As an update: I assimilated a people quite a bit later in the same game, and those units I gained were able to embark. So it seems likely that free peoples' units you get before you research embarking will not gain that ability (I STILL have those units stuck on my mainland, basically honor guard at this point).

It  doesn't appear to have any correlation to the timing of the assimilation vs tech unlock - I was looking to expand to a nearby island in my game, and I assimilated a city specifically to get units to do it with rather than waiting for another unit to arrive, but was unable to embark them. I have to wonder if it has something to do with the techs given to the independent civ, and perhaps only the mercenary army code accounts for your tech being different from theirs.

TabletopGeneral wrote:

It  doesn't appear to have any correlation to the timing of the assimilation vs tech unlock - I was looking to expand to a nearby island in my game, and I assimilated a city specifically to get units to do it with rather than waiting for another unit to arrive, but was unable to embark them. I have to wonder if it has something to do with the techs given to the independent civ, and perhaps only the mercenary army code accounts for your tech being different from theirs.

Interesting. I did have that thought, that it was dependent on the independent civ tech, but I have no way to actually verify that so I figured I must have researched embarking later than I thought as that seemed like the most likely cause (inherited units being stuck missing some new passives or something) but between both our experiences I'm guessing that yes, the units somehow get stuck with passives of the independent civ.

That actually explains something I saw in my previous game, I had a set of units well after I researched the "safe ocean travel" tech that would get lost at sea if they went into the ocean. My guess is those were inherited free people (as I built no units of my own that game) and they never gained the ability I researched.

I'm suffering the same issue and it seems like a big oversight on the devs part. Even if the assimilated people are behind in tech it would only make sense for them to use your current tech once they are part of your nation. 

How to tell if unit is able to embark? I've been searching and searching and can't tell which units are able to embark and which are not. If someone knows please tell me!

thedarkwraith wrote:

How to tell if unit is able to embark? I've been searching and searching and can't tell which units are able to embark and which are not. If someone knows please tell me!

If everything is working correctly, it should be an all or nothing proposition based on having Trade Expeditions technology or not having it. But until this bug is fixed, units gained along with assimilated armies may or may not be able to, and the only way to check is to try to order them to move into the water, you'll get a tooltip about not having the appropriate technology. 

By default, I think the these armies are named "Defenders" when you acquire them. So if you don't reassign them, rename them, or combine them with other armies, that might be a way to tell if there's a chance that they will be unable to embark, but it does not appear to be definitive.

My early game units before I acquire the tech are not able to embark after acquiring the tech. If I make new units after acquiring the tech those can embark. This is why I'm confused as to how to tell which can and can not embark. Some kind of symbol or something in their status screen should show this.

thedarkwraith wrote:

My early game units before I acquire the tech are not able to embark after acquiring the tech. If I make new units after acquiring the tech those can embark. This is why I'm confused as to how to tell which can and can not embark. Some kind of symbol or something in their status screen should show this.

That sounds like a bug to me. Every unit I acquired during the neolithic period was able to embark later so that shouldn't be an issue.

I am also experiencing this issue on Windows 10 with the steam version.

I am in the Medieval Era. Units I built can embark with Trade Expeditions. Units from the assimilated people cannot embark with the "You don't possess a technology allowing embarkment" message.

I will try to update when I research Three-Masted Ship.

I absorbed some more people in the contemporary era after Three-Masted Ship, and the absorbed units are able to embark.

I faced a variant of this issue. I thought the fluyt (dutch transport ship) is bugged or I don't understand how embarking works, because my units could embark, but used the same vessel, had the same movement points and died in the ocean the same as in the classical era (I had the required tech). Then I tried newly built units and others, and the fluyt appeared and worked well. Apparently assimilated units were the ones who could not use it.

Hello!

Thank you for the report! We are aware of the situation and investigating a solution. At the moment we do not have a workaround for this issue. Sorry for the inconvenience. 

i've had Three-masted-ship before assimilating independent people and i only started assimilating on other continents. Those units cannot embark, even worse, some of MY OWN era 4 units cannot embark anymore(upgraded from 3 to 4). Not all of them, i had an army of 25 units and out of them, 5(assimilated) and 2(Naginata samurai) cannot embark. Bug is persistent through reload of older saves.

wazabi41 wrote:

i've had Three-masted-ship before assimilating independent people and i only started assimilating on other continents. Those units cannot embark, even worse, some of MY OWN era 4 units cannot embark anymore(upgraded from 3 to 4). Not all of them, i had an army of 25 units and out of them, 5(assimilated) and 2(Naginata samurai) cannot embark. Bug is persistent through reload of older saves.

They are looking at the bug, but in the meanwhile do keep in mind that if a group of units contains one of these bugged assimilated, the whole group cannot embark. I had to manually separate them 1 by 1 to find which were assimilated and not. Also keep in mind you CAN upgrade assimilated units as you unlock new tech, including to unique units (I upgraded some assimilated archers into javelins but they still can't embark because they're still bugged)