How does Unit Support work?

[Commissar_Yari]

So what is the deal with Unit Support?

What does it do, and how does it work?

Also, is a higher or lower value better, because I always thought lower values were better (though I don't know what it actually does.)

*edit* Basically I always thought that the numbers listed for cities, towns, and metropolises were how much gold you paid to support each military unit. For example, I always thought that if you were under Communism, you would have to pay 6 gold for every unit you had.

Somebody told me this wasn't the case, however, so I would like an explanation of what unit support does and what the numbers mean.

 

[AIL]

Your Question is quite Hard to understand...

Unit support, well... You normally have to pay gold for your units to support them. In dependance of your governement and size of cities you will get some units for free. How many is known by the military Advisor (F3)... He also knows how much Gold you spend on your units.

I think that thing with the governments and city-sizes is what you are referring too when asking if a higher or lower number is better.

In that case a higher number is better because the payment kicks in only after you exceed the free support.

Overall support-cost cannot be rated to be good or bad. Build as many Units as you need and pay for them...

 

[Speedo]

Unit Support means how much you are paying for your units. Certain types of government allow you to have some free units before you have to pay any gold. That's what the numbers are you're talking about. For example, with Monarchy you get...
2 free units for every town (city size 1-6)
4 free units for every city (city size 7-12)
8 free units for every metropolis (city size 13+)

So, if you were under monarchy, and your empire consisted of 1 metropolis, 3 cities, and 5 towns, you could have up to 30 units in your military (remember workers and settlers count, though) without paying any money. If your military grows beyond that, you will have to pay 1 gold per turn for each unit more than you can support.

In communism, you get 6 free units for every city no matter what it's size, which is why many people use it as a war government. Others, like democracy, don't give you any free units, so you can't usually afford an enormous military with them.

The F3 military advisor screen will show you how many units you can support (without paying), how many units you have, and how much gold your paying per turn to support your military.

 

[Commissar_Yari]

Thanks Speedo for explaining that to me, I understand it now, you're the man.