Tired units and stats

[Knight of the Temple]

The following is a post from the Numerology thread over at the official forum. It gives an indication of how the desert heat affects idle units with different armour levels.

"New test results on boiling factor for desert fighting give the following figures:

Cavalry Armour Level 2&3 (depletion 50%/recovery 50%)
Cavalry Armour Level 4&5 (depletion 75%/recovery 25%)
Cavalry Armour Level 6&+ (depletion 100%/recovery 0%)

Infantry Armour Level 1&2 (depletion 50%/recovery 50%)
Infantry Armour Level 3&4 (depletion 75%/recovery 25%)
Infantry Armour Level 5&+ (depletion 100%/recovery 0%)

Cav armour 5 will tire faster than 4, Infantry armour 4 will tire faster than 3. Depletion meaning the amount of energy that will be lost, even when idle, recovery meaning the amount of energy that can be regained when resting the unit.

NB I've used random units to check this, I haven't tested all units in the game, but the factors can be considered as a rule of thumb."

So, an armour spectrum of 1-4 for infantry and 2-5 for cavalry is something you should generally stick within if you want to fight well in the desert---sticking to 1-2 for infantry and 2-3 for cavalry is optimal energy wise but you're left weaker defensively. Armour 3-4 for infantry and 4-5 cavalry will give you stronger units for fighting but you have to use them more carefully and sparingly.

I have to gripe and say that it hacks me off you can't really use knights to 'crusade' in the Holy Land . . . even the Templars---who were founded in Jerusalem, in a hot climate---are too heavy to fight with, which spoils a lot for me. These knights can and did fight in such conditions---yes, they would tire, but this is too exaggerated in the game for me. What also doesn't help is that you cannot train knights without their default armour upgrades! Being able to train knights with less armour would help somewhat, especially in the case of Feudal Knights, and the fact that such units do appear in the game with no armour upgrades sometimes shows that upgrades aren't really essential. It would be much better to be able to train and equip knights with appropriate armour, and this could be done to some extent by not making armourer buildings required to train them---and if you want them with more armour you can build such buildings yourself. That way you could definitely use Feudal Knights to good effect in the desert. Templars should simply have less armour to begin with. (I know I can mod these things, which I probably will someday.)

That said, you can still use knights in the desert as they are, but they get wasted so fast the whole experience just becomes crap. Feudal Knights though, you can just about use them as their armour is 6. You can even use 'high' Royal Knights with no armour upgrades for a short while, as their armour is 7. So, you can still use heavier units in the desert, but only if you deploy them in your first wave and you use them carefully and quickly. If you're slow moving tactically then forget about using heavy units in the desert!

EDIT: Just to add on . . . I train Mounted Sergeants as my desert knights. With extra valour from the Master Horse Breeder (it also hacks me off that knights get no bonus from this!), and at least one weapon upgrade, they are as powerful as standard Feudal Knights. Mounted Sergeants have the same charge bonus as knights, and with 1 valour and a weapon upgrade their attack is 4---the same as FK. I give them bronze armour (giving them 5 total), making them a heavy unit in desert conditions, but not so heavy they become useless. And on top of that they're almost as brave as normal knights, with a valour of 6 (2 default, 2 from extra valour, 2 from Church). So that's what I have to resort to because normal knights are just too heavy . . . and crusading without proper knights is a major thumbs down, which is why I always at least take some FK with me anyway, even if they're only good for one charge and one fight.