Words to the Knight

Choosing an Estate

Know that once you have completed your time as squire, you are highly sought after by the lords of the land: gladly will they grant you an estate in exchange for your allegiance. Wherefore, which should you choose? It is highly recommended to base your decision on the income the estate offers, for the easiest way to gain honor and prestige is through battle - and gold will allow you to hire the required soldiers. Be aware though that the income according to the scribes is incorrect, because it does not take into account that militia will be paid first. Therefore, if a region is highly fought over, expect income to be much lower than claimed by your scribe. However, it is easy to abandon an estate and find a new one, so do not let this discourage you.

Choosing a Realm

Knights are the life blood of the realm. If a realm loses nobility, people lose their confidence. In academic circles this is called the Sparse Realm Penalty and it is estimated that for every five regions, a realm needs six nobles. Kings understand this need and will even reserve part of their income to ensure the knights of the realm are duly supported. Wherefore, which realm should you choose? Every realm has its unique culture and will provide a unique experience.

Choosing a Continent

Like realms differ from each other, so too do continents. You are only allowed to have three members represent your family, but once your family has aquired twenty fame or earned five medals, you will be allowed to have a fourth member represent your family. South Island has perpetual warfare and does not care about this rule. Even if your family has three nobles, South Island will allow another one. Consequently, the other islands do not recognize South Island. They do not recognize its nobility and do not even allow gold to be transfered to the island - and the island in return upholds the same rules in reverse. Take into account that only one member is allowed to represent your family at each continent, because nepotism has caused grave problems in the past.

Life of the Knight

Once you have sworn allegiance to a lord, ask him to assign you to an army. It is the surest way to action. If action is low, you can venture into rogue lands and hunt monsters yourself. While in uncivilized lands you may want to loot to increase your income, but this is considered a crime in many realms.

Do take into account that while venturing, the equipment of your men suffers damage. Remaining in a city of stronghold will prevent damage, but will not bring much action. So better accept the damage and pay regular visits to a smith for repairs. You can find a smith in townsland, cities and strongholds. Of course, seeing action will not only damage equipment, but you will also loose men. Recruiting new soldiers can only be done in the capital.

If you prefer a more peaceful life, you can also have your soldiers perform civil work to help increase the production of a region. Know that your men won't like that. Police work is something your men do not mind, but the local police will not cooperate with you until you have fifteen honor. You may even like to run for the position of judge, because it is a position many nobles do not care for very much and are willing to grant to an unexperienced one. For the ambitious, however, it is a perfect opportunity to stand out amongst their peers, which will benefit them should they ever decide to run for the position of king. In some realms the king will also share his income with other members of the government, which will provide you even more income, but do not depend on it

Finally, those who pursue wealth. Your presence inspires the commoners, therefore any realm will be satisfied with just having you there. Thus, as long as you do not cause problems, you are free to do whatever you please. You do not need to spend your gold on the realm and can also use it to improve yourself. Academies can be found in cities and strongholds and allow you to better your personal skills. A month of intense sparring and you will be able to compete with the best of the continent.

Commanding a Unit

A privilege reserved to those of nobility is the right to lead men into battle. It is your right to determine what type of unit you want, but know that when fighting monsters and undead, archers are preferred by many. Consequently infantry is less common and often serves as arrow fodder. However, when fighting humans, this may very well give the archers on your side a decisive advantage. Mixed infantry seem to have been made obsolete by special forces, who are much better at the dual role, but some ambitious generals have been experimenting with new tactics which are actually designed around the mixed infantry. As for the special forces, they are elite soldiers who will not swear loyalty to anyone who has less than ten prestige. They are expensive, but worth every coin. The other elite soldiers are cavalry, who require five prestige. They are expensive to replace, but will move two spaces on the battlefield, which allows them to rush into enemy lines. They also have the ability to charge, which gives a bonus to their first attack.

Besides the soldiers, you can also hire paraphernalia. You can ask your scribe for information about where to find them. The most important are scouts, who allow you to search neighboring areas for hostile units. The reports are highly valued by the general. But scouts are also very useful for yourself, as they prevent you from getting lost, which would cost you valuable travel time. Scouts can even cause you to arrive earlier than expected - up to three hours. I would strongly recommend to have five scouts and even more for units with more than fifty men. After a battle, healers can get your wounded men back on their feet in no time - one healer for every twenty men is recommended. Beware scouts and healers require upkeep - and the healer is particularly expensive. There are also paraphernalia which do not require upkeep and which will be with you as long as you have men to carry them. Banners inspire your men and are especially valuable for melee units - a banner for every ten men would be advised. Carts can be useful if you want to get away quickly after defeat. Siege engines can slow you down, so there is no reason to carry them around, unless you are planning to attack a wall. Likewise caravans and demolition tools should only be acquired if you see a need for them.

