Author Topic: Training Center Militias  (Read 3254 times)

Medron Pryde

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Training Center Militias
« Topic Start: March 20, 2019, 11:41:54 AM »
Training Center Militias:

Summary:
Use the trained soldiers in the Training Centers as the militias for each region.

Details:
The militia defending each region would be those soldiers trained in the training centers of that region.  A region lord could not recruit militia as they do now.  The only way for a lord to add more militia would be to build another training center.  And then the militia would be those men currently trained at the center and waiting to be picked up by a noble.  A unit abandoned by a noble as militia would disappear each week by 10%, 25%, or 50% of it's size until it is less than 10 men when it would disband entirely.  Militia units killed in battle would be removed from the training center, thereby reducing the size of the militia.

Benefits:
The amounts of militia defending cities has long been a major issue that we've been trying to fix.  Rich cities are basically impossible to break for a single nation.  Even the current fix doesn't fully fix that.  This would reduce the size of militias to only the amount of trained men in each center, setting an upper limit to how many militia you could have in any region.

Possible Downsides/Exploits:
A successful raiding campaign that attacks rural regions could reduce the recruiting prospects of nobles in the cities.  Though that would force realms to defend their rural regions, so maybe not a downside/exploit?
Skilled infiltrators could blow up recruitment centers and reduce militia sizes.
Numerous raids could kill the trained militia in a city, making it difficult for defending nobles to recruit any new units.
Training centers in high demand and often drained would not of course be available to defend their home region, reducing the militia guarding their home region.
The in universe lore of men defending their distant frontier region and then suddenly arriving in the capital when they are recruited to follow a lord could be...complicated.  ;)
« Last Edit: March 20, 2019, 11:46:58 AM by Medron Pryde »

Anaris

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Re: Training Center Militias
« Reply #1: March 20, 2019, 01:13:52 PM »
I've got some thoughts kind of like this for defense of regions. This particular idea I suspect would prove too confusing and frustrating for Lords ("Stop recruiting my militia, I'm going to lose my region!"), but I like the general thrust of it.
Timothy Collett

"The only thing you can't trade for your heart's desire...is your heart." "You are what you do.  Choose again, and change." "One of these days, someone's gonna plug you, and you're going to die saying, 'What did I say? What did I say?'"  ~ Miles Naismith Vorkosigan

Medron Pryde

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Re: Training Center Militias
« Reply #2: March 20, 2019, 07:07:47 PM »
That would absolutely be one of the potential downsides.  ;)

I personally think it might be worth it, but I could definitely see region lords thinking that is a downside.  hehehe.

Zakky

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Re: Training Center Militias
« Reply #3: March 20, 2019, 07:26:25 PM »
I've got some thoughts kind of like this for defense of regions. This particular idea I suspect would prove too confusing and frustrating for Lords ("Stop recruiting my militia, I'm going to lose my region!"), but I like the general thrust of it.

I was thinking something along the line of dedicating your existing RCs as militia.

This will make recruits of that RC become militia units while disabling dedicated RCs from the list of possible RCs where people can recruit from. So for players who want to recruit from those RCs, they will simply see not available or greyed out.

Recruits will directly become militias of the region. The region will have to pay them weekly like now. Each RC will generate 4 units (existing recruits divided by 4 - lv4 RC will generate 4 units of 50 men - depending on how you want to limit things, you can even put conversion rate such as only 80% of recruits being converted into militias etc for future balance). While RC is dedicated, RC will not be filled. Can't turn back into a normal RC for a month.

This of course will disable the current system of dropping your unit as militia since it doesn't rely on your units to become militias anymore. And also will disable being able to recruit from surrounding regions part as well. This will give a reason for even rural regions to have more RCs. To counter balance all the downsides of only being able to recruit militias from existing RCs, you can either drop the cost of building multiple RCs or you can allow even rural regions to have lv3 etc.

Anaris

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Re: Training Center Militias
« Reply #4: March 20, 2019, 07:41:07 PM »
An interesting proposition. I'm not totally against it, but I'd need to think on it more.
Timothy Collett

"The only thing you can't trade for your heart's desire...is your heart." "You are what you do.  Choose again, and change." "One of these days, someone's gonna plug you, and you're going to die saying, 'What did I say? What did I say?'"  ~ Miles Naismith Vorkosigan

Medron Pryde

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Re: Training Center Militias
« Reply #5: March 21, 2019, 01:43:44 AM »
The idea is a fundamental transformation of how militias work in the game.

It may not work as well as I think it would.  Another idea may be better.

The main reason I proposed this is to get the mental gears moving.  Right now we've been mostly thinking about how to limit the militia game because it is too powerful.

If we were to CHANGE the militia game instead, it could result in a better militia game.  ;)

Tourmaline

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Re: Training Center Militias
« Reply #6: March 26, 2019, 05:28:53 PM »
Interesting, but that's not really what militias are?

What if the soldiers in RCs in a region were a 'regional guard' and stronger than basic militia? Having that concurrently with normal militia being weaker may work.

But then it really puts an emphasis on having RCs in a region for defense and favors richer regions/duchies/realms.

Anaris

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Re: Training Center Militias
« Reply #7: March 26, 2019, 05:31:01 PM »
I think the problem with that idea is that in BattleMaster terms, that is what militias are. They're perfectly ordinary units, of regularly-trained soldiers, that happen to have been left in the region (or originally recruited into the region) as guards.

I'm definitely interested in the idea of having militia in the game that are more like what we would actually refer to as "militia" in the real world during the period, but I don't have anything very specific in mind yet.
Timothy Collett

"The only thing you can't trade for your heart's desire...is your heart." "You are what you do.  Choose again, and change." "One of these days, someone's gonna plug you, and you're going to die saying, 'What did I say? What did I say?'"  ~ Miles Naismith Vorkosigan

Zakky

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Re: Training Center Militias
« Reply #8: March 26, 2019, 08:27:31 PM »
I think the problem with that idea is that in BattleMaster terms, that is what militias are. They're perfectly ordinary units, of regularly-trained soldiers, that happen to have been left in the region (or originally recruited into the region) as guards.

I'm definitely interested in the idea of having militia in the game that are more like what we would actually refer to as "militia" in the real world during the period, but I don't have anything very specific in mind yet.

Well if you want something more complicated, we could utilize that regional economy page we used to have.

When you call militias, rural regions will mostly gather peasant militias who are melee with very little training. badlands, woodlands, and mountains can used hunters as militias so they'd get nice archer militias but due to those regions mostly lacking population, you won't get many militias.

Finding the fine line between making militias matter and making people less reliant on militias as their primary defense is hard. For years, people mainly used militias as the primary defense against their enemies but how do you design a system which can account for BM's overall lack of players? Can you make a militia system that can react to the number of nobles on each continent so when there are less players there will also be less militias? While grows back up when we get more nobles?