How *exactly* do units gain experience?

[Netsurfer733]

I'm just starting out in Warlords, and I managed to get one of my Warlords in the barbarian scenario to have about 85 experience points, and he was an unstoppable juggernaut which I loved to death (though he lived on ).

So it just got me thinking, how exactly do units gain experience? Do they:

a) Get the same xp from killing units of ANY health level?
b) Get more xp for a 'hard' kill? I.e. a str. 6 killing a str. 8?
c) Get more xp depending on how low on health your victorious unit is?
d) (kind of an aside) Gain xp even from a successful withdrawal?

I seek to re-create my uber-unit-gaining experience in the epic game lol, so let me know!

 

[Spitefire]

In unmodded normal game play a unit gains exp from kills more risk based on lose % means more gains to a point i think 10 is the max without the leadership promotion, withdraws grant 1 exp 2 if the unit has a general attached to it with the leadership promotion, and barb animals will not give any exp to units of 5 exp and up and regular barbs will not give exp to units of 10 exp and up.

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

OK, basic ideas as they relate to Warlords 2.08

Experience comes in two general forms: combat experience, and non combat experience.

Non combat experience (huts, great generals, barracks) is simply added to your unit's total.

Combat experience is a bit more involved. There's a calculation based on the units involved, war experience (ie, not fighting barbs) may get a boost depending on the promotions of the unit (Leadership gives you a 100% boost) and the civics you are running (none, but there is a modding hook in place). Finally, there is a cap in place to restrict the experience you get from barbarians, as defined by Global Defines ANIMAL_MAX_XP_VALUE and BARBARIAN_MAX_XP_VALUE.




A unit earns experience when it kills off its opponent. This experience is capped by MIN_EXPERIENCE_PER_COMBAT and MAX_EXPERIENCE_PER_COMBAT prior to the application of the modifiers and caps described above.

Civ4UnitsInfo describes an XPValueAttack and an XPValueDefense. If the attacker wins, his base experience earned will be the defenders XPValueAttack. If the defender wins, he gets the attackers XPValueDefense. This base value is multiplied by the ratio of the loser's combat strength (at the beginning of the fight) and the winners combat strength. Combat strength is the maximum strength of the unit (including the modifiers for terrain, promotions, and so on) multiplied by the percentage of hit points that unit has remaining.


A unit earns experience when it withdraws - the amount of the experience is defined by EXPERIENCE_FROM_WITHDRAWAL - which is then modified as described above (yes, your leadership ?! catapult gets 2xp when it withdraws from combat).


Therefore

Get the same xp from killing units of ANY health level? No
Get more xp for a 'hard' kill? I.e. a str. 6 killing a str. 8? Yes
Get more xp depending on how low on health your victorious unit is? Yes, with the understanding that the health that matters is what you had at the beginning of combat, not at the end.
Gain xp even from a successful withdrawal? Yes

 

[Netsurfer733]

Ohh interesting! Alright, so I guess risk = good...but there is one more question I can think of in regards to that

I noticed my Warlord units were getting particularly bad luck against units that they even had so much as 1 or 2 points *over* said enemy units as far as chances of winning go. In other words my question is:

Is your luck worse in a single unit X vs. unit X fight with a computer than it is with a human?? Just curious, since I'm going to need to put this to the test soon!!

 

[Perugia]

Don't forget XP is capped at 10 when you upgrade a unit. You know this has happened when you see stats like 19/26 before an upgrade and 10/26 afterwards.

That's why it's a bad idea to upgrade units with obsolete promotions.

It's also bad to upgrade with stats like 25/26. You are better off wining one more battle against a weakened opponent to get 26/26 then promoting to 26/37 and finally upgrading to finish with 10/37 XP.

Obviously it's really bad to upgrade a unit with latent promotions like 22/17 as that will throw all the XP over 10 away and give you no promotion in return.

 

[ShredZ]

Does anyone know the exact percentages for XP, it should look something like this:

99% = 1XP
90-98% = 2XP
70-80% = 3XP

and from there I dont really know...

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

Does anyone know the exact percentages for XP, it should look something like this:

No, it shouldn't. See above: XP is based on combat strength, not on probability of winning.

 

[DaveMcW]

I seek to re-create my uber-unit-gaining experience in the epic game lol, so let me know!

Drill Promotions give you the optimal combination of XP and survival rate.

 

[Netsurfer733]

Drill Promotions give you the optimal combination of XP and survival rate.

I get everything in this thread except for this one statement...?

 

[Quornix]

Drill promotions make it easier to kill your opponent, without changing your unit's strength. Since the XP is based on relative strength (including all % modifiers), drill units get extra combat power "for free" in terms of XP. Everything else changes your relative strength by giving you a +%.

 

[namliaM]

No, it shouldn't. See above: XP is based on combat strength, not on probability of winning.

True tho the 2 are strongly correlated, check out the war acadamy... this one in particular
http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/strategy/combat_explained.php

 

[tycoonist]

i got 6xp for my immortal beating an archer at 2.1% yesterday. needless to say, my other immortals were subsequently crushed by a single archer

 

[Netsurfer733]

I assume the archer was defending

And what do you mean by the 2.1%?