Weird thing

[English assassin]

I've had a bit of time off from MTW, and started a new English campaign yesterday (conquest, Hard, High).

I noticed Mercia has a metalsmith in the starting buildings, and the two units there (longbows and spearmen I think) had a weapon upgrade. But Mercia doesn't have iron and I'm sure I have never been able to build a metalsmith there myself before.

Is it a glitch? Does it happen with other provinces in other factions if you start in High? Not that I'm complaining at the prospect of +1 valour weapon upgraded billmen you understand...

[cutepuppy]

The developpers placed a metalsmith there to improve the units trained there (not that v2 billmen need much improvement). I don't know if there are other provinces with a metalsmith but without iron ressources. You can find it in the high.txt file in the campmap folder.
Btw, can you upgrade that building or do you also need iron for higher level buildings?

[garion]

you can upgrade it, i'm 95% percent sure of that. you can also upgrade your shipbuilder after your port has been destroyed

[katank]

I don't think you can upgrade it further as it checks for iron for each level according to the resources required column of gnome.

I tried upgrading it to no avail.

still, W1 V2 billmen isn't bad at all.

I personally retrain them if I capture a developed iron province like Aragon or Castille although w1 isn't bad by any means.