If not at war, should I delete units due to unit maintenance gold cost?

[Ceceli Δ]

I haven't seen any tutorials talking about this. I'm a newbie and I build a build army to conquest a nation. This has a huge cost. After I win, what's next? Should I just delete them? By the way, I'm still somewhat comfortable with +90 gold per round in this save file.

[Solitus]

If you are earning 90 gpt? absolutely not. Especially since you can't get a military unit instantly. Better to hold onto them in case you do need them, since they also act as a deter rant for the AI deciding to declare war on you.

[Ceceli Δ]

Originally posted by Solitus:

If you are earning 90 gpt? absolutely not. Especially since you can't get a military unit instantly. Better to hold onto them in case you do need them, since they also act as a deter rant for the AI deciding to declare war on you.

I see. Thanks!

[Oaks]

There's also a neat policy card, I think it's called conscription, which reduces the cost of your military.

[BlackSmokeDMax]

Conscription is earlier, for reducing by 1 gold per turn.

Levee en Masse is later and reduces by 2 gold per turn.

[grognardgary]

Not to mention which you can't get those experience points you gained in the war back. By the time you've run that exp chain. your units are significantly better than when they started. I'v had units that lasted the entire game.

[BlackSmokeDMax]

Originally posted by grognardgary:

Not to mention which you can't get those experience points you gained in the war back. By the time you've run that exp chain. your units are significantly better than when they started. I'v had units that lasted the entire game.

Absolutely. If you are going to use any units for fodder, you always want to make sure to use the lesser experienced ones in that role!

[grognardgary]

Originally posted by BlackSmokeDMax:

Originally posted by grognardgary:

Not to mention which you can't get those experience points you gained in the war back. By the time you've run that exp chain. your units are significantly better than when they started. I'v had units that lasted the entire game.

Absolutely. If you are going to use any units for fodder, you always want to make sure to use the lesser experienced ones in that role!

The nerfing of unit experience buildings barracks, Stables etc is one of the things I really don't like about civ 6

[Maya-Neko]

The only two reasons to delete units is if you either see, that they're dying anyway, so that you might be able to prevent an enemy unit gaining some XP (obviously only, if the enemy doesn't have another unit to attack instead) or if you're able to capture settlers you won't use anyway (you can use them as scouts though, if you want to min-max). In every other case it's not really worth deleting units, since producing or buying them costs you more in the long run than just having them sitting there and a standing army also might scare off the AI enough to prevent them from declaring war onto you.

The only civ which might get away with deleting units is portugal, since they're producing so much gold, that it literally looses all its worth anyway and buying new units isn't that big of a deal, if you've a decent understanding on how to exploit their mechanics

[grognardgary]

Even then in the case of portugal deleting high level units is a bad idea.

[Maya-Neko]

Originally posted by grognardgary:

Even then in the case of portugal deleting high level units is a bad idea.

Yeah, definitely. It just wouldn't hit them as hard as the other civs, since they can just swarm the enemy with low level units and still win by masses alone, as you could easily build 3 new units for every unit you're loosing.

[Solitus]

Originally posted by Maya-Neko:

Originally posted by grognardgary:

Even then in the case of portugal deleting high level units is a bad idea.

Yeah, definitely. It just wouldn't hit them as hard as the other civs, since they can just swarm the enemy with low level units and still win by masses alone, as you could easily build 3 new units for every unit you're loosing.

But what you are losing is whatever experience that unit had gained; and leveled up units have amazing abilities that you cannot purchase with gold.

It is always better to upgrade a unit than to produce it brand new, since you get those upgrades. Not that it matters against CIV's braindead AI; but having archers that double shoot or Coursers that pillage for 1 movement or infantry that can attack across rivers without penalty...that's nice to have.

[colostmy4]

That reminds me, has anyone ever been able to level a recon unit all the way to the maximum? I typically can't get them above 2 levels before I encounter an enemy unit by surprise (barbarian or other leader's unit), and usually by the time I've gotten them to that level I'm so far away from home territory that it's not worth it traveling all the way back to upgrade them.

[Charlemagne]

I have been in the situation of deleting a couple or three when my economy takes a bad dip, but in general it's a bad idea not only because of lost experience but building a unit is in itself a costly thing. Try your best to hold on to what you have, and don't build excessive armies in the future.
Another item is when you find yourself with too many armies not your fault, for example very early you get three scouts in a row from huts, and that when you already have a warrior and a slinger, and the third scout takes you into red numbers, in that case it might be reasonable to delete the last unit or two. But even then I would try my best to do something and keep it, for the reasons given above.

[Solitus]

Originally posted by colostmy4:

That reminds me, has anyone ever been able to level a recon unit all the way to the maximum? I typically can't get them above 2 levels before I encounter an enemy unit by surprise (barbarian or other leader's unit), and usually by the time I've gotten them to that level I'm so far away from home territory that it's not worth it traveling all the way back to upgrade them.

Yes, but it was with the Inca's unique recon unit. SO GOOD.

[Charlemagne]

Originally posted by colostmy4:

That reminds me, has anyone ever been able to level a recon unit all the way to the maximum? I typically can't get them above 2 levels before I encounter an enemy unit by surprise (barbarian or other leader's unit), and usually by the time I've gotten them to that level I'm so far away from home territory that it's not worth it traveling all the way back to upgrade them.

I got one to four levels, two on each side, in a memorable game. But more usual is to get them only to 1 or 2. I try to keep them alive foreseeing that they will become paratroopers.