What units survive age transition

[peter79]

So I'm sure this has been discussed but is there any consensus regarding what military units survive the age transition. So we know commanders are ageless. However its been my experience that any troops packed in a commander and units within town/city borders also seem to survive. Is this the case or was it just a weird bug? I'm still on my first playthrough (just started the modern age) so will need to do more testing.

 

[bonafide11]

So I'm sure this has been discussed but is there any consensus regarding what military units survive the age transition. So we know commanders are ageless. However its been my experience that any troops packed in a commander and units within town/city borders also seem to survive. Is this the case or was it just a weird bug? I'm still on my first playthrough (just started the modern age) so will need to do more testing.

I think all units attached to a commander are supposed to survive but my last playthrough i thought I lost some, but maybe I just got confused because of the lack of ability to monitor my units properly.

 

[Graethyenne]

From what I have gathered, there are two factors - 1) space and 2) comparable unit at the start of the next age.

Space is some combination of Commander Space and some number of units based on your settlements/legacy choices.

Comparable unit required means that, for example you cannot carry over siege into Exploration because you don't have access to any siege units at the start of the Exploration Age.

Hope that helps,

G

 

[tedhebert]

Yeah it’s really not clear. Last game I built me up to have 5 army commanders and 1 fleet commander and they were parked on cities with no units in them at the end of explo. and I had 7 ranged, 7 infantry, 2 cavs and 6 naval untis spread around the place.

When modern started, i wound up with 4 ranged, 4 infantry and 1 cav spread around the city centers, 3 army commanders with no units, 1 with one cav one inf and one ranged, and a final one with 2 inf and 2 ranged. plus my fleet commander had 4 ship of the line.

so globally i went from 6 to 4 naval, 16 land units to 16 land units. my guess is the game does NOT create new untis for you, but if you have enough commanders to house your units, you will keep them all. Hence the three empty army commanders. and I guess that if I’d had a second fleet commander that one would have had two naval units in it

 

[Cannonballninja]

From what I can tell, you get a garrison of one unit for each for your settlements. If you have less units than that, you get some free garrison troops! But if you have more units than settlements (or naval units at all?), all the additional units will go away...unless you have somewhere to put them.

And the place to put them is in your commanders! So if you have a big army, invest in your military infrastructure (AKA your commanders), and you'll get to carry them through the age transition.

 

[Big J Money]

From what I can tell, you get a garrison of one unit for each for your settlements. If you have less units than that, you get some free garrison troops!

This was not true for me. Yes, all the units I left in garrison remained. No, I did not get a free unit in any towns or cities that I left empty (I'm referring to the antiquity -> exploration transition).

I had one commander with 4 units stationed in a city, along with an extra unit. My commander still had 4 units after the transition, and the unit that shared the city with him was still there.

All my units were upgraded to be the age appropriate unit: infantry, ranged and cavalry. My one siege unit was converted into an infantry.

 

[Cannonballninja]

To clarify, what I meant was that unless I've misjudged what's happening, your minimum units on transition is equal to your settlements. And the maximum you can keep is equal to settlements plus space in your commanders.

That can mean some towns end up empty because the units that would have been in them are stacked in your commanders instead.

 

[Big J Money]

I don't believe know if that is correct. If that were true, I should not have as many units as I do have (10 units, but only 7 settlements). I believe it is just that whomever is stationed in either a garrison or a commander is carried over. Nothing outside of those is carried over, and nothing new is created. And siege seems to be converted to infantry. It's annoying though that the game deleted all my autosaves when I transitioned the age, or I could go back and read the text again.

There is the military dark age which creates units for you of course, but I know you aren't referring to that.

Edit: Apparently I can't math. Since I have 7 settlements, plus a commander, that makes 11 slots. So my 10 units matches both your description and my description of what has happened. So further testing would be needed to know.

 

[Evolena]

This was not true for me. Yes, all the units I left in garrison remained. No, I did not get a free unit in any towns or cities that I left empty (I'm referring to the antiquity -> exploration transition).

To clarify, what I meant was that unless I've misjudged what's happening, your minimum units on transition is equal to your settlements. And the maximum you can keep is equal to settlements plus space in your commanders.

Max 6 in garrison from Antiquity -> Exploration, max 9 from Exploration -> Modern.

 

[Big J Money]

Max 6 in garrison from Antiquity -> Exploration, max 9 from Exploration -> Modern.

@ these hidden rules

 

[fantsu]

1. get commanders
2. attach the units
3. when the era changes rush your neighbors and wint the game

They never saw it coming.
But it will be patched out soon.

 

[Big J Money]

1. get commanders
2. attach the units
3. when the era changes rush your neighbors and wint the game

They never saw it coming.
But it will be patched out soon.

Except that
1. They can do it too
2. They can just spend some influence to see all your commanders and you can't even prevent it

Unless you mean the AI, in which case I wouldn't be surprised if they fall for it. I'll have to try it.

FWIW is there a hidden "max commanders" value just like there's the hidden "max garrison" value?

 

[Evolena]

@ these hidden rules

That's not the most hidden of info.
There is a Tutorial with a "Learn more" link to this Civilopedia page where it is clearly indicated:

 

[Big J Money]

That's not the most hidden of info.
There is a Tutorial with a "Learn more" link to this Civilopedia page where it is clearly indicated:

Knowing what military units you're going to keep or lose is important enough that I think it could be more obvious than being just in the Learn More / Civilopedia, but at least the info is out there. Thanks for the screenshot.

The main reason being that I did find the "Ages and Age Transition" pedia page but didn't see this "Carry Over Between Ages" page. If you didn't click the Learn More link, it's not so easy to search for this info after the fact. So maybe it's more accurate to say it's a bit buried, not hidden.

In any case, looks like there is probably no limit to the number of commanders you can carry over, so now I wonder why even bother limiting the units at all, given that workaround. Will be interesting to test it out.

 

[Evolena]

"not the most hidden" is not "easily findable", I reckon, it's just that at least it exists

The main reason being that I did find the "Ages and Age Transition" pedia page but didn't see this "Carry Over Between Ages" page. If you didn't click the Learn More link, it's not so easy to search for this info after the fact. So maybe it's more accurate to say it's a bit buried, not hidden.

That I agree with, wy on Earth doesn't a search for "Age" list it?

 

[Big J Money]

Ugh, I see some of the confusion in the Civilopedia. There are two options for "Ages" and they don't take you to the same page. And depending on which one you're on, even the organization of the bar on the left changes.

If you click the "Concepts" button, these pages don't even appear. There is an "Ages" page, but it's unhelpful. You have to click the "Ages" button at the top, and then the "Concepts" menu changes to add these pages.

In other words, clicking the concepts button filters out some of the concepts... :-/

I think the page I found before was actually the "Ages" page, not the Ages and Age Transition one. I probably didn't even bother to click the button, assuming I even noticed it.