Retraining "Dilution"

[Gray_Lensman]

That's curious - I thought it cost the same (or perhaps even more) to retrain than it did to train fresh units. Then again, I've also seen 59 crossbowmen retrain (adding one) for 57 florins, then again for only 12 florins a few turns later. This game is making less and less sense!

Within the game, retraining is a broad term. It can mean replenishing the manpower, bringing the armor up to current settlement standards, or even enhancing the weaponry of the unit being retrained. Any combination of the above actions result in retraining meaning you might have a unit that only needs a few of its men retrained for just one of the above circumstances resulting in a lower cost than one might have expected. The game makes perfect sense in this respect. You just have to understand the mechanics.

[Zild]

Both times there were no armour and no weapons upgrades involved and I believe the experience of the units was the same. Of course, two units each with 1 chevron could have very different amounts of experience behind the scenes - 1.0 and 1.999... - which could easily account for the difference.

[Old Geezer]

I often will recruit a unit and send it on a mission to attack a stack of rebels or another faction just to get as many of them killed as possible so that I can merge it with a more experienced unit. A unit with 9 chevrons can often bring such a unit up to silver (4 chevrons). You may consider this an exploit or a cheat or just smart management. The AI doesn't care and neither do I.

[Zild]

I'd call it calous, but not an exploit! Would be nice if your faction leader / local generals gained traits as a result of such actions...

I accidentally let some unsupported artillery (my favourite pair of 5XP ballistae and a catapult!) get caught up in a field battle (the rest of the army had pressed on to besiege Marseille). I let them mash up the enemy before retreating (first shot killed their general :D ) but was enjoying the fireworks too much and sustained substantial losses. Still, that upped their experience somewhat and after retraining one of them is now a 20-strong 7XP unit! I am pretty sure they cost substantially more to retrain than training a no-experience ballista, so I do not consider this an exploit.

But what would you guys do about the following? I have (or rather had, he died off a few days ago!) an 8XP Crusader Knight (is that the right name? The early period mounted unit only available on crusades) It will be a long time before I can crusade again to get him any friends, and being a special crusade unit there is no retraining option. I would like to make him a general through Man of the Hour (would the general keep this experience?) but I do not know how to force him to take command, and I can hardly send him alone against a real enemy! And even if I did, the lone knight would still remain...

What would you guys do with such a unit? Does a MOTH general have the experience of the unit he commanded in battle? How is the general determined in armies without a family member?

[_Tristan_]

To answer yor questions in order :

1 - Keep it until the next crusade away from the frontline and retrain it at the earliest opportunity

2 - Nope. The general will be created with no XP. But the lone Crusader Knight will remain. So you'll have two units in that stack instead of one.

3 - At all times the general is determined by who is the captain of the stack (the unit with the golden star), unless he dies in the battle. The game generally determines who is the captain in a stack depending on the type of units in the satck, starting with cavalry then missile infantry, then heavy infantry and ending with spearmen or artillery. And also in their order of appearance in the stack. However if a MoH genral is created, it adds up to the units in the units without taking out a single man out of the unit it originates in.

[Zild]

Thanks.

I suspect mercenary units (which would theoretically include crusade units) have a lower chance of being general.

[_Tristan_]

Not at all... If they are the most valuable unit of your stack and the captain of said stack...

Ie, take a former crusader stack made of one Crusader Knight and several units of Pilgrims. The captain will most certainly be the Knight unit. If this stack manages to obtain a MoH (a difficult task, I'll admit...), then the general will be chosen from among the knights, not that it makes any difference as the general units is not substracted from the unit it comes from... Nor does it keep its former unit experience...

In fact, MoH adds a general unit to any stack that deserves it, regardless of its composition...