Province Governors and Acumen

[Doug-Thompson]

1. At the beginning of the game Peasants are obviously the cheapest way to garrison Provinces. But how is it best to get 3 or 4 plume Governors as the minimum acumen level?

Should you continue building Peasants, disbanding those who do not have a minimum of say 3 acumen plumes and "waste" 50 florins each time (plus save on the 37 florin yearly maintenance) assuming you do not wish them to form part of your army? If an "average" Early province generates say 200 florins of annual income and a 3 plume Governor brings in an extra 60 florins of income per annum (+30%) then he is going to pay for himself (50 florin Peasant) in just less than a year. But how many Peasants should you disband in attempting to achieve 3 or 4 plume Governors? Should you disband 2 plume Governors and keep trying for 3 or 4 plume Governors? Are there any ways to increase the probability of greater acumen Peasants being built?

Nobody's should leave a province completely ungarrisoned, even if it's a low-income province.

So you have to have a garrison for every province anyway. Might as well make it a four-acumen governor.

I really should keep track of this, but I'd say that at least one out of every 10 or so peasants will be a four-acumen guy. (I wouldn't bother with three-stars, frankly.) Let's go to extremes and say it's one in 20. In effect, that means that getting a four-acumen governor "costs" 1,000 florins. He will "pay" for himself in 24 turns, even if you take out his maintenance costs.

I'd argue that you shouldn't worry too much about the maintenance cost when calculating a return on a four-feather, because you have to garrison the province anyway.

So yes, I routinely make a bunch of peasants and disband those who don't have high acumen. The survivors go to a stack, a "governor's school," to garrison some high-rebellion province like Portugal. That way I know where to find them when a province needs a governor.

As for increasing the liklihood of a high-acumen governor, I don't really know. Once again, I should track the figures, but I think provinces that are more highly developed -- with more buildings -- produce peasants with higher acumen.

2. Later on in the game, it is worth disbanding the Peasants and using say Urban Militia or higher units as the garrison force? If so, should you go through the same "selection procedure" above again?

Although peasants are the single most useless unit ever invented, my opinion here would be no. A garrison's size is the only factor in its effect on province loyalty. No unit provides a bunch of warm bodies at a more economical rate of upkeep than peasants.

There are a few units that cost more than peasants to build, but not to maintain on a man-per-man basis. These are good units for garrison duty. They are: Arbalests, Arquebusiers, Billmen, Crossbows, Gallowglass, Golden HordeWarriors (bribe some. Best of the bunch, by far), Highland Clansman (best of the bunch that most factions can build), Kerns, Nubian Spearmen, Pavise Arbalesters,Pavise Crossbows and Woodsmen.

3. As the campaign advances and your original Provinces hopefully become more loyal, should you/can you reduce the number of men garrisoning each Province? Could you use for example a beat up unit of Fyrdmen down to say 5 - 10 men with good Acumen rating as a Province Governor and would this number of men be sufficient to keep the long-ownership Province loyal?

You can, but you'll never be able to raise the taxes much because you will have to keep loyalty high. A famine or flood reduces loyalty by 20 percent. Two disasters in a row in the same province, which isn't all that uncommon, can make a loyal province rebel.

4. Is it effective to use fighting units as Governors who have particularly high Acumen levels - say 5 or 6 Acumen Plumes - but are never going to be present in their "home" Province? I realise some Virtues are only applicable when the Governor is in residence but wondered how significant, on average, these Virtues may be.

Most players agree that it is better to have a five or six-acumen governor in the hand than to have a four-acumen governor who might get improvements someday. He can just as easily get vices too.

I play differently than most people. I like to have my governor in the province, and in the fortification in that province. I want them to get good steward virtues, for instance. I also like to right click a province. This takes me to the province. I can move units out of it and see what's been qued if it's still under construction. The province roster, or information sheet, shows loyalty, revenue religious affiliation, etc. I can change the taxation rate, too, if needed. Then I right click the governor's name in the province display. This selects the governor and takes me "inside" the fortification, where any completed units are waiting. I go through this cycle every turn. Then I cycle through the building ques and then the unit building ques, which goes very quickly -- especially if I have no money.

[lars573]

I really should keep track of this, but I'd say that at least one out of every 10 or so peasants will be a four-acumen guy. (I wouldn't bother with three-stars, frankly.) Let's go to extremes and say it's one in 20. In effect, that means that getting a four-acumen governor "costs" 1,000 florins. He will "pay" for himself in 24 turns, even if you take out his maintenance costs.

For the peasant unit the chances of getting a 4 acumen leader is 1 in 5. For spearmen it's 1 in 8, 1 in 5 with the spearmaker upgraded. When playing un-modded MTW, I usually stock my castles with spearmen +1 archer till it's full. Or a mixture or militia and archers. I always fill my castles to the max., more loyalty that way. Also you never know when your army is going to be defeated and your garrisons will have to keep your lands intact.