Unit Recruiting Question

**Scipio_Africanus** · 07-22-2005, 01:19

Hi, I just had a question which is probably simple for most of you guys:

1. Is there any way to recruit more than the base number of units, that is to say, could you recruit, in campaign or custom battle mode, a unit of 60 (or more) Hastatis as opposed to the standard 40, for example.

2. Is there any way to merge units beyond the ceiling mentioned above. Could you merge a unit of 40 and 30 somehow to create a unit of 70.

I ask this because units of 60-80 seem pretty common in Historical Battles and the standard cavalry size of 27 and infantry of around 40 could both be somewhat more useful if they were like 50% bigger.

**pezhetairoi** · 07-22-2005, 01:24

hail africanus, and welcome to the Org!

*Interesting* question...but you're noob, so it's okay :-P

Okay, there's something in the game options called unit scale. If you select huge, 40-man units will appear with 160 units. Right now you're playing on small, which is pretty much as good as pee-wee by veteran standards since it's incredibly easier to command on such a small scale.

There is no way you can change a 40-man unit hastati to a 60-man hastati unit unless you directly mod the game, because these units have a base value for unit size that will not change unless you change it yourself. If you merge 20 and 30 hastati you will get 40 and 10 hastati. Units of 80 are not possible in historical battles unless you happen to be playing medium scale. The scales multiply each unit base size, so on medium it multiplies by a factor of 2, large by 3 and huge by 4. The unit size is changeable, but it is best if you changed the settings then played a custom battle or two involving huge armies just to see if it will strain your graphics too much before trying the real thing. You don't want your computer lagging or hanging or CTDing in the middle of a crucial battle because there are too many men on the battlefield.

**Slug For A Butt** · 07-22-2005, 01:52

Hi Scipio. There is one way to kind of merge units to give you more men in a unit. If you have say two hastati units that have taken caualties in a battle, take them to a city and hit the retrain button. Select both the damaged units to retrain as normal. Then, AFTER you have opted to retrain them, merge the same two units in the panel on the bottom left of the screen. Next turn, you will end up with more than the standard men in the unit you merged into.
If I remember right, merge the unit with more men into the unit with less for best results.
This always used to work, but I haven't tried it recently (since the patch).

**pezhetairoi** · 07-22-2005, 02:16

heh slug, you beat me to it at last... I'd just remembered this trick and came back to write it to find you wrote it first ;-)

But one problem though, this is buggy. Usually when I do that one or more of the units that need retraining that are left over from merging will not be retrained, and the extras in the new larger-than-normal unit are just enough to cover that lack. I.e. instead of retraining a 20 and a 40 hastati unit (these numbers are post-merger) into a 40 and 60 hastati unit, you get a 20 and a 60 hastati unit, which just rounds out again to 40 and 40. But this happens on and off, so it's like a really inconsistent bug. You don't get this on and off with ships though; it's always on.

**Slug For A Butt** · 07-22-2005, 03:50

Dammit...first at last...

Yeah, but the upside is that you just do the same trick with that unit and another on the next turn. Not really a problem unless you want men in battle straight away.

**pezhetairoi** · 07-22-2005, 09:38

...which happens to be the problem :-D my style is besiege, next turn assault, next turn retrain, next turn we're on the road again...katanking. Though recently, confident enough in my generalship and my treasury, I have decided to be more complacent and adopt a laidback approach involving diplomatic *negotiations*... :) Though I'm going to be on the warpath again now as Armenia. I want Sinope. Hungrily. Like a man needs a really hot babe. *drools at Spartocus, or Mithradates, or whatever the Pontic faction leader's name is*

**ToranagaSama** · 07-22-2005, 10:45

Okay, there's something in the game options called unit scale. If you select huge, 40-man units will appear with 160 units. Right now you're playing on small, which is pretty much as good as pee-wee by veteran standards since it's incredibly easier to command on such a small scale.

Ahhhh....

most people play on the default unit size, including most *veterans*. There's nothing "pee wee" about it, cept RTW itself.

The fact of the matter is the smaller your unit size the FASTER your reactions have to be. Particularly, due to the fact that smaller units will degrade faster than larger units. So you have to think faster, react faster and do more with less so to speak.

**Scipio_Africanus** · 07-22-2005, 15:16

Thanks for the quick response guys. Appreciate it.

**Scipio_Africanus** · 07-22-2005, 15:19

Originally Posted by ToranagaSama

Ahhhh....

most people play on the default unit size, including most *veterans*. There's nothing "pee wee" about it, cept RTW itself.

The fact of the matter is the smaller your unit size the FASTER your reactions have to be. Particularly, due to the fact that smaller units will degrade faster than larger units. So you have to think faster, react faster and do more with less so to speak.

I would say that it is pretty generally true that a strategy element is more present with smaller numbers of men in units, but the occasional grandeous battles involving 5000+ soldiers are pretty stunning.

**Afro Thunder** · 07-22-2005, 15:26

Oh yes, quite stunning indeed. They're especially stunning the framerate. Or should I say "stunting"?

**Deus ret.** · 07-22-2005, 18:47

Originally Posted by Scipio_Africanus

I would say that it is pretty generally true that a strategy element is more present with smaller numbers of men in units, but the occasional grandeous battles involving 5000+ soldiers are pretty stunning.

Yes, their greatness does impress, but to me their setbacks (namely not being able to maneuvre properly because of the restricted battlefield size) outweigh that.
Honestly, it really impoverishes the game even more if all you can basically do is to deal with the enemy frontally. The restricted camera also becomes annoying since you won't be able to have your entire battleline within range...

**LestaT** · 07-23-2005, 06:12

I always play on huge even my rig wasn't really up to standard... Wel sometimes I can go and make coffee while waiting for the one unit of barb merc enemy to cross the bridge onto a trap...

Cheers..

Have to get a new graphic card this month...

**Oaty** · 07-23-2005, 07:38

Originally Posted by ToranagaSama

Ahhhh....

most people play on the default unit size, including most *veterans*. There's nothing "pee wee" about it, cept RTW itself.

The fact of the matter is the smaller your unit size the FASTER your reactions have to be. Particularly, due to the fact that smaller units will degrade faster than larger units. So you have to think faster, react faster and do more with less so to speak.

Actully the majority play on large and the second biggest crowd is huge. I did a poll on it a while back.

Smaller units are easier because they all fit on the screen. But it all goes down to style of gameplay

**pezhetairoi** · 07-25-2005, 00:18

I play huge because it's closest to the reality of 5-digit-size armies crashing into one another. Reflexes are all very well, but man, it's way too small to have any strategic reality. No battle ends that fast.