How military colonies exactly work?

[jedibob5]

First, I love this mod. It's ridiculously complex and detailed, and that's a good thing. Plus, it manages to make a M/M Rome campaign difficult, as conquered cities are pretty much impotent militarily for a long time as you build infrastructure.

Anyway, to my question. I get the basic idea of military colonies, but I want to know exactly how they work. I know that Carthaginian colonies can expand the Libyan zone of recruitment, but is there any advantage to building them in Africa where Libyans can already be recruited? Also, are there other types of colonies Carthage has, i.e. an Iberian colony or something?

And about Greek Mil. Colonies, I have no idea how these work, and whether I should build them on mainland Greece or in other lands.

[Zarax]

Military colonies in general are used to expand AOR for some units.
As you experienced, carthaginian ones expand your african AOR, meaning they are useful outside your core empire as your barracks are a more efficent way of recruiting troops in Africa.

For the other ones, it depends on the faction:

- Macedonians can recruit Thracians
- Seleucid and Ptolemies gets Galatians
- Pontus gets Scythians

As they are expensive you should consider them on a logistical POV, military colonies take long to build but can save several turns to replenish your mercs/AOR units on a distant front.

[Total Roach]

How about GCS, will they give me any benefit in the Balkans/Steppes/Anatolia/Italy etc

[Zarax]

AFAIK GCS cannot build any.

[Total Roach]

oh, 100% sure I've seen them in the building browser. Well I won't think about building them then if they are not supposed to be there.

[Zarax]

You shouldn't rely on the building browser, it's not very accurate.

[Total Roach]

oh, good to know. Quick question, I've turned all the Thracian territories without a base Hellenic colony into allied tributaries, however I've notice that I'm then unable to build much, not even baths etc, should I convert them properly or will I get access to the higher tier buildings later?

[Zarax]

You should be able to build baths&co, for most buildings you will need a market first though.

[jedibob5]

Yeah I've noticed that most buildings actually have specific building prerequisites other than the government building. It's pretty badly hurt my Rome campaign in that I didn't notice that higher-level factional barracks in conquered cities need a Roman Colony.