Knights and Merchants.net Forum

'K here's some more..

* Build your armies so they are easy to feed

I usually make my formations in multiples of 4 or 6 because that's how they come out of the schoolhouse. And I always build my sections all at once. That way they all get hungry at the same time. If you gradually build your army one recruit at a time like the AI does, eventually some of them will get hungry, and you will have to feed the entire block. This will result in some soldiers getting fed when they are not actually hungry, which is wasteful, especially if you are low on food and your serfs are starving off.

*Armies are perfectly happy to live on fish and wine

Unlike your townspeople, who are more filled up by sausages and bread, and are only partially sated by wine, your soldiers are equally filled by all foods. So if your serfs are taking sausages to feed the army, it's a waste, since that sausage would do a lot more good if it were eaten by, say, one of your carpenters. So what I do is this. In a bigger town I will build multiple storehouses. I put one of these storehouses near where I am gathering my army. Then I put a vineyard right next to it. The vineyard will produce wine, which goes to the nearest storehouse. When you order you army fed, the serfs will go to that storehouse and take whatever food is there. If the only food there is wine, that's what your soldiers get. This way the sausages and bread in your other storehouse are saved for the people who need to at the inn.

yes thats why the ai sucks. it wastes SO MUCH FOOD !

Very good tips! Haven't ever thought of that last tip about feeding your army with only wine!

yes they onlywant wine for some reason. they love it! ( if no wine they still eat other goods)

One thing I can add... is the Townhall can be a nice source of cheap soldiers. Sometimes, I just make archers and for the melee, I get the cheapest unit from Townhall. Sure, they die quite fast... but with most of my resources put into creating archers, no enemy lasts that long anyway.

IMO the town hall is just too expensive mostly to be worth it. Sure, some rebels and militia can be hired now and then, but three gold for each rogue makes up a lot if you need to get a troop of archers.

I wouldn't say it's too expensive, I'd say it's just too slow! Often I have 100+ gold in my storehouses, but training 1 warrior and then waiting for a minute while the serfs restock the town hall is just too slow. If it stored 20 gold at a time then it would be way more useful. (but I can see a bit set of problems with that)

The units are quite cheap because every soldier in the barrack costs 1 gold to produce the recruit anyway, so in the case of the militia it's either make an axe or pay 1 extra gold for the axe.
But in the barracks you can train 20 men at a time so that's a huge advantage over the town hall.
Lewin.

*Wait with training the villagers until you need them

It will take time before the grain on fields is ready to be harvested, so you don't have to train the miller, baker, animal breeders, butchers and tanners as soon as you built their buildings.

* Become your Enemy's Ally.

When your troops are in close combat, they cant receive orders. Change diplomacy to Alliance with that player, and save your soldiers from a massacre. Example: Scouts that were engaged by Spearmen.

Its good for fast exploring Enemy's base without being slowed (when militia starts attacking walking serfs)... or you can also use a party of Scouts, sneak to Enemy's Warehouse and destroy it using "Fast building destroy Tip".

* Split/Link troops often.

For marching "Link" units making groups of 6-12 aprox, but once you intercept Enemy, "Split" them in Mini-groups of 2-4.
The objective is to have Superior micromanagement over your opponent.

Ranged units well spread are more efficient when they have to face Enemy CC (close combat).
Same with Infantry... small groups are better for flanking Melee units or persuing enemy Ranged.