First Strike
Usage: This turns the potential first strike that basic Drill gives a unit into a certain volley of fire before the main engagement. It is again mostly defensive, and I think its use is to give a unit greater endurance and to prevent being worn down in fire fights. Samurai are the only melee unit which can take it, which adds to their deadliness (I recommend the Bushido article on them)

Name: Drill III
Available to: Archery, Siege, Gunpowder, Armoured, Helicopter, Melee and Naval units
Requires: Drill II
Effects: +2 First Strike chances; takes -20% damage from Collateral Damage
Usage: A unit with this promotion protecting a position is nigh-invincible. Against an un-drilled unit, they can put down enough fire to kill the attacker before he can even get a shot in. Placing a Drill III unit in a city makes them safer from the guns of the enemy, so they can stand tall against the shelling then throw back the enemy with walls of fire.

Name: Drill IV
Available to: Archery, Siege, Gunpowder, Armoured, Helicopter, Melee and Naval units
Requires: Drill III
Effects: +2 First Strikes; +10% against Mounted Units and takes -60% collateral damage
Usage: Just when you thought that a drilled unit couldn’t get any better, it did. Now they can fire up to six volleys of fire, stand up to fire from heavy guns, and protect themselves against the terror of the infantry regiment – charging horsemen. Sit one of these regiments in your city, and you will be able to hold it no matter what comes into your lands; even the biggest gun units will not worry these.

Artillery Promotions

Artillery Promotions are promotions which help units wear down the enemy. They are traditionally good in attacking cities; where the enemy are entrenched in their positions, as they give advantages like an increase in Bombard damage and Collateral damage, both of which are defining features of siege units.

Name: Barrage I
Available to: Siege, Armoured and Naval units
Requires: Nothing
Effects: +20% Collateral damage
Usage: This promotion adds to the general use of artillery units to weaken the enemy in their cities before an assault; they now do more damage to the units which they aren’t actually attacking. This means that your best siege weapons (and other units which cause collateral damage like Battleships) can do their job better, and so you can batter on the enemy stacks; depleting their defensive and aggressive divisions which are normally hard to get rid of.

Name: Barrage II
Available to: Siege, Armoured and Naval units
Requires: Barrage I
Effects: +30% Collateral damage; +10% against Melee units
Usage: This promotion further increases the ability of artillery to do its job; further increasing the belting it gives to an enemy stack, while also increasing its capacity to deal with melee units which are quite common. When given to ships, it means that a small fleet (especially if one has Blitz) the power to pound on large fleets and renders them useless.

Name: Barrage III
Available to: Siege, Armoured and Naval units
Requires: Barrage II
Effects: +50% Collateral damage; +10% against Gunpowder units
Usage: This promotion is as much a weapon for defence as offence; since it gives them a truly awesome amount of firepower and also lets it fight Gunpowder units better; so when a unit with this promotion perched in a city is a peril for enemy siege stacks; reducing them to nothing in a single round of shell-fire.

Name: Accuracy
Available to: Siege units
Requires: City Raider I, Barrage I
Effects: +8% Bombard Damage
Usage: Now, siege units have a main purpose of destroying the large defensive bonuses that cities have and this promotion adds to that; indeed it doubles the power of a Catapult. This makes a unit with it better at the indirect side of siege warfare, while Bombard promotions help the more direct, damaging side of action. Its use tapers off a bit the later in the game you get; but it is always a fairly good promotion to have.

Recon Promotions

Recon promotions are promotions which are less good in actual combat than in making sure that a unit does not have to engage in battle in the first place;’ for example, some give a Withdrawal Chance, others increase the range a unit can see, and so on.

Name: Flanking I
Available to: Mounted, Armoured, Helicopter and Naval units
Requires: Nothing
Effects: +10% Withdrawal Chance
Usage: Flanking allows your men to hit and run on the enemy, causing damage then retreating to (possible) safety. It is a great promotion for Submarines, who can eventually reach 80% chance of withdrawal from a defeat. Although it is only one in ten, it does mean that your men can go in, cause a lot of damage, and then leave some to carry on (all of the units which can get it have some kind of Withdrawal Chance anyway) the battle. The Carthaginian Numdian Cavalry gets it for free.

