Lasanar/Mentor Lessons/Galiard 4

The Care and Feeding of Military Units

Unit Types

There are five types of units -- three basic and two advanced units. The type, quantity, and quality of units available to nobles within a particular realm are determined by the construction of Recruitment Centers (or RCs) by region lords -- so even though there are five types of units altogether, there may not be five available to you all the time.

• Infantry: Your typical medieval men-at-arms. They are hardy, reliable, and always good to have around.
• Archers: Able to 'soften up' the enemy from afar, archers can panic if they don't have infantry cover, but make useful support units.
• Mixed Infantry: Able to attack at short range as well as up close, Mixed Infantry try to fill both the infantry and the archer role but do neither so well as infantry or archers.
• Cavalry (Advanced): Capable of inflicting enormous damage when properly deployed, cavalry usually make a devastating charge in battle, after which they are vulnerable.
• Special Forces (Advanced): Special Forces can act as either (short-) ranged units or infantry -- every one is different. They are usually very expensive, and are capable of out-performing every other unit type on the battlefield -- just as they're capable of underperforming every other unit type.

Advanced units require a certain level of honor or prestige to recruit. Your honor and prestige also dictate the number of any unit type you can recruit. You will always be able to recruit more infantry, archers, or mixed infantry than you can cavalry or special forces.

What Kind of Unit Should I Recruit?

That's a good question, and it's one that no-one can answer for you (even if they'd like to)! One of Battlemaster's Inalienable Rights is that you are allowed to recruit whatever type of unit you want. This isn't even all that unrealistic -- the 'feudal contract' (or oath) between a knight and a lord typically specified a certain number or strength of arms the knight was required to provide, but it usually did not specify precisely what sort of soldiers had to be provided.

Your character begins with a small retinue of either infantry of archers, usually of low or middling quality. It's usually a good idea to recruit a few more at the first opportunity.

"But I don't know what type to recruit! Can't you help?"

You will find that most veteran nobles have their own opinions on what unit types are better than others, but not only are these opinions common and varied, they also don't matter -- recruit what looks good and what you can afford! Decide if you like whatever you got, and if not, you can always get rid of them. Also, selecting the type of unit your character commands doesn't even have to be a 'gamey' choice of trying to pick the most powerful unit -- it can be a roleplaying choice. Do you envision your character riding into battle on horseback, or sending in ranks of men-at-arms?

There are certain circumstances where some unit types are of considerably more value than others. When laying siege to a castle, for example, bringing cavalry along doesn't always help, so you can always ask your army's Marshal about unit types if you aren't sure which to recruit. But even then, the final decision is yours!

Line Settings

There are several options on your Paperwork page that dictate how your unit should behave in combat -- where it should be placed and how it should react.

Every combat scenario has four 'ranks' on each side:

• Front Line (1st Rank)
• Middle Line (2nd Rank)
• Back Line (3rd Rank)
• Rearguard (4th Rank)

The rank in which your unit is deployed will affect the order in which they encounter the enemy, and the extent to which they are exposed to enemy units.

In addition to being placed in one of the four ranks, your unit is deployed in one of four formations:

• A line formation is the standard defensive deployment under which your men will form up two or three ranks deep. Soldiers in line formation balance offense and defense -- they will take fewer casualties from archer fire than a tighter formation, but they are vulnerable to cavalry charges.
• A box formation is a tight, defensive formation in which your men will deploy five or six ranks deep. Units in a box formation can withstand cavalry charges much more effectively, as the cavalry has a much harder time 'breaking through' their ranks. Such a tight formation is highly vulnerable to archer fire.
• A wedge formation is an offensive deployment designed to break through enemy ranks with maximum efficiency. Cavalry are typically deployed in wedge formation, as their initial charge is their most valuable asset. Units deployed in a wedge will not hold together under enemy attack very well, however -- if they do not break through the enemy's lines fairly quickly, they can be routed much more easily than men deployed in a line or a box.
• A skirmish deployment places your men with some distance between them and is primarily designed to avoid archer fire. Units set up to skirmish will be easily defeated if they are engaged in close combat, however, and so skirmish is typically used by archers when the enemy has a lot of ranged units. There is little point to setting a melee unit in a skirmish formation.

Reaction Settings

Your troops also have a sort of 'standing order' for how they should respond to soldiers from other realms that they encounter. These are:

• Normal: Your troops will attack any soldiers they meet belonging to a realm with whom Lasanar is officially at war. They will advance one combat rank at the opening of the battle.
• Defensive: Similar to Normal, except your men will not advance in combat except to support a friendly unit ahead of them, or if the enemy is not advancing to meet them. Defensive is used quite often in murky situations when nobles from other realms are present -- one noble with the wrong settings can result in an entire battle taking place that should never have happened! When your Marshal or the General asks for a defensive setting, it's even more important to double-check.
• Aggressive: Your troops will attack any soldiers they meet belonging to any realm that does not have a formal peace treaty with Lasanar (i.e. that realm is considered 'neutral' in the Diplomatic Relations page). They will advance one rank every turn in combat; cavalry will advance two ranks every turn.
• Murderous: Typically used as a last resort, murderous troops will attack any nobles who are not a prt of Lasanar -- even if they are allied! Murderous troops will fight like berserkers, often causing more casualties and using viscous tactics frowned upon by more civilized realms. Murderous troops can easily spark a diplomatic incident, and as far as this mentor knows, no Lasanarian General has ever employed murderous tactics.
• Evasive troops will attempt to avoid combat entirely. Most of the time, this only works if your unit is very small and you are forced to travel through enemy territory -- larger units, or units traveling through a heavily fortified enemy territory, will not be able to evade combat very easily.

