The Quick Noobie Guide to Saving Promotions

[Byrath]

Now why didn't I think of that?

Yeah, the point is to maintain flexibility.

Anyone have any other comments about when NOT to save the promotions (at the top of the article)?

I have three good reasons not to save promotions (good reasons to me anyway )

1) The blue light cloud that remains around unpromoted units is ugly and distracting, I cannot bear to have it over my cities.
2) The AI always promotes immediately when one becomes available, therefore, if the player saves his promotions, it could be considered mildly exploitative of the AI, or not very sporting at least.
3) I find it difficult enough to keep track of where all my units are, and what they are doing, without having to worry about when and how to promote them also.

Regarding 2), I'm NOT saying its cheating to save promotions, just that some players might consider it as an unfair advantage.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

You can turn off the sparkly blue fx from the options menu I think.

I think saving the promotions helps counteract some of the AIs unfair advantages which you sign up to when playing at higher difficulty levels. The human having a real brain has an unfair advantage too but that doesn't make me want to remove my brain and replace it with an algorithm (or pick what the computer suggests every time a build option comes up - see the disastrous succession game where they did this).

 

[Belisar]

Indeed. Not promoting early was what enabled me to make the jump from playing Prince level to finally winning at Monarch. Not that the AI generally attacks with 6 shock axes more like turtles in its cities. My last game I made the almost fatal mistake of accidentally moving just my catapults and trebs to a hill outside Julius' city, moved my grenadiers the wrong way by mistake, and he still ddn't attack And that was Emperor level AI.

The AI isn't any smarter at emperor (or at deity) compared to lower difficult levels. It's the same AI, it just has more production,tech... bonus and more units it can throw at you.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

It was still an exceedingly dumb move to make, the AI could have attacked the siege and put my war effort back several centuries. I was about to quit in disgust for being such an idiot (HOF game so no reloads).

 

[Byrath]

You can turn off the sparkly blue fx from the options menu I think.

I think saving the promotions helps counteract some of the AIs unfair advantages which you sign up to when playing at higher difficulty levels. The human having a real brain has an unfair advantage too but that doesn't make me want to remove my brain and replace it with an algorithm (or pick what the computer suggests every time a build option comes up - see the disastrous succession game where they did this).

Ah hmm ... the Effects Disabled checkbox, I imagine. Yes, that should get rid of the promotion effect, fireworks from We Love the King day and .. not sure what else. I'll give it a try, thanks.

I agree, the higher difficulty levels seem designed for the player to use every possible advantage to counteract the AI's large production and tech bonuses. I'll probably use it myself if I ever feel driven enough to try my hand at Monarch. It'll probably bite me in the butt though as I'm bound to forget to promote before attacking or defending on multiple occasions.