Retraining - influence on experience?

[Mjr Phil]

I did small test. Four damaged units with experience:
Triari - 16 men, 5exp
Principies - 31 men, 4exp
Principies - 27 men, 5exp
Hastati - 141 men, 4exp

Retrained in Patavium:
Triari - 162 men, 2exp
Principies - 202 men, 1exp
Principies - 202 men, 1exp
Hastati - 242 men, 2exp

Retrained in Arretium:
Triari - 162 men, 5exp
Principies - 202 men, 4exp
Principies - 202 men, 5exp
Hastati - 242 men, 4ex

So... why is that?

[Nellup]

Does Arretium have a temple or other building that grants experience in which Patavium doesn't have.
If the new men in the unit already had a few experience from buildings then the average would be much higher - or in this case the same as the units original experience.

[Coldcall]

I agree its all quite confusing. Very hard to know how many chevrons a veteran unit will keep after re-training.

My tactic is now not to let veteran units get too low on numbers before either retraining or reconstituting/replenishing a cohort.

[Mjr Phil]

Patavium has Temple of Mars, and Arretium has Great Temple of Vulcan. Troops most likely haven't been trained in either of those cities.

[Squid]

Temple of mars has experience bonus, temple of vulcan does not, there's your difference. Easy way to confirm, build one unit in each city, they'll have different experience.

[Nellup]

But Patavium had the temple of mars and in Patavium the units came out with less experience than those retrained in Arretium.
Don't one of the academy buildings give an exp bonus, or has that been removed now?

EDIT: Do either of them have a Ludus Magna, that gives an experience bonus.

[Mjr Phil]

Nope, nothing fancy in those cities:

Patavium:
Governor Palace
Legion Barracks
Wooden Palisade
Market (barbarian)
Communal Farming
Practice Range
Sewers
Temple of Mars
Roads
Port
Stables

Arretium:
Militia Barracks
Governor Palace
Port
Stone Wall
Forum
Crop Rotation
Paved Roads
Stables
Practice Range
Public Baths
Armorer
Great Temple of Vulcan
Arena

[Coldcall]

Personally i always go for the Mars temples/shrines in Arretium as in the early-mid game it is the main Roman centre for armour upgrades.

[Nellup]

Based on those buildings, I have no idea why the units should have more experience when retrained in Arretium, it makes no sense.

[Mjr Phil]

Based on those buildings, I have no idea why the units should have more experience when retrained in Arretium, it makes no sense.

Even better, I tried it again, retraining in Patavium, similar Triarii unit. And this time it preserved experience! How wicked is that?

[Nellup]

It would seem there is an element of randomness to the retraining then, perhaps to simulate the veterans instructing the new recruits to varying levels of success.

[Coldcall]

It would seem there is an element of randomness to the retraining then, perhaps to simulate the veterans instructing the new recruits to varying levels of success.

Yes there does appear some dice roll happening when retraining. I think there is the same effect happening when one re-constitutes new cohorts from wounded veteran ones.

It appears the best way to reconstitute on the fly is to drop the smaller veteran cohort onto the bigger one which doesnt need many new soldiers to reach full strength. So then you get your full 202 cohort, either having stayed at the same vet level or having risen by 1 chevron. The smaller one has now become smaller and then that tops up the next largest injured cohort.

But there also appears to be some chance involved. Its sad when it goes againt you and a promising looking cohort ends up green again.

[Mjr Phil]

it is the main Roman centre for armour upgrades.

For the same reason I put blacksmiths and Vulcan in that city. Mars can be but anywhere, and in Arretium I retrain so they get better weapons (hopefully gold)

[Coldcall]

For the same reason I put blacksmiths and Vulcan in that city. Mars can be but anywhere, and in Arretium I retrain so they get better weapons (hopefully gold)

Yes I would do that if Gold was a problem in this game (as Rome) :-) I find getting rid of my ridiculous wealth every turn is a big problem. I only build happniness shrines in most places and dont bother with too much wealth creation as it comes naturally to Rome once the forums, dockyards come along.

In my current campaign i just gave the Germanic tribes 50,000 because its like small change and i want them to expand for later. Its about 520 AUC.

[Mjr Phil]

I meant "gold" like golden weapon and shield upgrade, not money Money, as you said, is plenty. Scarce is blacksmith that actually works.

[Coldcall]

I meant "gold" like golden weapon and shield upgrade, not money Money, as you said, is plenty. Scarce is blacksmith that actually works.

How does the gold armoured wepaons work? I've noticed that in late stage games some units seem to be upgraded with that gold standard you are talking about.

Is it a random chance thing?

[Mjr Phil]

I'm not sure what you mean. If you're asking for how to get gold upgrades, then (for Rome) you must have Foundry and some higher Vulcan temple built in the city. But this only works in regions that actually have iron as a resource. In every other region blacksmiths are non-functional, and Vulcan's temple's functionality is vastly reduced there.

[Coldcall]

I'm not sure what you mean. If you're asking for how to get gold upgrades, then (for Rome) you must have Foundry and some higher Vulcan temple built in the city. But this only works in regions that actually have iron as a resource. In every other region blacksmiths are non-functional, and Vulcan's temple's functionality is vastly reduced there.

Okay I see. Thats why i have at times noticed my units upgraded to the gold armour but did not know why :-)

[Gotthard]

IF there is a building that increases unit experience, than retraining can get a bit funky, depending on which 'bonus' they have received all ready. If there is NOT a building that increases experience, (including possibly bonuses due to high level recruitment buildings) then when you retrain the experience is IDENTICAL to the level you had before you retrained.

My guess is that if you retrain and there ARE bonuses to be applied, it seems to reset your experience to the bonus level you should get. I lost 4 level 5 spartans (only down 20 men each) that went to level 2 when I retrained them in sparta, I had the level 5 mars temple, which would explain that. If they haven't had the bonus, it's best to combine them with those that have, so they don't lose the experience, and then retrain the lower level ones who don't have it to get them higher.

[Dark_horse_spirit]

Hi,

The best way to retain experience is to keep a army(depending on Preference) in reserve behind your main striking force to replenish front line troops after they have seen a hard battle. If the losses are minimul and there was experienced gained, then recruiting on the move usually allows the player (unit) to keep there skill points that they have aquired. I have one many many campaigns and this is one of my strategies..it always works.

DHS