Quote Originally Posted by drone View Post
Armour level 5 seems too high to me for some reason. There is a threshold where the unit will not recover from fatigue in the desert, I always thought it was 3 for infantry and 4 for cav.
I agree 5 seems too high. So a bit more looking. This is in the Medieval:TotalWar Numerology thread over at the official site:

"Arodi (06/28/05 16:56:20) [Armour in the desert, tiring and recovery]

I found my earlier list of armour ratings to be incorrect, after long testing. I've observed the following findings concerning armour ratings in the desert:

Cav with an armour rating of 5 and 6 tire considerably faster than 3 and 4. When marching across the desert at normal speed, cav can keep marching across the desert without reaching full exhaustion at 3. 4 And up will ultimately exhaust themselves entirely, just by marching. These values all seem disrespective of shield bonus and whether they are fast or not. Therefore it can be concluded that cav with an armour rating of maximum 3 will perform best in the desert. Anything higher than that will completely tire out, with conditions being worst starting at armour 5 while 4 remains *reasonable*.

Also infantry behave equally, regardless of shields and speed. However, infantry will exhaust itself sooner, with armour ratings starting with 3 and above, exhausting themselves entirely when just marching across the desert at normal speed. Armour levels of 2 and below will not reach full exhaustion regardless of the distance they march. At 2 armour they will recover to 2 energy, while at 3 armour they will recover to 1 energy. Armour 4 and up will not recover at all. Therefore it can be concluded that infantry with a maximum armour 2 will perform best, with 3 remaining reasonable and 4 and up suffering the worst conditions.

You'll find that these findings correspond nicely with default armour ratings for standard muslim units."

I must admit, I thought up to 4 armour could 'handle' desert conditions. Arodi, however, makes Slav warriors sound worth recruiting. Hundred man units entering the field late in a long attritional battle. They could rule!

Regards
V