Morale issues

[enkidu]

After running around defending several castles in succession, I noticed that morale was horribly low.  Seems that if you join a siege defense battle, you don't get any recent events morale bonus for winning.  I think it might be that the siege is "still continuing" after the victory and the game treats it as a battle still in progress.   I didnt get a chance to test morale changes on a siege defense where the defenders thank me for coming to the rescue after completely vanquishing the enemy.  Also didnt test joining a siege offense.  Also after I started paying attention to the morale bonuses, I noticed...those little numbers don't actually add up to the total.

[Zandman]

Well, I really want to see this change! Only recently, one of my allies' castles was attacked by the enemy, and I had been roaming the countryside for a while with my now tired and annoyed group. Morale was low.
So I joined the battle - 150 or so defenders against 400+ attackers - and it was a massacre. I lost maybe 10-20 of my allies' people and a couple of my own, and the enemy lost maybe 300 before they ran off in defeat.
I left the castle... and morale was STILL low!

Defies all sense of logic, if you ask me. Highly successful battles always raises morale greatly... except when defending castles or towns?
Sloppy.

[Vrehna]

I believe that it makes atleast a little bit of sense.

While inside of a castle, I would expect nothing less than victory unless the attackers had dragons and cave trolls.  Even with odds of 5 to 1 in a castle the defenders can easily win. 

Now I still agree that it sucks that there is no morale bonus when defending a keep, but atleast I understand a little bit why we don't.

[Tidemand]

morale isnt just about winning against bad odds.. Your men are soldiers by profession. When they dont get to fight for a long time they go bored.. Lets say you had a job you really liked. It was respected and considered one of the best jobs one from your class could get and the ladies simply loves the fact that you work with what you do. After each big assignment is done you also get to hand yourself a nice bonus of whatever you can find around the "office" on top of your monthyl payment. Now your boss tells you to go roam around the city doing nothing for a few months.. What would that do with your will to get up in the morning?

[enkidu]

er well the morale I'm talking about is a number, and when it gets too low some code is activated making your troops and heroes leave your party.   I'm pretty sure that if its my imagination that is broken, then Armagan's horses and Armagan's men won't be able to fix it again.

[bravesirknight]

They should be happy to get paid for nothing though. Or be in the world's most famous army...

If I could change it at a complex level I'd make it so firstly, they don't start losing any morale from waiting around for a few days. Actually they should gain it for the first few days because it's the only time they're resting. I don't know if they gain any from camping but they should. It's strange there's zero incentive to take care of yours or your troops 8 hours of sleep in the game.  Then I'd add some various boosting options, like buying your troops a round of drinks, some board games and cards for them, instruments, whatever that help morale so if don't want to hunt 24/7 you can blow some money.

[LocNlol]

My guess is, when not doing anything, recent events morale bonus should tend toward 0.

If you just took a serious beating and barely escaped, the men should probably be happy you are not leading them into anymore battles for some time.
If you just plundered and slaughtered a lot, initial euphory will fade away, of course, but probably not to the point where they would desert en masse.

All of this assuming you keep the men fed and paid, of course.

The morale constantly going low would be ok if you didn't have to pay your men, that is, if they only had a share of battle loot, then they would have a reason for wanting to be in battle often (and winning of course).

[grievous5226]

I'd say, that higher rank your troops are, the less bloodthirsty they become.

Lower rank troops have few comrades, and are very eager to go to war, but once they rise a few ranks and fight a few battles, seeing all of their drinking buds get slashed and hacked to death, watching other men right next to them get shot by arrows in the head, after receiving a few cavalry charges of total fear, they should resent the war.

They should gain morale the longer you stay in a tavern or such.

That would make it realistic, and more balanced.

And Castles and Towns are very strategic and symbols of power, defending them and winning should be glorious and give massive morale boosts.

[Momaw]

Your men are soldiers by profession (...) your boss tells you to go roam around the city doing nothing for a few months.. What would that do with your will to get up in the morning?

That is the difference between a soldier and a warrior. A warrior fights because he likes to fight, because he is good at it, because he can gain from it, or because he is personally motivated to a given cause.  A soldier fights when, where, how, and why he is told to, and obeys the orders of his superior officers with the understanding that he is part of something much larger than himself.   A soldier assigned to defend a town wil do his job well and with the conviction that he is serving a valuable role.  A warrior assigned to defend a town will get bored and unruly quickly.

[Tidemand]

Your men are soldiers by profession (...) your boss tells you to go roam around the city doing nothing for a few months.. What would that do with your will to get up in the morning?

That is the difference between a soldier and a warrior. A warrior fights because he likes to fight, because he is good at it, because he can gain from it, or because he is personally motivated to a given cause.  A soldier fights when, where, how, and why he is told to, and obeys the orders of his superior officers with the understanding that he is part of something much larger than himself.   A soldier assigned to defend a town wil do his job well and with the conviction that he is serving a valuable role.  A warrior assigned to defend a town will get bored and unruly quickly.

I'm aware of the difference.. Try to put yourself in the situation where your whole life evolves around action. You will get bored just sitting around doing nothing Another factor is the fact that more fighting means chances for winning the war is bigger. Which means the soldiers get to go home to their wifes and children or what not. Pluss it means they get loot which is a real nice addition to their payment

I really dont see why you mention warriors anyway. Where did that come from?