A suggestion to make population a meaningful resource that needs to be carefully managed and protected.
The gist: every npc has a home somewhere.
When RCs send recruits to the capital, actual peasants from that region are withdrawn from the economy. Fighting units, militia, paraphernalia, they will all count to the limit of population of the region where they were drawn from.
If a knight recruits 50 archers from Lorient, Lorient now has -50 population. If the knight abandons this unit, they will return home. But if he stations them as militia, they're still locked. If they die in battle, it will take a longer while to replenish.
Combat casualties should replenish a bit slower, to make every soldier more valuable.
Implications:
When a region is reduced to a certain percentage of population or is heavily starved, it sends less recruits or stops sending them altogether eventually. Thus going after enemy population can be a viable strategy.
Huge armies and militia could be a massive hit to a small region's economy due to significant production drop because of missing workers.
Regions with !@#$ty stats can be valuable at least as recruitment centers.
Battles should no longer be about forcing the other side to refit sooner, but about keeping as much of your army alive as possible. Which might make every battle more meaningful.
