Arete Family/Averyll

Overview

As a mentor, I am responsible for teaching my students the following lessons:

• Recruitment and maintainance of units
• The chain of command - realm hierarchy, general and ruler
• Basic combat tactics
• Unit settings

In other words, I am here to teach you how to be a good soldier, and so this page is dedicated to my students for exactly that purpose. However, I will also try to answer any other questions you might have, such as how taxes work or what other classes will be avaliable to you, so please do not hesitate to ask (using the in-game messaging system, of course).

Units

• Infantry - Basic melee unit (can only attack units in the same column of the battlefield).
• Archers - Basic ranged unit (can attack units in adjacent columns, but very weak defense).
• Cavalry - Very effective against other melee units, but weak defense against ranged units.
• Mixed Infantry - A ranged unit that is more effective in melee than archers.
• Special Forces - A melee unit that is very effective against all other unit types.

Unit Settings

Conduct

• Evasive - drastically increases the chance to evade combat with enemy units.
• Defensive - only engages enemy units if they engage you.
• Normal - initiates combat with any enemy units in the region (and sometimes neutral units).
• Aggressive - engages all enemy and neutral units (and sometimes even allies).
• Murderous - will attack anyone in the region, possibly even realm-mates and peasants.

Designation

• Regular Army - Standard designation.
• Sentry - Higher combat strength than regular army, but slower travel times (most often used for militia units)
• Police - Diminished combat strength, but not as averse to civil or police work (the only designation avaliable to bureaucrats).
• Vanguard - Faster travel times than regular army, but lower combat strength.
• Mercenary - Higher morale, but 50% more expensive than regular army (the only designation avaliable to traders).

Field Position

The battlefield is divided into 11 columns (numbered 1 thru 11 from left to right). The attacking army starts on the left, the defending army on the rght. If the region has fortifications, then the 5 columes on the right will be colored gray and represent the area of the battlefield behind the fortifications. Which column your unit will begin in will depend on your field position.

• Front - If you are attacking, you will start in column 5. If defending, column 7.
• Middle - If you are attacking, you will start in column 4. If defending, column 8.
• Back - If you are attacking, you will start in column 3. If defending, column 9.
• Rearguard - If you are attacking, you will start in column 2. If defending, column 10.

Therefore, columns 1, 6 and 11 are always empty at the beginning of a battle (but they may become occupied as the battle progresses). If the defending units are dug in or are behind fortifications, it is not likely that they will move from column 7 to column 6 until all the attacking melee units are disabled (i.e. wounded, retreated, etc.). If the region has fortifications, it is very difficult for the attacking units to move from column 6 to column 7 without seige engines. Ranged units each have their own "range", which equals the number of columns their missles can travel. Ranged units will only move from toward the enemy if there are no enemy units within their range.

Unit Formation

• Line - Normal defense and attack against both ranged and melee units.
• Box - Improved defense against melee units, but decreased defense against ranged units.
• Wedge - Improved attack against melee units, but decreased defense against melee units.
• Skirmish - Improved defense against ranged units, but decreased defense against melee units.