Proposal: Levels of Recruitment (Bulk Discounts)

**Dance the older** · September 27, 2012, 10:34 AM

Reason: I don't need 3,000 Berzerkers to raid. For me it's a useless waste of troops to have doing nothing. I think there should be more customized purchasing levels.

For example:

Ironborn Raiders:

100 men:
Cost: 1,000 Dragons (full cost)
Upkeep: 500 Dragons/year

500 men:
Cost: 4,500 Dragons (10% bulk discount)
Upkeep: 2,500 Dragons/year

1,000 men:
Cost: 8,000 Dragons (20% bulk discount)
Upkeep: 5,000 Dragons/year

This would apply to not all, but many of the troops for recruitment.

The bonus in purchasing in bulk is the initial discount, with the same upkeep ofcourse as that would just confuse things. To keep it simple, the only discount is on the initial purchase, but the upkeeps would remain the same as they should, for balancing issues.

But if somebody buys in bulk, they get a benefit of an initial discount, over those who recruit a few (with less yearly discount), but don't receive the initial bulk discount

I hope we can work this out, or come to a fair agreement

**Gandalfus** · September 27, 2012, 10:37 AM

The thread already took me a long time to make, this would make it a huge labour that would take a LONG time, having every customisable size possible if say someone only wanted to purchase 50.

**Dance the older** · September 27, 2012, 10:41 AM

Well that's why I presented 3 options (100, 500, 1000). We can do 2, 3, 5. Fixed options, not like 62 or something lol.

As I said, the simplicity in it is it's only bulk discount depending what's purchased. Gotta give a bonus to people paying full, but give the option for others to buy a few. I don't want to pay upkeep for 3,000 units when I'm only using 200 to raid, it's a senseless waste of dragons that way. The Iron Islanders don't need tens of thousands of troops and stuff.

Realistically 200-300 for me would be adequate, enough to fill up a half dozen raid ships lol.

As I said we can discuss options on it, differing ideas. Perhaps choose 10 units out of the entire game which this can apply to for example.

note: this will not effect the units overall upkeep.

**Gandalfus** · September 27, 2012, 10:42 AM

Perhaps like raiding units or bodyguards?

**Dance the older** · September 27, 2012, 10:44 AM

Sure whatever you wanna do. I was thinking maybe only allowing this for 5-6 units in this game

General ones for example, that all players use (for example Levy Spearmen, Light Infantry)

And for the Ironborn, perhaps just 1 type of unit could be effected by this. Like "Ironborn Raiders" or something like that. I don't want to change the game drastically, just have some options for lesser units, but give bulk buyers a small initial discount to encourage them to buy in bulk, and not 100 at a time

**Xion** · September 27, 2012, 10:49 AM

Or a player could buy the unit and divide it up into smaller organizational units for raids/patrols and the like?

Example
Dornish Sand Steed Cavalry
Total Men : 3,000

Spotswood Patrol : 500
Sunspear Patrol : 1,000
Planky Town Patrol : 1,000
Lemonwood Patrol : 500

**Gandalfus** · September 27, 2012, 10:47 AM

I see your reason

**Dance the older** · September 27, 2012, 11:00 AM

Yeah, we can work out all the options. I say keep it simple for example,

100, 500, 1000, 3000, 5000 (5 max) depending what it is. Obviously 5,000 doesn't need to apply to Ironborn Raiders, but for say Levy Spearmen, it would be nice to get an initial discount if you needed those 5,000 men recruited, and just have to worry about their upkeep later.

Ironborn Raiders Costs:
100 men = 1,000 Dragons
500 men = 4,500 Dragons (10% discount)
1,000 men = 8,000 Dragons (20% discount)

Archers Costs:
100 men = 1,000 Dragons
500 men = 4,500 Dragons (10% discount)
1000 men = 8,000 Dragons (20% discount)
3000 men = 18,000 Dragons (40% discount)
5000 men = 20,000 Dragons (60% discount)

The Discount is the only benefit from purchasing in bulk. The upkeeps for 5,000 units is still the same as divided for 100 men.

100 Archers Upkeep = 500 Dragons/yr
5000 Archers Upkeep = 25,000 Dragons/yr

etc

**Dance the older** · September 27, 2012, 11:01 AM

Yeah, we can work out all the options. I say keep it simple for example,

100, 500, 1000, 3000, 5000 (5 max) depending what it is. Obviously 5,000 doesn't need to apply to Ironborn Raiders, but for say Levy Spearmen, it would be nice to get an initial discount if you needed those 5,000 men recruited, and just have to worry about their upkeep later.

