Retinues make faster unit production

**Simetrical** · 01-19-2005, 22:25

By the way, maybe this should be moved to the Ludus Magna.

-Simetrical

**zhuge** · 01-19-2005, 22:51

Looked at the ancillary file by geraldtan and came up with:
Famous warrior - 10%
Priest of Teutatis - 10%
Priest of Vahagan - 10%
Priest of Zalmoxis - 10%

I'm not completely sure if these stack with the other ancillaries though... and 1 general is limited to only 8 ancillaries...
Also checked traits but there don't seem to be any which reduce unit cost.

Still... an interesting topic.

EDIT: Noticed that Beastmaster, Priest of Artemis and Priest of Hephaestus get Effect TrainingAnimalUnits x, where x is a particular number. Not sure if these can stack with the above...

**Simetrical** · 01-20-2005, 22:14

I excluded those because Famous Warrior and Decorated Hero are mutually exclusive, and Romans can't normally get the priests, but on reflection, you could cheat for the priests just as easily as anything else. (The restrictions regarding Romans not being able to get the priests are part of their triggers, not the ancillaries themselves.)

-Simetrical

**hrvojej** · 01-21-2005, 00:57

You can bribe people to get the ancillaries your faction cannot normally get. It would require quite a bit of luck to get them, but I guess it's doable.

**sunsmountain** · 01-21-2005, 01:40

Usually units that take 2 turns to produce have a high upkeep (with some exceptions) so I dont plan to produce many of them. In order to make many big stacks you cant go all urban cohort, for example.

But thanks to this tip this strategy (top-units only) can be effectively executed as you churn out them cohorts. I guess it would work well, based on attrition alone.

**Lichgod** · 01-22-2005, 16:30

Took awhile to reply. I found out the retinue was as stated earlier - priest of Haphaestus that gives 10%, mercenary captain 10%, a Decorated Hero for 20%, and the drill master for 10%. These modifiers do effect ships as well. Note fractions are rounded up. 50% is the sweet spot. You would need at least 70% to seen the next improvement (3 turns changed to 1 turn) and 80% to get a 4 turn ship produced in one turn.

@Sunmountain - your concern over unit maintenance is vaild but consider:

I can build Argyraspids (my best infantry at the moment) with a maintenance cost of 360 gold for 120 men (3gp per man) with attack 13 and defense 17.

OR

I can build Cataphracts (my best cav atm) with a maint cost of 140 gold for 54 men (less than 3gp per man) with attack 12 and defense 26. (I do believe cav is too cheap in this game).

Your point on high maintenance is correct if I was to build all infantry here. Instead, I use this city to make Cats and an occasional War Elephant. I have a profit of 26,000 gold a turn. I can afford to build up expensive troops. Current troop maint cost is 76k with leaders costing 9k more. I am near the end of the game with 42 regions, the year 222bc.