Need advice on my empire and army

[morteduzionism]

I play a mod (Imp II), not that it really matters for these questions but I figured I should mention it.

1. What is your opinion on city expansions? Generally speaking I stop building the "Market" buildings at the 2nd level.

IIRC, I believe this mod includes the Metro-Naval Mod which addresses some aspect of population growth......that prevents certain cities from going all the way to the 24K level (I think but I'm not sure)...

The way I've been playing is I generally stop a cities growth at the 6K level. I just don't build the 3rd level "Market" so that even if the pop reaches 12K I can't build the Palace anyway. Furthermore, for cities I take that happen to have a market above the 2nd level I destroy it...not every city I'm trying to have one city per region/province that is at the highest level but the rest will only be at 6K

So what do you think about this? Specifically not allowing cities to expand to the 12K level? Is that too much?


2. I've also been struggling with a way to manage my legions. I recognize that Italian cavalry is not as good as some of the other factions (this might be tricky because of all the various unit stats)...but...

OK here is an example of my thinking:
Gallic Cavalry vs. Thracian Cavalry

-I can recruit both. In one city I can recruit them both (a city in Thracia or Dacia). A city which happens to be almost exactly on the snow line. During winter it looks like only the northern half of the city get's snow. Of course I can also recruit Gallic cavalry from northern Italy too.

Gallic Cavalry gets a bonus in snow Thracian does not but they have better stats than Gallic. While I was fighting in the snow alot before I'm not anymore. IIRC, I think the parts of Iberia that I'm going to be operating in don't get snow(I may be wrong though) but Greece definitely doesn't get any.

I really want to use alternative cavalry but it doesn't seem like I really need to.

The main problem is logistics. Replenishing their losses. Even using them relatively close to their recruiting cities is a pain (Iberia/Gallic-Greece/Thracian)...another problem is that all my current Italian cavalry (Equites/Italic Equites) have at least 3 silver chevrons (some have gold) so they're experienced and have better armor than Gallic but not the Thracian. So as it stands there's not really much distinguishing between the units. Thrace has better armor/attack but a lower charge bonus, etc etc etc...

The way I currently replenish troops is to retrain them. I use a reserve legion which I send to an area to relieve another legion. While the reserve holds the line the other legion returns to Italy, retrains and then returns to their original theatre of operation. The reserve legion moves on and relieves another legion...that's the most efficient way I've come up with for replenishing my legions. Sending fresh troops to "merge" with them is...cumbersome, expensive and time consuming.

So, anyone have any advice on a way that I could use alternative cavalry and efficiently be able to retrain them using the method described above (or a slight variation)? Or is it simply impractical to try and use other cavalry until I'm actually operating in their area of recruitment?

[Delvecchio1975]

if you don't upgrade your markets, you won't be able to upgrade your government building/palace, which will generate a lot of unhappy customers in your cities. you must be getting a lot of red faces on your campaign map, no?

about retraining in your original cities, note that horse-only armies walk further on the campaign map than mixed armies, so you might want to split them up to get the horsies back in time ....

[Artax]

I can't understand why you are resticting city growth? Is it for gameplay or roleplay purposes?

I also usually use your way of replenishing the troops and I had the same problem. There is quite simple solution to this. If you want to use other cavalry than equites - use it. I think you should be using +-2 units in a stack. So let's say you are recruiting the cavalry for 2 stacks and you need 4 units. Instead of recruiting 4 recruit 6. 2x2 for your two legions and 2 units stays in Italy. When your legion returns for retraining simply change depleted units with those 2 fresh ones. Send legion back to front and on the same time send those 2 depleted units to retrain. After retraining bring them back to Italy. Rinse and repeat.

That way you will always have fresh cavalry and less logistical problems. Only minus is that those units won't be that experienced.

[AqD]

The main problem is logistics. Replenishing their losses. Even using them relatively close to their recruiting cities is a pain (Iberia/Gallic-Greece/Thracian)...another problem is that all my current Italian cavalry (Equites/Italic Equites) have at least 3 silver chevrons (some have gold) so they're experienced and have better armor than Gallic but not the Thracian. So as it stands there's not really much distinguishing between the units. Thrace has better armor/attack but a lower charge bonus, etc etc etc...

