Unit Promotion strategies?

Whats your unit promotion strategies in G&K?

With the great new upgrade paths for units my way of choosing one set of promotions for each type has become even easier, but I'm finding myself lacking a strategy.

Is cover high priority? rough or flat damage bonus and all the others?

as a stay-over from vanilla i tend to go for flat damage bonus from the idea that you should only be attacking enemies on the flat. i used to give my units cover since they'd usually be sitting outside cities for a while. with the promotion paths changed for siege units and siege units doing less damage to units in general i should probably switch it up a little... perhaps with cover? can siege units still get that siege bonus though?

cakes said:

as a stay-over from vanilla i tend to go for flat damage bonus from the idea that you should only be attacking enemies on the flat. i used to give my units cover since they'd usually be sitting outside cities for a while. with the promotion paths changed for siege units and siege units doing less damage to units in general i should probably switch it up a little... perhaps with cover? can siege units still get that siege bonus though?

Click to expand...

The siege vs cities is combined with the vs fortified promotion and looks like a brick wall.

compwiz1202 said:

The siege vs cities is combined with the vs fortified promotion and looks like a brick wall.

Click to expand...

oh excellent thank you

It really depends on the unit.

For infantry, cover is really important bc they beefed it up to 33% instead fo 25% and city defenses have been beefed-up so much that those units are just meatshields for your artillery. I usally go drill I-III instead of shock I-III when I pick my line unless I know for a fact that a certain civ whose empire is built on flat terrain is likely to DoW me, in which case I want to specialize in open-terrain warfare.

For artillery, I always try to just go accuracy I-III or barrage I-III so I can get either logistics or +1 range. I've had times where I got rocket artillery with 4 attacks per turn and a 4-tile range... readly in the right hands. Siege is not as big of a bonus in G&K bc of the innate huge bonus vs. cities.

For mounted, it depends on the unit. Regular mounted units (Horseman, Knight, etc.), I usually split between them and generally have half of my mounted units upgrade to Shock III and half Drill III so that I can deploy them strategically. The main upper-level promo I go with them is blitz, bc it's just ridiculously powerful once they upgrade to tanks.

The mounted UUs with ranged attacks (My favorite of these is the horse archer) I almost always instead get March first bc my usual combat strategy is to spam them and have them cycle in and out of battle to rain down destruction. That +5 hp means I can usually recover from any damage they take from melee units within 3-4 turns at most (This is even more powerful if I have the Faith Healers pantheon and am fighting close to home). It also helps that the horse archer starts with accuracy I and is therefore only 30 xp away from this.

For a peacemongerer you have some pretty violent strategies. It does sound like it's the same as vanilla upgrades mostly.

But then we haven't covered melee navy units, those kinda threw me a curve ball, since I used to go bombard on tirems, but now you can get your two free upgrades on barbarians, so I'm favoring melee damage over city attacks, but I'm playing a Dutch game now and wonder if I should try some city gold stealing with my units, problem is there isn't much chance of using it as you can't pirate in peacetime.

Meh, promotion strategy hasn't really changed much for me. I still base promotions for a unit on the terrain nearby (most of my units are defenders for a particular city). My attacking always go with Shock until access to march/blitz.

The one place where strategy has altered somewhat is naval (since there's the melee/ranged difference). I make a few melee escorts with Boarding Parties but primarily my melee specializes in city assault while my ranged are the anti-naval (with the occassional bombardment ship thrown in - especially when I get to battleships).

Keep in mind that you need all three of Barrage or Accuracy, as Peacemonger said, to get Logistics and Range. So if you work on both, you are delaying access to the best promotions.

I just finished a game as the Huns. The Horse Archers were just mean. I went with logistics as my first big promotion. Being able to 'scoot and shoot' twice was really key. Range is great, and it was the promotion I would take after logistics, but it isn't nearly as useful. Since you can 'scoot and shoot' you can run in, shoot twice, and then run back out of range. You also cause double the damage and get double the XP. Range makes this even better, but it doesn't have the same tactical power as Logistics.

Don't neglect things like Medic. I try to specialize a few units with it to act as support.

Really, you just need to ask yourself what the unit's purpose will be in the context of your army. If you plan to use siege to act as your main damage output, focus them on damage while your infantry focus on suvivability to soak up damage and protect the artillery.

I found that range promo on frigates to be a waste since the bonus doesn't carry over to battleships that already fire 3 range. I often pick supply and logistics first for frigates. Nice when said frigates upgrade to battleships though, and then get the range promo on top of logistics and supply, very nice!

I'm curious. How important is it to get Barracks/Armory/etc. before going to war as opposed to just relying on Barbarian XP/War XP?

Barbarian XP will usually cut it, but the barracks is nice bc you don't have to micromanage as much promoting your units and you also can get the Hero Epic wonder.

Now Im going to try to turn my spear unit, Usually have one into a medic. He can be decent until Pike but rapidly loses steam lancer with movement and weak power makes perfect medic

My promotion philosophy is generally inline with my tactical manoeuvre on the battlefield. The first big question is whether to go for Shock or Drill. Which depends mostly on the terrain you will be fighting over. Considering that rough terrain has the highest defensive bonus this ought to be the most highly contested ground on the battlefield. The unit positioned on forest/plains/hill will have a significant tactical advantage over one on floodplains/grassland/marsh.

Another point worth considering is that melee units will occupy the ground of any enemies they kill. So it is often better to prioritise staying on high ground vs. making a kill - unless the possibility of reprisal is eliminated. Given these tactics, my melee units will be spending most of their time taking and holding the rough ground. So I give them upgrades to match.

Ranged units, and cavalry, on the other hand need to be given upgrades based on where the enemy is located. Bombardment can be good for negating rough terrain bonuses, but if your opponent takes the low ground, Accuracy can totally rip them apart.

My general upgrade paths are as follows:

Standard Melee - Drill I, II, and III, March, Shock I, Woodsman, Cover I, and II.
Assault Melee - Shock I, and II, Siege, Amphibious, Cover I, and II, and Shock III.

General Ranged - 50% (Accuracy I, II and III) and 50% (Barrage I, II, and III), Logistics, Volley, Siege, and Range (as the need dictates).
Medic AA - Shock I, and II, Medic, I and II, Cover I and II, Shock III.

Standard Cavalry - Shock I, and II, Charge, Shock III, Blitz, and March.
Recon Cavalry - Drill I and II, Sentry, Charge, Drill III, and Mobility.

Destroyers - Targeting I, Sentry, Targeting II, and III, Logistics, Supply, and Range.
Battleships - Bombard I, II, and III, Logistics, Targeting I, and Supply.

Land Interceptor - Interception I, and II, Sortie, Interception III, Ambush I, and II, Repair.
Naval Multi-Role - Interception I, Accuracy I, and II, Repair, Interception II, and III, Sortie.
Bombers - Upgrade as per target.


Notes
1. With my melee units, I will spend that extra promotion point to get a Drill III/Shock I. Because, the versatility is often good.
2. Destroyers should ALWAYS get Sentry before Targeting II. Their job is to find subs.
3. I always spend the 3rd promotion, on cavalry, to get charge. Because, that's how I use cavalry.
4. I only use the 'recon cavalry' sequence when I have the need for it. Using cavalry on rough ground is treacherous, but, sometimes you need to do it.