Thoughts about Ranking System

[Vindahl]

I am a big fan of DLV and the whole ranking system aswell. But I feel that there is missing something. So it is just a thought, but why not also include max.army into the ranking system.
meaning...
That a Squire would very much not likely lead a whole army of 1000 men. The higger the rank, the more men can they manage!
This of course gives the disadvantage of having battles with fewer men in (sometimes) but wouldnt that also be a challenge? You now have to think that you have limited space, so which units would you take with you.
I think you would think alot more about the units, and care a lot more for your high ranking generals.
The system could look like this...

Squire - 0 units, must go alone with bodyguards or together with a more exp. general.

Knight - Max. 3 units.

Knight Banneret - Max. 5 units.

Knight Commander & Prince - Max. 9 units.

Knight Grand Cross & King - No limits.

But it is just a thought, it doesnt have to look like this.
What do you think?

[Lmagus]

And what about captains?

[Tokus*Maximus]

I am a big fan of DLV and the whole ranking system aswell. But I feel that there is missing something. So it is just a thought, but why not also include max.army into the ranking system.
meaning... That a Squire would very much not likely lead a whole army of 1000 men. The higger the rank, the more men can they manage! This of course gives the disadvantage of having battles with fewer men in (sometimes) but wouldnt that also be a challenge? You now have to think that you have limited space, so which units would you take with you. I think you would think alot more about the units, and care a lot more for your high ranking generals. The system could look like this...

Squire - 0 units, must go alone with bodyguards or together with a more exp. general.
Knight - Max. 3 units. (or Captain as Lmagus suggested? - Tokus)
Knight Banneret - Max. 5 units.
Knight Commander & Prince - Max. 9 units.
Knight Grand Cross & King - No limits.

But it is just a thought, it doesnt have to look like this.
What do you think?

Neat ideas Vindahl!

Smashing idea. That would be special. Though some folk might not enjoy the restriction. I'd love the challenge! The game would skirmish smaller armies game with the occasional king-led mega army. It'd really make it worth gaining ranks so you can muster huge invasion/crusade/capital defense force. If an enemy sends large army and you don't quite have King to hand to raise mighty Royal army, then a Prince along with second smaller force led by a leading Knight with bannerets would have to support one another to counter the threat. I wonder if the AI would cope?

Boats? Always thought it strange folk cramming huge armies onto one ship. Dunno if it's possible, but 2 units per ship might make it more interesting when getting large armies over water. You'd have to raise more mercs when you arrive on the other shore or buy off enemy armies, etc.

[Lmagus]

If you make 2 units per boat you will need to change the boat's cost and movement range/area.

[henyourface]

VERY LOVELY IDEAS!!!!

[Vindahl]

Well, you could also expand the ideas to the seas.
It would be a nice thing to see ranks on the sea aswell. But right now we only have the experince points to tell difference between the admirals.
A really challenge would be to have admirals have max. units. That way you would get rid of all those insanely big navies. It must have been difficult to manage 15 great ships, in peace times, and even more during battles.
So I think, that experience should give an extra advantage, like how many ships you would could manage.
Would mean that you cared for your best admirals, choosed wisely before you send them on a journey, on crusade, to America or in battle and such things...

0 Stars (exp. point) - max 3. ships.
1 Star - max. 5 ships.
2 Stars - max 6 ships.
3 Stars - max 7 ships.
And so on...

Then you probably think, what if I dont use my navy, I will never get experience points, and bigger navies!
-Well, if each admiral gets a new "Star" every 10th year it is solved! An admiral who have sailed in 10 years, even in peace times, would still have gotten a lot of experience during the years, dont you think?
But perhaps that is going to far? I just think it would be a lot more realistic, and a lot more challening, not to mention the Roleplay part of it!

[Anelysium]

This would be a really great idea if you could get it to work with the AI, I don't know how well they'd handle it, but maybe there wouldn't be much of a problem. (I could see the AI crippled in the beginning, as they would end up trying to take rebel settlements with tiny armies and generally not doing so hot)

[Harry Lime]

Great idea but the AI would never be able to implenment it properly. We would end up with dozens of the AI's tiny stacks being crushed by the human players 5 star General's huge army.
Even if the AI chose a great General to lead one of it's stacks what is the guarantee that it would make full use of unit availability?
Also I believe it would be one of many things in this game that are "hard-coded"

[henyourface]

now that you mentioned the ai and how it may react to this idea, im flushed. lol

[fahrenheit]

Sounds like a good idea, although some of the unit restrictions should be tweaked, so we dont sacrifice gameplay for challenge.

Unfortunatly I'm pretty sure you couldnt mod this.