Ironborn Raiders Costs:
100 men = 1,000 Dragons ------------------------ Upkeep: 200/yr
500 men = 4,500 Dragons (10% discount) --------- Upkeep: 1000/yr
1,000 men = 8,000 Dragons (20% discount) ------- Upkeep: 2000/yr

Archers Costs:
100 men = 1,000 Dragons --------------------- Upkeep: 200 Dragons/yr
500 men = 4,500 Dragons (10% discount) ------ Upkeep: 1000 Dragons/yr
1000 men = 8,000 Dragons (20% discount) ----- Upkeep: 2000 Dragons/yr
3000 men = 18,000 Dragons (40% discount) ---- Upkeep: 6000 Dragons/yr
5000 men = 20,000 Dragons (60% discount) ---- Upkeep: 10000 Dragons/yr

The Discount is the only benefit from purchasing in bulk. The upkeeps for 5,000 units is still the same as divided for 100 men.

100 Archers Upkeep = 500 Dragons/yr
5000 Archers Upkeep = 25,000 Dragons/yr

etc

(These numbers are all figurative examples)

Upkeep costs for 100 is still the same x50 for 5000, does not change year to year. Only initial (sorry just stressing this for those that might not pick it up )

**jakev2** · September 27, 2012, 11:33 AM

A little complicated, it would make the economy (which some players already have trouble with) hard to get right and even harder to regulate. I say no, though the idea itself is a good one, because of the practicalities. Just divide the 3,000 men up, and send only however many you want on that particular raid.

**Dance the older** · September 27, 2012, 12:15 PM

But I don't wanna pay for something I'm not using. 10 Iron born on a cliff top are as good as 50 attackers lol. Landing/attacking on such difficult terrain as the Iron Islands would not be easy for a large army, and it would only take a small army to repel it. That's the issue I have. I have no need for 3,000 infantry when I only need a few hundred to conduct raids lol.

I've reviewed all the player economies and it's already jumbled for many, this won't effect that. Simple understanding of straight forward economics lol.

If you buy 100 of a 1000 unit, you pay 10%. It's not that difficult to comprehend for people, I don't think. It's as simple as it can be, it's not advanced mathematics.

Perhaps we should redo it as you can buy 100 of every type. If you want 5000 then you buy 5000 worth. But I shouldn't be forced to buy 1000 when I only want 100, and am only willing to pay the upkeep for 100 lol.

**jakev2** · September 27, 2012, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by Scipio Africanus

But I don't wanna pay for something I'm not using. 10 Iron born on a cliff top are as good as 50 attackers lol. Landing/attacking on such difficult terrain as the Iron Islands would not be easy for a large army, and it would only take a small army to repel it. That's the issue I have. I have no need for 3,000 infantry when I only need a few hundred to conduct raids lol.

I've reviewed all the player economies and it's already jumbled for many, this won't effect that. Simple understanding of straight forward economics lol.

If you buy 100 of a 1000 unit, you pay 10%. It's not that difficult to comprehend for people, I don't think. It's as simple as it can be, it's not advanced mathematics.

Perhaps we should redo it as you can buy 100 of every type. If you want 5000 then you buy 5000 worth. But I shouldn't be forced to buy 1000 when I only want 100, and am only willing to pay the upkeep for 100 lol.

When does it stop, though? You can easily apply the same logic to a player saying "Why should I buy 1000 soldiers when I only want 1?", which I'm sure we can all agree is just silly. The base numbers we have now are small enough that buying one unit isn't terribly detrimental to a players economy. Making them smaller makes things more complicated, for little gain.

**Zeus Almighty** · September 27, 2012, 01:23 PM

Tough call, I like the idea, but it could be tough to audit for.... I'm impartial still trying to decide

**Pinkerton** · September 27, 2012, 01:31 PM

And professional soldiers were very expensive,

**Dance the older** · September 27, 2012, 03:12 PM

Ironborn have risk enough with raiding for income and prestige, let alone having to pay any extra bits they have for useless masses sitting around doing little lol

I wanna fill up like 6-7 ships and start raiding. I don't need the big numbers.

I need like medium skilled raiding troops. Only a few hundred.

That's why we should have atleast SOME units that you can purchase a few hundred at a time. I just can't be buying 3,000 as that's highly unrealistic for a raid lol. Technically 1 Raid ship can take out any normal fishing village, no need for that many useless collections of paychecks.

As I said the only mildly difficult consideration is the discount of the initial buy. Once their bought, it all runs the same. You pay for the upkeep of what you have as normal.

The discount is solely to benefit large bulk sale. That's an unbiased notion, as I don't plan to have a large army. I will pay full price for a few hundred that I'm actually going to use. I don't want a large army, for I have no use for it, just a small one. Ironborn don't do the whole pitched big open field battles. It's senseless to mass 10-20,000 when their specialty is sea, not land. And the Iron Islands are arguably one of the most defensible regions in the game. Select landing areas, not for large armies, easily defensible by small amounts of men.

**Dirty Chai** · September 27, 2012, 10:21 PM

I really like this, but the game already has a lot of numbers in it, which is huge turn-off for some players. They simply refuse to do any math beyond simple adding and subtracting.

Then again, screw them. I want this.