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Some thoughts on ancillaries in RTW: BI

    Well, this whole thing began in one of the threads in the TotalWar.Org community regarding the guide to playing the Sassanid faction in RTW:BI. I was playing the Sassanids (RTW:BI v1.6) and began noticing some interesting happenings in my campaign. I then decided to share my experience, which in turn prompted me to do more research inside the game files, eventually culminating in the information and tables below.

    The Sassanids are an interesting faction with very powerful units that you can train. The only unfortunate part is that 7 of these units take two or more turns to train, namely: Clibinarii, Clibinarii Immortals, Cataphracts, Armoured Camel Riders, Elephants, Sughdian Warriors and Heavy Onagers. So, if you want to build an elite army, you'd have to wait at least a decade or two. Is it really possible to reduce unit training time?
    I first noticed some strange things when one of my Sassanid generals was able to train Clibinarii Immortals in 3 turns instead of the usual 4 that they take to train. Why, I asked myself ? By using a little bit of deductive reasoning, I figured out that by having two ancillaries, the Decorated Hero and a Mercenary Captain, my governor would get a 20% + 10% = 30% discount on unit training costs. Coincidentally, 4 turns - 30% = 2.8 turns which the game rounds up to 3 turns.

    I then formulated a hypothesis that it may be possible to reduce the training time of units by 50%, thus essentially doubling the speed at which you can recruit an elite army. But would it be possible at all ? I dug through my old ancillary files (which were apparently for RTW:BI v1.2 or 1.3) I came up with a list of ancillaries that you'd need to have in order to obtain a 50% discount on unit training costs. However, after a bit more clarification, by looking at the actual game files, I came up with the final list of all possible ancillaries for RTW v1.5 and BI v1.6 that help reduce unit training time. Interested readers can see this info for themselves if they take a peek inside the export_descr_ancillaries.txt  file that can be found in your BI/Data folder and in your regular RTW Data folder.
    I did some tests and, sure enough, I was able to halve not only the training cost of the unit but the training time as well (see the picture below). NOTE: the upkeep cost of the unit is not halved !

    So, the trick consists in obtaining the necessary ancillaries and transferring them to the governor of your most advanced troop production city to gain the maximum effect. For Sassanids, pretty much the only possible combination of ancillaries is the following: Decorated Hero, Drillmaster, Master Smith and Mercenary Captain.

    Well, I actually compiled a combined table (for all factions) for RTW:BI v1.6. I must note that some of the conditions and chances of obtaining the ancillaries were different in previous versions of RTW. Anyhow, without further adieu, I present the table !

    How would you go about "breeding" the necessary ancillaries ? Well, they can only appear when a Governor or a General performs a certain action, for example, wins a battle, builds a building, trains a unit etc. Then, the appropriate trigger is applied and, with a certain percent chance, your Governor or General would be able to obtain the ancillary.

    Here are my remarks on each one of the ancillaries from the table above:

1. Beastmaster - according to the export_descr_ancillaries.txt file in your BI/Data folder, Beastmaster is not limited to any specific faction or culture, you just need to be able to build the Temple of Hunting (second level or higher). It is my belief that if you occupy the city which has this temple and put a governor there, then you'd be able to obtain this ancillary even without the ability to build this temple. Although, to be absolutely sure, more testing is required !
    This ancillary will reduce the training time of animal units only, i.e. cavalry etc.
2. Charioteer - this ancillary is of questionable use as he only grants a 5% reduction in training costs to animal units, only the Western Roman Empire or Eastern Roman Empire can get him (correct me if I'm wrong) and the conditions necessary to have a chance to obtain him are pretty high (Stables Level 4 or higher and your governor must have a Races Fan vice). Conclusion: he is not worth it.
3. Decorated Hero - this guy is a must have if you want to get a 50% training costs reduction by using as few ancillaries as possible. Unfortunately, he is restricted to "civilised" factions only. Just send your general alone on some rebel/brigand hunt and make sure that his unit suffers at least 30% losses and kills more than 35% of the enemy, then, if you win the battle, you'll get an 8% chance to obtain this absolutely essential ancillary. You cannot get the Decorated Hero if your general already has a Famous Warrior ancillary.
4. Drillmaster - chances to get this guy were increased compared to RTW v1.5, and now you have a 10% chance to obtain him. For this, your governor needs to have a Command rating of 4 or higher and needs to train an infantry unit. Peasants are infantry - so you can get the Drillmaster quite easily by just training the peasant garrison in a newly conquered city. Reasonably easy to obtain.
5. Famous Warrior - he is a barbarian version of a Decorated Hero ancillary, and a poor version at that. He has lower chances of appearing, only 3% compared to Decorated Hero's 8%, and your general's army needs to wipe out at least half of the enemy's army. Although, I must say that in my Celtic campaign every one of my battlefield generals had a Famous Warrior in their retinue. Too many battles improves your chances.
6. Gladiator - a tough ancillary to obtain and, once again, only gives a 5% discount on troop training costs. Requires an Urban Amphitheatre (level 2), has 1% chance and has an interesting condition I_TurnNumber < 74. Perhaps he can be obtained only in the first 73 turns of the campaign ? To tell you the truth these 5% are not worth it. He gets thumbs down on my list.
7. Master Smith - another toughie. A staggering 1% chance to obtain and, moreover, the city must have a second or higher level Smithy (Armourer) and there is also another weird condition: RandomPercent > 92. The chances to get this ancillary can be improved if you have a bunch of governors in cities with Armouries.
8. Mercenary Captain - one of the easiest ones to get, all you need to do is hire some mercenaries once in a while and you'll eventually get him in your retinue. Although, BI v1.6 added an additional condition that the general that is doing the hiring must have at least two Command stars.

    Well, that sums it up for BI v1.6. What about the RTW v1.5 ? The list of ancillaries is somewhat bigger, there are 13 of them instead of 8 as in BI.

    To comment the table for RTW v1.5, I would like to note that some of the chances and conditions differ from BI v1.6. Most notably, the Mercenary Captain does not require the general to have a Command of two or higher, Gladiator is absent from this list as he does not give unit training discount in RTW v1.5, etc. I will, therefore, comment on the ancillaries that were not mentioned in the table above.
    And so, here we go:

9. Lanista - restricted to Roman factions only. The governor of the city has to have a Games Fan vice, plus the city has to have a Great Amphitheatre. Even though the chances to get this ancillary are decently high, it may take a while as the requirements aren't low.
10. Priest of X - the priests are restricted to only a few specific factions, namely - Armenia, Dacia, Gaul, Macedon, Scipii, Seleucid. Other than that, you need a specific temple in the city, then your governor will have a 15% chance to receive the priest in his retinue. Some priests are better than others of course, but they should be easy enough to get as long as you have the required temple and keep your governor in that city a few turns.

    Well, this pretty much sums it up. Remember that in order to maximise the desired effect you need to transfer all of the training cost reduction ancillaries that you have to a single governor, and put him in charge of your most advanced military center.

    I hope you find this information useful. HAPPY TRAINING !!!

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Last Update:     September 30, 2007