Assassin recruits: two questions about them
I'm playing AC:B now on 'hard mode', as described in another topic on this site. One of the requirements is NOT sending your recruits on missions, and instead letting them fight for their XP. I came across some problems:
- How much XP does a recruit exactly earn with fights? I couldn't find out. Is it counted per kill or per time you call them? Does it matter what guard type is killed by the recruit and/or in what way (sword fight/assassination)?
- Sometimes, when you call a recruit, his health is not 100% and he just has the same health as he had at the end of the previous fight. How does this work exactly and how can I evade a situation in which my recruits start a fight without 100% health?
I see now that this post didn't stop at merely two questions. Just see it as two MAIN questions then.
Actually, I have a partial answer: when you call the recuits in combat (as I will do) they gain XP only when fighting, afaik. But, I don't know if it's the kills, the health lost, the time spent, or something else.
I can't wait for the second question to be answered. Because in my run, I will send the recruits to fight, instead of sending them to missions. But I would like to know when they replenish their health; this is especially important for sequence 8, where at least 1 recruit dies usually (in my test runs), despite the experience gained from sequence 4 to 8.
Update:
I experimented a little and I think xp depends on guard type. I had my 2 recruits air assassinate two guards who were guarding a shop (a brute and a captain) and one of them received 2 xp, the other 3. I don't know for sure which recruit killed which guard type, but I assume the 3 xp comes from the brute. Either way, there is a difference. I also noticed recruits getting 1 xp. (???)
It's pretty cool leveling them up like this. You have to keep an eye on them in fights though, especially when they call for help with just one health square left. And just yelling 'taunt and counter' does not work, apparently.
There was one time where I picked a fight which was to big, because my level 2 'servitore' was KIA. I replaced him and now I have two men at level 5, 'discepolo'. We run the streets. Borgia be aware. 
Anything about the health replenishment?
It seems to just heal over time, but I don't know how much time will heal one health square or anything. Also, promotions might heal recruits to 100%, but I'm not sure.
I'll keep looking.
Had some fun experimenting with guard types. I now know FOR SURE which guard types give which amount of XP. Here we go.
Agiles - 2 xp
Arquebusiers - 2 xp
Brutes - 2 xp
Captains - 3 xp
Crossbowmen - 2 xp
Horsemen / Riders - 3 xp
Papal guards - 2 xp
Regulars - 1 xp
Seekers - 2 xp
This means my first question is answered. About the second one, however, I still know nothing.
News about the health replenishment:
Promotion does NOT replenish your recruit's health. My level 5 recruit finished the fight in which he leveled up with one health square. After I visited a pigeon coop to upgrade him and then called him into action, he had 2 health squares. I assume that the second square was there because a specific amount of time had passed.
Here's another info: I discovered that you can call the recruits while in nothingness for an assassination cutscene (caught on camera). That's not very important, but related to the recuits.
Also I hope to know how to replenish their health soon. One of my recruits has low health, and I need them to gain experience. Otherwise they will die in sequence 8.
Here's another info: I discovered that you can call the recruits while in nothingness for an assassination cutscene (caught on camera). That's not very important, but related to the recuits.
What do you mean? If you're in a cutscene, you can call them and they will just assassinate a guard nearby?
Actually I called them near the end of the cutscene, so either they come immediatly, as usual, or they come right after the cutscene.
But I assume the in-game time is slowing down when you begin to assassinate the target, it completely stops during the cutscene, and becomes gradually normal after it. So, you can call the recruits while in the cutscene, but they begin to come only after it. That's my opinion.