Unload Army?

[Gelvan]

Hi there

Surely this question has been asked before, but I couldn't find an answer. Is it possible to leave an army and if so then how? "L" doesn't work for me... Also I can't upgrade troops inside an army.

thanks for your advise

[lockstep]

Neither unloading an army nor upgrading units inside an army is possible. According to Firaxis, this is a design decision (IMO, a bad one). There was a bug in v1.17f involving stacked movement that allowed unloading an army, but it caused some weird effects and was removed in v1.21f.

[Gelvan]

A very bad descision. Thanks anyway.

[Lucilla]

However, you can disband the army in one of your cities, which will give you shields back. I did that once with an army of infantry and got 100 shields. I don't know if the number of shields depends on the type of unit(s) you have in the army.

Note: don't disband the army in a city that's building a (small) wonder, because you are not allowed to rush wonder building with this trick. You will just loose your 100 shields...

[lockstep]

AFAIK, disbanding units in a city yields 25% of the original shield costs. As armies cost 400 shields, you obviously only get the value of the army itself, but not of the loaded units. Another bad 'design decision'.

[Lucilla]

Originally posted by lockstep
AFAIK, disbanding units in a city yields 25% of the original shield costs. As armies cost 400 shields, you obviously only get the value of the army itself, but not of the loaded units. Another bad 'design decision'.

True, but at least you get something back. As units in an army don't recover from their injuries, the army becomes worthless for further battles.
I guess this "design" decision was made, so that a great leader can only be used once to create an army. That is sort of consistent with the role of a leader, but I found it very disappointing when you start building armies with the Military Academy. You first have to invest the 400 shields plus the shields for the units and then you get only one attack and can't re-use the units.

[zulu9812]

Armies are useless: you can't upgrade them nor can they heal. The new stacked movement rules make armies obsolete. Let's compare the two: a 4-unit army against 4 stacked units. Both move together, thus benefitting from increased survivability. However, the 4-unit stack can attack 4 times, whilst the army can only atack once. Do the math.

On the other hand, it's worth winning one battle with an army, just so you can build the Heroic Epic and get all that lovely culture!

(I actually thought that units in an army did heal, but maybe I'm wrong)

[ixnay]

As units in an army don't recover from their injuries, the army becomes worthless for further battles.

I don't know about your armies, but mine heal if I let them rest enough.

[MrWhereItsAt]

Can't you move units in and out of an army before it leaves it's home city for the first time? After then it is set in stone though.

[Fidel]

Originally posted by zulu9812
Armies are useless:

how about an army of modern armor or mechinf?

[Lucilla]

Originally posted by ixnay37
I don't know about your armies, but mine heal if I let them rest enough.

How long do you have to wait then? Does the army need to be in a city and do you need barracks for healing?

[zulu9812]

Originally posted by LaRusso
how about an army of modern armor or mechinf?

Again, compare 4 stacked modern armour vs. a modern armour army. The stack can attack 4 times and has the same total hit points as the army, whilst the army can only attack once.

[Lucilla]

Do I understand it correctly, that the difference between attacking with an army and attacking with 4 stacked units is as follows:
When attacking with 4 separate units, you do a 1 by 1 battle, which means your 1st unit attacks the first counterpart, the 2nd unit the 2nd and so on. The 3rd unit will then only attack the 1st one, if no 3d, 4th, etc. units are left to attack.
An army will attack the 1st unit as a whole and then proceed to the 2nd, which means you concentrate your attack on the most defensive unit until it is beaten and then go on with the next.

Is this how it works?

[danol]

My armies heal as normal, move out off enemy territory an let them rest, i think they heal faster in a town with barracks, but maybe i am wrong.

Originally posted by Lucilla


How long do you have to wait then? Does the army need to be in a city and do you need barracks for healing?

[Lucilla]

Thanks danol, I'll try that next time.

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