Hi there. Just start reliving the AoE 2 experience and the wonders of modding it. So i wondered if there is any unit veterancy mod out there i didnt catch on. I like the mechanic and would be happy to give it a go in AoE 2, too. Thanks for letting me know.
From what I know, veterancy mechanic, if I got right what you’re speaking about, is more a scenario thing, mainly used on heroes to boost their stats as you fight with them.
You can also see “elite upgrade” as a veteran idea too.
Hey there, thanks for the quick answer.
Veterancy mechanic means for me that any unit has a kill (or, as another variant, damagedealing-) count and with more kills a unit does (or damage it dealt) it gets a veteran status, that buffs the unit stats in some way or gives is another advantage compared to the non-veteran-unit. that might be +dmg, +hp, +speed, aoe-dmg - whatever comes in mind for the modder.
This advantages dont have to be bought they automatically come into play for any unit receiving the veteran-status.
This system can have veterancy-levels aswell, for example:
5 kills => vet-status level 1 => +1 dmg.
15 kills => vet-level 2 => +1 dmg, +15 hp
35 kills => vet-level 3 => +1 dmg, +15 hp, + 10 % attackspeed
70 kills => vet-level max (Elite) => +1dmg, +15hp, + 10 % att-speed + HP-Regeneration
A good example for veterancy like i mean it in other games might be C&C generals.
I think there are 3 vet-levels for every type of unit buffing it and even gives some additional graphic effects (for example the machinegun-fire gets more vibrant colors which looks quite cool).
(As kills are actually not the fairest benchmark - they can be stolen and its easy to kill a ton of zerglings but hard to kill an ultralisk, so they should not count the same - damage-counter are actually my preferred way for veterancy, but its easier to explain it with kills, i guess).
That’s why I pointed on hero beeing used for that most of the time. As you can easily target them with trigger and count their acting etc.
For more generic unit it’s very hard even in scenarios to affect units outside of purely scripted behavior cause, well, how to determine what unit fighted or not. I’tsp robably possible mixing AI and triggers but is complexe, way too complexe I’d say.
For a mod to achieve that, you would need to alter the game core for every unit to have some hidden resources that register their kills etc. I’m not sure it’s possible to do actually infact, you can detect player total kills, but unit, well outside of triggers and ai files I mean.
Honnestly, outside of xs / trigger and a lot of programming logic, I don’t see veterancy mechanics possible in the game, and again requiering a map set for it to work.
I see.
I was afraid it wouldnt be possible because of the lack of data for generic units. that (or the excessive amount of work needed) is probably the reason why there is no veterancy mod for aoe 2 so far. if the game does not count kills or something else out of it self getting/creating such exp-level-data for generic units sure is very difficult, if ever possible. sad to have these worries seconded as plausible as you explained it. so im pretty sure it is exactly like that and there are no realistic chances to have a veterancy mod for AoE 2. Well, maybe AI can program it somehow. 
Anyhow, thanks for your answers. will be back to try early economy gold medal
With AI file you can eventually detect what target type a unit attack, but then it will requiere a lot of communication back and forth between AI file and scenario triggers to store kill counts. So even if you manage to have it working, you can forget it to be working outside of “made for it” scenarios.
Maybe one day it will be possible, but right now, as the specific per-unit killing count would need hardcoded core alteration, it is out of our reach.
But once more, lots of scenarios use veterancy logic for heroes etc, it’s not as good as in Total Wars or Dawn of Wars series but for missions focused arround a character, let’s say a pirate ship crew, it can become a thing.
As an old player from the age franchise I’ll give you a simple tip: Don’t try to make the game beeing something else than it is, take what the game offers and see where you can go with that.
I got news for you. It seems that in the next DLC, Elite Jaguar warrior have a veterancy mechanic, they gain more attack upon killing units, with a max bonus set to +4. It might be hardcoded feature, but the mechanic seems to be ready to come to the game.