casualties recovery

What are the mechanics that determine the casualties that recover after the battle?
I know that casualties inflicted by missiles have better chance to recover and that some ancillaries such as chirourgeon, physician etc help a lot.
But some times, in the after battle reports I see weird things. For example, a unit Deuteroi Phalangitai had 50 casualties and were all healed and a unit of Pezhetairoi had 46 casualties and only 2(!) were recovered. Both were fighting against Argiraspides and the enemy had no missile troop in the battle (actually a minor one). My general had the chirourgeon ancillary.
So which other factors are involved in the casualties recovery?

I reckon skirmishers and light troops are more likely to recover than line/heavies are. I've often noticed I can get most of them back, but my heavies will rarely recover. Maybe something to do with the lethality of the weapons they're facing, or how they were taken out.

Missile troops killed by archers and slingers seems to recover easy, I usually find my own archers who have been exchanging arrows with the enemy fully healed or with minor casualties after a victory.

I had the impression that casualties caused by missle fire seem to recover better than casualties from close combat. But that turned out to be wrong. It seems to be related to the class of the unit that suffered from casualties, not the one that caused them.

Because light and skirmish units are more likely to suffer from ranged fire you'll get the impression that it is the other way round, but after using Velites excessivly in melee I can say that has nothing to do with the kind of casualty. What I don't know is how it is acutaly calculated: only by the class of the unit per EDU or by their armour level?

I have noticed that the first units to take casualties are the ones that are healed the most. In most cases that is the skirmishers but in my battles that started with calvary engagements I got most of my horse back while the velites didn't heal up as well. In a bridge battle I had the hoplites that ringed the crossing all recovered nearly all their injured but the principes that followed over the bridge and were cut up by the rear guard of the rout had very poor recovery rates. This seems to be a fairly consistent phenomenon in my observation.

recovery rates are also influenced by the hardy and very_hardy attributes...

what about the doctor/herb whatever retinues?
what is the best one for boosting recovery rate?

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Originally Posted by soibean

what about the doctor/herb whatever retinues?
what is the best one for boosting recovery rate?

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IIRC, they all give the same recovery bonus in EB

Thanks for the answers guys. However now I'm more confused that before!
According to konny:

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It seems to be related to the class of the unit that suffered from casualties, not the one that caused them.

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Isn't this weird and contradictory to common sense?

Medical Toaster:

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the first units to take casualties are the ones that are healed the most

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Does this mean the first couple of units or the first X(for example 60) soldiers of any unit? This may explain the incident I mentioned in the first post.

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recovery rates are also influenced by the hardy and very_hardy attributes...

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I didn't know that. I assume that hardy units heal more units and very hardy even more.

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Originally Posted by Timoleon

Thanks for the answers guys. However now I'm more confused that before!
According to konny: Isn't this weird and contradictory to common sense?

Medical Toaster: Does this mean the first couple of units or the first X(for example 60) soldiers of any unit? This may explain the incident I mentioned in the first post.

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Looking at the screenshots of six battle reports under the same commander, I get the idea that it's the first 15% casualties of the battle that are healed. I'll continue investigating this as I change commandership of my army.

for me, more men recover if the ememy have slinger as the only missile unit

I think my experience agrees most with Swordmaster's post. It is the first casualties incurred that are
healed. It just becomes really obvious if your first units to engage get mauled badly in battle so you will have huge recovery for them and much less for your next troops to be involved. This may also lead to the impression that people heal from archers and slingers more readily because your first casualties are likely to be from missile fire.

I prefer my casualties not to recover at all. If you can't stay on 2 feet for the entire battle this time, what are the chances that you'll stay standing next battle? :)

But seriously, I tend to find that horse archers recover very well. Even those with spears as secondary weapons that I later use in melee often get a good proportion of their dead resurrected.

And yes, I'm pretty sure that a Physican = a Herbalist when it comes to healing casualites, and a FM can only have 1 or the other of these. The Casse are lucky in that they can also acquire various druids who increase the chance of casualties recovering. In a recent campaign I had a FL who had 4 or 5 ancillaries who were or the healing persuasion.

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Originally Posted by Medical Toaster

I have noticed that the first units to take casualties are the ones that are healed the most.

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Ah well, that can be true too. The Velites were always the first to suffer from casualties. I will look out for that in my Mak campaign, where I am using archers behind the phalanx, who usually do not suffer from casualties, and light infantry (Pletasts) on its wings who are also usually not the first to get in contact with the enemy. The enemy used to attack either the phalanx or the Thureophoroi on the extreme left of the formation. In this case these units should recover most.

So, it has definitly nothing to do with kind the enemy the unit face.

BTW, what would be the story behind units recovering most when suffering from casualties early in battle? Someone who got wounded on the first engagement and is bleeding for hours before he can be helped will certainly not be better off than someone who is wounded in the last moments of the battle when the enemy is already on the run and medics and helpers can enter the field.

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Originally Posted by Swordmaster

Looking at the screenshots of six battle reports under the same commander, I get the idea that it's the first 15% casualties of the battle that are healed. I'll continue investigating this as I change commandership of my army.

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Now, I've got a commander without any ancillaries to help recovery of casualties, and it still seems capped at about 15%. :dizzy2:

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BTW, what would be the story behind units recovering most when suffering from casualties early in battle? Someone who got wounded on the first engagement and is bleeding for hours before he can be helped will certainly not be better off than someone who is wounded in the last moments of the battle when the enemy is already on the run and medics and helpers can enter the field.

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It makes no sense at all!
However this information will change my battle tactics. I will try to engage the enemy first with the units that have to travel the furthest away to get retrained. For example in my Makedonian campaign, when fighting Ptolemies in Egypt I'll try opening the battle with my Thraikioi Peltastai since the are trained in Thrace, instead of my slingers who can be recruited everywhere.

So the class of the unit that suffers the casualties has nothing to do with the recovery?