Losing Experience

**bubbanator** · 06-02-2005, 01:09

I just got done playing a custom battle where I was the senate taking on the Scipii and Julii in the city of Rome. I had 2 groups of Urban Cohorts fully upgraded as shock troops to take the walls with. One of these groups received the brunt of the Scipii defense and then I sent that group over to help out my allies who had lost the walls after taking them once already. To make a long story short, that unit took many casualties (I was playing on normal unit scale) when the battle was over that group had 12 men left. They had killed 256. However they had LOST experience. How can that be. I know that xp is the average from all of the men but in a custom battle, how can you lose xp?

**Mongoose** · 06-02-2005, 01:33

If the vetrans die?

**The Stranger** · 06-02-2005, 15:57

yup the chevs are a average. if the veterans die and the rookies stay, the average goes down. that's why you see alot of AI armies with 3 gold chevron units with 3 men in it. that's not hard, cuz the vets stay.

**Elmar Bijlsma** · 06-02-2005, 17:50

Ah, but this is a custom battle. You would expect that there are no rookies or veterans in a custom battle but all have the same XP. But it indeed seems even there the XP given for a unit is an average, not a general value. So if you recruit a two Silver Chevron unit it would seem 1/3 has 1 SC, 1/3 has 2 SC and another third has three chevrons. Perhaps even wider dispersal of XP between soldiers.

A bit odd but a nice touch if true, as it seems it is.

**The Stranger** · 06-02-2005, 20:20

true, but they van gain exp in custom, so they can also lose exp

**amazon77** · 06-03-2005, 15:19

I think what the poster says is: since it's a custom battle and he gave the exp to the Urbaners (say he gave them 3 exp), he expected (and i would) that all the 82 soldiers (normal is 82 for them i think) would have the 3exp, thus making the unit a 3 exp unit in total.

When the battle was over, the unit had killed 2xx men, while 12 were alive. So, even if the 12 survivors, hadn't made a single kill (quite unlikely, but it doesn't matter), the unit should be at the starting 3 exp he gave them in the "buy ur army screen".

Before reading this post, i knew of course that in Campaign battles, units have veteran soldiers and green one's and if u sent a unit of 2 exp with 50 ppl and 20 survive, it could be that even if the survivors made some kills, those killed had more, and thus, instead of the unit gaining exp, it lost, ending in exp1.

But after reading this one, i have to wonder, cos the only logical explanation is that 3 exp is divided as 1/3 of the men having 1exp, the other 1/3 having 2 exp the rest having 3 exp. Or it could be that half the men are green and the other half are 6exp, averaging down to that 3 exp unit in total.

Some explanation on this should be given by the game developers i think, on how the game allocates the exp you buy in the custom battle screen among soldiers.

**The Stranger** · 06-03-2005, 15:48

i think his game is buggy or he smoked to much weed

**professorspatula** · 06-04-2005, 12:48

Did those 12 men make it to the end, or did they rout first? I've had minus experience in custom battles, usually when the entire unit died. Sometimes men are healed after a battle, even when the entire unit died in battle. That makes it look like the unit still has men in it, and they'll probably have a negative experience score. I might be clutching at straws, but I can't think of any other ways to explain your situation.