What's the trick to upgrading?

[MyOlde]

In the game I'm playing I discovered I could upgrade certain military units. But when I visited other cities to upgrade my warriors and spearmen I found I couldn't. I gather barracks doesn't do the trick (as in Civ 3), so what does? I can't find it on my tech tree poster or anywhere else.

Thanks in advance.

[Supr49er]

Re: What's the trick to upgrading?

Originally posted by MyOlde
In the game I'm playing I discovered I could upgrade certain military units. But when I visited other cities to upgrade my warriors and spearmen I found I couldn't. I gather barracks doesn't do the trick (as in Civ 3), so what does? I can't find it on my tech tree poster or anywhere else.

Thanks in advance.

They need to be in a city/BFC/territory that's connected to the resource needed for upgrade. Example: Warriors ==> Axemen need to be connected to iron. If your cities are on a different continent, you will need Astronomy for trade across the ocean.

[MyOlde]

My cities are all connected by roads; is this not enough? Or do I have to move my warriors to an "upgrade city" (one with iron)?

[Seedle]

Well, if you have iron, and all your cities are connected, then any city should work. The only exception is if you have a city that is surrounded by other civs that you don't have open borders with. Do you have the cash? Upgrading takes gold. Do you have the tech? Each unit can only be upgraded to certain other units, spearmen become pikemen, for instance, so if you can't build pikemen, you can't upgrade spearmen. Also, warriors generally aren't worth upgrading. If they have some serious promotions, it might be worthwhile, but it is generally more efficient to build new units than to upgrade warriors.

[Supr49er]

Originally posted by MyOlde
My cities are all connected by roads; is this not enough? Or do I have to move my warriors to an "upgrade city" (one with iron)?

No, if they're connected, you should be able to upgrade as long as you have enough .

Your city display (upper right quadrant) will show what resources it is connected to.

Make sure the city has the display when you look at it on your map.

[Unimatrix11]

1st) Axeman need either iron or copper

2nd) You do realize it costs money to upgrade (except for those with a great general attached), dont you ? I mean, might it be, you spent it all before ? Also check out the unit you wanna upgrade in the civ-pedia, esp. what it can be upgraded to and wether you have the required technology (and ressource) for that unit.

[MyOlde]

Yes I knew it cost money but maybe I don't have enough. Thanks for the advice and info.

[Supr49er]

Originally posted by MyOlde
Yes I knew it cost money but maybe I don't have enough. Thanks for the advice and info.

Mouse over the unit you want to upgrade. For example a Spearman. If you see a Pikeman, and it's not grayed out, you can upgrade. If you mouse over that Pikeman it will tell you how much it will cost.

[Krill]

Spears upgrade to pikes, so you need iron and engineering. Warriors just need copper or iron, and only upgrade to axes or spears (if you also have hunting)

[Unimatrix11]

Wow, that was serious crass-posting, or ehhh, well, what do you call a 3D-cross ?

[Nugog]

Originally posted by Unimatrix11
Wow, that was serious crass-posting, or ehhh, well, what do you call a 3D-cross ?

[Nugog]

Originally posted by Supr49er
you should be able to upgrade as long as you have enough .

But should we upgrade - or just build the new units?

TBH - I usually do not upgrade units - unless they have 4 or more "earnt" promo's, or I am in deep trouble - and even then I probably will not have much anyway.

[snoopy369]

You often can get gold easier than hammers - go to 0% tech for 3 turns, and usually you can upgrade a good portion of your army (if you have a strong economy). Upgrades are good pretty much for any unit out there, because a unit that's not current is often worthless (or close to it), especially if it's a big upgrade (sometimes 2x the power, ie crossbow->grenadier).

[Velociryx]

I would say you want to be doing some of both (upgrading and building new units).

Typically, my defenses are arranged thus:

I have garrison forces, which are divided (somewhat arbitrarily) into two camps. Interior, and Frontier.

Interior garrisons are always the last guys to get upgraded, because they're typically the "safest" and when you're running, say, Monarchy, a Warrior is just as good as a Maceman in terms of giving you the +1 happiness...the difference is, the +1 happiness costs a TON less if you build a warrior than if you build a Mace (tip: It might be good to leave a little fishing village "unconnected" from your Iron so you can keep building cheapy units....got that trick from Dom...thanks man! ).

Frontier garrisons are those guys in cities on borders with other civs, and some cities on the coast that you know or suspect to be targets for attack. These are higher on the upgrade priority food chain.

Finally, there's the "standing army." This is the collection of units built for the purpose of knocking other civs around.

There's usually a division of this army reserved for home defense. These guys usually sit somewhere in the center of the empire, and are used to reinforce embattled cities, until the main bulk of the standing army can get there.

Needless to say, these two groups get top billing when it comes to upgrading.

Why upgrade?

I do it because a maceman is "worth more" on the f9 screen than a warrior, in terms of how big an army you have.

The bigger your army, the more likely it is the AI's will leave you alone.

The more likely they are to leave you alone, the more likely it is that you can declare war on YOUR terms, which is vastly preferable to fighting on their terms.

This then, is a form of (relatively cheap, actually) insurance.

Secondarily, is this.

You get X free troops.

After that, you pay money for each one.

It doesn't matter if they're warriors or infantry...once you cross the "freebie threshold," you pay the same, so it's the Monarchy garrison thing in reverse.

With garrisons, you're looking for +1 happy with as few hammers invested as possible.

Once you cross the freebie threshold, you're looking for as much hurtypower as you can get for the money you're paying in maintenance anyways.

Least that's my take.

-=Vel=-

[MyOlde]

That's terrific, Vel. I (and many others, I'm sure, thank you.