Experience Question

I thought unit experience solely depended on killed enemies. I was very surprised to see this:



Can anyone explain the mechanics to me?

And why do units lose exp. during a battle? Especially when they don't rout and kill and don't take heavy casualties?

If you got a question about RTW mechanics, always go to Ludus Magna - a strictly moderated forum for research on RTW mechanics. Here is their thread on experience.

Oh, and about the screenshot, the experience points carry over from battle to battle. For example, suppose your unit of Hastati were 3 dead enemies away from that next chevron but the battle ended. So the next battle, they gain the experience points after killing those 3 enemy soldiers.

Originally Posted by kekailoa

And why do units lose exp. during a battle? Especially when they don't rout and kill and don't take heavy casualties?

Sometimes a few dead soldiers from your unit can make a significant difference, especially when it is your general's bodyguard. The amount of experience gained and kept always depends on the number of men in the unit. For example, your Eqvites Consulares could have gained one chevron, but then regenerated 5 men on the strat map and after that you took them to a battle where they lost 2 or 3 more men. The 5 regenerated men were green, with no chevrons. RTW actually counts the each individual soldier's experience, not just the whole unit, which explains why units often lose or gain experience after merging. So anyway, those 5 green men diluted your experience, but not enough for the unit to actually lose that chevron. However, when 3 more men were killed, that tipped the balance, finally causing the unit to lose a chevron.