If one mouses over the listed melee attack value of a bayonet-capable unit, a series of tooltips will appear stating that researching the bayonet technologies will increase this value. The Statistics tab on the unit card lists a units type, name, statistics, and abilities, among other things.
My findings are listed in more detail below. These upgrades to unit stats can be viewed directly on the unit card under certain conditions. Specifically, I have found that the bayonet technologies directly affect the melee attack, reloading skill, and charge bonus values for bayonet-capable units. After conducting extensive research, I have found that the bayonet technologies do indeed offer definitive, quantifiable upgrades to unit statistics and battlefield effectiveness. Because most of the bayonet technology descriptions found in the technology tree do not list any direct, quantifiable upgrades to unit melee statistics, for quite some time I assumed that the different levels of bayonets merely increased battle effectiveness through granting units access to some form of additional animations or combat moves on the battlefield which rendered them more effective. I have long wondered if there was any identifiable link between army unit performance in melee and the different bayonet technologies available in Empire: Total War. In this article I will share my findings on what has been, to me at least, a mystery for quite some time. By Francis Marion Introduction & Overview