Name: Flanking II
Available to: Mounted, Armoured, Helicopter and Naval units
Requires: Flanking I
Effects: +20% Withdrawal Chance and Immunity to First Strikes
Usage: As with the original promotion Flanking II gives a Withdrawal Chance, but to a far greater extent: one in three units with this promotion (not counting their natural chance) will survive a defeat. This is very useful for squadrons of commando units who will go into enemy territory and then try to pull out with minimal losses; especially since they don't care about being cut down by Machine Guns or Archers.

Name: Sentry
Available to: Recon, Mounted, Helicopter and Naval units
Requires: Flanking I, Combat III
Effects: +1 Sight Range
Usage: This is the definitive promotion for serious scouting units like Explorers; although it needs a lot of training it provides a far greater radius of vision. If a unit is on a ship when it has this promotion it will increase the line-of-sight of the whole stack. I recommend it for Caravels, which are natural scout and combat ships, and Privateers start with it.

Name: Mobility
Available to: Mounted and Armoured units
Requires: Flanking II
Effects: -1 Cost to enter terrain (to a minimum of 1 not counting roads)
Usage: This promotion is the best promotion, possibly along with Commando, for plunder units – they can run rings around defending units. As I said earlier, the enemy’s natural advantage on his own turf is that he can move fast to your ponderous units, so when you can move faster than him (in non-road terrain) you negate that completely.

Navigation Promotions

Navigation Promotions are only available to ships, and they allow them to move faster. They are useful, and give the holder the advantage of initiative against the enemy.

Name: Navigation I
Available to: Naval units
Requires: Flanking I
Effects: +1 Moves
Usage: An extra movement point is very valuable at sea; it lets you chase or flee the enemy depending on the role that you give the holder; and so it is great for wolf-pack units like Stealth Destroyers and Attack Submarines, or for Transports which need to move fast. The Viking Unique Building, the Trading Post, gives this promotion free to all ships built there.

Name: Navigation II
Available to: Naval units
Requires: Flanking I, Navigation I
Effects: +1 Moves
Usage: If an extra move is good, two extra is even better. If you give this to a Galley or a Trireme, it doubles its speed, and so it will be able to dominate the lanes which they can travel along. Units with this will be difficult to escape or to catch, especially with the Sentry promotion.

Air Promotions

In BTS, Air Units can get promotions, but due to the way that these units operate they are slightly different from land and sea promotions; tending to increase the range and interception skills of the bearer.

Name: Range I
Available to: Air units
Requires: Combat II
Effects: +1 Operational Range
Usage: Being able to cover a lot of ground is very useful in air-based combat; seeing as you are tied to a base your air force should be able to cover a lot of area to attack, spy on and stop the enemy. It is good for planes which are going to live on Carriers or islands, since you want to be able to see and fight at longer range than the enemy on the waves. It is good in the hands of either Fighters or Bombers; Fighters need to be used to defend areas of your land and sea while bombers with it should be posted to the frontier and used to strike the enemy.

Name: Range II
Available to: Air units
Requires: Range I
Effects: +1 Operational Range
Usage: Air units which can strike at a very long range are worth their weight in god to you. If you have web of zones which overlap, you can Air Strike the enemy when they invade and if you have the entirety of your borders covered by zones you will be able to stop any enemy bombing missions and launch your own into his land.

Anti – Air Promotions

Anti-Air promotions are available to units which can intercept aircraft, and the purpose of them is to stop aircraft dead in their tracks and force them to fight rather than attacking vulnerable ground units.

Name: Interception I
Available to: Air units, SAM units and Mechanised Infantry
Requires: Nothing
Effects: +10% Interception
Usage: This promotion is for defending your country against the enemy; it makes it easier to stop the enemy when he flies his Air Force in to kill and bomb your people. Only Fighters should take this promotion; since you won’t be using Bomber units for this task anyway.

Name: Interception II
Available to: Air units, SAM units and Mechanised Infantry
Requires: Interception I
Effects: +20% Interception
Usage: Interception II should be used exactly as the original; and makes the units with it go from generalists-who-can-fight-aircraft into dedicated AA gunners; put them in key cities and on the frontier to make sure that the enemy cannot bomb you.

Name: Ace
Available to: Air units
Requires: Combat III
Effects: +25% Chance to evade Interception
Usage: Aces are flying units with a knack for getting past the enemy defences, bombing their positions, and getting out while the enemy are fruitlessly either hunting them or lying burnt-out on the ground. This means that you can give this to all units likely to make missions in enemy territory; like Bombers and Jet Fighters.

