Upgrading Units

[Strategist83]

Modo: I value research over production, and so should you - in almost any scenario. The only time upgrading might be a good idea is if you are playing just one opponent, or if for some reason expansion is crucially important. With more than one opponent, you will fall behind in the tech race if you spend precious gold upgrading.

[Modo44]

Originally posted by Strategist83
Modo: I value research over production, and so should you - in almost any scenario. The only time upgrading might be a good idea is if you are playing just one opponent, or if for some reason expansion is crucially important. With more than one opponent, you will fall behind in the tech race if you spend precious gold upgrading.

Well, expansion was important in this game. If you build a War Chariot instead of a Cossack, that leaves a heck of a lot of production to spend on infrastructure, instead of building a Cossack. And you can upgrade those quicker than you could build Cossacks. I did that in my last game, and the upgrade turned out to be quick enough to crush one AI before it could upgrade to Riflemen. I did not have the production capacity to build 20 Cossacks at that time, in time before the AI got Riflemen. I really see no alternative to upgrading in this case, except if I was not going to attack at all (and hence had the time and the 30-ish turns to build the 20 Cossacks.

But I am still more likely to upgrade the existing units (even if not going to war) instead of buying ne ones. Why? Because -- instead of building replacements -- I can build infrastructure. My economy is usually good enough to upgrade everything in less than 5 turns. Since I am playing at Epic speed, I can afford to drop research for that long, without really noticing. I do notice the much less likely AI attacks, though...

[gilfan]

Originally posted by Modo44

Well, expansion was important in this game. If you build a War Chariot instead of a Cossack, that leaves a heck of a lot of production to spend on infrastructure, instead of building a Cossack. And you can upgrade those quicker than you could build Cossacks. I did that in my last game, and the upgrade turned out to be quick enough to crush one AI before it could upgrade to Riflemen. I did not have the production capacity to build 20 Cossacks at that time, in time before the AI got Riflemen. I really see no alternative to upgrading in this case, except if I was not going to attack at all (and hence had the time and the 30-ish turns to build the 20 Cossacks.

But I am still more likely to upgrade the existing units (even if not going to war) instead of buying ne ones. Why? Because -- instead of building replacements -- I can build infrastructure. My economy is usually good enough to upgrade everything in less than 5 turns. Since I am playing at Epic speed, I can afford to drop research for that long, without really noticing. I do notice the much less likely AI attacks, though...

Doesn't change the fact that it's just as cheap to hurry prodution on 20 cossacks than it is to upgrade 20 war chariots. Plus, when you built those 20 chariots, you may not have had as much xp-bonuses. Maybe you didn't have a barracks in each city, you didn't have the option of switching to vassalage/theocracy for a few turns, etc.

[Modo44]

Originally posted by gilfan
Doesn't change the fact that it's just as cheap to hurry prodution on 20 cossacks than it is to upgrade 20 war chariots. Plus, when you built those 20 chariots, you may not have had as much xp-bonuses. Maybe you didn't have a barracks in each city, you didn't have the option of switching to vassalage/theocracy for a few turns, etc.

I did not have Universal Suffrage, as Democracy is not exactly on the path of a beeline to Military Tradition. If I had the luxury of waiting that long, I might have considered rushing the units.

[Tiberius]

Originally posted by Yaga
Unfortunately, using the alt-click method upgrades to target-class, rather than from unit-class.

This is extremly annoying and honestly I don't understand why they did it this way. But since the option it's already there, instead of changing it they should keep it and add a new "upgrade all units of the same type" one.

[Mitho]

Well i'm at 100% reasearch and was accumilating gold that was why i was inquireing about the shortcuts. i'm very diplomatic so i don't usually fight to many wars. Just want to get a good handle on the game before tackling the top few difficulty levels.