Creating armies and replenishing units in Total War Saga Thrones of Britannia Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia Guide & Tips

Armies are the backbone of your military might. You can't move single units. Instead, you have to create an army that is led by a character or your heir.

To create an army, you need at least one settlement or town under your control. There is a panel at the bottom of the screen - on the left you can find the button that allows you to create armies. This opens a window with available candidates for an army commander. Characters with a lot of Command or Zeal points are the best choice. You can also look for specific characteristics that have an impact on army or battles, e.g. bonus to morale or looting.

Move your general to the nearest settlement or change army stance to fortify. Now, click on the units' recruitment button (located in the same place where the button for creating a new general is). Units require certain amount of gold and food.

In this case, you can recruit only some units, for instance two spear infantry units or one axe infantry unit. You cannot recruit welsh sword infantry. There is a 11% chance that those units will be available during the next turn.

You can recruit any number you want from the available units in your overall pool. Unlike the other games in Total War series, here, you don't have to own special buildings to recruit certain units, e.g. archers or cavalry. Each turn has a certain percentage chance of replenishing units in your army pool. The limit and the chance for having new units to appear can be increased by having more provinces and developing new technologies.

Remember that your units appear with a small number of troops. You have to wait for a few turns to have them fully ready. The best way to replenish troops is to do that in settlements in a friendly province or when you fortify your army (a special order on the strategic map), although the number of replenished troops is still small.

Create another army whenever it is possible, especially during peace. This installment doesn't feature an option to recruit mercenaries. During war, fielding an efficient army can take you a few turns which can have an impact on your success or failure. Because of that it is better to be prepared before a new war breaks out.

• Replenishing units
• Experience and upgrading units

Replenishing units

Replenishing units in Thrones of Britannia differs slightly from the rest of the games in the Total War series. There are a few important differences and new features when compared to the other titles.

Remember - a newly recruited unit doesn't start with a maximum number of warriors. Usually, they have about 20-30% of their maximum number of soldiers. There are a few ways to increase their numbers.

1. Units can only replenish their ranks fast by staying in settlements, towns or when they are in fortify mode. You can still increase their ranks when they are outside of settlements but this takes much more time.
2. Certain technologies, general's traits or events can speed up this process. For example, a Granary or a large amount of food give a stable multiplier for the speed at which units get replenished.
3. You can merge a few of the same units into one. This makes you lose a few units but you will get one larger squad. This is useful when you want to quickly fill your army with units that have maximum number of soldiers.
4. Another way is to conquer a settlement or to defeat a hostile army. Then, you will have to choose one of the available options. This allows you to replenish a few soldiers in units.

The methods described above show that it is better to have an army with full ranks before a war breaks out rather than creating an army only when you need it. Units need a lot of time to have full ranks. In the meantime, your enemy can cause a lot of damage to your kingdom. The option to merge units is useful but only for units that feature a lot of soldiers, e.g. spearmen (levy). Units that are less numerous (e.g. Berserkers) are very valuable. Their quantity is smaller which means that you have to take care of them and don't allow these units to get killed in battle. You can also merge them with other units to quickly increase one unit's ranks.

Experience and upgrading units

All units that participate in a battle receive experience points (XP). The most valorous units receive the biggest amount of points. Certain technologies and buildings can give you additional XP. Look at the portraits of every unit - you can see bars in different colors (bronze, silver and gold) in three ranks. Thanks to these icons you are able to quickly check which units are more advanced and which ones need further training.

Each new experience level increases a unit's efficiency on the battlefield, it improves stats and raises that unit's morale. These units become more disciplined, they fight better and don't flee from the battlefield. Assign these units to your main army (e.g. under King's command) and use them to attack hostiles. Sieges should be left to less experienced units - they usually end with huge losses. An experienced unit that lost too much warriors also loses a rank when it gets replenished with new soldiers.

Having a Blacksmith in a province allows all units to buy upgrades that will increase their combat efficiency. Upgrade's level depends on a building's level. Higher levels give you more expensive and better bonuses. It is up to you to decide which units will receive them. All new units recruited in a province with this building will receive the best possible upgrades automatically.

After developing a new technology and getting access to a new type of units (e.g. Royal Thegns) you get the option to upgrade a unit into a new one (in a settlement). That unit becomes more efficient (this operation doesn't cost much). The old type of a unit disappears from the army pool and it gets replaced with a new one. A new unit is slightly more expansive to recruit and it requires more gold to upkeep but, usually, these new units are better than their older versions.