How do you retrain units?

[Gambit]

Anyone know?

[Doug-Thompson]

1. Move the unit to a province that can build that type of unit. The unit has to start the turn in that province to be retrained.

2. Open the unit training que. Click on the unit. Go to the picture of the unit at the bottom. Drag and drop the picture into one of the boxes in the training que.

[neal]

i didn't know that ...cool. i thought it retrained automatically if you had enough koku http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/handball.gif

[neal]

if you are retraining units and your province is invaded then those units being retrained cannot be used in the battle..as i recently found out..doh http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-wall.gif

[mambaman]

again may seem like a silly question but what is the purpose of retraining?doh http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif

[neal]

as your'e units get older they loose the effectvness and retraining them restores them back to their original standard but does not improve rank etc.. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-lost.gif

[garion]

do the ubits being retrianed get the armour upgrades offered in the province, or are they just being made'fit for battle'?

[neal]

good question and i don't know the answer..maybe..anybody? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-help.gif

[barocca]

they get the weapons and armour upgrades, yes.
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-party2.gif

[Powermonger]

No they get the armour upgrades and any other upgrades as well (such as blacksmith). Handy for upgrading old Royal Knight units to more leathal ones.

[Lord Armbandit]

When you retrain a unit, the men you have lost are replaced with new recurits. These recruits will have base valour (0, unless they are trained in a province or with buildings that give a bonus).

In addition, the whole unit will be given new arms and armour, so yes they get the bonuses you have built.

However, the best thing about re-training is that the original men in the unit (the battle-hardened veterans with Valour) stay in the unit and keep their valour. This means that the unit now has full numerical strength, that all available arms technology has been provided to them, and that none of your veterans have been wasted, either by disbanding or going into combat short-handed.

Of course, there is an argument to just merge units, as this is quicker and cheaper. However, this does not replace the outmoded armour on the reduced units.

Retraining is definitely the way to go if you can spare the men from the front line.

@neal : the units only lose effectiveness in the sense of numbers and technological obsolescence. The individual men actually improve over time, increasing in valour and therefore becoming more effective. Medieval actually tracks each individual soldiers valour throughout the campaign...... I didn't beleive it either, but check out the log files and you'll see what I mean

[neal]

cool.. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-stunned.gif

[Lord Armbandit]

We all posted at the same time (Me, Opeth and Barocca). Or at least, I was typing my essay at the same time they posted http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif


I always seem to be pipped to the post http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

[Powermonger]

Your post is more informative though http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif I typed mine up inbetween smashing those pesky Novgorods with my Viking rading party. They weren't as rich for the pillaging as those hedonistic Englishmen. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-no.gif

[barocca]

combining reduced units.

If you have 2 depleted units and no time to send them back for retraining you can combine them,
BUT (unless you are carefull) you can actually reduce the effectiveness of a unit that has an armour or weapon upgrade by combining it with one that does not have any such upgrades,
YOU MUST drop the UNupgraded unit ONTO the upgraded unit,
apparently the units quartermaster recovers all the dead mens weapons and armour and hands them out again when you combine units

cheers,
B. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-party2.gif

[Tricky Lady]

ichi posted a few months ago a few very usefull tips to combine units and keep the best upgrades (i.e. armour + weapon).

This is (http://www.totalwar.org/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=7;t=15129;hl=combining+units) the link.

[katank]

by all means, combine depleted veteran units and then send them back for retraining when you can.

this yields elite forces of V3-4 min. without general valour and with heavy upgrades, those boys sure can rock

BTW, in VI, they retain the best upgrades.

if you have a province with valour bonus, a province capable of only gold armor, and another with only gold weapons, first train it in the first and retraining in both would yield a V1 unit with gold gold.

this is nice as you don't have to choose between losing old upgrade and getting new ones.

[Xiphias]

The second post in this thread (http://p223.ezboard.com/fshoguntotalwarfrm5.showMessage?topicID=12997.topic) explains what happens to valour bonuses when you retrain.