Umpteen Uncertain Undecided Upgrades?

[RobWorham]

Greetings citizens of Concordia. It is with great joy that I hereby announce that the time is drawing near when we will finally be able to potentially upgrade a select few of our armed forces.

Obviously, our treasury is a finite resource, and we should pick only the cream of the crop, or special cases, for this honour. After much thought I have narrowed down the list from out extensive military to propose the following select few for you to cast your eyes over and cast your votes for.

This poll is a multi choice poll, so you will be able to vote for as many, or as few, as you would like to receive this special treatment. If you vote for a unit which has a choice of upgrades please post you preference as well as voting.

As of 1460AD we have 720gp in the treasury and we are currently making a profit of 8gp / turn so spend that gold wisely.

GALLEYS - Upgrade to Galleons once we discover Astronomy (3 turns). There are no losses incurred with this upgrade, instead there is a 2 strength increase, 2 move point increase, 1 cargo space increase, and of course it will be able to navigate oceans. The cost of this upgrade is approximately 155gp.

Swift - Galley
Kublai's Bane - Galley

SWORDSMEN- Upgrade to Macemen once we discover Civil Service (? 9 turns ?). While they will lose their 10% city attack bonus for being a swordsman, they will gain 2 strength and a 50% bonus against melee units. The approximate cost per upgrade will be 155gp.

Fang - Swordsman - Woodsman I / Raider III - 25/26xp
Strutter - Swordsman - Combat I / Raider III - 17/26xp
Tiger Eyes - Swordsman - Raider III - 10/17xp

AXEMEN - Also upgrade to Macemen once we discover Civil Service (? 9 turns ?). There are no losses incurred with this upgrade as both units get a 50% bonus vs melee units, just a gain of 3 strength to look forward to. The approximate cost of this upgrade will be 179gp.

Chopper - Axeman - Combat I / Shock I / Cover I - 13/17xp
Arthur - Axeman - Combat I / Cover / Woodsman II - 17/26xp

ARCHERS - Upgrade to either Crossbowmen (we have the technology to do this) or Longbowmen once we discover Feudalism (? 8 turns ?).
An upgrade to a Crossbowman would result in the loss of it's 50% city defence bonus and 25% hill defence bonus, while gaining 3 strength and a 50% bonus vs melee units. The cost of this upgrade would be approximately 179gp.
An upgrade to a Longbowman would result in the loss of just 25% of it's city defence bonus, and no loss of it's hill defence bonus as both units have this bonus, while it would gain 3 strength. The cost of this upgrade would be approximately 134gp.

Little Jim - Archer - Combat III - 13/17xp

SPEARMEN - Upgrade to Pikemen once we discover Engineering (? 10 turns ?). There are no losses incurred with this upgrade as both units get a 100% bonus vs mounted units, just a gain of 2 strength to look forward to. The approximate cost of this upgrade will be 134gp.

Mint - Spearman - Combat II - 6/10xp

HORSE ARCHERS - Upgrade to Knights once we discover Guilds (? 15 turns ?). While there would be a loss of it's 50% bonus vs catapults, it would gain a 4 strength increase to compensate for this. The approximate cost of this upgrade would be 200gp.

Colt - Horse Archer - Flanking II / Visibility I - 14/17xp

CHARIOTS - Upgrade to either Horse Archers (we have the technology to do this) or Knights once we discover Guilds (? 15 turns ?).
An upgrade to a Horse Archer would result in the loss of it's ability to withdraw from combat, while gaining 2 strength, immunity to first strikes, and a 50% bonus vs catapult units. The cost of this upgrade would be approximately 179gp.
An upgrade to a Knight would result in the loss of it's ability to withdraw from combat, while gaining 6 strength and an immunity to first strikes. The cost of this upgrade would be approximately 314gp.

