Army units in Imperialism 2 are the military ground units, built in the Armory (part of the Units Scroll of the "Give Industry Orders" screen).
Requirements[]
Construction of any of the seven units likely to be available first needs at least a peasant and a unit of fabric. Peasant Levies need no more than that. The other six need at least one metal material or lumber and two need a horse or two. Data about each (listed on page 55 of the Manual) is shown as numbers against each of five factors:
- Firepower - four have "0", others 3, 5, 8
- Melee - three have "1", others 3, 4, 5, 6
- Range - four have "1", others 3, 4, 5
- Defense - two have "2", others 3, 3, 4, 5, 6
- Speed - 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 6
Technology advances are needed before any other units can be built. If you let the computer choose the initial goal, you may well find yourself aiming for Horse artillery, which is almost essential for attacking forts unless you have several Culverin (the earliest heavy artillery) and/or a great many Bowmen.
Types of unit[]
In all, there are 29 types of army unit that you can build. They fall into nine classes (most of which have four types): Light Infantry, Regular Infantry, Heavy Infantry, Bowmen (a class on its own), Light Cavalry, Spear Cavalry (just two types), Heavy Cavalry (no 1st-era unit), Light Artillery (no 1st-era unit), Heavy Artillery.
New World tribes have some of the same units but some different, such as Clubmen, Archers, Spearmen, and the much more powerful Horse Warriors. An army of 2 Pikemen, 3 Arquebusiers, 1 General, 2 Lancers, and 3 Horse Artillery has been known to lose all but the General and the lancers when attacking a province successfully defended by 9 horse warriors, killing only one of them.
Battle reports[]
After each battle (no matter who was involved) you see a screen with a report of which units took part and what the result was. If you were involved, an additional option button shows you the details of injuries to each unit. An example follows.
Table of unit statistics[]
- table under construction
Listed alphabetically, but the table is sortable: click the triangle icon at the head of a column to sort by the order of items in that column
Name |
Class |
Era |
Prere- quisite |
Attack cost |
Fire- power |
Melee |
Range |
De- fense |
Speed |
Pea- sant |
Fab- ric |
Wood/ metal |
Horse |
Replaces |
Upgrades to |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arquebusier | HI | 1 | None | 100 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 Bro | - | None | Musketeer |
Bowman | 1 | None | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 Lum | - | None | None | ||
Caliverman | LI | 2 | Improved Infantry Tactics | 3 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 Bro | - | Peasant levy | Skirmisher | |
Carbine cavalry | HC | 4 | Repeating Cavalry Carbine | 7 | 17 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 6 Ste | 5 | Cuirassier | None | |
Cossack | LC | 2 | Recruit Steppe Horsemen | 100 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 C.I. | 2 | Squire | Hussar |
Cuirassier | HC | 3 | Improved Cavalry Weapons | 5 | 13 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 Ste | 4 | Harquebusier | Carbine cavalry | |
Culverin | HA | 1 | None | 8 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 Bro | - | None | Royal artillery | |
Field artillery | LA | 4 | Field Artillery Tactics | 10 | 3 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 16 Ste | 5 | Light artillery | None | |
Grenadier | HI | 3 | Explosives | 10 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 Ste | - | Musketeer | Guard | |
Guard | HI | 4 | Elite Military Training | 12 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 Ste | - | Grenadier | None | |
Halberdier | RI | 2 | Improved Iron Weapons | 0 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 C.I. | - | Pikeman | Regular | |
Harquebusier | HC | 2 | Improved Cavalry Tactics | 2 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 Bro | 2 | None | Cuirassier | |
Heavy artillery | HA | 3 | Heavy Artillery | 13 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 12 Ste | - | Royal artillery | Siege gun | |
Horse artillery | LA | 2 | Horse Artillery | 5 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 Bro | 3 | None | Light artillery | |
Hussar | LC | 3 | Hussars | 2 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 2 Ste | 4 | Cossack | Scout | |
Knight | SC | 1 | None | 100 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 Bro | 2 | None | Lancer |
Lancer | SC | 2 | Organized Regiments | 200 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 Bro | 3 | Knight | None |
Light artillery | LA | 3 | Light Artillery Tactics | 200 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 Ste | 4 | Horse artillery | Field artillery |
Musketeer | HI | 2 | Weapon Craftsmanship | 7 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 Bro | - | Arquebusier | Grenadier | |
Peasant levy | LI | 1 | None | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | - | None | Caliverman | |
Pikeman | RI | 1 | None | 100 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 C.I. | None | Halberdier | |
Regular | RI | 3 | Bayonet | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 Ste | Halberdier | Rifle infantry | ||
Rifle infantry | RI | 4 | Needle Guns | 9 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 6 Ste | - | Regular | None | |
Royal artillery | HA | 2 | Siege Engineering | 9 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 Bro | - | Culverin | Heavy artillery | |
Scout | LC | 4 | Scouting | 5 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 4 Ste | 5 | Hussar | None | |
Sharpshooter | LI | 4 | Long Range Rifles | 5 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 6 Ste | - | Skirmisher | None | |
Siege gun | HA | 4 | High Grade Steel | 17 | 2 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 20 Ste | - | Heavy artillery | None | |
Skirmisher | LI | 3 | Early Rifles | 4 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 Ste | - | Caliverman | Sharpshooter | |
Squire | LC | 1 | None | 0 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 C.I. | 1 | None | Cossack |