Warlord Promotions

These tend to be powerful promotions with unique effects, and the only thing that they have in common is that they all need the attention of a Great General to be unlocked. If you have one (and in some scenarios they come free) then consider using them on a unit – they give +20 experience points as well!

Name: Lead by Warlord
Available to: All units except Air Units
Requires: A Great General to use ‘Lead Troops as Warlord’
Effects: Free Upgrades
Usage: With this promotion, you can save a lot of money on modernising your units; all upgrades come for zero cost with this! However, the biggest use of this promotion is to unlock the other promotions in this category, as well as Combat VI and Medic III.

Name: Leadership
Available to: All units except Air Units
Requires: Lead by Warlord
Effects: +100% experience from combat.
Usage: Gaining twice as much experience from battle makes a unit even more able to keep in the game, like the Led by Warlord promotion. Having twice as many promotions for the same amount of work makes a lot of difference, especially since you can get more of them now you have a Warlord.

Name: Tactics
Available to: All units except Air Units
Requires: Lead by Warlord
Effects: +30% Withdrawal Chance
Usage: One trait of great officers is that they never know when to die. Napoleon escaped from being imprisoned on a tiny island once, then beat himself by going through an army while retreating from a defeat; and Rommel was away on leave when his army came under a bombardment which gave the commander a heart attack! With this, your generals gain that trait, and give your elite units a lot of endurance (one in three defeats can be escaped).

Name: Morale
Available to: All units except Air Units
Requires: Lead by Warlord
Effects: +1 Moves
Usage: Napoleon’s men once boasted that when he ordered them to march as fast as they could, they ran; and this promotion reflects that. The AI is singularly useless at dealing with fast, able units like you will see from a Warlord’s unit and so a quick unit which is already strong will fox them completely, and with Tactics you can retreat at speed from a defeat which you escaped, then consolidate and launch an attack anew. This makes a good promotion on a Crossbow unit which can be used to protect Knights from attacks by Knights.

Great article but a few comments:
1) Shock is great on mounted units - allows defense against Spearmen
2) Drill IV units also have -60% suffered collateral damage
3) You should probably mention that some units are resistant to first strikes
4) Cover works well on units which do not get CR promos like Musketmen

Name: Charge
Available to: Mounted, Melee, Armoured and Helicopter units
Requires: Combat I
Effects: +25% against Siege units
Usage: This is the easiest promotion in its class to get, but it is also the least useful, since siege units are not a challenge in field combat anyway. I suggest that you should give it to mounted troops to boost their ability against artillery which they naturally have from their flank attack, and to defensive units if you use any of the applicable classes in defence (not that likely, but I know some people like Axemen in defence).

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Quick ? - Does having this promotion increase the flanking damage that occurs if a horse archer attacks an axeman guarding 6 catapults. Or when you said "boost their ability against artillery which they naturally have from their flank attack" did you mean if a horse archer catches a bunch of catapults alone out in the open (unlikely but it does happen).

I mean that since they are normally good against artillery, this complements it.

royal62184 said:

Does having this promotion increase the flanking damage that occurs if a horse archer attacks an axeman guarding 6 catapults.

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No, it doesn't. The writing would suggest it does, but like the suggestions that drill is a defensive promotion which means a regiment can hold a city no matter what comes into your lands, it's farcical.

Since this guide claims to be complete I demand illustrations. I cannot understand the utility of drill merely by flowery writing. I need to see the terror of every infantry regiment - charging horsemen. Then I will be well positioned to raise my red flag against the tyranny.

Play a game series "The Promoted General" each boasting a specific group of promotions: One game do Drill for regulars, and Terrain for Melee, another game do Combat for everyone. Then post good descriptive screenies here!

Lord Chambers said:

No, it doesn't. The writing would suggest it does, but like the suggestions that drill is a defensive promotion which means a regiment can hold a city no matter what comes into your lands, it's farcical.

Since this guide claims to be complete I demand illustrations. I cannot understand the utility of drill merely by flowery writing. I need to see the terror of every infantry regiment - charging horsemen. Then I will be well positioned to raise my red flag against the tyranny.

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Horses historically and in the game flatten anything in a comparable tech era that walks around; except the specialists. How do you use Dirll?