How many men are willing to follow you, depends on your honor. Regular soldiers are twenty-two and added to it three more for every two honor, while elite soldier are fifteen and added to it one for every two honor. Your military advisor can give a more up to date estimate, but he will round to the nearest five. Eventually your finances, not honor, will be the limiting factor.

Finally, never forget to stock up on provisions! Provisions will slowly be restocked automatically when you are in a province with sufficient food, but if you plan to enter starving regions, prepare yourself: when fully provisioned, you will have enough to last for five days. Even though your healers are quite capable to keep your starving men going, morale will suffer severely - so it is better to prevent this from happening with proper preparations. You may even consider to buy a caravan to venture deep into rogue lands, but then again: being far from home, your men will get homesick and their morale will drop - when morale is below fitfy percent, combat strength and cohesion will drop. You can prevent homesickness by setting your unit as mercenaries, but this increases their upkeep by half. So why bother venturing far away?

Upkeep

When recruiting, focus on weapons for units whose prime purpose is to cause damage, like archers, and on armor for units whose prime purpose is to take the hits, like infantry. Morale and training will improve as your unit partakes in battle. However, in urgent times it may be wiser to choose men with lesser gear, but better hearts. Financially, weapons and armor will influence costs for repair, while training will increase the upkeep of your unit.

How much gold do your men require of you? You will pay for the percentage trained, so a unit which is trained at forty percent, will require only forty percent of the income of a fully trained unit. In general you will have you men long enough with you to fully train them, so it is wise to plan your budget based on fully trained men. The estimated cost for a fully trained regular soldier is a quarter gold per day, whereas five elite soldiers would require two gold per day. A table concerning the weekly cost of these units:

soldiers	X	XX	XXX	XL	L	LX	LXX	LXXX	XC	C
regulars	XXI	XXXV	LVI	LXX	XCI	CXII	CXXVI	CXLVII	CLXVIII	CLXXXIX
elite	XXVIII	LVI	LXXXIV	CV	CXXXIII	CLXI	CLXXXIX	CCXXIV	CCLII	CCLXXXIX

Concerning repairs, take into account that at fifty percent damage the cost to repair increases. It is therefore preferable to repair regularly and not allow your damage get too high. When repairing, it is for the same reason also wise to perform your repairs in increments and not all at once. Thus you can make use of relatively lower prices for lower damage. When planning ahead, expect to need about half a gold per week per soldier for repairs. If we also assume one scout for every ten men and one healer for every twenty, then one can determine which unit size his income allows using the following table:

soldiers	X	XX	XXX	XL	L	LX	LXX	LXXX	XC	C
regulars	XXXII	LVII	LXXXIX	CXIV	CXLVI	CLXXVIII	CCIII	CCXXXV	CCLXVII	CCXCIX
elite	XXXIX	LXXVIII	CXVII	CXLIX	CLXXXVIII	CCXXVII	CCLXVI	CCCXII	CCCLI	CCCXCIX

Units consisting of regular soldiers will require three gold per soldier, while units consisting of elite soldiers require four gold per soldier. Elite soldiers are more efficient and should be preferred over regular soldiers, but take into account that their availability is lower.

Words to the Lord

The provinces of the realm need to be governed, so expect a duke to approach you offering one such province to you. Since you are new, expect this province to be a rural one of low value. This means your income will decrease: not only is the income of a rural dwarfed by that of a city estate, but you will also loose the knight's share of the king. Nevertheless, you will receive a title and that is something a commoner with all the gold in the world can not obtain. And whereas your knightly estate was governed in accordance with the will of your lord, as a lord you can govern your province according to your desire. You can also decide which army your knights should join - do not forget to assign them.

Estates

The first thing you should do, is choose your own estate inside the province. Do not forget this, as this simple action will increase your income by twenty percent. Next you will notice you can change the size of the estates. If you make an estate too large, the efficiency of the estate will decrease. Never have an unmanned estate with an efficiency below one hundred percent, since you will receive half of the income of these estates. When an estate is manned, you should not make it full size, as the efficiency will suffer, but neither set it at full efficiency as even a suboptimal manned estate will still provide a larger income than a half taxed, unmanned estate. The optimal size for an estate can be calculated by first looking at the efficiency when you make it full size, then add the size to the respective efficiency, subtract fifty and finally divide by two.

Tax

As a lord, you also have the right the determine the tax rate in your province. So what is the highest you can set it to? Every morning you will receive a Regional Report. It is too high, if it says "Taxes are much too high, production and trade suffer." The highest acceptable tax rate is when the report says: "Some people consider the tax rate as too high." However, it is possible to set the tax to the maximal twenty-five percent, if you take action to increase morale - for example by holding court twice a day. But this means you have to stay in your province and can not travel around.

The region stats tell you the combined daily income of the province. Suppose you have a province with two-hundred gold, a production efficiency of eighty percent and a tax rate of twelve percent, then your tax collector will collect nineteen gold a day, or one-hundred thirty-three a week. Suppose you have an estate of forty percent operating at ninety percent efficiency and three empty estates of twenty percent, then your estate earns your thirty-six percent and the empty estates earn you thirty percent. In total you will receive about eighty-seven gold.

