How to get highest initial exp. for a new unit

[estwald]

Question for the vanilla game:

What combination of wonders, national wonders, civics, leader characteristics, city improvements, etc. etc. would give you the most experience/promotions for a brand new military unit?

And how much experience would that be?

Thanks,

-Estwald

 

[JustinianVII]

Barracks (or Drydock)+ Vassalage+ Theocracy+ Pentagon+ West Point= 14 pts. If memory serves, that's as good as it gets on Vanilla straight out of boot camp for a new unit.

 

[estwald]

What about leader characteristics? And that wonder that provides the medic promotion?

 

[JustinianVII]

Aggressive gives free Combat I, while the Red Cross gives free Medic. So with these in mind, it's 5 promotions max out of the starting gate if everything is combined.

 

[Refar]

Edit: Post safe to ignore

Spoiler :

Was Charismatic in Vanilla ? or did it came with the Expansions ?

Also - Everyting mentione above + Stable would be 2 XP more on horses (Stable and Barracks cumulative...) But again... not sure if vanilla had stable...

 

[JustinianVII]

Vanilla did not have Charismatic, Protective, Great Generals, or Stables.

 

[6K Man]

So, in BtS... for my own edification:

Barracks (3) + Stable (2) + Vassalage (2) + Theocracy (2) + Pentagon (2) + West Point (4)= 15 points for horses, 13 for other land units, 14 for ships, 12 for planes...

A Charismatic leader gets 4 promos with 13 points.

With Boudica, that's Combat 1 + Guerilla 1 (from Dun*) + 4 promos + Red Cross = 7 promos potentially for Gunpowder units (Archery units are long gone when you have Pentagon). Even assuming non horses, ships or planes, that's still 4 promos for planes (they can't be Medics) and 6 promos for everything else.

(of course, in practice you'd probably put Heroic Epic (or maybe Ironworks) in the city with West Point, so Red Cross would be out)


edit:* - or does the free Guerilla 1 no longer apply after Gunpowder?

 

[Refar]

Walls are obsolote with gunpowder, so are duns...

 

[BalbanesBeoulve]

Early game, the native americans can get 10 xp with barracks, theorcracy, vassalage, and the totem pole on their archery units. That's enough for a heroic epic without ever needing to fight a war.

 

[RulerOfDaPeople]

How do experience promotions work?

What is the best all around promotion to upgrade? Strength?

I looked for a promotion guide in War Acadamy but I didn't see one. Am I missing it?

 

[JustinianVII]

It's either Strength or Specialize. Strength gives a unit a little more flexibility in fighting any other soldier. Specializing allows the unit to be strong against a particular soldier or have a certain bonus (anti-soldier, terrain, city attack/defense, medic), but has less overall strength. A Combat 1+ Cover Mace will do better against Longbows than a Combat 2 Mace, but a Combat 2 Mace will fare better against anything that's not an archery unit. Mix, match, and combine, but nothing's really superior to anything else; it really depends on the situation. (With the possible exception of Woodsman III.)

 

[RulerOfDaPeople]

So if you're around the Renaisance, and you have alot of Knights as your best unit, would you reccomend Strength to take cities? I noticed that whenever I go to try and conquer a city the AI unit I would go against, changes with the selection of different type of units to give the AI a better defense bonus.

So when trying to conquer cities, should I be concerned with the type of units defending the city? Will the same bonus' vs those units apply in a city?

 

[6K Man]

This really needs its own thread, but I promote units based on what they will be doing - or what they will be doing later after I upgrade them.

So...

I give Privateers Combat bonuses because I know that eventually, they'll have enough experience for Blitz, and Blitz Destroyers are absolutely brutal. One or two will get Medic for stack healing purposes.

I give Macemen and Swordsmen and their derivatives City Raider, because I usually use them for attacking and taking cities, and the survivors will become Grenadiers>Infantry.

I give Archers/Longbows City Defender. That's what they do, in my games.

I give siege units a mix of City Raider and Barrage.

I give (most) Horse units Combat, occasionally Flanking. Medic 1 on some Chariots early on.

Tanks get Barrage I first (always!) and then City Raider mostly.

Of course, I will have some specialized units (e.g. Cover Macemen for city attacks in the Longbow/Crossbow era) as well. And I'm sure there are others do things differently.

 

[Catan_Settler]

I follow a remarkably similar strategy to promotions as 6k man there. The only thing I would add, is that I also make sure I have some counter units promoted with Woodsman II and/or Guerilla II. By counter units I mean Pikemen/Spears (counters mounted), and Axemen/Macemen (counters melee) that sort of thing. Reason being is it's nice to have really strong stack defenders along, and with the double move you can often catch a stray pillager before he causes too much damage. Also when you're on the offensive, you often have an opportunity to whittle down some of the enemy's troops *outside* of his cities and the same thing applies-- you can often sneak that pikeman swiftly through the forest and catch his knights before they gets inside city walls. I often will end up with a couple Woodsman II/Guerilla III infantry near the end of the game, and those are simply fantastic stack defenders with the added bonus of being able to defend proactively against counter attacks and cut of reinforcements as well. You certainly don't want to focus a majority of your troops onto Woodsman and Guerilla lines, but a couple of each type is definitely worth building, and trying to nurture through the ages via upgrades and continuing promotions.

 

[ZB2]

I dont promote my units until I face a war. That way I have much better flexibility in choosing how many units will be specialized to kill invading armies, or capture cities, without being stuck with promotions already chosen in BC where their wasnt many foes.

Slightly vunerable to suprise attacks mind, as coastal core cities may get steamrollered in their unpromoted state. But thats countered by a navy and diplomacy.