city knight incomes

[The Red Foliot]

Capitals are the wealthiest regions on the island and there aren't enough nobles to fill all of the rural estates, so to a large extent peripheral regions are superfluous and can be exchanged freely without incurring much economic penalty. What matters are the capitals, and they are almost impervious.

My prediction is that there is going to be a long lasting stalemate situation, where economically superfluous regions are exchanged but the economic cores remain intact. This situation will persist until one realm massively screws up and loses its capital somehow.

[De-Legro]

Capitals are the wealthiest regions on the island and there aren't enough nobles to fill all of the rural estates, so to a large extent peripheral regions are superfluous and can be exchanged freely without incurring much economic penalty. What matters are the capitals, and they are almost impervious.

My prediction is that there is going to be a long lasting stalemate situation, where economically superfluous regions are exchanged but the economic cores remain intact. This situation will persist until one realm massively screws up and loses its capital somehow.

Cities don't produce much money when they are starving.

[The Red Foliot]

Some rurals are necessary for food and for providing estates to excess nobles, who can't all be housed in the capital. That is why I said 'to a large extent' and not a total extent.

Due to logistics, it should be easy to maintain a ring of rurals around the capital. Those together with the capital would compose a healthy core. I think that in order to break such a core, a very prolonged and concerted effort by two realms against a third would be necessary. Even then I am not sure; the logistical advantages of the defending realm increase as the battle fronts move closer to its capital, and it seems plausible that those defensive advantages could become so great as to preclude further progress by the attackers. I could see a whack-a-mole situation developing, where the attackers capture regions during their offensives, only to lose them during their refits, only to capture them again during their offenses, and so on. All because their refit times would be much longer than the defenders'.

[De-Legro]

Some rurals are necessary for food and for providing estates to excess nobles, who can't all be housed in the capital. That is why I said 'to a large extent' and not a total extent.

Due to logistics, it should be easy to maintain a ring of rurals around the capital. Those together with the capital would compose a healthy core. I think that in order to break such a core, a very prolonged and concerted effort by two realms against a third would be necessary. Even then I am not sure; the logistical advantages of the defending realm increase as the battle fronts move closer to its capital, and it seems plausible that those defensive advantages could become so great as to preclude further progress by the attackers. I could see a whack-a-mole situation developing, where the attackers capture regions during their offensives, only to lose them during their refits, only to capture them again during their offenses, and so on. All because their refit times would be much longer than the defenders'.

Yes, that is kind of how the game is designed. Irombrozia held out in this way for a significant time, though they did get some outside assistance. It ensures on regular islands that it is not too easy to destroy other realms, and gives some ability for smaller realms to defend themselves against larger realms. The reality has always been that with the walls a capital has, it will take significantly larger forces to crack them. Often what will happen is two realms will team up and wear the other down to their capital, but then struggle to take the walls. Eventually that alliance cracks, they start fighting and will give the down trodden realm space to rebuild. The war island tends to a victory eventually, but mostly it just tends to a long long war.

[The Red Foliot]

The game wasn't designed with estates or one-city realms in mind.

The current War Island incarnation is unprecedented, so the way it unfolds will be a bit different from how it did before. I'm only predicting what might happen.

[De-Legro]

The game wasn't designed with estates or one-city realms in mind.

The current War Island incarnation is unprecedented, so the way it unfolds will be a bit different from how it did before. I'm only predicting what might happen.

In details perhaps, but the system has comparisons with in game events from other continents. It takes a significantly larger force to take on a capital so in general you end up with a long drawn out process. You can try rushing the walls time after time hoping to wear them down faster then they can be rebuilt, hoping that your refit is fast enough to prevent the enemy making many gains after repelling your force. Or you can attempt to simply destroy the regions surrounding them cutting off their food supply. Neither method is fast.

As I pointed out, what you describe is simply the common reality when trying to completely obliterate and enemy in circumstances were you do not significantly out gun them.

[Indirik]

Depopulation will ensure that it doesn't drag on indefinitely. You can kill the population much faster than it can replenish.

[Zakilevo]

Depopulation will ensure that it doesn't drag on indefinitely. You can kill the population much faster than it can replenish.

Except peasants are so strong you do not want to try depopulating a region without bringing your whole army :o

[vonGenf]

Except peasants are so strong you do not want to try depopulating a region without bringing your whole army :o

So you can do that by bringing your whole army.

It only means that you can only depopulate a region per week or so. Sure, you can't destroy half a realm because you won one big battle as you could before, but it's not like it became impossible to kill peasants.

[Zakilevo]

So you can do that by bringing your whole army.

It only means that you can only depopulate a region per week or so. Sure, you can't destroy half a realm because you won one big battle as you could before, but it's not like it became impossible to kill peasants.

You do not want to fight a horde of peasants after winning a battle or before a major battle. Battles are so close you can't afford to take unnecessary damage :/

[vonGenf]

You do not want to fight a horde of peasants after winning a battle or before a major battle. Battles are so close you can't afford to take unnecessary damage :/

In the current situation, you're right. And that's perfect! In the presence of roughly equal forces, you don't want to amplify any small difference that may appear, otherwise the war islands would be short-lived and not much better than a dice roll.

[De-Legro]

Yes, and we are talking when the odds are not nearly so close, when a realm is beaten back to the point of relying on its capital for survival. Once that is the case using looting in the region around the capital might indeed hasten the eventual fall of the capital.

[Andre]

Though you also have to take in account the RC's in these border regions, if one of the realm loses a lot of its borders then they will have less troops total to refit with, which means that the other side gets a bigger and bigger advantage with slightly more gold, more troops to choose from, everyone can recruit max as long as they have gold. And this means that they get more and more RC's and gold from those regions they can take with this boost. So the capital cant stand out indefinetly because they will run out of people in the RC's.

[De-Legro]

Though you also have to take in account the RC's in these border regions, if one of the realm loses a lot of its borders then they will have less troops total to refit with, which means that the other side gets a bigger and bigger advantage with slightly more gold, more troops to choose from, everyone can recruit max as long as they have gold. And this means that they get more and more RC's and gold from those regions they can take with this boost. So the capital cant stand out indefinetly because they will run out of people in the RC's.

Again, realm have defended their capitals for months. So long as you can keep producing the gold to keep the walls repaired you have a good advantage.

[Indirik]

One thing in the war island will be different though: you can't get food from anyone. They will be no behind the scenes food sales to keep you going. And capitals cannot support themselves. Once you lose your rural regions, you're doomed.