sovbooks Chapter 30: How Troop Upgrades Work
Chapter 30: How Troop Upgrades Work
Rock shook his head, putting those complicated questions aside for the time being, and then began to study with great interest what kind of four-star units he had acquired this time.
There is a significant upgrade between four-star and three-star units. What he is most looking forward to now is to quickly get a four-star cavalry unit and upgrade the cavalry he has.
His cavalry had long since accumulated enough experience to upgrade, but he hadn't upgraded them because he didn't have a suitable unit.
[Congratulations, player! You have obtained a four-star unit: French Queen Dragoon (from Napoleon: Total War)]
[This unit is equipped with: heavy warhorses, carbines, pistols, and cavalry greatswords. Recruitment price: 200 taels of silver per person or 10,000 taels of silver per unit (60 people). Population requirement: 2 population per unit.]
[Congratulations, player! You have obtained a four-star unit: the French Young Guard (from Napoleon: Total War)]
[This unit is equipped with: flintlock rifle and bayonet. Recruitment price: 100 taels of silver per person or 12000 taels of silver per squad (160 people). Population requirement: 1 population per squad.]
hiss--!
This wave seems pretty intense!
After reviewing the units he had acquired, Rock's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected that both of the four-star units were elite French troops from the Napoleonic era.
Needless to say, the Young Guard was essentially a reserve force of the Old Guard, one of Napoleon's finest infantry units, possessing not only exceptional marksmanship but also fervent morale.
As for the French Queen Dragoons, this unit was also an elite guard cavalry unit of the French army, and its functions were quite diverse.
Putting aside their performance in the game, if we put this unit in reality, they could use their carbines as cavalrymen, while also being equipped with heavy cavalry swords and riding the same heavy warhorses that heavy cavalrymen were equipped with.
While this makes their pursuit ability relatively weak, it gives them a strong ability to charge into enemy lines. They can be used as cuirassiers. The only drawback is that they do not have cuirassiers, so their defense is weaker than that of true cuirassiers. They are a very versatile unit.
As Rock clicked the upgrade button, a flash of white light appeared, and the cavalrymen who had previously worn green uniforms and tall hats transformed in front of Rock into a group of heavily armored dragoons wearing blue and white uniforms and Roman-style helmets.
Even their warhorses were all replaced with larger and stronger Norman heavy warhorses.
Looking at the cavalry's completely new look, Rock nodded in satisfaction. He had to admit that, putting aside their combat capabilities, their attire alone made them look much more impressive than the original cavalry.
Moreover, besides their attire, their spirit and energy were completely different. Compared to the previous cavalry, these cavalrymen gave Rock the impression of having strong self-confidence.
"By the way, can our 28 Cossack cavalrymen also be upgraded to cavalry chariots?"
Suddenly remembering something, Rock quickly looked at the Cossack cavalryman beside him. He had just realized that he didn't seem to need to equip the Cossack cavalryman with pistols before. Once they were upgraded to cavalrymen, they would naturally have corresponding firearms.
Upon opening the system interface, Rock discovered that they could indeed complete the upgrade.
The only thing that puzzled him was:
If these Cossacks were upgraded to French cavalry, would they continue to maintain the Cossack race after Rock removed the mod, or would they simply become a group of Frenchmen, or even a group of Han Chinese?
Practice makes perfect; you'll know once you try it.
Rock clicked on the upgrade and discovered that although the Cossack cavalrymen had instantly changed into cavalry attire, their appearance remained the same, with no change in their features.
"Oh, it's incredible! I've suddenly learned French!"
One of the Cossacks exclaimed excitedly, and then spoke a string of French to his companions.
The other Cossacks who were converted into cavalrymen also spoke fluent French.
If he closed his eyes, Rock couldn't even imagine that the cavalrymen standing in front of him were Cossacks. Their Parisian-accented French was so standard that, in the past or even in present-day Tsarist Russia, they would definitely be from high society.
Strangely enough, the French seem to have a very profound influence on European culture. In many European courts, nobles would not communicate in their native languages, but would speak French directly.
There were even more than one Tsar of Tsarist Russia who never spoke Russian in their entire lives, but their French was at a native level, and they always communicated in French.