The way I currently replenish troops is to retrain them. I use a reserve legion which I send to an area to relieve another legion. While the reserve holds the line the other legion returns to Italy, retrains and then returns to their original theatre of operation. The reserve legion moves on and relieves another legion...that's the most efficient way I've come up with for replenishing my legions. Sending fresh troops to "merge" with them is...cumbersome, expensive and time consuming.

So, anyone have any advice on a way that I could use alternative cavalry and efficiently be able to retrain them using the method described above (or a slight variation)? Or is it simply impractical to try and use other cavalry until I'm actually operating in their area of recruitment?

Just use any local or mercenary cavalry you can find. Use auto-merge and get new ones if they die; Don't waste time on retraining because they're dispensable - experiences cannot increase the charge power anyway.
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Hyde Park Residence 2 Prathumnak

[morteduzionism]

if you don't upgrade your markets, you won't be able to upgrade your government building/palace, which will generate a lot of unhappy customers in your cities. you must be getting a lot of red faces on your campaign map, no?

Actually, no. I've never seen a negative reaction for a city with stagnant/declining population. I have seen a negative reaction when a city population increases.

I can't understand why you are resticting city growth? Is it for gameplay or roleplay purposes?

I suppose roleplay. It's just something about having every city be exactly alike. Also, I think it's just unrealistic to have EVERY city be "huge".

I think you should be using +-2 units in a stack. So let's say you are recruiting the cavalry for 2 stacks and you need 4 units. Instead of recruiting 4 recruit 6. 2x2 for your two legions and 2 units stays in Italy. When your legion returns for retraining simply change depleted units with those 2 fresh ones. Send legion back to front and on the same time send those 2 depleted units to retrain. After retraining bring them back to Italy. Rinse and repeat.

I tried this once before. It didn't work. Well it worked but I discovered a problem-the cost.

This strategy conflicts with one of my house rules: don't end a turn with more than 50K denarii

My economy isn't really designed to have multiple units essentially doing nothing. More often than not when I take a new city I have to switch garrison forces because I don't have the money to simply recruit more... (I love this, it makes me think about all my decisions)

Eventhough in my current campaign I'm making 10K+/turn and have plans to raise another legion(to reduce my profit per/turn) I've experienced enough...recessions in my economy to know that another one could be around the corner. +49,999 at the end of one turn, -16,000 at the end of the next(not that dramatic but...)

Also, I currently have 6 legions. To use Gallic for example, in my mod I think their upkeep is: @600/turn, if I only used a reserve for half my total forces that's still @1800/turn = 7200/yr (using 4TPY)...

Sometimes I have armies in the field for 10+ yrs. So, I would have to spend 24K to keep one unit of Gallic cavalry on reserve for that same period (1 unit of cavalry @600/turn[4TPY] for 10 yrs)...and of course according to Murphy the turn I disband the reserve unit will preceed the turn that I absolutely need them...

It seems like if I want to use different cavalry outside of their AOR I'll just have to pay the price......stoopid Italian cavalry, why they suck so much anyway?

Just use any local or mercenary cavalry you can find. Use auto-merge and get new ones if they die; Don't waste time on retraining because they're dispensable - experiences cannot increase the charge power anyway.

Once again: cost. On this mod mercenaries are obscenely expensive. I mean obscene. It's simply not economically feasible to rely on mercs in that way.

The again...maybe...that might work...I'd have to think about it some more...initially I'm worried about the drop off in attack power...hmmm...

Thanks AQD, that might work...it'll be ridiculously expensive...but...it might just work...


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:hmmm: didn't Gaul sack Arretium? or did they make it all the way to Rome? Isn't there a legend/rumor/whatever'll work, that a faction of Gallic nobles stayed in/around Rome? Doesn't that mean Gallic cavalry should be recruitable from Rome, right? (I'm grasping at straws...lol...)