Religion

The same morning report will also warn you if the local population is suspicious of your superstitions. Since you are probably better familiar with war than with region management, you could probably use divine help, but you can also convert to the local religion from a practical standpoint. Either way, you can become a devout worshipper or a worshipper in name only - the people won't mind. You can, of course, also try to convert the populace to your religion. This can be done by asking a priest to preach or build a holy place. You can also use a more aggressive approach and try to persecute the heathens and destroy their holy place, but your people tend to react unfavorable to such actions.

Food

People need food to survive. One bushel feeds five-hundred people for a day. Since you most likely are ruling a rural province, you will produce a much desired surplus. The region stats will tell you the weekly food production of your province. This is merely an indication, as the food production strongly depends on the weather and season. Noticeably, there is no food production during the winter, so build granaries to store food for the cold season.

Even in granaries food can rot, so it is a good idea to try and sell some of your surplus. You can even give your clerks permission to place an automatic offer on the market if your food storage surpasses a certain limit. This will certainly make the banker of the realm very happy, although he won't mind either if you gave him direct access to your storage. The banker is responsible for the food distribution in your realm and corrupt bankers have been known to bring their realm near destruction by selling all the food at the start of winter. Every realm would therefore do well to pick their most trustworthy noble for this position - in fact, I believe this election is even more important than that of the ruler.

Militia

You can always disband your unit, but once you have two prestige and have been a knight or more for at least nine days, you are also allowed to leave your men behind as militia when you disband them. They will keep your province safe in your absence. If you have two prestige and more than fifty men, of which most not wounded, you can also choose to only leave half of them behind. If you more than ten prestige, you can choose how many men you want to leave behind. Militia can be reassigned by a general to a noble if they are both at that province, but they will refuse if they have been assigned recently.

Soldiers can only be recruited in the capital, but if you have a recruitment center in your region or a neighboring region, you can also recruit militia in you province. Thus you can get militia which differs from your own unit. It is therefore an interesting plan to build a recruitment center yourself, but the quality of these centers depends on luck. If you only get options you don't like, which is very likely, don't build any of them. Simply check twice a day until you finally get an option you do like. This can be a boring task, especially since rural regions will get a poorer choice anyway - it is in the cities and strongholds that the best options are found.

Words to the Duke

As a duke, you will be a senior member of the realm. This means you can be a major influence on the direction the realm is going. Of course, you can ignore all that and can even turn against your realm by switching your entire duchy to another one: your vassals are loyal to you first and then to the realm.

However, if you desire to support the realm, your first duty is to ensure the provinces in your duchy receive a lord. Since quite a few regions are poor, you may feel the need to support these lords financially in exchange for their loyalty. In fact, this financial support may actually help them to play an active role in the army and therefore the defense of your duchy. As a duke you can also determine how much tax you will receive form every lord. This is another important way you can support the lords: lower taxes mean they need less money.

Another thing you should be aware of, is to ensure your cities are well fed. Although this is the responsibility of the banker, it is such an important task that you can not afford to ignore it. As a duke you can of course influence nobles of other duchies, but in general it is wise to ensure your duchy can sustain itself.

Words to the King

Delegate!

As a king you are responsible for everything that happens in the realm. You can of course try to do everything yourself, but all your work is for the benefit of the realm, so give the realm the opportunity to support you in that endeavor. No one can do all things, but if you share the burden of leadership, everyone can become very good at their particular task.

Aim to achieve the following goals for every noble in the realm:

An identity for the realm to associate with.
A purpose - for example through a specific task.
Companionship to foster loyalty between the nobles of the realm.

Words about the Adventurer

Be aware there are commoners looking to be acknowledged as nobility. Once your name has spread, to be more exact after thirty days, commoners can even appear claiming to be of your house. Worry not about them, as nobility can easily be recognized and no one will take their outlandish claims serious. In fact, these commoners can be quite useful as they are desperate to prove their worth by seeking out the dens of the Netherworld and thus keep your lands safe. Luckily even the clerks refuse to entertain more than one such claim, so at every continent there will be at most one commoner whose claim to your name will be written in the books.

For the adventurer it can be enticing to seek out the toughest fights possible, but it is more effective to only complete the first level of every adventure, since being wounded (or death) wastes a lot of time. This way they can quickly gain experience and clean the area, claiming the bounty set by the lord. In time they will be strong enough to also complete the higher levels for higher rewards in relative safety, but remember that the life of an adventurer is never completely safe.

During their adventures they will find plenty of items. The common items can be sold, which will earn them a lot of silver and gold. Thus they will not have to worry about money, allowing them to take lessons at the academy, sleep properly and hitch a cart. They should be aware that sometimes they will have to pay toll. The amount seems to depend on how much money they have with them, so sometimes it is better to not sell items - especially since they can carry as much as they want.

