The following thoughts came to my mind after having recently played the Broken Crescent with the Buff and Shine submod, and many other mods before. They have little to do with the possible coming version of the SSHIP.
I tried to think what the M2TW engine theoretically enables to provide the best feeling of historicity and the gameplay experience for a medieval mod.
---- THE ELEMENTS --------------------
The recruitment system would consist of 8 parameters:
- factional feudalism/iqta buildings – defining (1) which factional units can be recruited (the more advanced building, the better units); (2) how fast the recruitment pools replenish for various units (slower for the professionals and the feudal units), (3) how big the pools can grow (this might be pretty large number, much more than in the current SSHIP (for example: 5 for a city), perhaps lower for the elites) -- [
in (1) the size of the settlement and maximum level of the building are rather disconnected: even smaller settlements can have quite advanced feudal buildings; but (2) and (3) should be related to the size of the settlement: bigger settlement the faster growth and the higher maximum pools],
- barracks and other military training facilities (buildings) – defining how fast the recruitable units can be recruited (ie (4) the number of recruitment slots); perhaps some units might require such facilities, like certain professionals;
- an area of recruitment (AoR) system – defining (5) which units are available in the province for any faction if has the basic feudal building (these may be pretty good units, however, the more advanced factional feudal buildings would provide less and less AoR);
-
optionally: (6) population of the provinces – being depleted if recruitment takes place while growing if you disband a full-strength unit (
the mechanisms present in the RTW engine, and also recreated in the BC-B&S submod; it may be important for small and slowly-growing provinces),
- (7) governor present in the settlement – as somebody has to organize the creation of the army for the king; in some mods it might require the presence of the very faction ruler;
- (8) money – no unit comes for free; (
for the AI behaviour you need the upfront costs (ie recruitment cost), even though in theory it might have been only for upkeep).
--- THE MECHANICS & EXPLANATION ---------------------
A political system set up in a province (technically: a “feudal building”) makes it possible to recruit military units. The first level (“Autonomous administration”) would provide only the AoR troops while the higher levels (ie more advanced political system - specific for each faction) would give faction-specific units. The higher the level of the building, the more advanced factional units it provides, but the less AoR units (the most advanced factional feudal building prevents from recruiting AoR units entirely). At the same time a barracks building is needed to enable recruitment of any unit (technically: it provides recruitment slots). There are other military buildings (stables, ranges etc.) enable more units to be recruited at the same time (additional recruitment slots), while also providing other benefits (eg. experience for the units).
Time has to pass for the recruits to appear in the province: boys must grow up to be able to take up the arms (technically: pools need time to replenish). Only few of them are rich enough to afford betters arms so that they can serve in the higher-tier units (technically: slower pools' replenishment for the elite units). There're always economic limits of how many people the land can support (technically: there're pools maxima) but they can get pretty large (eg. up to 5 units, less for the elites / feudal: there's always a social pyramid and the elites come from the upper parts). In the populous provinces the reserves get bigger (technically: the pools maxima are higher). To be sure, to recruit and to train troops a lot of money is needed and most of the time this is going to be the main factor limiting the recruitment. Also, somebody who organizes the process (a governor) should be present in the settlement at the moment of recruitment (but the regeneration of the pools progresses without a governor). The province should be populated with enough people to fill in the ranks (the number of people is taken away from the population). One cannot recruit all the available units instantly as there're real-life bottlenecks (technically: recruitment slots). The more specialized military buildings (stables, barracks, ranges) are present in the settlement, the faster recruitment may proceed (ie. more units may be recruited at the same time; note that the number of recruitment slots is independent of the political system: one may be able to recruit only the AoR units but many at a time).
--- HOW MOBILIZATION HAPPENS ---------------------
If peace reigns in the kingdom, no recruitment is needed and the pools regenerate. If there's been war recently, many years would have to pass for the pools to achieve the maxima. At the same time, the ruler is filling in his coffer with silver and gold to be able to afford recruitment for a new war. Once a war breaks out, recruitment must take place. If the reserves are large, many units can be recruited - provided money and a general are there. It's not done overnight, there are bottlenecks, like the lack of the facilities. Furthermore, if the war drags one, it might become difficult to find more people to fill in the ranks as the new potential recruits come slowly (pools get empty, regeneration takes place slowly). However, disbandment of a full-strength unit regenerates both the population numbers and the pools of possible recruits.
--- notes on the gameplay ----
* given the
SSHIP population numbers, the depletion of a province population after recruitment is actually not as important as in the other mods. It may make a difference only on the fringe, infertile provinces where loss of a few hundreds of men may lead to population problems (this would be quite different for mods with small settlements, like WotN). Therefore this part of the system should be viewed as the least important in the system.
* it should be stressed that with high pools maxima this parameter (maxima) loses it's weight as well. It is, however, central to making the gameplay more reasonable. It should be accompanied by very low replenishment rates. Therefore the player will not be punished for having long periods of peace and build up of the economy (ie. he won't be losing the potential new manpower inflow; what otherwise happens if the maximum pool is reached but he's not recruiting units). On the contrary: the strategy of keeping high money reserves with a small standing army would be rewarded, as in case of an enemy attack it will be easy to mobilize forces: recruit units from the hight recruitment pools. In the current SSHIP setting, you're better off recruiting units as soon as they reach the maxima - as they're usually low for the better units (2 or something). This makes the strategy of a wide-kingdom (more provinces, not bigger provinces) more beneficial than of a tall-kingdom (fewer provinces with better buildings).
* a very big question is to how the AI would react for some changes, eg. for the large recruitment pools.
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Another conceptual entry worth reading in relation to this issue is Phases of a strategic operation