Going for Gold the quick way

**Old Geezer** · August 06, 2008, 09:15 AM

The fastest way to get many units promoted is to take heavy losses by whatever means possible - including putting units into plague infested cities. Take the best unit you have of a type and use it as cadre to replenish lower experienced units. You can get a level 0 to go to level 7 in one turn by merging it with a level 9, if that level 0 is down below 10 men or thereabouts. I have even taken to recklessly charging cavalry into spears just to get the less fit soldiers removed. In my present Scots' campaign I have hordes of gold Hospitalers, pikemen, feudal knights, and border horse waiting for the Timurids to attack. (It is 1400 and the cowards won't attack even forts or Yerevan.) The only problem with high level experience units is that they will fight to the last man so you have to watch them more closely to make sure that the unit does not get eliminated.

Anyway, this approach has caused me to become rather ambivalent about the plague, because I look forward to the many new promotions. Sick, eh? I think that it is almost instantly addictive once you merge units and you raise a level one to a level 7 and have a level 7 rise to a level 8 just from the merger caused by the Black Death. It is truly an ill wind that blows nobody good.

**Empress Meg** · August 06, 2008, 09:44 AM

Originally Posted by Old Geezer

Anyway, this approach has caused me to become rather ambivalent about the plague, because I look forward to the many new promotions. Sick, eh? I think that it is almost instantly addictive once you merge units and you raise a level one to a level 7 and have a level 7 rise to a level 8 just from the merger caused by the Black Death. It is truly an ill wind that blows nobody good.

Not at all. War zones and the Fever islands were always the best place to advance quickly in the Nap Wars (all wars?), that is of course if you survived.

A clever idea. I myself have done this inadvertantly after the Black Death left a certain city. I never thought about replenishing plague struck units on a large scale like this however. Cool idea, if a bit morose.

Devoirs The Empress

**Old Geezer** · August 06, 2008, 09:57 AM

Well, I haven't re-infected a settlement intentionally. I have done so through stupidity several times. With my pikemen it is often difficult to get enough of them killed off in combat unless I use auto resolve - which increases the rate of random promotions rather significantly but occasionally will get units that are down to under 10 men eliminated. Also, I always save the game so that I can reload if the merging process backfires which can happen.

**Double A** · August 06, 2008, 03:26 PM

You sick B@$*@**!

Oh, wait, you're the Scots.

**Celsius** · August 06, 2008, 03:28 PM

**wyandottecaver** · August 06, 2008, 06:51 PM

I have long thought the experiance system was fubared. I am a bit confused. if you take a level 9 unit add to a 10 man level 0 to get level 7 then whats the big advantge? raising 10 men 7 levels while losing several times that number of level 9 doesnt seem like anything spectacular.

Of course my standard tactic is to throw stack of stack of newbie troops against the mongols and condense the survivors into experianced armies.

The plague idea needs examining. On one hand you could garrison cities to the max free units and get experianced troops without upkeep costs. However, the impact on the civilian deaths affecting the cities income may well offset that. Of course, maybe the ideal is to keep a plague incubator (ships with infected spies are good) mass produce some armies in a few turns then call a crusade for free upkeep and load them on the infected ships to sail to the crusade city. they get experiance from the crusade, experiance from plague losses, and your upkeep costs are low. Of course you might lose a few generals along the way.....

**Old Geezer** · August 07, 2008, 07:12 AM

When you merge the level 9 unit of full size into the level 0 with only 10 men, you usually will get say a level 9 unit with 10 men and a level 6 (or sometimes even a level 7) unit with 75 men. You can turn a level 1 into a level 9 by merging if the recieving unit has very few men - like 4 or so.

I must have over 20 level 9 Hospitalers and 30 level 9 pike militia waiting for the Timurids to attack.

I have not been trying to get generals promoted because they die off eventually and since I fight almost all battles in the field and don't autoresolve, they don't add much. The morale level of a 9chevroned unit must be very high. Even my level 6 Scots' pike militia fight to the last man or don't route until they are down to 4 or less men and when they do route it is because they are fighting a high level general and I don't have a general to counter the morale differential from the AI's general's presence.

**Double A** · August 07, 2008, 01:21 PM

Yeah, you can cheat that way, and I'll cheat this way.

add_money 100000000000000000000700000

**Zhangir** · August 07, 2008, 01:24 PM

wait wait... how do u even merge units?????

**Double A** · August 07, 2008, 01:37 PM

drag a unit that has less than full troops over another unit, of the same type, that ALSO doesn't have full troops

or press m

**Zhangir** · August 07, 2008, 01:42 PM

drag a unit that has less than full troops over another unit, of the same type, that ALSO doesn't have full troops

or press m

Omg... why nobody told me????????????????????
I played with depleted units... omg

**Double A** · August 07, 2008, 02:03 PM

Why didn't you read the manual?

**Antlion** · August 07, 2008, 02:39 PM

guess you didn't play Rome at all? that's where i learned this from. And manuals?? bah who reads those? things like 2k pages with junk that doesn't work how it should anyways...

**Zhangir** · August 07, 2008, 02:52 PM

guess you didn't play Rome at all? that's where i learned this from

hell yea i DID!
I played it a lot mate ))))))))))

**Double A** · August 07, 2008, 07:42 PM

Here's a tip: NEVER TRY TO BEAT THE LONG CAMPAIGN AS GREECE

**Zhangir** · August 08, 2008, 02:44 AM

You can get a level 0 to go to level 7 in one turn by merging it with a level 9, if that level 0 is down below 10 men or thereabouts. I have even taken to recklessly charging cavalry into spears just to get the less fit soldiers removed. In my present Scots' campaign I have hordes of gold Hospitalers, pikemen, feudal knights, and border horse waiting for the Timurids to attack. (It is 1400 and the cowards won't attack even forts or Yerevan.) The only problem with high level experience units is that they will fight to the last man so you have to watch them more closely to make sure that the unit does not get eliminated

This method requires a level 7 unit then...