[General Tacticus]

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
Anyway, tiring expensive troops are what peasants are for=) As for the castle defense concerns... on one hand, a defender was a defender, once in a castle... but on the other hand, yes, it would be a huge advantage to quickly and cheaply recruit that defense. And more importantly, recruit them for beseiging, which DOES seem a little unrealistic. I had not considered either one. I was trying to balance them versus lobo guards, but lobo guards are mindless and thus worthless for castle defense.

To balance them for patrols (they'd be terrible) I gave them low movement, since patrol effectiveness is based on action points (or so I hear).

Well, I'll have to give peasants more thought, especially since the concerns you mention cannot be tested in the combat sim.

-Cherry

I myself was thinking of Hogsburg militias. They are more expensive, can be recruited only in Hogsburg provinces, and are more vulnerable to trample (size 1). I don't remember if they have better stats. The lobo guards on the other hand are sea only IIRC, and mindless (which is both good and bad).

The problem with peasant balance is that it is very difficult to test. Even if we could send, say, 90 peasants against 30 militias to balance them cost-wise, it would only balance them for AI use (which has no qualms against sending big armies of worthless troops). A player would use them differently... I myself am thinking of a screen of 25 peasants, in 5 squads of 5, forming a long front line the width of the battlefield, on attack closest. For the price of a good knight (the Ulm Version), I have protected my good troops against the first arrows volleys and any flanking movement, at least by the AI. Definitely woth it...

I did the same thing with great success with Pythium, only with gladiators (who were a bit more expensive but could kick some serious *** had great moral). I am doing the same with Mictlan in my AAR, with slaves (who are free but have to be captured, which takes time) and the cheapest warriors (9 gold 2 res). My concern is not the power of the peasants, it is their availability and cheapness...

Look at it this was : your race has cheap arrow fodder, medium priced average units, good heavy units, archers (though I don't know how good your bows are), good cavalry, the best stealth selection I have ever seen, good sacred units that are reasonbly priced (very rare !), decent mages including one with two random picks (very versatile), average priests, good commanders.

None of these fields are, in itself, unbalancing. I can't point at any one (except maybe the peasants, and I am not sure how well they'll do in real condition) and say : THIS is too much. But still I wonder...

Let me just give you one advice : far better to do a first release of the race that is too weak, than too strong. In the first case, people will be delighted when you make it better. In the second, it will be much hader to make them accept a tune-down.