Unit experience

**meese** · October 13, 2009, 09:42 PM

What determines whether a unit gets experience after battle or not? I've noticed sometimes mine get experience even though they did literally nothing whereas the archers which killed the enemy get nothing.

**Danius** · October 13, 2009, 09:48 PM

Thats not my experience.

Ive noticed that the unit that does the fighting gets the experience.

Ive had a unit rank up 2 or 3 times and when the battle was over there was 5 guys left in that unit, gold experienced - Funny thing is that, then you go retrain the squad and you get 120 gold veterans.

**Jynx** · October 14, 2009, 02:02 PM

Originally Posted by Danius

Funny thing is that, then you go retrain the squad and you get 120 gold veterans.

I try to see that not as a glitch, but as those experienced soldiers teaching the new soldiers some tactics.

Don't think that you're taking advantage of the AI by doing that, the AI does that to every experienced soldier it can retrain.

**TheBromgrev** · October 13, 2009, 10:07 PM

What exactly does experience do? All I've noticed is +1 to melee attack per color, so 1-3 bronze chevrons would give +1 melee attack while 1-3 gold gives +3 melee attack. Do the 2nd and third chevrons give any benefit? A morale boost perhaps?

**Vaz** · October 14, 2009, 12:51 PM

Morale Boost, Discpline up, ranged accuracy.

**Emperor of The Great Unknown** · October 14, 2009, 02:06 PM

Originally Posted by Vaz

Morale Boost, Discpline up, ranged accuracy.

wrong(it's the same as attack), wrong (they maintian their discipline), not sure on the last one.

i personally like rtw experience better.

**King Siegfried** · October 15, 2009, 09:34 PM

Originally Posted by Emperor of The Great Unknown

wrong(it's the same as attack), wrong (they maintian their discipline), not sure on the last one.

i personally like rtw experience better.

They do more damage, they have better morale, and ranged units have more accuracy. The first and third ones are proven. The second I'm sure of myself on, but I might be incorrect.

**Emperor of The Great Unknown** · October 22, 2009, 06:23 PM

no what im saying is that it improves morale every 3 chevrons.

**meese** · October 14, 2009, 05:48 PM

So nobody knows how the experience gaining works?

**TheBromgrev** · October 14, 2009, 05:54 PM

It's related to the number of battles each unit fights and how well they fight. Cavalry tend to get experience faster, as 30 knights can kill about 60+ militia spearmen with a single charge. Militia units typically have a kill/death ratio of around 1:1, so they gain experience slower. Now, does anyone know what the 2nd and 3rd chevron does? Aside from getting you closer to the next color of course.

**Deadly Rabbit** · October 14, 2009, 07:28 PM

I don't have a problem with retraining a depleted unit and getting the experience bonus. I think of it as a cadre, an experienced band of veterans who move up to be corporals, sergeants etc and impart their experience to new recruits. And given that the AI does it, and you pay commensurately for it, I don't think it's an exploit.

**Goofy** · October 14, 2009, 11:22 PM

I've been considering this for a while... My cavalry units usually get an experience bonus when they have 100 enemies killed in a battle. Perhaps infantry goes with 50?

**Gezoes** · October 15, 2009, 06:19 PM

Doesn't it have to do with the amount of kills a unit gets? Once a unit kills 1/2 of it's own strength or something, it gets a chevron? Something like that I believe

Chasing down routers also gives xp. Or free xp as I like to call it, and prisoners ofcourse

**meese** · October 15, 2009, 07:07 PM

But that doesn't explain why my units sometimes get more experience when they do nothing (kill nothing).

**Sokar Rostau** · October 15, 2009, 07:31 PM

It's based on participation as well as contribution, and the best way to see this in action is to drag a siege unit around with you. Over the course of many battles, some where the siege unit makes kills, some where it shoots but misses and some where it sits at the back doing nothing, you will find that it gains experience regardless of it's contribution in any given battle.

From what I can tell there are a few factors, with differing effects, at work:

1. The kill/death ratio. The more kills a unit gets in comparison to it's losses means more XP. A small unit, like cavalry, will gain XP faster than a large unit. This is also why you'll end a battle and see a unit of 5 cavalry with 3 gold chevrons but then exit and find that once the healed casualties are re-added to the unit it has two silver. This is the fastest way to get those chevrons up.
1a. Kill quality. Higher tier units are worth more - a unit of Mailed Knights that kills/captures 500 Peasants will get less XP than killing/capturing 100 DFKs.

2. Just by fighting a unit gains experience regardless of their effectiveness in combat. This is a slower gain, but it's still a gain.

3. Units gain experience just by being there, even if they do nothing. At a guess it's about 1 chevron every 10-15 battles and is by far the slowest gain.

I also suspect, sometimes, that risk is involved. I can't prove it, but I get the feeling that cavalry charging into the front of a unit of spears will gain more XP than flanking/charging the rear. This might just be an illusion though because when I am making a full frontal charge into spears there's usually a good reason... like that being the only hope of winning because those cavalry are all that's left.