Out of character thread XVIII

[FactionHeir]

I think the problem with levies is that you lose track of them rather quickly if you are in a multi general stack.
However, I don't think we should abandon them completely just yet. Each player having their own minimum action force is both an incentive for them to stay loyal counts and to have some flexibility in what they want to do.
There isn't all that much you can do with your bodyguard alone.

I'd propose having the chancellor include in each report the status of everyone's levy or just post which units are part of who's levy so there is less confusion.

Also, I don't think its necessarily bad to lend someone your levy for the time being if strategy calls for it. See it as you can give someone your soldiers, but can recall them at any time to you and they can only be used actively in battle (i.e. in attacks) if you allow it.

[Ramses II CP]

I like the levy idea, but right now two of my levy companies have been ground down to the point of ineffectiveness, and there's little or no chance of retraining them. I left the single merc spearman at Hamburg because there was really no way to tell if he was mine or from one of the other three companies of merc spearmen I've run through recently.

[Warmaster Horus]

Sorry for going AWOL for a while, and I'll be gone the next 4 days.

econ, my condolences.
On the levy idea, I agree with FH, although I think it would be another burden for the Chancellor to keep track of everybody's levies (although, if AG thinks he can manage it, then we should give it a try).

[FactionHeir]

I think the chancellor in general wouldn't have to do anything besides copy/paste the initial levies that econ posts at the end of each diet. What he would have to do is note when a part of the levy was completely wiped out though I guess.
Having it in each report makes it easier to find and you won't have to dig for it

[Cecil XIX]

I've been quite pleased with the levy system. I fought my 1346 battle with just my levy and the Bohemian militia, and I must say it was very satisfying fighting a battle with units that are unmistakably yours. The only problems are keeping track of which unit of DFKs/Armored Sergeants is whose, and how they're going to get retrained.

[OverKnight]

Until the end of turn report, the history for 1346 will be a bit skimpy. I was away for about 24 hours, and upon my return, several events have happened but only a few have been offcially documented.

So, let's see if I get this right. . .what happened in 1346 is the following:

Erlach drove off Hungarians from Innsbruck area (in battle reports and history)

Peter von Kastilien had a nasty little battle with the Poles near Magdeburg (in orders thread and history)

Lothar killed some rebels near Genoa and is moving south towards Florence, where the Greeks have attacked him (in orders thread and history)

Ruppel took Dijon?

Dieter von Kassel took Naples?

Am I missing anything else?


On another note, I think the levy system should be abandoned. The level of work needed to maintain it, by the Chancellor or econ, is more than what we get out of it. Just my two cents.

[TinCow]

Erg... just saw Warmaster Horus' post about being gone for four days. I was hoping he'd be around to act as a sub for any battles for Lothar. As noted in the Active Duty thread, I am also out of town at the moment and unable to fight battles until Jan 5th. Unless a substitute is allowed for my battle (which I believe is against the rules?) I suppose we will have to leave it up the the computer. If no substitute is allowed, retreat and then autoresolve if the battle is forced.

[Ramses II CP]

Fritz appears to be in no danger of battle any time soon, but FYI I'll be out of town for about 24 hours. Not worth taking my laptop.

[Zim]

I'm a bit confused about the levy system. Andreas is a count now, does he get a levy? Is it chosen from men already in his army, or are they poofed into existence, or trained now that the Cataclysm is over?

[Cecil XIX]

He will get a levy at the next Diet session. He'll start out with four units of peasents, and ten points to upgrade them. Or not, as none of the above information is actually part of the CA. Just the notes.

[FactionHeir]

He'll start with 4 units out of his current army or 4 peasants, depending on his choice.
If he loses a levy unit completely, it will be replaced by a peasant at the next diet (cannot choose another existing unit)

[Privateerkev]

Every time we get a new Kaiser, the idea of picking an heir comes up. I still like our system of letting M2TW pick our heir. It has brought us enough joy that far outweighs the trouble of finding justification for the choices.

Also, I'm going to be gone for a few days. Because... I feel like it. I'll update the active duty thread.

Enjoy whatever event your attending in order to celebrate the orbit of the ball of rock we happen to sit on.

[gibsonsg91921]

Well, if Dieter dies, at least in my game it picks someone who would make sense.

[Ferret]

now who could that be? (no really, I have no idea?)

[Stuperman]

I can fight battles for TC/WH if the rules allow it.

Happy New year to all!

[FactionHeir]

Rules normally wouldn't allow it as neither is away for more than 3 weeks.
Really up to econ to decide though.

[gibsonsg91921]

Happy New Year as per the Gregorian Calendar!

Chinese people, come see me in a month.

[FactionHeir]

Indeed, happy 2008 you all.