Unique items are of interest to nobles. Adventurers can sell them for gold and even receive a recommendation - three of these will be enough to 'prove' their nobility, so be aware: if you were to suddenly disappear the adventurer can claim to be of your noble blood. Note that unique items will receive damage when used and then need to be repaired. This can be done by granting them to an adventurer. The adventurer can travel around and follow rumors about sages. Once the adventurer has found the sage, the sage will require some common items in exchange for his service. The adventurer can consult 'Adventurer Items' in the library to see to which region type he needs to travel for each item.

Note that adventurers can freely travel - even outside their realm. But if they switch their allegiance, they will instantly get banned. Also, if their realm ceases to exist, they must join a new realm or they will be considered bandits by all. Finally, adventurers must be cautious when dealing with nobility, since there are no laws protecting adventurers against the whims of a grumpy noble. For this reason many adventurers join guilds, as it may earn them protection by members of noble blood.

Words to the Marshal

The general decides the strategy of the realm, but the execution is left to the marshal. Due to the importance of the marshal, there is also a vice-marshal, whose task is to take command if the marshal is hindered - for example if the marshal is wounded. One can easily see who is wounded in their region, since the names of those noble are placed in (brackets). Besides that, the marshal and vice-marshal also receive information about the army, which includes who is wounded, who is traveling and the status of their unit. A realm can have multiple armies with each their own marshal and specific mission, but many realms have only one army and it is not uncommon for the marshal to also be the general. To succeed, you must know the nobles under your command, know their response time, know their financial situation, know the performance of their units. Orders should be given well ahead, since people need respond time.

Logistics

All plans will fail when your logistics fail. Every commander should stock up on provisions before he leaves the borders of his realm. Many enemies employ a scorch earth tactic by bringing all their food to a safe place. A fully provisioned commander will have five days worth of provisions. The days after his provisions run out, he will suffer morale losses due to starvation.

Every commander should have two weeks of pay in reserve. Soldiers start to grumble when not paid for a week and desert en masse when still not paid after nine days. Having gold in reserve will allow them to stay in the field longer. It is, however, not advised to have too much gold with you, as you may get captured in the heat of battle - rules of chivalry prevent an immediate execution, but not robbery. Should a commander have more gold, he should revert it to bonds. This can be done at a bank in a city. It is your job as marshal to know which commanders can not afford to have these reserves, as it will seriously limit what kind of operations you can perform.

Know the status of your recruitment centers. If you have plenty of reserves and are close to the capital, you can afford to meatmill your soldiers. If you do not have plenty of reserves or are far away from your capital, you may need to use more cautious tactics. Consequently, when taking over a hostile region, you do not plan to keep, it might be wise to tear down all the buildings - especially the recruitment centers.

Also take into account the settings of the units. Usually you want all units in the role of a regular army, which has the benefit of lower wages, but there are exceptions. Assigning the role of mercenary will prevent morale loss when far from home - this morale loss will already happen at the end of a week. The role of sentry is useful when you are defending and protecting your home territories. Vanguards should be used when time is of the essence. the role of police should never be done in a combat situation, only when you're recovering loyalty in a province - also remember a noble needs fifteen honor before he can perform police duties.

Intelligence

Do not move blindly into a region: first scout it. Otherwise you may be in for a nasty surprise. Likewise it would be strongly advised to study your enemy before you enter his lands: For this purpose you can send a noble without units. The enemy is not likely to notice him, allowing him to travel through the land and send his reports. However, this may leave him vulnerable, so it can be advised if he brings some bodyguards - if he has a unit of ten or less men, set on evasive and retreat as soon as possible, he will successfully dodge most fights and thus stay out of enemy hands.

Consequently, if a neutral realm has expressed hostile intentions and you see one of their commanders traveling into your region, you can expect him to perform a scout duty. Set your men to aggressive to have them attack neutral commanders. He will still be able to scout the area, but loose valuable men and can report back home that your realm is no to be toyed with.

Traveling

Coordinating the arrival of your commanders is a challenging task. You want the army to arrive as one, so it can fight at full strength. Do not give the enemy the satisfaction of picking you out one by one. Again, it is important to know your commanders, as this will greatly help you know whether you can attack immediately or have to wait until tomorrow.

You can know whether you arrive next turn by looking at how many hours you have left. Once you have started your travel, the expected hours will be subtracted from your time pool. If you have a negative number, you will not arrive next turn. There is however a catch: you may arrive up to three hours earlier thanks to your scouts or lose up to three hours due to getting lost when lacking scouts. It is here that infiltrators can bring the decision: causing the enemy to loose even more than three hours. Commanders can choose to delay their arrival to prevent arriving at separate times. They will then travel until they only have one hour to go and then wait until the turn after.

Misdirecting means you act like you're traveling a certain direction, but remain at your current position. It is an excellent way to deceive your enemy. However, this can not be done if you are only one hour removed from your destination.

