Upgrading Elite units: yes or no?

[Shabbaman]

Upgrading an elite unit demotes it to veteran. This means a lesser chance at the appearance of a leader. But your military power grows.

Or doesn't it? An elite has 5 hp opposed to veteran 'only' 4. All you statisticians out there, any suggestions? Or is the elite-status a must for your units when you're at war?

P.S. Please refer to older threads if possible...

 

[God]

I keep the elite units and have them take the cities. I realize that a city is down to one defender especially if an older city because it will probably still have a spearman or longbowman. Have the elite take it out.

 

[D. Boon's Ghost]

I agree. I tend to leave whatever elite troops I have out there. Even if I am at infantry, for example, I will leave that elite musketman around - just in case.
Of course it depends upon the unit. An elite horseman, in the era of calvary, I will upgrade.

Another good thing, I noticed, about not upgrading every unit is the occupation factor after capturing an enemy city.
I will slide those older units in to defend towns and cities I capture. So that a) whenever the dreaded culture flip back happens, I will lose older, less treasured units - and b) having elite troops there to defend against counterattack raises the possibility of Great Leaders springing out (especially if those elite units are defender-type units).

Good post, Shabbaman.

 

[Emmet Samms]

Shabbaman,
Yes, I agree, that demotion during upgrade is a pain, but such is life in civIII.

I have experienced a pretty easy way of upgrading veteran modern armor to elite status during peacetime though, if you're interested.

I've found that if you catch barbarian camps when they still have two units in them, you can easily upgrade your modern armor from veteran to elite by simply attacking them twice (winning two battles in one turn) which does the trick. I leave a portion of the map under my control dark for just such a purpose, almost like a live-fire training area, where my modern armor goes to get elite status during peace time. Not only is this a real plus when war breaks out, but when elite units win battles leaders are sometimes created. I've created almost a dozen in the last three days in just this manner.
ES