Refill a squadron ?

**danshou** · 05-23-2008, 23:59

Hello, im new around here, and a i have a question to break the ice.
It is possible to refill a squadron that lost some members ??

For example I have a general or commander, whatever he is, that have all the loyalty, good command, good acumen, etc. And of course I dont want to lose this great general because is one of my best man. By now he have only 3 soldiers at his command, so the question is: it is possible to refill with new soldiers the squadron ??

I hope you understand the question, thanks !!

**gunslinger** · 05-24-2008, 02:01

Yes. It's easy. Just put some more of the same type of units in his stack. Then, open the stack and drag those extra units onto him. His stack will be refilled, and the leftovers will remain with their original general.

A couple of notes: This will affect the valor of your awesome general's unit, since valor is an average of all of the individual soldiers within a unit. I always try to merge high valor units together to preserve an elite core.

Sometimes you lose the ability to make certain units when the game progresses into a new era. So, if your great general is an early era royal knight, you won't be able to make new early royal knights to reinforce him once you get into the high era. The same goes for viking units.

If a unit has upgraded armor or weapons, the upgrade stays with the unit that is being reinforced. So, if your general has the upgrade, you can put a non-upgraded unit on top of him, and he will end up with a full unit of upgraded troops. If your general is not upgraded and you put a unit of upgraded troops on top of him, the reinforcements will lose all of their upgrades.

EDIT: Almost forgot to mention that you can also drag a depleted unit from the stack into the training area of a province that is able to produce that type of unit. This will not only replenish the troops, but it will also add any upgrades from religious buildings, armorers, and weapons upgrades. The cost is based on the number of troops that need replaced.

**danshou** · 05-24-2008, 04:15

OOhh thanks, thats the information i was searching for. Excellent , clear as water... thanks gunslinger !!!

**mps247** · 05-24-2008, 18:53

Originally Posted by gunslinger

A couple of notes: This will affect the valor of your awesome general's unit, since valor is an average of all of the individual soldiers within a unit. I always try to merge high valor units together to preserve an elite core.

Yes, however valour is calculated on an individual basis, so even though merging will result in the average valour decreasing, your elite last-man-standing spearman will still have an ultra valour rating - so much so, he may even be the last man standing after the battle finishes!

I am not sure if it is actually better to mix low valour troops with high valour ones, or keep an elite army. Has anybody experimented with this?

Originally Posted by gunslinger

Sometimes you lose the ability to make certain units when the game progresses into a new era. So, if your great general is an early era royal knight, you won't be able to make new early royal knights to reinforce him once you get into the high era.

It is a shame this happens. Is there a way to re-train your early royal knight into something a little more modern?

**Ironside** · 05-25-2008, 10:59

Originally Posted by mps247

It is a shame this happens. Is there a way to re-train your early royal knight into something a little more modern?

Fixed in one of the patches. The royal knights can be upgraded by retraining them like normal (dragging them into the (re)training queue). Having them in the training queue when the age shifts will cause a ctd though.

Can't do anything about units like the varangian guards though.

**mps247** · 05-25-2008, 23:40

Originally Posted by Ironside

Fixed in one of the patches. The royal knights can be upgraded by retraining them like normal (dragging them into the (re)training queue). Having them in the training queue when the age shifts will cause a ctd though.

Thanks Ironside!

**Dark Water** · 05-26-2008, 13:53

Originally Posted by gunslinger

Sometimes you lose the ability to make certain units when the game progresses into a new era. So, if your great general is an early era royal knight, you won't be able to make new early royal knights to reinforce him once you get into the high era. The same goes for viking units..

I know that vikings disappear from the map at the beginning of the late or high period, but can't you retrain early royal knights in the late or high period and they become the later versions of them? I'm sure I've done this before. And aren't you better off retraining them anyway as it will make them better units aswell. Correct me if I'm wrong though I don't want to be living in a world of fantasy................... or do I????

**Taedius** · 05-26-2008, 15:48

No, as stated by Ironside, you are absolutely correct.