Unit Settings

Conduct of the unit will mainly decide the likelihood of engaging a battle. But it will also affect behavior during battle.

Use evasive if you want your unit to retreat as fast as possible.
Use defensive if you do not want your unit to advance while behind fortifications or while dug in - although this will never be entirely certain.
Use normal if you want your unit to engage quickly.
Aggressive and murderous should only be used if you are looking to incite a battle.

Designation is easily forgotten, since in general it is best to stick to a cheap regular army. However, remember the combat bonus for sentry while defending, the speed of the vanguard and immunity to homesickness of the mercenary.

There are four types of formations. The line formation is well-rounded and serves most purposes well. However, other formations may give you an edge. Box (against melee damage) and skirmish (against ranged damage) will prevent casualties if you only expect one type of damage, but both make your melee attack less effective. Wedge will do massive damage in the melee, but decrease both melee and ranged defense.

The field position will be your most influential decision, as it will determine when each unit will engage the enemy.

The last option is that you can decide when to retreat. Retreating may be counter-intuitive, but "he who flees and runs away, will live to fight another day." So sometimes fleeing might be wise - but even if you do not give the order, your men may decide to flee earlier than you had planned.

Consider the settings carefully: they will decide the battle - and the war. However, change them well ahead of time to give commanders the opportunity to adapt.

How Battles Work

When hostile forces arrive in the same region, a battle will erupt - unless one side manages to evade. The defending side is the one who (or whose allies) owns the region - unless the enemy is performing a takeover, which will make the enemy the defender. If the region is neutral, the side who was already present will be considered the defender. If all forces arrive at the same time, the realm with the highest combat strength will be the defender. All realms allied to the defender, will join the defensive side. All realms at war with all defenders, will join the attacking side. Realms who are at war with some defenders but allied with others, will be neutral. Realms federated with the attacker, join the attacker. Realms allied to a party on one side, but no party on the other, will join that side. All others will be neutral.

The battle will always happen under certain weather conditions, which will determine the effectiveness of ranged units. All units will take a position according to their line setting, with a neutral space in the centre. Then the battle takes place according to several rounds until one side is routed:

Ranged units, who have a target in range, will shoot - unless their targets are locked in a melee.
Units which did not shoot, move closer to the enemy. Cavalry will move two spaces at once.
Units at the same space as a hostile unit or who are trying to move towards such a space, will do melee damage.
Units suffer casualties according to the hits they have taken. A unit who runs out of morale will flee. If all melee units flee, ranged units may start to rout as well.

After the Battle

If you win the battle, you have several strategic choices. You can start a takeover of the region, hunt the scattered soldiers down and even choose to follow the enemy into his lands. However, even the most experienced general can lose a battle and as one of the ancients once said: "Adversity reveals the genius of a general, good fortune conceals it." When you lose, keep your cool. A rematch might be won with a different tactic, but since you just lost, it might be better to return home and recover your losses. Whatever you do, as long as the king desires to continue the fight, keep adapting until you find a way to defeat your enemy.

During a battle nobles may get wounded. Unless they are lightly wounded, they will not be able to give commands during the next turn, meaning they can not flee or join the next battle. Therefore you should check after every battle whether your military leaders are still able to give commands. If not, it may be time for you to step up.

Basic Tactics

Infantry against Cavalry

When facing cavalry as infantry, remember your primary purpose is to nullify the charge. Use box formation and retreat as late as possible. You will not do much damage, but likewise the charge will do as little damage as possible. Consequently, the cavalry should form a wedge and have their retreat as low as possible. It is better to have many small battles and therefore many charges, than only one long battle with only one charge. The wedge will make the attack as effective as possible and, even though you will lose most battles, you will do as much damage as possible, allowing you to win the war.

Be aware that cavalry always moves first, so it is possible to prevent the charge by placing your infantry at a distance of three, six or nine spaces. The cavalry will then first move two spaces to the line in front of your infantry, after which your infantry moves in to engage without the cavalry being able to use their charge. To prevent this, the cavalry side can appoint a sacrificial unit, which will charge solo into the infantry line to pin them down.

Waves

In order to stop a charge, a marshal should also consider the use of waves: send one unit ahead to receive the charge. Since the unit will be overwhelmed anyway, there is no need for a box formation - a wedge will allow the unit to take as many horses as possible with him into the grave. The other infantry would be placed directly behind the sacrificial unit. Place them in wedge as well: the purpose is to take out as many cavalry as possible - hopefully wiping them out before they have the chance to retreat.

To counter this tactic, cavalry can use waves as well. The infantry side then needs three sacrificial units (preferably the smallest) and spread them across the first three lines. During the first round the infantry from the first line will receive the charge from the hostile cavalry on the first line and trap them on the center space. During the second round, the infantry from the second line will receive the charge from the hostile second and third and keep the cavalry trapped on the center space. The third turn will see your third sacrificial unit receive the charge of the fourth line cavalry. At the fourth turn your main body will arrive and start battling the chargeless cavalry. However, sacrificing this many units just to escape the charge may not be worth it.

