Warmonger exp focus

[andersw]

There was a bug that provided too much exp, now that its been fixed it takes notably longer to get both +1 range units and City Assault.
How do you deal with that?
Are you keeping track on what units to focus with and actively trying to get these up to the promo you need?
Maybe even trying to keep units to a minimum to have all exp on a small force?
Sometimes I name units to easier keep track of them but in the end these often drown in the later floods of units.

 

[stii]

I think you just accept your units having less exp. There are lots of different other buffs you can collect across the game.

 

[tothePAIN]

There was a bug that provided too much exp, now that its been fixed it takes notably longer to get both +1 range units and City Assault.
How do you deal with that?
Are you keeping track on what units to focus with and actively trying to get these up to the promo you need?
Maybe even trying to keep units to a minimum to have all exp on a small force?
Sometimes I name units to easier keep track of them but in the end these often drown in the later floods of units.

Try to farm enough xp for lvl 4 upgrades to a few specific units. Treat some earlier wars as wars where experience is the goal as much as actual conquest. Farm the AI for XP and kills.

 

[andersw]

Try to farm enough xp for lvl 4 upgrades to a few specific units. Treat some earlier wars as wars where experience is the goal as much as actual conquest. Farm the AI for XP and kills.

Yes thats what I do just wondering how ppl who play say immortal-diety do.
I tend to find after a war like "ops some of my most exp units had to heal up and then stood in a city for far too long" instead of getting them back in line, and that can also be an issue because of terrain and such.

 

[stii]

Yes thats what I do just wondering how ppl who play say immortal-diety do.
I tend to find after a war like "ops some of my most exp units had to heal up and then stood in a city for far too long" instead of getting them back in line, and that can also be an issue because of terrain and such.

You can get to l4 or even 5 on deity if you are fighting wars all game, defensive units often don't take that much damage as you poke away at attackers. You can refuse to peace out and draw wars out forever if you don't lose any units. This does mean when you attack you will get reduced warmonger penalites for being the defender too.

Another option is to play Assyria, with their UB you can build +1 range units given time and even mid game you will get a pretty big boost.

 

[tothePAIN]

Yes thats what I do just wondering how ppl who play say immortal-diety do.
I tend to find after a war like "ops some of my most exp units had to heal up and then stood in a city for far too long" instead of getting them back in line, and that can also be an issue because of terrain and such.

I play deity and immortal. Beyond grinding for xp, prioritize founding to get orders. Armory + orders puts units at 50xp, which is pretty close to the 3rd upgrade, where you would get city assault.

Prioritize Brandenburg Gate. Otherwise, the answer is just to fight constantly. Build a few medic units so that your units heal faster.

One of my favorite combos, that works really well, even on deity, is God of Protection Zulu. Its strong enough to found as Authority and combos with Statute of Zeus. The +10 hp for healing in friendly territory works really well with the Zulu melee line once the units upgrade to match. It means units heal by 25 hp in friendly territory, even when fighting (with march), so units gain a bunch of xp

Outside of Zulu, Sweden, and Assyria, there are no real secrets. Lvl 4 ranged units make the game much easier, which is why they require so much xp.

 

[tothePAIN]

One of the biggest tricks that it took me a while to learn has simply been understanding the anti-warmonger penalty. It doesnt apply in your own territory but it applies in enemy territory. Its 50% in neutral territory, including vassal territory.

As the game goes on, the deity +75% anti-warmonger malus is huge. So any units that you leave in enemy territory have to have a plan to survive. Try to farm up xp in your own territory and only move over into enemy territory as little as possible. In the early game, it makes sense to use melee units as authority to finish enemy units for the heal on dominance. In the later game, with the anti-warmonger penalty, it's better to have them stay in friendly territory, even if they dont get the heal.

 

[andersw]

One of the biggest tricks that it took me a while to learn has simply been understanding the anti-warmonger penalty. It doesnt apply in your own territory but it applies in enemy territory. Its 50% in neutral territory, including vassal territory.

As the game goes on, the deity +75% anti-warmonger malus is huge. So any units that you leave in enemy territory have to have a plan to survive. Try to farm up xp in your own territory and only move over into enemy territory as little as possible. In the early game, it makes sense to use melee units as authority to finish enemy units for the heal on dominance. In the later game, with the anti-warmonger penalty, it's better to have them stay in friendly territory, even if they dont get the heal.