Flying Pig said:

Name: Pinch
Available to: Mounted, Gunpowder, Armoured, Helicopter and Air units
Requires: Combat I or Drill Iand Gunpowder
Effects: +25% against Gunpowder units
Usage: As soon as Musketmen enter the scene, you can best them with Pinch. It is available to all units who can expect to see action against powder units, and provides the key to getting the edge in both attack and defence. Use it as an early promotion for your men if the enemy have Gunpowder. On Mounted units, it provides protection against Spearmen and Pikemen, which is useful

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Pinch provides a bonus to Mounted units against Spearmen and Pikemen, even though they are considered Melee units? I am not doubting you, I'm just wondering how one determines this, since it isn't listed in the Civlopedia (or Sevopedia). Is this because spear/pikemen can upgrade to Gunpowder units?

I put taht in the wrong place - it's meant to be under Shock!

Ah! That does make much more sense. Thanks for the quick reply. I was about to try some rather unconventional promotion strategies later tonight.

And thanks for the nice article! I really like having all this information condensed into an easy-to-read form I can keep handy.

Name: Morale
Available to: All units except Air Units
Requires: Lead by Warlord
Effects: +1 Moves
Usage: Napoleon’s men once boasted that when he ordered them to march as fast as they could, they ran; and this promotion reflects that. The AI is singularly useless at dealing with fast, able units like you will see from a Warlord’s unit and so a quick unit which is already strong will fox them completely, and with Tactics you can retreat at speed from a defeat which you escaped, then consolidate and launch an attack anew.

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A praticle use for this premotion is to create a crossbow warlord with this premotion and use him to counter pikemen who might want to attack a rapidly moving knight force.

Combine with spies to knock down city defences ...

Flanking II also gives immunity to first strikes.

Hereditary Rule said:

Flanking II also gives immunity to first strikes.

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The immunity to first strikes and the chance to withdraw make horses pretty impressive when trying to take a city. Sometimes a city is protected by a really fierce Archer/Longbow and your siege's collateral damage only hits the units that aren't the one directly defending.

You can often end up with a Longbow at full health after throwing 5-6 catapults/trebuchets at the city. If you had thrown 1-2 siege unit(s) at the city to damage all the units after the top defender, then a single Flanking II Horse Archer could move in to damage the Longbow and hopefully retreat.

If the Horse Archer doesn't retreat, you still damaged the Longbow - maybe enough to allow the rest of your siege units to survive. If your Horse Archer does retreat, then you got to damage the lead unit at no hammer cost to yourself!


to recap-
option 1: Attack with 7 catapults. All your catapults died and all the defenders are damaged to the point where they are easy pickings - except for that one Drill IV/CGI Longbow who just refuses to be hurt. You Swordsmen are unable to take the city.

option 2: Attack with 2 catapults. They die and all the other defenders after the Drill IV/CGI Longbow are weakened significantly. Attack with a Flanking II Horse Archer (or two). The Longbow is now hurt (possibly hurt quite a bit) and with some luck, you still have one or both Horse Archers. Attack with the remaining 5 catapults and take the city with ease, hopefully keeping a couple of the catapults that you brought along. Your Wood III Axeman heals everyone in the city soon after it falls.

The same thing can happen with Cannons/Rifles/Cavalry - even with the Rifle inherent bonus against mounted units.

Flying Pig said:

The Complete Guide to Promotions​

Name: Combat VI
Available to: All units
Requires: Combat V, Lead by Warlord
Effects: +25% Strength
Usage: A unit with this promotion is truly fearsome, since they have three quarters on top of normal strength levels! If you give a Great General to a sea unit, then this will be the method you have of ruling the waves.

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This might need to be moved to the Warlord section since it is Warlord Only.

Name: Ambush
Available to: Siege, Gunpowder, Armoured, Helicopter and Air units
Requires: Combat II
Effects: +25% against Armoured units
Usage: In the modern age, this is your red flag to be raised against the tyrannical oppression that you get from Tanks. Anti-Tank units get it for free, and if given to a Gunship it makes a deadly anti-armour unit; and seeing as Tanks are not likely to defend cities Gunships (which can’t take cities) are a good choice to take it, especially since they get a natural anti-armour bonus.