Ranged against Ranged

There are three types of ranged units: archers can have range four, mixed infantry has range three but a higher defense, special forces can have range five and are also able to stand their ground in a melee. If you are to recruit units with a lower range, remember the new range of your unit will be the combined average rounded to a whole number. So if you have range four units and are recruiting range three, recruit less men than you already have enrolled. If necessary, recruit in batches: if you have thirty men, but want seventy, first recruit twenty and then recruit twenty again.

Units will advance until they have enemy units in range. Consequently a ranged battle will only see ranged damage, so every unit should use a skirmish formation. Range will be the most important factor to take into account and units with shorter range, should close the gap as soon as possible - so you should not dig in if your enemy has a range advantage. Small differences in range can be undone by complementing the gap: if your units have range three, but the opposing units have range four, then position your units at an odd distance - both units will continue their advance until the other unit is in range, meaning the distance remains odd.

When you have different units, it may be tempting to position them according to their range: short range in front, long range behind. This is not wise, as it will allow your opponent to start firing before you can fire back. It is better to have your ranged units to march as one: your long range units will start firing as soon as they have their eyes on the enemy, while the shorter range units will continue their advance. This means you will not be fired upon until you can return the favor.

Overkill

Your men will not fight until death - rather they will flee when they run out of morale or when you command them to do so. To win a battle it would be preferable to have the enemy shoot at soldiers who are trying to flee than at soldiers who are still fighting. Overkill means a unit receives so much damage that the damage looses its effectiveness, because the unit has no more men left to receive the damage. Of course, the unit itself will be either wiped out or flee, but all the damage it received, will not be received by your other units. So overkill is something positive.

It is for this reason that mixed infantry can actually be beneficial. If you combine mixed infantry with archers, then the mixed infantry will step forward and be the target of hostile arrows. Since they have better defenses, the damage will hurt them less than it would do to your archers. Since they form only part of your army, it is likely they will receive overkill before they try to flee. By that time your units should have caused enough damage to the opposing side that your unharmed archers will be able to finish it off.

To counter this tactic, remember to complement the gap: place your archers at an even distance of the opponent, as it will allow them one shot before the mixed infantry can start shooting back. Your opponent actually wants his mixed infantry in front of his archers, so expect him to cooperate with complementing the gap. You should consider to retreat as soon as possible: if you focus this battle on taking out the mixed infantry, you can focus next battle on the archers. Retreating means you will you will lose men, but healers can get most of them back in shape, while overkill may ensure the mixed infantry will not be able to partake in the next battle.

Ranged against Infantry

Ranged units have the advantage during the initial rounds of combat, but infantry has the advantage once contact has been made. Therefore the ranged side should disengage as soon as contact has been made: retreat as soon as possible - and prepare for the next battle. This is called hit-and-run. Since the ranged units will only receive melee damage, they should use a box formation. Preferably they should be placed in a position that allows them to fire as much as possible before contact is made, so complement the gap.

Infantry has a nigh impossible task. Use a skirmish formation to decrease ranged casualties. It will decrease their effectiveness in the melee - but at least it will give them a chance to get there. You may even consider to use evasive conduct with quick retreat. You will lose some men, but can buy time for your realm to bring (hopefully more effective) soldiers in. You can also choose to retreat as late as possible and even consider a line of wedge formation - just to allow you to do as much damage as possible if you succeed in reaching the enemy lines. Do not forget that you may be lucky and have bad weather - it will severely hamper the effectiveness of the arrows.

Monsters and Undead

Monsters and undead should be treated as infantry. Ranged units are the most effective choice. Since the positioning of the creatures seems quite random, it would be best to expect them to position themselves at the first line. Thus archers with range four should be positioned at your third line. If you also have mixed infantry, it is wise to spread your luck and assume the creatures will position themselves at the second line: position your mixed infantry with the archers at the third line. They will then step forward and start shooting at the creatures which will have moved forward as well. Special forces with range five should likewise be positioned with the archers. If the creatures start at first or third they will find the special forces lined up with the archers. If they start at second or fourth, the special forces will have an extra shot.

Since the ranged phase of the battle is heavily in your favor, it is a waste of men and gold to continue fighting in a melee. It is therefore expedient to retreat as soon as possible - especially since, contrary to the creatures, your side has healers. Thus your ranged units should be placed at the third line in box formation with a retreat as soon as possible, while infantry will start in a box at the fourth line and retreat as soon as possible as well. The infantry will slow the creatures down, but should not waste more than necessary. Due to the charge, a wedge will remain interesting for the cavalry, but even for them a box might be preferrable to prevent casualties. This tactic allows you to take down far superior forces with minimal casualties. However, do take into account that some units might desert if they don't like fleeing.

