Many men.

**Tilos** · August 12, 2010, 04:32 AM

Fellow generals, conquerors, turtlers,
I am in dire need of your help!

Seriously though, in all campaigns I've attempted in Stainless Steel using Real Recruitment, there is a point whereas my empire has grown considerably, but I cannot seem to maintain enough men to guard all of it, and still fight a war at my borders (which is inevitable, seeing how much the AI has improved). Even when only having a garrison of 2 spear militia in my non-crucial castles and cities (such as those well protected, at the heart of my empire) I simply can't recruit enough men for proper war! Tips, hints and strategies would be very welcome!

Kind regards,
Tilos

**napoleonic** · August 12, 2010, 04:48 AM

so you are in short of coins? focus on developing cities, building trades infrastructures and using merchants.

**Tilos** · August 12, 2010, 04:50 AM

Oh no, if anything, I am not short of coin. It's just that my castles do not produce enough men. At least not before waiting another 3 turns. Or recruiting them from the other end of the country, in which case the war is over before they even arrive at the frontier

.

**Delvecchio1975** · August 12, 2010, 04:51 AM

Upgrade your barracks, bowyers and stables - at every higher level the men will pour out faster.

EDIT: if your castle is too small to upgrade them, keep your family members who are good managers in these castles so they grow faster and you can upgrade them...

**Heskey** · August 12, 2010, 04:54 AM

Plan your wars in advance and draw men from castles throughout your lands; focus each castle on a specific recruitment capability to get higher tiers; or if they're all fairly upgraded, rotate their purpose each recruitment order, so one replenishes to full stocks of troops when you next need them from that castle.

Also, don't forget mercenaries!

**Tilos** · August 12, 2010, 05:03 AM

if your castle is too small to upgrade them, keep your family members who are good managers in these castles so they grow faster and you can upgrade them...

focus each castle on a specific recruitment capability to get higher tiers; or if they're all fairly upgraded, rotate their purpose each recruitment order, so one replenishes to full stocks of troops when you next need them from that castle.

Excellent tips! I used to just blindly upgrade my castles but I can see the sense in specializing castles for recruiting mounts, archers, and infranty.
Thanks for the fast response guys, keep them coming!

**napoleonic** · August 12, 2010, 05:13 AM

use mercs, in RR/RC they're a must have and especially great for emergencies.

**Delvecchio1975** · August 12, 2010, 05:19 AM

Originally Posted by napoleonic

use mercs, in RR/RC they're a must have and especially great for emergencies.

beware of the maintenance cost though - cheap to buy, expensive to keep; and they are retrainable only in certain regions (obviously in the region you bought them for starters) and replenish rather slowly.

**Heskey** · August 12, 2010, 06:23 AM

Disband mercs in the regions you recruited them to return them to the merc pool.

They are cheap and instant to buy but cost a lot to upkeep, so buy them before crucial battles, and disband them before the end of the turn

**Feldspar** · August 12, 2010, 06:42 AM

Originally Posted by Heskey

Disband mercs in the regions you recruited them to return them to the merc pool.

They are cheap and instant to buy but cost a lot to upkeep, so buy them before crucial battles, and disband them before the end of the turn

and remember, why waste a good soldier of your hometown when you can march a a couple hundred mercs into a wall of heavy cavalry. Its what I paid for darn it!

**Heskey** · August 12, 2010, 06:45 AM

That's a good tip too. If I ever hire mercs, no matter how small the force I will throw them at the enemy because ultimately, I'm paying for them to die for me, but to kill twice the number of enemies!

**napoleonic** · August 12, 2010, 07:00 AM

Originally Posted by Feldspar

and remember, why waste a good soldier of your hometown when you can march a a couple hundred mercs into a wall of heavy cavalry. Its what I paid for darn it!

Originally Posted by Heskey

That's a good tip too. If I ever hire mercs, no matter how small the force I will throw them at the enemy because ultimately, I'm paying for them to die for me, but to kill twice the number of enemies!

true, however I'd rather keep some more 'valuable' mercs, like bulgarian bridgans while playing as hungary, why? because they can plant stakes to help me confront roman uber cavalries.

armor piercing mercs are also valuable when playing with a faction that lacks any armor piercing units like france....

**Heskey** · August 12, 2010, 07:08 AM

Some mercs are worth keeping don't get me wrong, but if you just need a couple of crossbowmen and spearmen, just charge 'em head on into the enemy. Unlike your own forces, you don't really care if they live until payday.

**YourOnlineHero** · August 12, 2010, 08:17 AM

You expanded too fast IMO.

**Alpha Zeke** · August 12, 2010, 03:59 PM

I pay mercs to die for me btw, not too survive

But use Chiv generals to make castles grow faster. Each chiv point is .5% Growth I think?

**hippacrocafish** · August 12, 2010, 04:53 PM

Slow down your expansion, take a few turns after a conquest to build up a garrison, then move on to your next target.

I am very much a turtle when playing Medieval II so stretching my empire too thin via rapid expansion (A.K.A. The Mongol Syndrome

) is never a problem for me. I take my time building up armies, upgrading them, etc. making sure that I will have an adequete force to hold any region I conquer.

**Beowulf1990** · August 13, 2010, 01:53 AM

Originally Posted by hippacrocafish

Slow down your expansion, take a few turns after a conquest to build up a garrison, then move on to your next target.

I am very much a turtle when playing Medieval II so stretching my empire too thin via rapid expansion (A.K.A. The Mongol Syndrome

) is never a problem for me. I take my time building up armies, upgrading them, etc. making sure that I will have an adequete force to hold any region I conquer.

This.
Always consolidate your holdings before moving on, otherwise you might just end up losing as much as you're gaining.

**feanor910** · August 13, 2010, 12:52 AM

I always RP to some extent and I see mercs as expendable in comparison to my good countrymen. So guess who's going to receive that cavalry charge? Plug my right flank in a suicide mission while I rout their cavalry?

That being said I use mercs in just about every army I field for the first 50 turns or so while I get the infastructure in place to phase them out. And some of the mercs like maceman are real battle winners especially early on and should find they're way into your army a lot.