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Building Anti-Tank and upgrading them to Mechanised Infantry gives you a "free" Ambush promotion. Which do you want more, the extra promotion or the extra cash? I'd say that building a couple of Anti-Tank and then upgrading them could be very handy for your special border cities and/or your main attacking stack for use as a stack defender. I only think this is worth considering because this promotion does not count toward your level, so you can still take Geurilla II/Wood II for 5 XP and have the Ambush promotion in addition even when you're only building units with 5 XP. Alternatively, getting a couple of CGIII/Ambush Mechanised Infantry could make cities stand up to attacks just that much more easily and I expect your Heroic Epic city could manage 10 XP units while I doubt it could manage 17 XP.

Name: March
Available to: Recon, Archery, Mounted, Melee, Siege and Gunpowder units
Requires: Combat III, Medic I
Effects: Can heal while moving
Usage: This is one of the best promotions. It means that when you are wounded, you can run away at speed while re-gaining health every turn. Combined with Medic promotions, it can make a unit into a healer and a hit-and-run unit with no match, especially with Flanking; and it gives whoever takes it a lot of endurance. Mechanised Infantry and Navy SEALs get it for free.

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March is gold for Mounted units as well. If I manage to get a Heroic Epic city that can produce 10 XP Aggressive units, I tend to forget that other promotion options even exist and I start to crank out Combat III/March units to terrorize my neighbors.

Name: Medic II
Available to: All units except Air and Armoured units
Requires: Medic I
Effects: Units in adjacent tiles heal +10% per turn.
Usage: With this, the unit which held a stack together in the field can now anchor a whole army across nine tiles! This makes it strong for combined-arms attacks, where you will want some units to shield the ones behind, and you can surround a group of Medics and thus have a lot of healing power to your men.

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The real purpose for Medic II is to get you to spend your promotions on something stupid and pointless. It does absolutely NOTHING for your main stack that is trying to heal up for the next assault and if you have units sitting outside of your main stack waiting to heal in enemy lands, then shame on you. MOVE THEM TO THE MAIN STACK ON THE NEXT TURN OR SEND ALONG ANOTHER 5XP MEDIC I UNIT TO HEAL THEM! The only reason to choose Medic II is to make Medic III available and Medic III is only available when you attach a Warlord to the unit.

Name: Medic III
Available to: Recon, Archery and Gunpowder units
Requires: Medic II, Lead by Warlord
Effects: Units the same and in adjacent tiles heal +15% per turn.
Usage: Beware the army with one of these in it; all friendly units within a tile of its position heal +25%, and its own stack heals +35% per turn! This can hold together a large force through a lot of action; since your men need not worry about wounds so long as they win their battles.

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Medic III is a Warlord Only promotion and needs this emphasized with big bold italic, um... emphasis. Great Generals are a precious commodity and spending one on a Medic unit can be useful, but Wood III can do a decent part of that job for just 10 XP and Wood III/Medic I can heal units in the same tile at the same rate as Medic III without having to spend a Great General. I'm not saying that there is no place for Medic III, but I do think that it is worth serious consideration before you pull that trigger.

SPECIAL NOTE: Wood III does stack with Medic I and Medic III, but ONLY WHEN THOSE PROMOTIONS ARE ALL ON A SINGLE UNIT.
Wood III + Medic I + Medic III on one unit = +50 HP healed per turn.
Wood III on one unit + Medic III on a different unit = wasted Wood III promotion.

Name: Guerrilla III
Available to: Archery, Melee and Gunpowder units
Requires: Guerrilla II
Effects: +25% hills attack, +50% withdrawal chances.
Usage: If Ché Guevara played Civilization, he would use troops with this. Units with this can attack fortified positions swarming with the enemy after long, fast marches through the hills and then half of their defeats leave survivors. This means that a Guerrilla III unit behind enemy lines is a thing to fear; if you see them, close them down or expect a lot of trouble.

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I don't have the game itself with me. Is there any way to combine Guerilla III with either Flanking or with the Warlord Only promotion that increases your chance to withdraw? If so, then you have your first defense buster right there even when you're up against a neighbor with a significant tech lead.

Name: Woodsman II
Available to: Recon, Melee and Gunpowder units
Requires: Woodsman I
Effects: +30% defence in Forest and Jungle; double movement speed in Forest and Jungle.
Usage: This is like the Guerrilla II promotion except it works in forests and jungles; it turns the unit that takes it into an expert in forest warfare. If you play Boreal maps, then it is incredibly useful, and it is also good for moving under the cover of the trees into and through enemy lands.

