Ranged units with ranged promotions upgrading to melee units?

[Athenaeum]

Of course it is always said that when a Keshik is upgraded into a Cavalry, for example, all the ranged promotions it acquired are wasted.

Is that really the case?


Correct me if I'm wrong. For melee units that have only a combat strength value, when they are attacked by a ranged attack, it is implied that their melee combat strength is equal to their ranged combat when calculating for damage, right?

So if a Cavalry which used to be a Keshik had Accuracy III promotions, wouldn't it still get a ranged defense bonus in open terrain?

 

[claudiupb]

It won't, because the way combat system works. When they are attacked by a ranged unit, ranged units use their ranged strength (which can be multiplied by accuracy/barrage promotions + cover + any terrain bonuses for hills, forests, etc). But melee units use their melee strength because they don't have ranged strength. The promotions for ranged units (accuracy/barrage) don't increase the melee strength, so they will not have any effect on the unit.

There are ranged promotions that work when upgrading to melee. Logistics will give you two attacks. I don't know if it stacks with blitz, but if it does you get 3 attacks for that unit which is nice. Of course march is going to work. Cover is also a good option, especially if you do a Chariot Archer rush.

 

[reddishrecue]

Some ranged promotions done early do upgrade to work for melee. For example, I had war elephant ranged units promoted to smooth terrain III promotion and then when I upgraded them to knights, the promotion stayed and had a bonus when attacking melee in smooth terrain and then the additional smooth terrain promotions from the melee part. So yeah, current melee and former ranged smooth promotions could add up such as 45% from smooth and then the 15% from smooth again where the 45% was from ranged smooth and then 15% is the current melee promotions on their way to 30% and then 45%.

 

[Paszczak]

Unfortunately, this is just a visual bug in the combat preview.

It displays the +45% bonus attacking in open terrain for your Knight, but his actual combat strength is still 20.

 

[reddishrecue]

The obsolete promotions do add up with the new promotions after the upgrade.