Urrah! another xp topic!

**Salahedin** · 01-20-2010, 03:44

I'm pretty sure everyone here has experienced this :

when retraining a unit with barracks, this unit sometimes changes his xp. No big deal, assuming it is loosing xp. Of course, the freshly recruited noobs don't have as much xp as the ol'timer.
but sometimes... it is gaining some. Now that's weird.

An example I just saw in my roman's campaign :

I recruit a triarii with 2 bronze chevrons (I modded the bonus of the wonder in Roma to give this +2 xp bonus).
I send them to fight. They gain no xp and lose a few men in the victorious battle.
I send them back to Roma to retrain them. And... TADAM! they get a 3rd bronze chevron.
Of course nothing has changed in the city, no new building with more bonus. So what?

I have a theory though. I would like to hear what you think of it.

After the battle, casualties recovered from there wounds, the personal chirurgeon of my faction leader did a great work (thanks to his experiments on dead gauls he has quite a good understanding of human nature...).
I don't know how much exactly, but I think 2/3 of the injured were saved.
Now, I think the casualties healed are given NO xp bonus, even if they had one before dying... I mean before being injured.
Even if the non-injured men got enough xp to gain a chevron, they would NOT because of these freshly healed-new recruits. So when these healed-recruits got retrained, they actually allowed the hole maniple to gain one more, as they gained 2. See?

Not sure I've been clear enough. English is not my mother language and the topic is quite difficult to handle for me.

In my dreams, I saw a new version of EB in which the healed units are given the same xp as before the battle. Or even more, surviving a battle-wound is quite worth a chevron!

**Cute Wolf** · 01-20-2010, 04:42

Well, your lost triari is mostly placed at the front ranks... so they'll probably had more killings (and had more chevrons), so when they are healed, they'll back with extra ones...

**Subotan** · 01-20-2010, 14:26

Ocassionaly, I have experienced random units gaining three gold chevrons, usually bodyguards.

Those are good days.

**Cute Wolf** · 01-20-2010, 14:31

Originally Posted by Subotan

Ocassionaly, I have experienced random units gaining three gold chevrons, usually bodyguards.

Those are good days.

It always happened when I left my 16 y old strategos without any chevrons, laid siege with superrior forces, but just wait for 2 years before entering the settlements (no assault, just waiting), and he got 9 chevrons....

I think it was an exploit of negative valor values then....

**Subotan** · 01-20-2010, 14:35

What's valor? I've always wondered what it was.

**Cute Wolf** · 01-20-2010, 15:05

Bodyguard experience then......

**Ludens** · 01-20-2010, 15:40

I am not sure how this would work in engine terms. I am thinking: maybe the engine does not forget/erase the experience of killed soldiers in unit? So that instead of getting zero experience, the new recruits get the experience of whatever soldier they replace.

Originally Posted by Subotan

What's valor? I've always wondered what it was.

Valour is the in-game term for experience in Medieval TW1, just as it was called honour in S:TW.

**Subotan** · 01-20-2010, 18:39

In RTW though, valour always refers specifically to bodyguards.

**Ca Putt** · 01-20-2010, 19:30

better than the other way around, once(ok once that I remember^^) had a real badass Pahlava BG, who's BG all of the sudden was down to 0 XP luckyme he had one of those extra valor Anciallaries ^^

**bobbin** · 01-20-2010, 23:29

AFAIK the bodyguards getting 3 gold chevrons is due to the starving trait which causes a reduction in BG valour (xp), when this gives a negative values you see the 3 gold chevron thing.

Originally Posted by Ludens

I am not sure how this would work in engine terms. I am thinking: maybe the engine does not forget/erase the experience of killed soldiers in unit? So that instead of getting zero experience, the new recruits get the experience of whatever soldier they replace.

The way I have heard it the new soldiers come in with the same experience level as the unit, not sure if that is correct though.

**Subotan** · 01-21-2010, 10:08

Do they actually work as 3 gold chevrons?

**Cute Wolf** · 01-21-2010, 12:34

Originally Posted by Subotan

Do they actually work as 3 gold chevrons?

Yeah, long time ago I got my 19 y old KH strategos suddenly gain 9 gold chevrons... I try them to charge two Epeiros Hypaspistai frontally, and they still emerge victorious... maybe (just a suggestion), we should made a hidden trait for every general, give them free 2 chevrons, so they won't turn into 9 chevron general unit just by besieging settlements...

**Fluvius Camillus** · 01-21-2010, 22:35

Originally Posted by Cute Wolf

Yeah, long time ago I got my 19 y old KH strategos suddenly gain 9 gold chevrons... I try them to charge two Epeiros Hypaspistai frontally, and they still emerge victorious... maybe (just a suggestion), we should made a hidden trait for every general, give them free 2 chevrons, so they won't turn into 9 chevron general unit just by besieging settlements...

That would probably lead to more annoying AI general kamikazes, making them run through phalanx thanks to the extra xp....

~Fluvius