How to train élite melee units

[Sygrod]

I have developed a way to train élite units to get the kinds of chevrons the AI quite often have on their units. I had noticed over quite a few battles that my missile units were getting chevrons as though they were going out of style, while élite units like for example my Epirote Chaonion Agema and Thorakitai were felling quite a few enemies, suffering some losses and rarely got another chevron. So what I did was train 6-8 élite units, add some good cavalry and went hunting. Small enemy armies and rebel armies were attacked ferociously by this army. ALWAYS auto-resolve. Units were rearranged by dropping a complete unit on a unit with some losses. Often a unit will gain a chevron that way. Then back to the nearest city capable of filling the ranks.

This way I have managed to get 4 Thorakitai units to 3 silver chevrons and 6 Chaonion Agema to the same level, with some units having fewer chevrons. Once a unit gets a gold chevron, it will be shipped off to the Eastern Front to fight AS and Hayasdan. Other, similar units that were used in early battles will be exchanged and sent back for "training".

AS an aside, my most lethal units are Sphendonetai. These guys are fantastic: Cheap and deadly. In defending cities from enemies that attack from the corner, but deploy in the middle and have to run to their intended deployment spot they whittle the enemy down to the point where they just leave. Many AS generals have been killed that way.