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The AI also tends to forget that your units can move 2 spaces if the first one is a forest (even a forest hill), so Worker stealing becomes significantly easier once you have a Wood II Melee unit. It also makes keeping the Worker a lot easier if you manage to take him while he's working in the forest.

Name: Woodsman III
Available to: Melee and Gunpowder units
Requires: Woodsman II
Effects: +50% attack in Forest and Jungle; +2 First Strikes; +15% heal rate to units in the same tile.
Usage: This is a scary promotion. When the enemy are in a forest, in your lands, then they are almost impossible to kill and will attack you relentlessly; with two First Strikes so that they can hurt the enemy before they can hurt you. If you have these, then plan routes through forests into enemy lands, caused damage then pull out along the same route. At level 6, you can have Guerrilla III and Woodsman III which make the best commando unit for its level ever.

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[/quote]
Wood III makes me happy. Happy, happy, happy.
Wood III + Medic I = Medic III without having to spend a Great General and it's available at 17 XP for Aggressive leaders and a bargain basement price of 10 XP for Jaguar Warriors who come with Wood I and Combat I free.

I like the guide, 'cept the Drill part.

Drill isn't useful only on city defnese - or even primarily. In fact, its strength shows when it's used on Gunpowder units such as Riflemen. It increases survival odds, damage done, and thus, indirectly, the speed of your campaign.

I see it as an endurance promotion - good application though; I've added it

Hasn't Combat been removed from siege units?

Flying Pig,
I'm probably mimicking what others have said in replies but I don't agree with your summary of the Drill promotions. It has long been my view that drill promotions are the most difficult to understand of all the promotions because the adding of first strikes is not well understood by many players.

It is barely worth calling Drill 1 and 2 defensive promotions. There's no obvious reason that they're better for defending than attacking, except the mere fact that the earliest units that get drill people consider typically to be defensive unies i.e. longbows and archers.

The true art of using drill promotions, or any unit with several first strikes for that matter (eg. samurais) is to attack weakened defenders. These are the situations where first strikes count the most and where xp gains become ridiculous. People would be quick to come back and say well anything can kill injured units, but with drill units, even outdated drill units will do well against injured units. It's one of the reasons Oromos are one of the best UUs in the game.

When using them defensively, the +10% vs. mounted is a joke because the mounted units are normally immune to first strikes. More often than not you'd find you'd want your D4 units not defending against the horses and instead defending against other units.

Another downside to drill which is nowhere near obvious is that damaged drill units are often strangely picked up by the best defender code and will defend at bad odds when there are better, full health defenders available.

By the way, a minor correction. Technically any melee unit can get the drill promotions 2 through to 4. They just cannot get D1 except through random events or a case like the Samurai. IMO there's a reason for that too. Melee units with the drill line would be much scarier than archery units with drill.

PieceOfMind said:

It is barely worth calling Drill 1 and 2 defensive promotions. There's no obvious reason that they're better for defending than attacking, except the mere fact that the earliest units that get drill people consider typically to be defensive unies i.e. longbows and archers.

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I tend to see Drill as a defensive promotion, but I do so just because of one specific unit: Privateers.

First Strikes are better than 10% combat promotion bonuses when you are facing multiple units that all have significantly lower strength than your unit. If the first unit can damage your unit, then the later units have a much better shot at killing you. If the first unit goes down without damaging you at all because of First Strikes, then you're in good shape.

I find this especially true with Privateers since a stack of 3-4 Caravels won't even bother to attack my Privateer if it is at full strength. With Drill III, I can attack one Caravel per turn and have a decent shot at defeating the thing without taking any damage. At that point, the remaining Caravels will not bother to attack on the AI turn. If I attacked the Caravel with a Combat III Privateer, I'm unlikely to take much damage, but any damage at all seems to trigger some kind of "blood in the water" shark mentality among the Caravels.

I don't know why this happens and it's the reason why I try to run a pair of Privateers together - one with Drill promotions for 1/turn attacks without taking any damage (hopefully) and one with Medic I to quickly heal the Drill ship if it is damaged and to sit quietly with 100HP to discourage Caravel attacks while the Drill ship is waiting to get back to 100.