Why did civ7 get rid of unit promotions?

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

Within a very few years after Alexander's death, when most of his veterans went home and had to be replaced.

The Diadochi phalanxes usually consisted of a veteran File Leader in front, a veteran File Closer at the rear, and 14 peasant conscripts in between. The Leader and maybe 1 - 2 men behind him might also be the only ones with metal body armor.

Basically, the Phillippic/Alexandrian Pehetairoi on the cheap. The few all-veteran units were therefore, much more valuable, like the 'Silver Shields" that were mostly Alexander's old Hypaspists in new armor. Those veterans also tended to be mercenary, as the Silver Shields fought for about three different armies, going with the highest bidder whenever they could.

And thus they're no better than a generic bronze age spearmen? (either using Civ6 or 7 rules) and nothing really improved from those of 2,000 years ago ?

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

And thus they're no better than a generic bronze age spearmen? (either using Civ6 or 7 rules) and nothing really improved from those of 2,000 years ago ?

The Hellenistic pike phalanx had iron weaponry instead of bronze, which in the context of hand-held weapons is a minor difference.

The big difference is in the degree of training in the units. Most of the bronze age units, from the bronze age 'empires' like Babylon or Egypt or Akkadia, were Amateurs called up strictly for the war or civic work (the 'Ilkum' or 'Ilka' obligation). Phillip and Alexander's Pezhetairoi, in contrast, were continuously in service, paid for it, and were able to learn and practice very sophisticated maneuvers - changing their front, reversing front, changing direction even at an angle, and reacting to virtually any threat including elephants and horse archers. We actually have a copy of the Macedonian Drill Manual (by Ascepiodotus, available in the Loeb Classical Library for those who are really interested in this stuff) showing how they did all this (and, frankly, reading very much like a modern military drill manual, complete with Commands of Preparation and Commands of Execution - some things do not change over the centuries). - And their successors in the armies of the Diadochi were not able to drill to this level, and so were in fact no better than the Sumerian phalanx of bronze age semi-pikemen shown on the Vulture stele from about 2100 years earlier.

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

The Hellenistic pike phalanx had iron weaponry instead of bronze, which in the context of hand-held weapons is a minor difference.

The big difference is in the degree of training in the units. Most of the bronze age units, from the bronze age 'empires' like Babylon or Egypt or Akkadia, were Amateurs called up strictly for the war or civic work (the 'Ilkum' or 'Ilka' obligation). Phillip and Alexander's Pezhetairoi, in contrast, were continuously in service, paid for it, and were able to learn and practice very sophisticated maneuvers - changing their front, reversing front, changing direction even at an angle, and reacting to virtually any threat including elephants and horse archers. We actually have a copy of the Macedonian Drill Manual (by Ascepiodotus, available in the Loeb Classical Library for those who are really interested in this stuff) showing how they did all this (and, frankly, reading very much like a modern military drill manual, complete with Commands of Preparation and Commands of Execution - some things do not change over the centuries). - And their successors in the armies of the Diadochi were not able to drill to this level, and so were in fact no better than the Sumerian phalanx of bronze age semi-pikemen shown on the Vulture stele from about 2100 years earlier.

And is that the same as Chinese Han Spearmen and Celtic and Germanic counterparts of the late antiquity? (Rise and Fall of Rome)

So the threshold of basic infantry warfare evolutions that can be considered worldwide is 1300 or what ?