[Cecil XIX]

Well, now it's 2008 where I am. Happy New Year guys.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Happy New Year, but more importantly, Happy One-Year Anniversary to KotR which will happen in less than a week.

[_Tristan_]

Happy New Year to all...

May 2008 bring you your heart's desire...

[Zim]

An hour past midnight in PST. Happy New Years, all!

[Warluster]

Happy New Year all!

@Zim, Its nearly the 2nd over hre in Aussie.

[GeneralHankerchief]

"Sexually eccentric" - that should be an interesting trait to play.

[econ21]

"Chancellor's" Report on 1346 is up (along with the start of 1348 savegame):

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...&postcount=401

However, as explained OOC in the report, let's not start the 24 hour window now. Instead, I think we should wait for AussieGiant. He gets back tomorrow and knowing Duke Arnold's leadership style, he probably will want to post some guidance before letting people fight the battles of 1348.

Apologies to those players whose avatars now have the plague. In retrospect, there is a simple mechanic that would have avoided them getting infected, but exploiting that seems a little gamey. And anyway, I thought the plague would start to bite in 1348 or later so it never occurred to me when making the moves for 1346.

I would welcome any OOC experience that people have with the plague.

Specifically - can a combat unit get infected? Presumably yes. If so, how do you know it is infected? General's have a rat icon on their portrait as do cities. But I can't see any comparable marker on any of our regular combat units in plague ridden cities. Can they get such markers? If they are currently unmarked, are they uninfected and can be freely moved out of the plague ridden cities? That's what we did the first turn the (non-Black Death) plague struck Swabia and it seemed to be fine.

Also, what's the mortality rate for generals with the plague? And are there any actions that affect that rate? (Putting them on boats has been mentioned, but I am not sure that works or whether we should use it even if it does).

"Sexually eccentric" - that should be an interesting trait to play.

Indeed. I was never keen about playing Elberhard's traits (although now I feel an IC post of mine would be rather lacking without some asterisked profanities). I think I will steer clear of playing that one, with the excuse that this is family friendly board!

[FactionHeir]

econ seems to have a knack for interesting characters

As for the new report, the plague striking most of our settlements is quite alarming. Luckily most important characters are not inside a settlement.

Not very happy about that lancer stack btw. They are not going to attack (they can't without infantry) so they'll try to starve Ruppel out. We on the other hand will be unlikely to muster a force in plague-stricken HRE that can match a fully upgraded triple silver all lancer stack I think.

I guess if someone wants to send me 3 ballistae and a treb I would sally and take the lancers out

[FactionHeir]

Specifically - can a combat unit get infected? Presumably yes. If so, how do you know it is infected? General's have a rat icon on their portrait as do cities. But I can't see any comparable marker on any of our regular combat units in plague ridden cities. Can they get such markers? If they are currently unmarked, are they uninfected and can be freely moved out of the plague ridden cities? That's what we did the first turn the (non-Black Death) plague struck Swabia and it seemed to be fine.

That with the Swabian plague was quite random actually. Doesn't happen very often that you get hit by plague and your generals are not affected.

That said, units themselves cannot be affected, but if infected units are moved out of a settlement without a commander, the captain that is spawned counts as infected and if moved into a settlement infects it (even though the captain disappears).

I'm not sure what happens if you move an uninfected character to command an infected stack. I haven't done it previously.

Also, what's the mortality rate for generals with the plague? And are there any actions that affect that rate? (Putting them on boats has been mentioned, but I am not sure that works or whether we should use it even if it does).

Characters can die on boats too. Actually on boats you can get hit by storms as well, so not really good to prevent plague like that.
Nothing you can do to prevent death other than station cahracters in a settlement with very high public health ratings.

I think the chance of death is somewhere around 3-5% each turn or so.

[econ21]

Not very happy about that lancer stack btw.

I know - it's not a pretty army, IMO, and the AI is using it in a typically dumb fashion.

If possible, we should try to take it down without exploiting the weak AI sally defence ability. The Kaiser's army is en route - with either or both of the SHAs, it might be able to do the job. It's a shame Elberhard is dead, as that is a battle I would not mind fighting!

The "top-up" armies I spawned at the end of 1346 are supposed to be balanced and "historical" to the best of my ability. We ripped through equivalent armies at the start of the cataclysm though - hence some of the harder manifestations TC provided.

[Dutch_guy]

OK, I'm back. And it looks like I've missed a massive amount battle, death and intrige. Been almost a year now put it doesn't seem like it's slowing down at all, a remarkable achievement to say the least.

Anyway, I'll take control of Tancred again (thanks Ferret) and get started on that reading as soon as possible.

Oh, and hope everyone made it to 2008 and congratulations to all the PBMers who got promoted. GH, WH, AG, (Kage), well deserved and about time !

[FactionHeir]

Now I guess the problem is that AG destroyed every single siege workshop across the empire...