Thoughts on the Manpower System
Up front I want to say the Manpower system is a great addition in its current form. But I think it has a lot of room for improvement as well. First some notes on how I perceive the current manpower system works.
What the Manpower system does:
- Limits the quality of the player's armies in the early game, forcing more varied army composition. However, this is the same limitation imposed by costs, especially upkeep. I've found that upkeep cost is a determining factor far longer into the game than manpower restrictions.
- Slows rate of expansion as armies can't easily replenish in newly conquered or frontier regions. Theoretically this would encourage you to pull back to developed provinces, but unless your armies were devastated it's usually fine to wait on settlers to show up. Though this does make Auxillia/Foreigner units more attractive as they can quickly replenish in new territory.
- Creates a new lose condition for 1 region factions: the total depletion of its manpower. You can't just hold up forever behind walls and wait for an opportunity to push out. Under constant pressure you'll eventually be unable to replenish your units. However, Supply does exactly the same thing. If enemies are in your province too long you'll be unable to replenish. They even regenerate at similar rates.
What the Manpower system doesn't do:
- Limit the size or quantity of the player's armies. Starting manpower and growth rates are so large that any region save the most devastated can handle constant 3rd class unit recruitment. Upkeep costs will be the determining factor here. This also means that the total loss of an army is really only an economic loss, not a loss in manpower. Devastation is the only threat to your manpower pool, but again only for 1 region factions.
- Limit the quality of the AI's armies. Even 1 region factions field elite armies with multiple noble-class units that the player would be unable to muster. This is certainly challenging and shows off the best of each factions unit roster, but it also makes the player's elite units less special.
- Play an important part in building priorities. Because peaceful regions grow so quickly regardless, it doesn't matter if I go for a building that boosts 1st and 2nd class growth. It might matter in the long term for economic benefits, but not for recruitment.
Ultimately I think Manpower is too fluid (up to the cap) and then too static (once at the cap). Most regions start the game at 20k, and they'll usually be up to 50k within two dozen turns. At which point they sit there for the rest of the game, perhaps moving up to 60k if you pick the right buildings to overcome the squalor penalties. But it's largely irrelevant at that point outside of a small economic boost (which is a very welcome and interesting mechanic I might add). 50k Manpower is enough to fuel any number of armies. Your 2nd Class might drop down by 2-3k, but once you're no longer at the squalor cap it'll regenerate in only a few turns. And this is only talking about one region. With 3+ regions Manpower ceases to be a restricting element whatsoever.
I'd like to see manpower be a more prominent and limiting mechanic with less overlap between the economy and supply systems. You want to create situations where a rich faction could be short on manpower and have to rely on AoR and Mercenary units, ala Carthage. Or a faction with vast manpower reserves that can't be translated into a vast army due to economic or class restrictions, ala Rome going into the Marian reforms. Right now the distinction between a 2nd class Principes and a 3rd class Legionnaire isn't significant.
Regions also shouldn't be so uniform. There are rich regions, poor regions, regions with specialty goods and those without. There are also densely populated regions and sparsely populated regions - this is already a thing, but with the current values it again becomes purely an economic difference. If Rome has 80k and the forests of Germania have 40k, that only affects your income, not your recruitment capacity.
Some ideas I was planning to turn into a submod:
- Reduced starting Manpower across most regions, with greater variation between regions. This will increases the impact of new unit recruitment on your manpower reserves, and create regions that are strategically important for their dense populations.
- Lower modifiers, especially for growth but also for decay. Outside of colonization and resettlement a population should take generations to double in size, not 5 years. Likewise it should take longer to depopulate a region unless you raze it to the ground. With a more static but open-ended manpower pool you can still be feeling the effects of siege 10 years later without being devastated by it, rather than being devastated by it for a few turns and then bouncing back to full capacity.
- Increase the effects of culture on class growth, possibly with lower cultural drift (but that's another topic). It should be very difficult to field a professional native force as Carthage, Massalia, Seleucia, Egypt etc. Buildings also play a part in this. Outside of unique building chains every culture gets similar growth rates from buildings, but they could be more diverse.
- Greater (relative) impact of building choices. Clearer differences between buildings that will boost your economy and buildings that will boost your manpower. Encourage the player to invest in manpower as a resource. The Minor Settlement Outpost building is a good example, though it's not really useful with the current system.
- Not sure yet, but somehow separate the limits imposed by manpower and the limits imposed by economy. Right now manpower limits your army quality in the early game, and income limits your army quality and size for most of the game. Smaller, more static manpower would make it a factor on both quality and size for longer into the game, but ideally they would limit different things. To go back to the Principes and Legionarie example, Principes would be limited by manpower (2nd class) but be relatively cheap. Legionaries would be less limited by manpower (3rd class) but be more expensive.
Thanks for reading, I only critique because I care! This is really a great mod, in part for bringing in so many new and interesting mechanics like the manpower system.
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I've noticed a lot of the same things about the manpower system. Of course some of it is just what we're stuck with because of the game's limits (like the AI not comprehending it).
Originally Posted by Dresden
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