Which Settings to Use, and More Information

Generally speaking, your Marshal will provide the line settings you should use for upcoming battles (or else use their own 'command staff' settings which will override your line settings), but if you want to know more about them, you can check out the BM Wiki page on Unit Settings.

Unit Attributes, or Here's Galiard with the Science

Beyond unit type, every unit has a few attributes that determine its strength in combat:

• Equipment is measured as a percentage and refers to the quality of the unit's weapons and armor -- a middle-of-the-road unit will show something like 50%/50%. Equipment quality is constant and does not go up or down through training or combat -- it only changes if you recruit additional men with different equipment quality (in which case they're averaged).
• Equipment Damage is an indication of the equipment's current condition. Traveling around outside of cities, training, and battles will all raise equipment damage. High equipment damage will lower your unit's combat strength and raise the likelihood of an accident -- one or more of your men might get injured outside of battle. Equipment damage can be repaired in cities, strongholds, or townsland regions that have weaponsmithies; the cost and number of hours required depends on how many men you have and how badly your equipment is damaged. If you belong to an organized army, half the cost of equipment repairs is paid for out of your army's war chest.
• Training indicates your unit's experience in combat. Unlike equipment, training can be increased after your unit is recruited, either through participating in combat or training your men. You can purchase units who begin with higher training values, but they are more expensive up-front.
• Cohesion indicates how well your men get along and fight together. Fighting in battles and training your men both raise cohesion. Cohesion directly affects combat strength.
• Morale indicates your unit's attitude and well-being. A high morale means higher combat strength and sticking around longer during battle. Morale can be lowered by battles, training, being away from home, not paying your unit for too long, and performing civil work, among other things. It (usually) will go up automatically if your unit is near home (particularly if it's in a city) and has been paid recently.
• Designation refers to how your unit is organized. You can re-organize your unit every day that you pay them (though only once on that day), and designate them as one of the following:
  • Regular army units are capable of performing limited civic infrastructure work in addition to their normal duties as a soldier. Most units are regular army units.
  • Sentries are given an advantage when fighting on their home territory, but will suffer penalties if they are taken outside the realm. They also travel more slowly and cost about 20% more.
  • Vanguard units move more quickly than regular units, but cannot "dig in." They must be paid 20% more than regular troops.
  • Police units can perform police work (if your noble has at least 15 honor), which helps assert the realm's control over a local region, and also hunt for enemy infiltrators. They perform very poorly in battle, however.
  • Mercenary armies must be paid 50% more than regular ones, but do not suffer morale penalties from being far from home as regular armies do. They are typically necessary when an army must travel long distances and stay outside their own borders for an extended period of time.

So where do I get a unit, and how much do they cost?

Units can be recruited in the capital of the realm (the capital of Lasanar is the City of Ozrat.

You pay a certain amount up-front for every 10 soldiers you recruit (the minimum you can recruit at once is five). The amount is indicated in the Add Recruits screen under on the Orders page. You will pay a great deal more for a unit with a high equipment rating and a high training value. It is sometimes preferable to look for units with high equipment values but low training values, since you can always train your men and get them combat experience, but you can't get them new equipment.

You must also pay your men every week. There's no fixed formula to figure out how much they'll cost, but it's roughly 1 gold/day/100 CS for Archers and Infantry. Cavalry and Special Forces are typically around 20% of their recruitment cost per week.

Your unit is automatically paid according to the payment settings under Paperwork. It is usually a good idea to change the default setting of 3 days to 5 or 6 -- your men don't start complaining until it's been about six days, and they will usually not desert you until it's been 9 or 10. If you have your men for 6 days, and half of them get killed on day 3, you will have saved paying half of them for the last 3 days if you pay them after 6 days than if you paid them on day 3 and day 6. It's a little morbid, sure, but that's medieval life for you!

Don't forget you also have to pay your...

Paraphernalia

In addition to your unit, you should always have some paraphernalia. There are many types of paraphernalia, but only three that you really need to worry about from the start:

• Scouts allow you to get complete scout reports of neighboring regions, which include detailed information on other nobles and their units. They also help somewhat with travel times. Scouts are inexpensive, so it's usually a good idea to have 3 or 4 of them.
• Healers take care of your men when they are injured. They must be paid 5 gold per week, and it's usually recommended to have 1 for every 20 men (so add another once you pass the 20 mark!)
• Banners help the morale and combat performance not only of your unit, but other units in combat with yours. It's usually a good idea to have 1 banner per 10 men. Banners don't have to be paid each week, but they cost 5 gold to purchase.

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