Training Levels

[vypuero]

Can someone explain if there is any value to having your workers in the training mode - either in a camp or barracks - when there are no new soldiers being produced? Do they do any training of "visiting armies" at all or are they just wasted? Also, why does the training not seem to matter where the workers are, in a heavy infantry barracks vs. a training camp, the indication is I get the same training level for any unit type. Finally, how do I check the experience levels of units and what do they actually do?

[IainMcNeil]

No, its only useful when you are producing troops.

[Redpossum]

Vyppy - RTFM, son, RTFM!

When you look at your units, there are two numbers at the bottom.

The one on the left, (white numeral in purple circle) is the number of squads. Until you build a depot in the city that builds your armies, this number will always be 1.

The one on the right, (white numeral in red circle), is the experience rating of the unit.

Yes, experience makes a huge difference!

[honvedseg]

The amount of experience varies between a barracks and a training camp, but the different barracks types all provide the same minimal boost per worker. The more advanced training grounds, on the other hand, give you more per worker as well as the ability to add more workers. Your capital provides a fairly decent boost, and is the best place to recruit new units in the early stages of the game.

[vypuero]

I have kind of figured that out the training, but have not tried the larger squads yet. Does that make a big difference? Does it affect stacking or just give you more bang for the slot? A couple of other issues I have are:

I can't select a general - so have to be careful with orders, once I set my troops to hold but he ran out and got swarmed under, and I learned my lesson 1 dead general later.

Then there is army organizing - you can't even split 2 newly made units apart without their losing their whole movement! That does not make any sense. I hate that any change whatsover takes all movement from the entire stack, why is that?

[Redpossum]

I have kind of figured that out the training, but have not tried the larger squads yet. Does that make a big difference? Does it affect stacking or just give you more bang for the slot? A couple of other issues I have are:

I can't select a general - so have to be careful with orders, once I set my troops to hold but he ran out and got swarmed under, and I learned my lesson 1 dead general later.

Then there is army organizing - you can't even split 2 newly made units apart without their losing their whole movement! That does not make any sense. I hate that any change whatsover takes all movement from the entire stack, why is that?

Bigger squads are of questionable value, IMO. They have no effect on stacking. Mostly, they are a late game thing, allowing you to concentrate more combat power in the max size (16 units) army.

Yes, you can select a general Just click and drag a box around him. This also allows you to select multiple units at once.

RTFM stands for Read The F****** Manual

[sum1won]

I have kind of figured that out the training, but have not tried the larger squads yet. Does that make a big difference? Does it affect stacking or just give you more bang for the slot? A couple of other issues I have are:

I can't select a general - so have to be careful with orders, once I set my troops to hold but he ran out and got swarmed under, and I learned my lesson 1 dead general later.

Then there is army organizing - you can't even split 2 newly made units apart without their losing their whole movement! That does not make any sense. I hate that any change whatsover takes all movement from the entire stack, why is that?

Bigger squads are of questionable value, IMO. They have no effect on stacking. Mostly, they are a late game thing, allowing you to concentrate more combat power in the max size (16 units) army.

Yes, you can select a general Just click and drag a box around him. This also allows you to select multiple units at once.

RTFM stands for Read The F****** Manual

Pffft. Real men figure it out by experimentation.

[vypuero]

Well, normally I do, but they don't make the manual all that nice - it is a Word doc that I downloaded and its not laid out very well. So, just decided to figure it out. I did figure out how to move the general, but he has a very small "grab spot" vs. the icon, so it takes a little messing around to get the right spot.

[dithyrambos]

I have kind of figured that out the training, but have not tried the larger squads yet. Does that make a big difference? Does it affect stacking or just give you more bang for the slot? A couple of other issues I have are:

I can't select a general - so have to be careful with orders, once I set my troops to hold but he ran out and got swarmed under, and I learned my lesson 1 dead general later.

Then there is army organizing - you can't even split 2 newly made units apart without their losing their whole movement! That does not make any sense. I hate that any change whatsover takes all movement from the entire stack, why is that?

Sometimes you want bigger squads, sometimes you don't. It depends on what scenario you're playing. For example, if I'm playing on just the Peloponnesus, then I probably won't need big squads. But if I'm doing the Grand Campaign, I'm going to need them because Persia and Rome will start building bigger squads, and add to that their vast numbers already, it means that little 40 man squads aren't going to last long! So in the GC, you want bigger squads ultimately, but in smaller maps, you typically won't.

[honvedseg]

As the game progresses, you definitely want to bump up the size of your key combat units. This is far less critical than in CoW, where it was at the top of your priority list, but in Spartan/GoT it shouldn't even be a concern for the first 100 turns or so. Once you begin facing full 16 unit stacks of decent quality opponents, those few additional troops suddenly become worth their weight in gold. On the other hand, you DON'T want to increase the size of your safe garisson units, because you get the same happiness modifier regardless of squad size, but they cost more to maintain.