CHiPs - Chariot - Combat I / Medic I / Flanking I - 13/17xp

[RobWorham]

OK, my own thoughts on the matter, although I haven't voted yet, and I am open to persuasion by considered posts are :-

i. Upgrade Swift and Kublai's Bane - Their role has been little more than protecting the resources around Metaliturtleton from any barbarian naval incursions. We are desperately short of decent naval production cities, so this would give our navy a much needed shot in the arm. We could then go on the offensive against the barbarian galleys gaining some experience into the bargain, before heading off to trickier waters. Total cost approx. 310gp

ii. Upgrade Fang - As he is just 1xp form his next promotion he should be next in line for an upgrade. He could then form the spearhead of any invasion force that we might one day choose to launch. Cost approx. 155gp (total cost approx. 465gp)

iii. Upgrade one out of the following : Strutter, Chopper or Arthur. The choice depends on what we plan to do in the short to medium term future. Obviously Strutter would form a good partnership with Fang, while Chopper or Arthur would have broader roles to play. Cost approx. 155-179gp (total cost approx. 620-644gp)

[Nugog]

The boats!

Wee gonna need them methinks

[fed1943]

I shall vote the boats.

About others, I don't know.

Best regards,

[Zoid]

Me neither, but I´m going with the minister on this one

[MMC]

My underlings in the Ministry of Finance appear to have already allocated a budget for naval exploration, thus I have voted to upgrade both boats to Galleons. I'm sure the crews will be pleased.

I have also voted to upgrade our defensive units to Pikemen, and Longbowmen respectively. Our offensive units do not require upgrading until we next go to war, and so we can wait for our coffers to regenerate until such a time that they are required. May I also point out that Fang may be better suited to stay as a Swordsman until a later tech, as he has the most experience to lead the rest of the troops.

As for the mounted troops, Knights would bring much greater security to the nation, however they can afford to wait until the next round of upgrades. If it is required, I believe the treasury may be able to afford to upgrade CHiPs to a Horse Archer.

To summarise:
Upgrade Now:
Galleys -> Galleons
Spearmen -> Pikemen
Archers -> Longbowmen
*Chariot -> Horse Archer

Upgrade Later:
Chariot -> Knight
Horse Archer -> Knight

Upgrade in Wartime:
Swordsmen -> Macemen
Axemen -> Macemen
[*]Only if strictly necessary, otherwise they can wait until the next round.

[RobWorham]

Nice thoughts MMC, but as stated in the first post we only currently possess th technology to upgrade :

Archers to Crossbowmen
Chariots to Horse Archers

The Galleys get their day in 3 turns and the rest depend on which tech path we follow, but a minimum of 8 turns (so say a week ) from now.

[FeMme]

I voted for all of them to receive upgrades. Obviously, we cannot afford or have the technology to do them all now so here are my thoughts:

Upgrade the Galleys once we finish researching Astronomy
Upgrade Fang, Arthur and Strutter (and possibly Tiger Eyes if we can afford it) before launching into a war
Upgrade Little Jim to Longbowman when we get the tech
Upgrade Mint and Colt when we get the tech and the finances
Upgrade CHiPs to Horse Archer if we decide to go to war as he has medic I which will be useful
Chopper can wait until we have the finances before upgrading

I like Rob's idea of sending out our newly upgraded Galleons to cleanse the Western shores of the barbarians.

[Nugog]

Originally posted by FeMme

I like Rob's idea of sending out our newly upgraded Galleons to cleanse the Western shores of the barbarians.

Yes - this is a most excellent concept!

[Zoid]

Indeed.

[couerdelion]

I think that we will lose a LOT of XP if we promote any of the experienced Swordsmen. My recollection is that, beyond 10 XP, you get dropped to the minimum XP for the level below the one you are already at

So 26 XP becomes 17 XP and 25 XP becomes 10 XP!!! I think we can still build West Point, because they already have the Level 5 promotion but I am not entirely sure about this.

[fed1943]

West Point is my biggest concern, as I'm not sure about level loss.

If any doubt remains, I say leave one level 5 unit to grant said build.

Best regards,

[MMC]

We would have more advantages with keeping the highest level units and upgrading the lower ones.

[couerdelion]

There is also another point to make here. We don't need to upgrade anything until we actually need the upgraded unit. (or one turn before).

So for now I'd only do the Galleons and sent them out after the barbarian galleys

[fed1943]

Agreed.

Best regards,