Poland, tailored towards elite Winged Hussars.

[Securion]

When BNW is out, I would like to play Poland and tailor my whole strategy around creating the most promoted and all-around elite Winged Hussars that can be done, and I could use some advices...

My thought is to get a Barracks up asap and build more than usual amount of Spearmen in the early game. Some of these might get promoted in combat if there are some early wars. And they can later get upgraded to Pikemen, and then Winged Hussars.
Easy enough.

But im more interested in being able to build new elite WHs when they arrive, so Barracks and Armoury is a no brainer, as well as beelining Alhambra. That gives me, what? Free Drill and then two promotions? Or is it two promotions and then half-way to a third? With Ducal Stable I get another 15 xp so I guess its three promotions no matter what.

Another option is to beeline Military Science but that would make the use of the WHs a little late for full effect... Not an option.

Also, does the WH still have the Lancer penalty when defending? And does their abilities stay when they upgrade to... ehm... anti-tank guns... Well, really, the question is; do their abilities to push enemies back follow to Attack Choppers?

Another question, how many cities as Poland? Start with Tradition then go left side Honour? Or go left side Honour immediately to max out the WHs (Pikemen gets double xp...)?

What are your plans for Poland?

 

[Loucypher]

My plans for Poland will be to:
Step 1: Beeline Chivalry, and get Alhambra.
Step 2: Beeline on to Military Science, and grab Brandenburg.
Step 3: Create 75 XP Cavalry to be upgraded soon enough into Landships.

That'll be the war part. Otherwise I wouldn't worry too much about planning with them - they seem very beginner friendly due to the free policies. Those might also help in letting you slot in a bit in Honor for faster XP gain, come and think of it.

 

[Securion]

My plans for Poland will be to:
Step 1: Beeline Chivalry, and get Alhambra.
Step 2: Beeline on to Military Science, and grab Brandenburg.
Step 3: Create 75 XP Cavalry to be upgraded soon enough into Landships.

That'll be the war part. Otherwise I wouldn't worry too much about planning with them - they seem very beginner friendly due to the free policies. Those might also help in letting you slot in a bit in Honor for faster XP gain, come and think of it.

How many promotions are 75 xp btw?

EDIT; I found this with Google:

The promotion costs for the next level can can be calculated by Previous level XP + (10 * Next level)

So for level 1 : 0 + (10 * 1) = 10
Level 2 : 10 + (10 * 2) = 30
Level 3 : 30 + (10 * 3) = 60
Level 4 : 60 + (10 * 4) = 100
And so on.

So I guess 75 xp is three promotions.

 

[wigwam]

Three. Promotions are at 10, 30, 60, 100, etc.

 

[Securion]

Three. Promotions are at 10, 30, 60, 100, etc.

Is the Alhambra Drill I promotion "free", or does it count as 15 xp?
I remember building Hussars as Austria with Drill III and Blitz out of the box with Alhambra, Barracks, Armoury, Academy and Brandenburg Gate. Thats 75 xp and Drill III with Blitz is 100 xp worth of promotions... So Alhambra must be free... The unit starts with Drill I but counts as no promotions (next promotion is 10 xp, second 30, and so on).

With the polish Ducal Stable we should be able to have another 15 xp added to that.

 

[Petiscator]

Is the Alhambra Drill I promotion "free", or does it count as 15 xp?
I remember building Hussars as Austria with Drill III and Blitz out of the box with Alhambra, Barracks, Armoury, Academy and Brandenburg Gate. Thats 75 xp and Drill III with Blitz is 100 xp worth of promotions... So Alhambra must be free... The unit starts with Drill I but counts as no promotions (next promotion is 10 xp, second 30, and so on).

With the polish Ducal Stable we should be able to have another 15 xp added to that.

AFAIK, Alhambra's Drill I is free.

 

[Securion]

The question then is; March, Charge or Blitz? What promotion fits the WHs the best?

 

[Petiscator]

The question then is; March, Charge or Blitz? What promotion fits the WHs the best?

Hmm... I'd go with Blitz, followed closely by Charge. As they get 5 movement, you'd be able to attack twice fairly easily, and so might push out 2 units. With Charge, you could do extra damage, so it is more probable that the enemy unit is pushed out. I'd probably get some of them with Medic I and Medic II, though, as they can wait on the back and heal your wounded W. Hussars

 

[Securion]

Hmm... I'd go with Blitz, followed closely by Charge. As they get 5 movement, you'd be able to attack twice fairly easily, and so might push out 2 units. With Charge, you could do extra damage, so it is more probable that the enemy unit is pushed out. I'd probably get some of them with Medic I and Medic II, though, as they can wait on the back and heal your wounded W. Hussars

To have the Winged Hussars ability to trigger, it must do more damage than it receives. So Charge sounds fantastic. The thing is, for Charge to trigger, the enemy must already be damaged... A lot of "triggers" there...

Blitz is always nice, but I dont know if the second attack will be very useful if its on another unit than the first attack, since, as said above, WHs abilities only triggers if they do more damage than they receive. Its doubtful if it would trigger on a second attack...?
Blitz also generates more xp... for further promotions...

March would be the safest bet I guess. Always useful against the AI since they spam units.

 

[MadDjinn]

I personally prefer March first, then the medics. Horse units have the big disadvantage of no defensive bonuses, so they need to heal more often to mitigate damage taken.

After march, then charge. a pack of horse units with those promotions can do a lot of damage. Finally blitz if you need it. Blitz is mainly last due to the multiple attacks leaving you multiply damaged and potentially killable. The use of excess movement from blitz doesn't matter as the horse units have it anyways.

But, from your original Q - spears to pikes and grab siege before upgrading. horse units don't get siege, so Lancers with siege become a terror.

 

[Crafty Bison]

Seconded. March first. If a pike, siege should follow, else charge, especially because of the winged hussar's unique bonus. Not that important, but if you're seeing it still being in the balance in the later game, get the movement promo while you're a lancer, cos you get 3 movement as an anti tank which is pretty big, and you can't get it while a tank. Then again, both the cover and medic lines can be very useful too, so meh, whatever.

I see Poland being annoying cause you want up to 75xp for your winged hussars, but will have built most of them as spears/pikes where the ducal stables don't give the production or experience bonus. Works with cavalry, but they're not the cool UU .

 

[Securion]

I personally prefer March first, then the medics. Horse units have the big disadvantage of no defensive bonuses, so they need to heal more often to mitigate damage taken.

After march, then charge. a pack of horse units with those promotions can do a lot of damage. Finally blitz if you need it. Blitz is mainly last due to the multiple attacks leaving you multiply damaged and potentially killable. The use of excess movement from blitz doesn't matter as the horse units have it anyways.

But, from your original Q - spears to pikes and grab siege before upgrading. horse units don't get siege, so Lancers with siege become a terror.

Yea I didnt think of that... Siege... Hmm...!
Seems that there will be two groups of WHs, the guys that were Pikes before (and get Siege), and the newly built ones that wont have Siege as an option.
Will require some planning to get it right.

Do you know btw if Alhambra upgraded units get two more upgrades from killing barbs? Since the Drill I from Alhambra is "free"?

 

[MadDjinn]

Do you know btw if Alhambra upgraded units get two more upgrades from killing barbs? Since the Drill I from Alhambra is "free"?

They do, but only if you don't get XP from another source first.

Alhambra is a straight up promotion, rather than XP, so that's why it works.