Do you mainly upgrade old units or purchase new ones?

[Strategist83]

I am wondering about whether it is best to upgrade old units (archer --> longbowman) or purchase new ones. On one hand, upgrading costs a handsome amount of gold. On the other hand, it gives you units with experience and means you do not have to spend more hammers on military units, leaving you free to base your economy more around the cottage commerce-powerhouses.

[gdgrimm]

Units that have experience levels above what I could build from scratch I almost always find some way to upgrade.

City garrisons and/or reserve units, which often have never even seen battle, I'll upgrade if my civ has a strong economy (say a Financial trait as leader). Otherwise, I'll build new and disband.

Also, I usually don't disband garrisons until they're 2 defense layers' behind. So when I get Rifling, I'll get rid of any Archers hanging around, but I may keep the Longbowmen and Musketmen. I'll just build one Rifleman unit and add it to the city's garrison. I'll have reserve cash laying around to ensure that full Riflemen upgrades can be done in one turn should an attack become obvious.

[The keeper]

I only upgrade those on the frontiers. In the middle of my empire, it is okay if a warrior still guards. There wont be any tanks rolling in anytime soon anyway.

[proviisori]

depends on situation.. both?!

[Arrian]

Mixture.

Units with 5-10 XP are almost certainly going to be upgraded. Units with 2-5 are questionable. Units with less than 2 are most likely toast, unless I'm rolling in money and struggling for production. Units with 11-14 XP really depend... upgrading knocks them back to 10XP, so it depends on what's going on at that time. If I'm at war, I'll probably wait until they hit 17xp for the added promo and then upgrade (unless, of course, I really really need the better unit). Units with 15-16 XP will probably no be upgraded in the hope of getting them to 17 next time I get into a fight. Units with 17+ will be upgraded.

-Arrian

[trev]

Generally upgrade units in the late game only, but the occasional unit with 17 or 26xp I will upgrade earlier. In the late game I will often upgrade everything as I usually play a strategy of lowish production and lots of cottages, so the money supply is ample by that stage of the game.

[Shr3dZ]

Why wait for a unit to hit 17xp just to knock it back to 10xp ? I was under the impression that once you go back to 10xp you lose the 17xp promo ... no ?

[Arrian]

No, the promo stays. The unit will be set back to 10/26 (as opposed to 10/17).

-Arrian

[Blake]

Here's the rules of thumb I use:
Units in the deep, safe interior don't need to be upgraded ever, warriors, archers, knights and such work fine in the modern ages. Which is not to say their supply cost might not be better spent on units which can also be used as reserves. But since every city needs one military unit and you can't really pull that last one out, it doesn't really harm to have archers defending your interior cities.
Units with less than 5exp only get upgraded in emergencies, otherwise they get disbanded and replaced, or used for interior city garrison duty.
Units with good promos, especially CityRaiderx3 and City Garrisonx3 get upgraded with high priority, it is very good to have very up to date units with good promotions.
In emergencies, upgrade anything. The upgrade costs are minuscule compared to the value of cities.
Promote units to get "illegal" promotions. Guerilla/Woodsman Machine Gunners, Medic/March Gunships, City Raider Genadairs, First Strike gunpowder units.

[Addled Platypus]

50/50

upgrading the best, delete the rest

[Blake]

upgrade the best, delete the rest

Don't let your troops hear that motto! Or maybe you should... might motivate them .

[Mr Justice]

ya mostly.

i've no prob toning down on reserch to save money to pay for upgrades enmass. one of my reasons is that i find it easier to organise a decent attack force rather than waitin on a drip of units. also if you can get an edge on techs or maintain parity you can have a decent attack ready a couple of turns after the getting the right tech.

[Yosho]

I almost never disband units; on the other hand, I often don't upgrade many of the older ones either. I often have a fair number of obsolete units sitting around on "minor" frontiers (places where I could be attacked, if someone else goes to war with me or if the enemy gets tricky with transports, but aren't my major priority at the time). Then, I try to keep enough money on hand to upgrade a few if I need to; if I'm suddenly hit with a surprise attack on a weak front, I can often stop it dead with using upgrade to create a few modern units that suddenly appear in the city; and I can often choose which units based on what the enemy is attacking with. Depending on the point of the game, 2-3 riflemen, or pikemen, ect, used properly in a city with some natural defense, can hold of an enemy army long enough for the cavelry to arrive.

Anyway, if you don't want to upgrade them, obsolete units can be usefull in warfare, if you're smart. Send one warrior into his terratory. The AI will send something expensive (like, say, a knight) to kill it...and, if you figure out the distance to his nearest city right, his knight will end up sitting out, alone, in an empty field right next to your border, ready to be killed by your pikes; and hey, I'm always glad to trade a pawn for a knight. And, of course, if he dosn't send something to kill the warrior right away, you can always pillage until he does.

Also, remember most units can only kill one unit a turn; if you've got 12 obsolete units sitting in a city, his stack of 6 modern units will take at least 2 turns to take the city. One game, I used that tactic to delay a army for a few key turns while I finished the space ship.

[sovietwaffle]

Hmm, when it comes to upgrading I try to keep producing a military (Even if it's only one or two cities doing so), and never have the need to upgrade. However, if they send some modern units to attack a city with obsolete defense, I will slide down tech to save that city.

[Hauptman]

as in every other aspect of this game. Completely situational. if I'm playing my usual "builder" game, my military is quite sparse and my infrastructure can easily pay for upgraded units, However, some games, when its all about smacking around the competition, then that just isnt gonna happen. Only the occasional "special" unit warrents an upgrade, like that city attack3 macemen, he does real nice as a grenadier. Or you finally got a level 7 cho ku nu and doubt that he will ever get the 30 more xp to make level 8 (especially since a 6 str xbow cant kill many riflemen!).