Talk:Units/@comment-4885390-20120429204415

1.3 update just got released, and with much less delay than 1.2. Combat system has changed significantly and probably all of the unit pages need updating. I won't comment on some of the changes (like armor on tanks), but I will comment on what I've observed about the Skill Points system that was just introduced. This system is like an experience points system for unit types (not individual units themselves). It allows unit types to increase their capabilities by "leveling up", in some cases unlocking new weapons or variations on how to use existing weapons. This is what I've observed so far. Some of this will play into potential strategies on getting units to level up faster.

1. You'll see quite quickly that cheaper units require fewer Skill Points to level up. I've already got Troopers and Shock Troops either on level 2 or in the process of doing so. Tanks, on the other hand, seem to need a very large number of Skill Points to level up. Once you get enough Skill Points, you do have to a pay a cost and wait to level up, just as if you were building a unit. This can be sped up with Nanopods (no surprise there).

2. It looks like you can only have one unit type level up at a time, somewhat like you could only build one unit at a time if you have one Barracks.

3. Some units can't level up. The Battle Raptor appears as though it can't level up. NPCs on special missions, like Sgt. Ramsey or Lt. Perkins, also don't collect Skill Points.

4. The number of Skill Points awarded in a battle is related to the toughness of the opponents. This number appears to be divided among your unit types as described below. You don't get any Skill Points if you lose or retreat. Raids or occupation missions against your friends' militia units won't be worth much. Some of the Raider locations will be worth more, and many quest battles will be worth more.

5. This number of Skill Points gets divided among unit types, not units. Example: if you bring 1 Trooper and 4 Shock Troops to a battle, the Troopers ideally get 1/2 the Skill Points and the Shock Troops get 1/2. It's not 20% to 80% in this example. So you might want to bring fewer unit types to a battle so each gets to take more of the Skill Points and levels up faster. I made the mistake of bringing in a wide diversity of unit types to a few battles. While they all got Skill Points, they each only got a small number because the Skill Points got divided up among all of them.

6. If all units of a unit type are killed, it gets many fewer Skill Points. It looks like the idea is that maybe the unit type would get 1/3 of what it would have gotten, but I think the lost points get reallocated to other units. I haven't figured out the math carefully enough to make sure this is exactly how it works. Example: if you bring 2 Shock Troops to a battle and they both get killed, the Shock Troops get fewer Skill Points than they would if they'd survived. To maximize a particular unit type's Skill Points, either bring enough of a single unit type to a battle to make sure they don't all get killed, or make sure it's protected so that it will survive the battle.

7. If none of the units of a particular unit type fire their weapons, it also gets many fewer Skill Points (looks like maybe 1/2 of what it would have gotten). I think this also applies if the units always miss or get dodged, but would have to watch more battles to make sure. For instance, if a Shock Troop is put in the back row to be in a battle, but where it can't fire, the Shock Troops will get fewer Skill Points. But on the other hand, if a Trooper is brought to the battle and hits any opponent just once, the Troopers will get their full Skill Points. It wouldn't matter if all the other unit types in the battle did all of the rest of the killing.