**Martok** · 05-28-2008, 08:37

Originally Posted by Dark Water

I know that vikings disappear from the map at the beginning of the late or high period, but can't you retrain early royal knights in the late or high period and they become the later versions of them? I'm sure I've done this before.

While it's been a long time since I played vanilla MTW/VI, I do believe that it is in fact impossible in the original game to retrain Early RK's to High and/or Late RK's (as well as High RK's to Late RK's). Now a couple of mods *do* allow you to retrain/upgrade Royal Knights from one era to that of another -- I know caravel's Pocket Mod does, and I want to say XL does as well (I haven't played XL in forever, though, so I couldn't say for sure).

Originally Posted by Dark Water

And aren't you better off retraining them anyway as it will make them better units aswell. Correct me if I'm wrong though I don't want to be living in a world of fantasy................... or do I????

Depends on the unit type, how much valour it already has, how many losses it's taken, and whether or not it's a general's personal unit.

Example: If you have a regiment of 1-valour Urban Militia that have only 3 men left, then you might as well retrain them back to full strength (even if it means diluting that 1 valour gained). Same goes if you have an 8-star Specialist Attacker, Brave Beyond Belief, Jedi-general whose personal squadron of Chivalric Knights has lost half their numbers -- you definitely want to keep that unit's ranks filled as much as possible!

If on the other hand, you have a unit of 6-valour Viking Huscarles who've lost only 4 of their 60 men, then you're probably better off either "scavenging" men from another high-valour company of Huscarles, or just letting them continue to fight on without any replacements at all (at least for a while).

**The Unknown Guy** · 05-28-2008, 15:13

EDIT: Almost forgot to mention that you can also drag a depleted unit from the stack into the training area of a province that is able to produce that type of unit. This will not only replenish the troops, but it will also add any upgrades from religious buildings, armorers, and weapons upgrades. The cost is based on the number of troops that need replaced.

Nope. You are mistaken with Shogun. Retraining is free in MTW. I think this gives the human player an unfair edge, so I only retrain after I have (M)erged all possible spare units in a province.

As an addittional bonus, this does tend to give you high-valor units.

**Vider** · 05-30-2008, 13:51

Originally Posted by Martok

While it's been a long time since I played vanilla MTW/VI, I do believe that it is in fact impossible in the original game to retrain Early RK's to High and/or Late RK's (as well as High RK's to Late RK's). Now a couple of mods *do* allow you to retrain/upgrade Royal Knights from one era to that of another -- I know caravel's Pocket Mod does, and I want to say XL does as well (I haven't played XL in forever, though, so I couldn't say for sure).

I believe the correct answer was stated above, that it was corrected in a patch. I am currently playing unmodded MTW (with VI expansion) and I'm in the process of retraining Early royals to High royals. I think the royals are the only ones this works with though. My fyrdmen and viking huscarls are simply merged to replenish them.

**Martok** · 05-30-2008, 21:16

Originally Posted by Vider

I believe the correct answer was stated above, that it was corrected in a patch. I am currently playing unmodded MTW (with VI expansion) and I'm in the process of retraining Early royals to High royals. I think the royals are the only ones this works with though. My fyrdmen and viking huscarls are simply merged to replenish them.

Okay, well then I do stand corrected. (Like I said, it's been a good while since I played the vanilla game.)

As for Fyrdmen, Huscarles, Varangian Guards, and other units that are exclusive to the Early period, there really isn't anything you can do one your game enters the High period. Aside from "cannibalizing" units of the same type (such as what you described), there's really no way of replenishing period-specific troops.

**Empirate** · 07-02-2008, 15:28

That's one reason I like to recruit as many of those ultra-elite early-only units as I can. I recruit every single one I can get my hands on, many more than I need at the moment, and even if it's a strain on my budget, just to have a large "recruitment pool" to draw conscripts from: Varangians, Druzhinas, Huscarls and so on are worth it! Even in later times, they still rock!