OOC Thread and Chatroom

[TinCow]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but, could I join as an RGB as soon as it is possible? I've been talking to a few people about my idea for a character and I'm pretty much ready to play him.

I'll spawn an avatar for you. What city would you like to start in?

[Ituralde]

4.3 – Army Replenishment: If a Private or Royal Army falls below the minimum strength level, all military recruitment must be allocated to restoring the Army to minimum strength before money can be spent on other recruitment, unless the owner agrees otherwise. In the event of a conflict, a Royal Army takes priority over a Private Army. This rule does not apply to armies involved in a Civil War.

So unless Ignoramus tells the Megas otherwise FLYdude can not recruit any military units until the army with Pavlos is up to strength? And from the way this has been handled in the Test Game this seems to be an OOC issue, where the Megas just can't do anyhting. Just like he can't move your avatar if you forbid it in the SoT.

Or is this a case of "all military recruitment should be allocated to restoring the Army" and it's up to the Senate to see that he does so?

That's the main point I'm talking about. And from what TinCow wrote earlier it seemed to me that some rules are not meant to be breakable.

In fact I don't even know whether all recruitung done by Overknight during his term went straight to the Royal Armies. My intention is not to point fingers at people or to get a nice army for myself. I just want these things to be clear now during the beginning of the game. I'd also like to know these things should I ever decide to try for the position of Megas.

Cheers!

Ituralde

[TinCow]

Ituralde is correct, the Royal Armies (and future Private Armies) should be topped up before any other recruitment occurs. On an IC level, this should be roleplayed as the Armies drawing in recruits for themselves, since their 'owners' are powerful men. The Megas can play it IC as supporting this if he wants, but if he opposes the Army's owner we can simply pretend that the recruitment is done by the Army owner directly. These are meant to be 'independent' military forces which assemble around powerful people. If the Megas really wants to send military recruits elsewhere before topping up a PA/RA, he should negotiate IC with the army's owner.

It is crucial that the PA/RA reinforcement rule be followed OOC, simply because the balance of power requires that the PA/RAs be maintained at a servicable level. If they are not, they lose their effectiveness and one of the main building blocks of power evaporates. That said, there is a lot going on in-game for the Megas player to keep track of. If your PA/RA needs to be topped up, it would be a good idea to inform that player about it OOC.

[Andres]

Forgive me my noobness, but

a) when is an army considered Private and when is it considered Royal?
b) are we allowed to recruit troops ourselves by putting them in the recruitment queue of our settlements in the SoT and are troops recruited as such in our own settlements considered to be part of our Private Army?
c) In the previous term, while Savvas was on his way to his Lord, I found out that a company of mercenary horse archers were with him, probably recruited by OverKnight. Are those now my private army or are they part of the Royal Army?
d) The troops under my command in Arta : are they my Private Army or my Royal Army.
e) Can I take the save and recruit mercenaries for my avatar?

Please forgive me if these are stupid questions that have been adressed before, but I couldn't find the answers to those questions in the FAQ thread

edit: another one: The rules say: "A player's next avatar may only inherit a single province and a single retinue." I take it that a Will in which I give Arta to my yet to be spawned next avatar is valid?
edit2: From the description of Comes : "Cannot lead more than a half stack army unless it is a Private Army, a Royal Army, or within the borders of a province they personally control." addendum to question a) : are there other armies then Royal/Private? If so, what are they?

[TinCow]

a) when is an army considered Private and when is it considered Royal?

The Basileus, Caesar, and any Megas Dux/Exarch get Royal Armies. All others get Private armies. It's in the rank rules.

b) are we allowed to recruit troops ourselves by putting them in the recruitment queue of our settlements in the SoT and are troops recruited as such in our own settlements considered to be part of our Private Army?

If the Megas is ok with this, sure. However, this is technically restricted to him alone, so do not do it unless you have specific permission.

c) In the previous term, while Savvas was on his way to his Lord, I found out that a company of mercenary horse archers were with him, probably recruited by OverKnight. Are those now my private army or are they part of the Royal Army?

You are not of a high enough rank to have a Private Army, so they cannot belong to you. At your current rank, the only military forces you can assemble are those inside your own garrison or within a fort inside a province you control. Essentially, until you reach a rank that can control a Private Army, you can only exercise absolute control over defensive units.

d) The troops under my command in Arta : are they my Private Army or my Royal Army.

Neither, they are your garrison. Anything that starts the turn inside that city is yours to control. Just make sure your garrison restrictions in the SOT are up-to-date, so that the Megas cannot pillage them without your approval. However, you cannot do much with these units without the Megas' permission, simply because if they end the turn out of the city, you lose your absolute control over them. The best you can do is take them out, fight, and come back to the city in the same turn. Another option is to transport them to a fort within the borders of your province, since they also cannot be removed from there (if you've given the proper SOT orders). The trick on that last part is getting permission to spend the money for a fort from the Megas.

e) Can I take the save and recruit mercenaries for my avatar?

Not without the permission of the Megas. He controls the purse strings in all aspects of the game. Anything that requires monetary expenditure has to have his approval.

edit: another one: The rules say: "A player's next avatar may only inherit a single province and a single retinue." I take it that a Will in which I give Arta to my yet to be spawned next avatar is valid?

Yes. We concluded that passing on a single province was acceptable, since it didn't guarantee any kind of dominance in the game.

edit2: From the description of Comes : "Cannot lead more than a half stack army unless it is a Private Army, a Royal Army, or within the borders of a province they personally control." addendum to question a) : are there other armies then Royal/Private? If so, what are they?

Yes, but they don't really have names. Anything that isn't a Private or Royal Army is just an army. Call it whatever you want. Your city garrison, a Megas Army, the Fabulous Five-Thousand of Flavius Flabergaster, etc. I tend to refer to the units that you 'control' inside your settlement/fort as a 'garrison' but there aren't any mandatory terms for it.

[OverKnight]

I couldn't top off the Royal Armies, because we didn't have facilities to recruit archers. I recruited Skythikon for cavalry, however with the distances involved in the game, actually getting them to the royal armies was difficult.

I guess in hindsight I could have used mercs to flesh out the royal armies, but I wanted to make do with what we had due to expense and providing an impetus to build up the castles.

[TheFlax]

I'll spawn an avatar for you. What city would you like to start in?

Smyrna, please.