Even on emperor its basically pointless to make any agression in enemy lands, only way is to citadel into neighbours land and sitting for ages grinding endless waves of enemy units while being dogpiled by the entire world despite last on tech and policys, not what I call fun.
I tested with removing warmonger on emperor but in the end went down to king instead, makes the game more enjoyable for me albeit a bit too easy but the tech speed (on epic) and runaways on emperor is atm too much for me.
But I dont mind, it doesnt hurt my ego if I cant play the highest difficulties.

 

[tothePAIN]

Even on emperor its basically pointless to make any agression in enemy lands, only way is to citadel into neighbours land and sitting for ages grinding endless waves of enemy units while being dogpiled by the entire world despite last on tech and policys, not what I call fun.
I tested with removing warmonger on emperor but in the end went down to king instead, makes the game more enjoyable for me albeit a bit too easy but the tech speed (on epic) and runaways on emperor is atm too much for me.
But I dont mind, it doesnt hurt my ego if I cant play the highest difficulties.

Certain warmongers can push against the anti-warmonger penalties with certain techs and UUs. Sweden and Zulu come to mind. Sweden with crusader spirit and great generals gets enough bonuses to invade enemy territory and go toe to toe with enemy units, even with the anti-warmonger penalties.

 

[stii]

By the time you get to 75% penalty you should be so big and powerful that even that bonus isn't enough. If you are 1 or even 2 unit tech levels ahead it really doesn't matter if they get a huge boost. You can also reduce it a lot by taking as few cities as possible. Sometimes the AI will agree to be your vassal with you just taking their capital, you don't want a million extra weak cities anyway, just their capital and a bigger vassal is ideal. There are also lots of buffs you can get the AI probably won't

Crusader spirt and GG as already mentioned, plus heroic epic and authority is already +55%, later on you can get even more bonuses from autocracy.

 

[tothePAIN]

By the time you get to 75% penalty you should be so big and powerful that even that bonus isn't enough. If you are 1 or even 2 unit tech levels ahead it really doesn't matter if they get a huge boost. You can also reduce it a lot by taking as few cities as possible. Sometimes the AI will agree to be your vassal with you just taking their capital, you don't want a million extra weak cities anyway, just their capital and a bigger vassal is ideal. There are also lots of buffs you can get the AI probably won't

Crusader spirt and GG as already mentioned, plus heroic epic and authority is already +55%, later on you can get even more bonuses from autocracy.

@stii I'm pretty sure that the 75% penalty triggers after taking one capital, which can happy pretty early, no?

 

[andersw]

Certain warmongers can push against the anti-warmonger penalties with certain techs and UUs. Sweden and Zulu come to mind. Sweden with crusader spirit and great generals gets enough bonuses to invade enemy territory and go toe to toe with enemy units, even with the anti-warmonger penalties.

By the time you get to 75% penalty you should be so big and powerful that even that bonus isn't enough. If you are 1 or even 2 unit tech levels ahead it really doesn't matter if they get a huge boost. You can also reduce it a lot by taking as few cities as possible. Sometimes the AI will agree to be your vassal with you just taking their capital, you don't want a million extra weak cities anyway, just their capital and a bigger vassal is ideal. There are also lots of buffs you can get the AI probably won't

Crusader spirt and GG as already mentioned, plus heroic epic and authority is already +55%, later on you can get even more bonuses from autocracy.

The warmonger penalties was a side track and my main intentions was not a lengthy discussion about that, the question was regarding exp focus.
(But I disagree, I dont think what you mentioned counters it, also try to reform without taking a city, yes once in a blue moon you will succeed but more often than not its you who get hammered with offensive missionaries.
But as I said, I have no trouble enjoying the game on king instead of playing with insanely different rules for the AI.)

 

[LifeOfBrian]

I use defensive wars, barbarians and skirmishes with CS units to improve my units' XP. If I'm planning on fighting a lot, I'll try to get an Order in at least one my cities there for extra XP via AIs' religions and if I'm a founder, I'll pick Orders if still available. I'll focus on making 4-6 of my units get range (I keep an extra eye on them to know which they are and to use them a lot, but still have them safe), 'cause after that it gets easier to wage war even in foreign territory with penalties against you. After you get military academies, you're really close to getting range with your ranged/siege units from the get-go.

 

[stii]

@stii I'm pretty sure that the 75% penalty triggers after taking one capital, which can happy pretty early, no?

I don't find you get a penalty that big. It being a defensive war helps a lot. Maybe it would be double if I was the aggressor? Like it is only 28%.