Some basic VI questions

[Derfasciti]

I've gotta couple questions that could use some answering:

What exactly is valor and what does it do for you?

Are fyrd or spearmen better? Spearmen for instance say weak attack, whereas fyrd says nothing about attack at all.

I'm sure I'll think of something to ask later on but for now this is it.

[Ironside]

I've gotta couple questions that could use some answering:

What exactly is valor and what does it do for you?

Are fyrd or spearmen better? Spearmen for instance say weak attack, whereas fyrd says nothing about attack at all.

I'm sure I'll think of something to ask later on but for now this is it.

Valour gives +1 to attack and defense and that's about equal to a 30% combat increase. If you press F1 during battle a chart with all your unit stats will show up.

In this case, nothing is better than weak. Nothing is used as a kind of standard, a comment will only be displayed when thing are either better or worse than this standard.
Fyrdmen is better, they got higher morale and higher attack so.

[seireikhaan]

Well, I was going to answer this, but there's not much left to say. Well done Ironside!

[Lord Cazaric]

I personally prefer spearmen, especially armoured spearmen.

100 armoured spearmen and 120 archers once killed 4000 of my cavalry, due to terrible battlefield placement and unit choice on my part. They also had the positional advantage.

[General Dazza]

100 armoured spearmen and 120 archers once killed 4000 of my cavalry, due to terrible battlefield placement and unit choice on my part. They also had the positional advantage.

Holy cow! What was the story re placement etc?

[bamff]

Holy cow! What was the story re placement etc?

Was there a bridge involved? And did they have an uber-general leading them?

[caravel]

Holy cow! What was the story re placement etc?

Exactly the same thing happened to me once, when I fell asleep drunk at the controls during a battle...

[EatYerGreens]

Valour also increases the morale of a unit - usually by 2 points of morale for every 1 point of valour.

For a full understanding of why some units gained valour at the end of a battle, while others didn't, take a look at the battle logs afterwards.

(If you havn't done so already, you'll need to enable the battle logfiles by ticking the box in the game options menu).

The unit's valour is actually an average of all its members individual valour scores. Retraining a valoured cadre will top it up with fresh 0-valour troops and thus lower its average, although the previous members retain their valour record, as will be seen if they go into battle again.

Because of this averaging business it turns out that, a lot of the time, the valour gained in battle is mostly a side-effect of suffering a high percentage of casualties.

It is probably better to merge valoured veteran cadres together, to maintain their high average, than to retrain them. The benefits of the improved valour are at least as good, or better, than those of the improved equipment.

[Derfasciti]

Thanks for the info, and I've forgotten exactly how to retrain units.

[Deus ret.]

EatYerGreens explained most relevant points. It should be added, though, that there's a difference between a unit's own valour level and additional points bestowed upon it by the general's command rating. The +1att / +1def bonus is granted for every point of valour, but the valour bonus received from the general doesn't add to morale. So, a unit with 2 own valour and 2 additional from thge general will have a bonus of +4 att and def and +4 morale from its own valour level.

Thanks for the info, and I've forgotten exactly how to retrain units.

Simple: Open the recruitment panel in the province where the unit to be retrained (it has to be there, of course) and drag it in the recruitment queue. Note that unlike RTW retraining takes a full turn per unit in MTW, so you might be better off recruiting a new one.

[Caerfanan]

What exactly is valor and what does it do for you?

Valour is a mix between experience and spirits inspired by your leader. your soldiers gain valour while fighting enemies off, and those valour point give +1 attack, +1 defense and +2 morale. Your good general can inspire greatness by his living example (not leaving, right? ), giving +1 "valour" for every two stars he had (rounded down: 3 stars = 2 stars), this valour point gives +1 attack and +1 defence "only"

As said, pressing F1 sduring the battle provides you with the full stats!

Are fyrd or spearmen better? Spearmen for instance say weak attack, whereas fyrd says nothing about attack at all.

There is a unit comparison tool in this adress: http://totalwar.co.kr/medieval/indexx.html (I don't know how ta say "here" and put the adress behind...). The difference between fyrds and plain spearmen is as follows: they have 0 attack instead of -1, and 2 morale instead of 0. Be cautious about the descriptions; YOu have very weak=>weak=>nothing=>good=>very good=>excellent. Mostly. Each standing for a range of values. So beware that "good" can mean 3 or 4!

[Raz]

Not sure if this has already been said, but when in battle, tap F1 (Don't forget to pause it before hand). And a table with unit stats will pop up. There you can view which units will be better at certain tasks. I thought that a unit of same type was pretty much the same as any other 'till I found this. Just with slightly different attack or something. But my, *Presses F1 and gasps at the morale differences*

I knew I shouldn't have sent those pikemen across the bridge.

[macsen rufus]

Exactly the same thing happened to me once, when I fell asleep drunk at the controls during a battle...

Been there, done that, tee-shirt etc etc - the worst thing is being woken up by the sound of your general routing That's why the drinker line of vices hits your command stats....

BUT regarding the original question, in the VI campaign at least (not sure about the main campaign) fyrdmen also have lower upkeep costs than spearmen.

[caravel]

Been there, done that, tee-shirt etc etc - the worst thing is being woken up by the sound of your general routing That's why the drinker line of vices hits your command stats....

BUT regarding the original question, in the VI campaign at least (not sure about the main campaign) fyrdmen also have lower upkeep costs than spearmen.

Yes, the Muslim factions start blowing those high pitched little hunting horn things when they're routing, that probably wouldn't wake me up though.

I've fought battles while drunk before, but I can't say that I've ever passed out while doing so! My hat's off to you, Caravel.

Unfortunately it's happened a few times. I remember once waking up to find that I had somehow won the battle?! I must have fought enough of the battle to push it in my favour, after that it must have been a case of the enemy rushing my defensive line and routing repeatedly until either the timer ran out or they routed completely.

I must admit that those days are pretty much behind me...

No seriously though, I rarely get to play many of those epic campaigns with similarly epic battles until the early hours these days.

[macsen rufus]

I did once win a bridge defence battle whilst asleep, though IIRC I had already killed off the enemy general before I dozed off...