Province bonus or Weapons Upgrade?

[Disco Volante]

Hey all,

Just interested in knowing which is better in your opinion, the bonus given by a province for a certain unit or a weapons upgrade for that unit in a different province?

[jayrock]

i'd have to say the weapons upgrade, because the province bonus doen't appear to work.. it doesn't for agents, i know that..

[LadyAnn]

Many province bonuses are for units you could never train. But a weapon upgrade (where iron is a resource) is a good place to pump out elite troops. So, if I have to chose between grabbing/defending a province with iron resource or a province with troop bonusses, I would grab the former one and defend it with all my might.

Don't mess with my Tuscany said Doge Vitale II.

Annie

[Exile]

both if you can. I orignally produce the unit in the prov that gives the valor bonus, then send then to the prov with the weaponsmith to upgrade. Both the valor bonus and the weaponsmith are an advantage to your troops. Tougher troops cost no more to support and well..they're tougher

[LadyAnn]

But but but ... was the question asking either/or? If you have to chose, which one you chose? Can't get everything you want, you know... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

Annie

[Disco Volante]

That's not necessarily true Annie http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

Exile, thanks for the tip to train in bonus provinces then upgrade in weapon provinces... never thought of that

[burma_mtw]

My experience has been that the weapon upgrades are extremely effective. This may be especially true because all fighting units produced in the province get the upgrade. A +1 to valor hasn't been that valuable for me. It might be because I tend to attack with a high rated general. One exception may be the units in Granada which are especially helpful for taking out the Spanish very early. Maybe there is more to it then I have figured out and someone else can help. Units with both armor and weapon upgrades backed by a good general are very powerful. Another advantage to weapon upgrades is that it helps Archers which don't necessarily need the valor upgrade if your keep them away from the enemy. You don't get them early, but when you do, glod/gold Parvinise Arbalasts are extremely good. Gold weapon handgunners can also be very annoying to your opponent.

Just my opinion...I could be wrong.

[Gregoshi]

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif Hey burma_mtw, thanks for debuting with such a hefty post. And welcome aboard. I won't tell you you are wrong - it sounded good to me. I won't vouch for anyone else though. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

[kaasbris]

I always try to make provinces sepcialized in something i.e. cavalry, archer, spears and of course weapon upgrade. I tend to uprade province with iron to largest castle possible.

When I play HRE, I took care Bohemia to upgrade Castle just to get weapon upgrade. Bourgogne and Bavaria are another major army train spots, as they are already castle. But I never really care about Province bonus like Saxony with Gothic Knights or Province with Peasant(&#33http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif. It's just too silly, I think.

Anyone played huge army of Provence Peasant?? or Gothic Foot Knights of Brandenburg? Maybe Gothic Knights of Soxony have some use. But it takes too long time to build up and usually by that time, I don't need them anyway.

Same goes for Lithuanian Cavalry. Why is it need so many buildings to make just another steppe cavalry?

[econ21]

I may have misunderstood, but I though a weapon's upgrade (one level only) is a +1 to attack whereas a valour improvement was a +1 to attack, +1 to defense and +2 to morale. In which case, you do the math...

Of course, if you build up your metalsmiths a +3 attack would be better than a +1 valour, IMHO. As was said, however, no reason you can't have both through retraining.

[Tyrac]

I thought weapons upgrade was melee only?

[Kristaps]

I use both: for example, build billmen in Mercia with +2 valor (you will need master spear to achieve that) then let them through training in Navarre again and get those extra weapons bonuses; similarly, for longbows: build them in Wales with +2 valor (need master bower for this) and send them through Navarre retraining camp to increase weapon output. This might be a tougher solution for Egyptians and Turks though... Since they have not put Syrian (Damascus) iron in the game...

My problem is: once I have valor and weapons upgraded troops I just steam-roll over the map... makes the game unbalanced and boring

[A Nerd]

I like weapon upgrades, +1 valor is worthless especially if morale is low. 0 can beat 1 is said sit. therefore armor is good and +1 is poop. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif

[burma_mtw]

Using F1 during a battle, it showed a Gold upgraded Parvise Arbalast backed by a 3-Star General to have a +7 attack bonus. It could be +4 for the Metalsmith upgrade and +3 for the General. It could be something else. Cannot say for sure. Before the Arbalast Unit was added to the army it had a +0 Valor.

[Jacque Schtrapp]

I believe I would choose the province with iron/metalsmith option over the province with a specific unit bonus. The weapon upgrade will apply to any unit that is trained in that province whereas the other only applies to one particular unit type.

Once you have trained enough troops with weapon upgrades, seize control of the province with a unit bonus. Train the appropriate unit to get the bonus and then send him on over to the province with the weapon upgrade and retrain him so he can benefit from the increased weapon damage. Best of both worlds http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif