Quote Originally Posted by Roark
Expensive? Aren't Peasants just 37 florins in upkeep?

Like, as opposed to 50 for spears and 105 for Royals?
37 is very much for their delivery. damn, compare it to the 50 of spears, who are SO MUCH better!

37 is 3/4 of their buying price(50). It means that they cost 3/4 of their price EACH YEAR!!!!!

As you need numbers of them, I really prefer having 3 spears than 4 peasants. The upkeep cost is the relevant thing, in a campaign. Buying 10 units of peasants costs 500. Their maintenance during building is : (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10)*37=55*37=2037. So, just for the set-up of your army, maintenance cost is 80/100 of the total cost. Buying cost is not really relevant - unless you use up your armies each year, which makes you too much vulnerable & prevents them from gaining worthy experience.

Plus you have to see their usefulness : 1 unit of royals WILL win versus 3 units of peasants - provided it's not plagued by vices. So where is your money best used? I've sent 1 unit of royals led by a heir I wished to get rid of versus 16 stacks of peons - and he won . If you want to overwhelm the map with Peasants, you'll have to take your time building the army - and pay huge maintenance fees during this building. You'll be stalled.

And I'm not counting the garrison duty. Garrisoning shall be done by spies - whose maintenance cost is zero. Add just the unit of the province duke, & you're quiet. if You are the English & hold 6 or 7 provinces - just the british isles - having spies instead of 2 units of peasants makes you earn around 37*2*6 = 444 florins a year spared on maintenance. Really handy when trade blockaded by those pesky sicilians.....