"Alright, fellow Cossacks, tell me how you feel after the upgrade. Have your melee skills become rusty?"
Rock clapped his hands to draw the attention of the cavalrymen to him, and then asked curiously.
In his mind, these Cossack cavalrymen were better at melee combat than the charioteers, so he wanted to see if their original skills would be preserved after they were upgraded.
Upon hearing Rock's question, the Cossacks exchanged glances, then drew their sabers and began twirling them in a dazzling display, as if they might accidentally cleave off the heads of the opposing cavalrymen.
But this series of sword flourishes, though seemingly dangerous, actually harmed no one. After putting away his more refined steel saber, a cavalryman reported to Rock:
"Reporting to the commander, our hand-to-hand combat ability does not seem to have been affected in any way. On the contrary, because we have become stronger, our hand-to-hand combat skills seem to have been further improved."
As he spoke, the Cossack cavalryman couldn't help but glance enviously at the Queen Dragoon beside him.
These Frenchmen eat much better, especially as regular French cavalrymen; their treatment is completely different from that of the Cossack nomads.
Despite their seemingly carefree nomadic lifestyle, Cossacks actually live in poverty. They often lack food and clothing and are constantly worried about being robbed by other Cossacks.
If it weren't for their poverty—they had nothing but a knife and a horse—these Cossacks wouldn't need to work as mercenaries or as pioneers.
It was precisely because of this that when these Cossack cavalrymen completed their upgrades, they were genuinely envious of the French cavalrymen's rations and daily treatment.
Damn it, these Frenchmen are eating too well!
Rock had no idea that these Cossacks were envious of the French army's treatment. After studying it, he realized that his troop upgrade was really good!
Upgrading from a lower-level unit to a higher-level unit is free of charge; the system doesn't charge Rock any extra fees.
In this way, upgrading a unit once by Rock is equivalent to saving a lot of money.
In addition, when these system units are upgraded, their consumed ammunition and food are also fully restored, and even their previously depleted stamina is restored to a full state.
It's like a status refresh, instantly replenishing everything they had previously consumed.
Without this refresh, Rock's cavalry would have run out of rations. He would have had to either buy more rations from the surrounding villages or refresh the rations for his soldiers from the system.
"...So it seems that if we can maintain a proper pace of warfare, could we use this refresh at a crucial moment to directly restore a weary army to full strength?"
Thinking this, a smile of excitement suddenly appeared on Rock's face.
Imagine if his cavalry had made a long raid through enemy territory, and were already exhausted, running out of water and food, and almost at their wits' end.
But because they had killed enough enemies before, they had accumulated enough experience.
So just when the enemy thought these cavalry were about to be wiped out, they suddenly received an upgrade, instantly becoming a more powerful unit and returning to full strength.
In this situation, one can only imagine how utterly horrified the enemies facing these cavalry must have been; Rock could already picture their mental state exploding.
In addition to these soldiers, Rock hurried to Zhangjiatun to check on the militia he had recruited earlier, as well as the guerrilla soldiers who remained there as instructors and junior officers.
It must be said that these people, as the first main force used to resist the bandits, did suffer considerable casualties.
Of the original ten guerrillas, only five remain, and of the 30 militiamen that Rock had recruited, only 20 are left. A total of 15 people have died in the previous conflict.
Of these casualties, very few were actually caused by the bandits; almost all of them were caused by the smiling lama using the flying head poison in combination with bombs!
This made Rock realize that if extraordinary people like the lama from before were mixed in with an enemy army, they could really cause him a lot of trouble!
If it weren't for my purple evil sun attack, which instantly took the lama's life and successfully stopped him from continuing to use magic to launch an attack.
Otherwise, if that guy really lets himself use human drones to keep dropping bombs into his own troops, even if his cavalry manages to charge forward, who knows how many casualties he will suffer!
"Remember, kill the mages before the battle begins!"
"Next time we encounter enemies, if we have the chance, we should first observe whether there are any high-ranking officials or strangely dressed individuals on the other side, and then directly unleash a spell to eliminate them!"
"Otherwise, if these guys really survive, this war will be much harder to fight!"