Nothing is reliable!

[Ming]

You have hundreds if not thousands of battles each game... you are going to lose a few of the 99%. It happens... The odds say it will happen. Deal with it

[-Jrabbit]

It's OK to be outraged. But it's just ignorant to believe it can't or won't happen. My last game, I lost 5 of 6 consecutive battles over 87%, including a 97.x and a 99.4.

Sure I was pissed. I make enough mistakes on my own without that kind of crap. But these things even out over time. Best laid plans can still go south. I figure it's my job to figure out how to overcome it. And if I can't, I lose. (And believe me, in that game, I got trounced.)

If you want certainty in combat, play something else.

[Andrew_RT]

OK, the only way to not lose my whole invasion army at just 1 city is to build expendable catapults focused on collateral damage, that way my other units can sweep up the remains and get experience. All in one turn.

It worked so far for conquering 3 cities with the same army.

[OzzyKP]

Yea, that is the strategy everyone told you to try. Siege is essential for taking cities.

[Ming]

It worked so far for conquering 3 cities with the same army.

That's the spirit!

[wodan11]

Agreed... good show.

(Though, I disagree with the "only way" comment. There are others. Sea bombardment, air bombardment, warlords, and spies immediately come to mind.)

[Diadem]

A techlead works wonders as well. Macemen eat achers.

[Andrew_RT]

I think something is very wrong with combat calculations, for example-
I had 2 crossbowman units attacking 1 phalanx unit, both crossbowman had over 90% combat odds, yet after each attack they were defeated(after reloading), how can this be, what are the odds that both over 90% units get defeated?

Is this a known bug, how can you rely on anything then?

[Andrew_RT]

Also a question about war weariness which I just discovered, Alexander had war weariness of 92 and I was able to get from him all his gold and technologies just for a peace treaty. Is that number then the maximum war weariness?

I was pleasantly surprised by this feature...it makes you feel very powerful.

[Andrew_RT]

Is experience cumulative?
Because I have 3 military instructors in my capital, that is 6 points plus 4 points from barracks, that is total 10 experience points for all military units made, yet all units only get ranked to level 2 just like before all the instructors?

[wodan11]

I think something is very wrong with combat calculations, for example-
I had 2 crossbowman units attacking 1 phalanx unit, both crossbowman had over 90% combat odds, yet after each attack they were defeated(after reloading), how can this be, what are the odds that both over 90% units get defeated?

I recall the base game didn't take first strikes into account. This has since been fixed. Have you had success patching to BtS 3.19 yet?

Is experience cumulative?
Because I have 3 military instructors in my capital, that is 6 points plus 4 points from barracks, that is total 10 experience points for all military units made, yet all units only get ranked to level 2 just like before all the instructors?

There is a progression for XP to level up your units. After 10XP you need 17 to get to the next level. After that it's 36 I think. CHA leaders get a discount. RTFM.

[slnz]

I think something is very wrong with combat calculations, for example-
I had 2 crossbowman units attacking 1 phalanx unit, both crossbowman had over 90% combat odds, yet after each attack they were defeated(after reloading), how can this be, what are the odds that both over 90% units get defeated?

Is this a known bug, how can you rely on anything then?

If you don't have a special setting "New Random Seed on Reload" enabled, after a reload each randomly generated number is the same (in sequence). So no matter how many times you reload, if you immediately attack with the same units, the result is the same. This is to prevent said behavior of save-load combat scumming.

For the other concerns... There is no maximum war weariness (biggest I've seen is about 1000), though a constant rate of war always converges to a certain number (it grows additionally, and decays proportionally).

And yes, experience bonuses are cumulative. You can easily see the amount of an unit's experience in the lower left corner when it's selected. Regular military units with 10 experience should be level 4 (0/2/5/10 experience for levels 1/2/3/4). Remember to pick the promotions...

[OzzyKP]

Is experience cumulative?
Because I have 3 military instructors in my capital, that is 6 points plus 4 points from barracks, that is total 10 experience points for all military units made, yet all units only get ranked to level 2 just like before all the instructors?

Barracks give 3 XP, not 4. So with 3 instructors and a barracks you'd have 9 XP, thus 2 promotions.

[Andrew_RT]

special setting "New Random Seed on Reload" enabled

there is no such option anywhere..

[Willem]

there is no such option anywhere..

Yes there is, you just have know where to look.