If you do not like fleeing, you can order the retreat as late as possible. This may not be the most cost efficient method, but it certainly is better for morale - especially morale of the nobility. However, it would be strongly recommended to not waste cavalry: use a wedge and retreat as soon as possible.

As for militia, mixed infantry seems quite popular. They will dig in at the second line and thus not move forward, making optimal use of their range. And if creatures manage to survive the hail of arrows, mixed infantry seems to better hold their ground than archers.

Ranged against Cavalry

Cavalry are the nemesis of the archers. Their speed and charge in combination with a wedge will destroy anything they find in their path. Once the cavalry is at range two of the ranged units, it will first charge into the enemy before casualties due to arrows are taken into account. If the enemy only has range three and four, position your cavalry at a gap of five space: both sides will advance, bringing your cavalry at range two. If your enemy has range five, then you should position your cavalry at a distance of six or seven spaces - seven space should be preferred as you can not escape archers, but it will give the mixed infantry one less shot. If the enemy has a mix of ranged units, pick seven spaces if they have mainly special forces and five space otherwise.

To earn an extra shot, mixed infantry should be placed at a range of three, six or nine of the cavalry. The ranged side may consider using waves to break the cavalry charge. However, since ranged units do not advance once they have an enemy in range, they can only stop two lines at a time. So if the enemy has cavalry at his first line, there is no use in placing one of your own units at your first line: it will stop only one line. Consequently, if the enemy uses as many lines as you, you can not prevent your last line to be charged at by his last line.

Mixed Tactics

Most battles will see a mix of different units, but even in such cases certain unit types will be more prevalent than others. Plan your strategy accordingly.

Cavalry on both Sides

Break the charge of the opposing side. If you place a sacrificial units on the first and second line, you will break the charge of enemey cavalry starting on the first three lines, after which your cavalry from the fourth line will make short work of the enemy cavalry. Consequently both sides should have their cavalry start at the fourth line.

This means both sides should prevent the opposing side from obtaining the center and thus trapping your cavalry on your side. Since cavalry moves first, place one unit of cavalry on the first line to secure the center. Therefore infantry should be placed on the first line as well, from which it will advance to the center to enter a melee with the opposing infantry. Both sides should carefully consider whether a line or box formation would be preferable: the box formation is more vulnerable to arrows and decreases the damage your units will do, so generally the line formation should be favored.

Finally, the ranged units. The closer they are to the enemy, the more effective their aim will be. By placing them on the first line, they can take part of the ranged damage intended for your infantry - thus ensuring you will have an as big an advantage as possible. After the first round, a ranged battle will start, which will not end until the melee does. The ranged units should be put in skirmish formation, as this will ensure as much as possible of them to survive for the critical end of the melee. If you lose the melee, you will have one last chance to shoot. If that shot does not take out the melee units, you will be done for anyway.

If you do not have the infantry required to hold the line, place some cavalry in box formation at your first line. They should be enough to last against the enemy infantry for one round to ensure the center space is not lost before the cavalry from the fourth line charges in.

Cavalry on one Side

The side without cavalry should split his infantry into two groups. The first group should be enough to hold the center space for two rounds in order to absorb the cavalry charges from every starting position possible. They will start at the first line in box formation. The other infantry should enter the melee after the charge: they start at the third line. They should use a box formation as well to hold out against the cavalry as long as possible. Ranged units should be placed at the second line to prevent being drawn into battle if the center space falls before the second group of infantry moves in.

If the side without cavalry does not have enough infantry, he should put his archers and special forces on the third line in box formation: they are going to have a melee with the cavalry. Units with ranges lower than four should be placed on the second line - in box formation if they are sufficient to survive hostile arrows for two rounds, otherwise in skirmish formation. If you have no lower range units, place enough units on the second line to survive the archer fire for two rounds. The units on the second line will have to absorb the charge. As for the side with cavalry: position your units at your first line. Infantry can now use the cavalry for cover. Put your infantry in a wedge and - ironically - put your cavalry in a skirmish. This time your cavalry will distract the ranged units, while you infantry joins afterwards to commence the slaughter.

Ranged Battles

If a battle has mainly ranged units, treat the melee units as arrow fodder - this means skirmish formations are advisable, unless you see a chance to actually have them enter into a melee. They must draw attention to themselves to give your ranged units the upper hand. The side who has a range disadvantage should remember to complement the gap. For example, if your enemy has mainly archers at his third line and you have mainly mixed infantry, then place them at an odd distance: your second line. If your opponent assembles his melee units before his ranged units, then try to start out of reach in order to be allowed to shoot the infantry before your opponent can shoot back at you: those infantry will then be wasted.

