Any tip on figuring out special abilities of SF units?

[Zakilevo]

Only SF ability I know of is +1 range for ranged SF centers. I tried to figure out a melee SF unit's ability but after participating in 4 battles, I gave up. Every turn I hit different units, getting different hits. At the same time, I lose units which also affects how hard my SF units hit.

It seems pretty impossible to figure it out....

Since the dev team refuses to accept any request on revealing it, can they at least provide a way for players to make a good estimate on what their abilities are?

[Indirik]

Trust nothing anyone says unless they can provide positive proof.

[Zakilevo]

Trust nothing anyone says unless they can provide positive proof.

Some did told me about one of the SF ability being hitting harder every passing turn but yeah it is kind of hard to provide a solid proof when you lose 5-10 units even against monsters.

[feyeleanor]

I've kept SF units together through months of fighting and never really identified any particular talent: the occasional move here that seemed a little too quick; a battle there where the damage inflicted was higher than I thought; salary a little less than I anticipated.

Overall I find the benefit of SF is being able to muster a high CS without all the hassle of managing a large unit, and if they're ranged SF and I'm careful with my line settings they'll be amongst the last units on the battlefield. Also don't forget that all SF alongside larger conventional units have a good chance of not being shot at for the first turn or two of combat which can make a big difference against an archer-heavy army.

[Zakilevo]

I've kept SF units together through months of fighting and never really identified any particular talent: the occasional move here that seemed a little too quick; a battle there where the damage inflicted was higher than I thought; salary a little less than I anticipated.

Overall I find the benefit of SF is being able to muster a high CS without all the hassle of managing a large unit, and if they're ranged SF and I'm careful with my line settings they'll be amongst the last units on the battlefield. Also don't forget that all SF alongside larger conventional units have a good chance of not being shot at for the first turn or two of combat which can make a big difference against an archer-heavy army.

My SF unit got shot and charged by cavalries. I usually wipe out any cavalry unit hitting my unit in a turn or two though. Having 80 SF units do that but they cost too much. Only thing so special about them is they can reach higher CS than other unit types.

[feyeleanor]

Well that by itself is special. However if you're fielding 80-man SF units you're making them a main part of the battle line and you will suffer extra casualties as a result. I also highly recommend you try out some ranged SF for a while and use normal rather than aggressive settings.

You can also mix in some top quality melee SF to give you a serious melee capability at a slight cost to overall range. In my experiments the troops with longest range will still fire and hit at that range even though the unit range is reported as lower, and they still do as much damage as they did before the mixing.

Basically with SF you have to stop thinking "will these troops be good in the battle line" and instead consider how they can best give the enemy a nasty surprise.  That often means deploying a rank behind the main line and letting lesser troops take the force of cavalry charges, etc.

[Zakilevo]

Well that by itself is special. However if you're fielding 80-man SF units you're making them a main part of the battle line and you will suffer extra casualties as a result. I also highly recommend you try out some ranged SF for a while and use normal rather than aggressive settings.

You can also mix in some top quality melee SF to give you a serious melee capability at a slight cost to overall range. In my experiments the troops with longest range will still fire and hit at that range even though the unit range is reported as lower, and they still do as much damage as they did before the mixing.

Basically with SF you have to stop thinking "will these troops be good in the battle line" and instead consider how they can best give the enemy a nasty surprise.  That often means deploying a rank behind the main line and letting lesser troops take the force of cavalry charges, etc.

I am not trying to figure out how I can use my SF units effectively though. I am trying to figure out what their abilities are which seem to be rather impossible to figure out. And who knows what will happen when you mix two different SFs.

[Penchant]

I am not trying to figure out how I can use my SF units effectively though. I am trying to figure out what their abilities are which seem to be rather impossible to figure out. And who knows what will happen when you mix two different SFs.

Well, one thing I do believe to be an ability is great healing ability since someone in the Fifth Invasion thread was posting that several times almost all his men got wounded which was about 45 and they all healed the next turn. Without seeing who posted that and having them testing it more I can't say if thats really enough proof but I think it is an ability based on the posts.

[feyeleanor]

I am not trying to figure out how I can use my SF units effectively though. I am trying to figure out what their abilities are which seem to be rather impossible to figure out. And who knows what will happen when you mix two different SFs.

My point is that if you want to find out their ability you first need to keep them alive a reasonable period of time, and that means having tactics which make them effective. Also keep an eye on movement rate, casualties taken per turn of combat, recovery rate, performance in sieges, and anything else you can measure. You'll eventually start to notice that your SF troops seem better at something.

For example the Negev Rangers never seem to be troubled as much as infantry by road conditions when moving and their base move seems a little faster as well. I'm not sure what the Toxophilites can do as I've not really studied them in isolation, but when I mixed some Krimml Elite (or whatever they're called) melee SF in with a company of equal parts Rangers and Toxophilites I found that the hits delivered by ranged fire almost doubled. I'd really love to explore that combo further to see if it was a fluke occurrence but with Krimml going to Caligus it's not going to happen anytime soon.