More than with any other battle, a ranged battle will reward the side who knows his enemy best:

Opponent's choice	You have archers, your opponent has mixed infantry.	You have mixed infantry, your opponent has archers.
first line	Archers at the third line, infantry and cavalry at the first, cavalry in a wedge.	All units on the first line, cavalry in a wedge.
second line	Archers and cavalry at the second line, infantry at the first, cavalry in a wedge.	Ranged and infantry at the first line, cavalry at the second in a wedge.
third line	Archers and infantry at the first line, cavalry at the third in a wedge.	Ranged and infantry at the second line, cavalry at the fourth in a wedge.
fourth line	Archers and infantry at the second line, cavalry at the fourth in a wedge.	Ranged and infantry at the first line, cavalry at the second in a wedge if the enemy lacks infantry and otherwise the fourth.

If you do not know what to expect, then the side with mixed infantry will be safest with having all his units at the first line in a skirmish. The archer side should place his infantry and ranged at the third line and his cavalry at the fourth - all of them in a skirmish.

Infantry Battles

If there is a lot of infantry, it can't be taken out by the archers. The side with ranged advantage will try to extend the ranged phase as long as possible and focus his ranged units on the first line of the opponent, with his melee units in the rear. This means the opponent should start all his units at the second line to complement the gap. Once the melee begins, archers will start firing each other, so put them in skirmish. The infantry should deal mostly with melee damage, but also some with some ranged damage - especially the crucial beginning. Therefore the infantry should use a line formation.

Fortifications

Townsland (level two), cities (level five) and strongholds (level six) tend to have fortifications. This gives the defenders an armor bonus: incoming hits are reduced by seven and a half percent for each level of fortification. Keep in mind that during a takeover fortifications are not used by either side. Hostile units can not enter the fortification unless they have siege engines. Not every unit has to bring their own siege engine: during a battle units do not seem to mind if other units use their engines to climb the walls. The Siege of Toren offers excellent sterial to study unit behavior during a siege.

Ideally, one should have a large infantry force with siege engines to scale the walls, but in monster rich areas ranged units tend to form the main force. If that is the case, one can actually turn the fortifications against the defender, since most defenders tend to be militia on their second line, consisting of mixed infantry with range three. Although melee units will leave the fortification to face the attackers, the ranged units will not move since they are usually set on defensive and can thus be taking out by range five special forces or even range four archers. This is of course not possible if the defender has similar ranged units.

Amphibious Invasions

Fighting across the sea is the most complicated thing you will ever do. It is expensive and takes time to board a ship, but the cost and time can be decreased when departing from a harbor, which usually can be found in a city or townsland at the coast. This is the easy part. Although you can land for free, landing is actually the hardest part.

Before any battle takes place, you will already loose soldiers proportional to the defensive forces: take the logarithm of the number of enemy men and subtract the logarithm of the number of your own men, add one, then multiply by fifty. So if you do not want to loose any of your forces without fight, you should have at least ten times as many soldiers. In general it is sufficient to have twice as many men, since at that number you will loose only about a third of your troops.

Also, you can not scout ahead, causing you to enter a region blindly. And if you lose the battle, your way back would be through to the sea, but since you can not use a harbor, boarding the ships will now be much more expensive. Commanders who do not have the finances, must use a ferry. This can be used for free, but likely means he will first have to travel through some dangerous lands. Alternatively, you may need to find a route through far away neutral lands - losing valuable time against an enemy which has proven himself superior on the battlefield.

But even if an amphibious invasion is successful, your problems are not over. Already at sea you are using provisions, which means you can not linger long in desolate places. But if you manage to live of the land, you will still eventually run out of gold. Looting can extend your time, but eventually you need to go back: preferably the safe, but expensive way by sea. The financial issue is worsened because since you are far from home, you need to assign your men a mercenary role in order to preserve their morale - increasing their pay by fifty percent.

Words to the General

The enemy of today may be the friend of tomorrow. Therefore it is not wise to annihilate your enemy. Much rather it is your duty to convince the enemy to comply with the demands of your king. Therefore, secure the territories your king desires and then hold the lines until your enemy no longer considers it feasible to demand them back.

Remember the resources a realm depends on: soldier, gold and food. If your enemy runs out of one of them, he will lose the ability to fight. Soldiers and gold are found in cities, but food grows in unprotected places. Find out which provinces provide food and destroy them - preferably during the crucial summer or fall. Nevertheless, food can be provided by a neutral realm. So a surer way to achieve victory is to cause the opponent to run out of men or money – preferably through defensive actions, but through offensive actions if you have resources to waste. However, you can also try to conquer a city. The threat of losing valuable investments, like recruitment centers, is often enough to convince your opponent into complying, but conquering a city is a very challenging task to perform.

Although diplomacy is the duty of the king, the general should certainly not be sheepish in that matter. Share information with other generals who might not be entirely friendly towards your enemy. However, be aware that an escalation of the war may not necessarily work out in your favor. If you are the stronger party, an escalation is not desirable. If you are the weaker party, then chaos is your friend. Try to spread hostile units across a broad front if you are the weaker party, because it allows you to create local superiority. If you are the stronger party, try to concentrate them in order to limit your enemy's options and increase predictability of the war.