Take and Hold vs Blitzkrieg

[Kale_Fellblade]

Okay, sit report: I'm a vassal with Harlaus, currently lvl 21 and my size 99 army is a generalist, okay with sieges, awesome in field battles (as long as they can charge). We've lost Suno to the Vaegirs, who declared peace after the stupid marshal refused to take it back, and Praven to the Nords (same story). We just wrapped up a campaign against the Khergs, who just called for a ceasefire to stop our unchecked advance into their territory. We took Halmar, Narra, and a bunch of castles before they decided enough was enough. The Rhodoks declared war on us while the campaign against Sanjar was winding down, followed shortly by the Sarranids. To reward their treachery we took Shariz, and a couple of Sarranid and Rhodok border castles. What I've personally been doing is ignoring the marshal's campaign after I report to him, and go siege stuff on my own (then asking for them). I was granted a couple of castles that I don't really need/want as a vassal, and I'm now in the unenviable position of not having enough men to garrison all my granted fiefs, so should I stop blitzing and train up some troops to hold them? Or can I just let the new acquisitions get retaken and so I can get more exp with another siege then let the other lords have them instead? Is there a downside to that? Money-wise, I've got Narra (richest town in my map) and Unuzdaq castle giving me a steady stream of income, so I don't really need any more fiefs. Also, is it better to garrison elite troops (I stocked both my main fiefs with 80+ elite units each) or are bunch of cheap mid tiers better for scaring off siege parties? Would they level up when fighting in a garrison? Also, it's weird, but a lot of the Swaddy lords are defecting. I'm assuming they lost fiefs when Suno and Praven and a few other castles were taken. Too bad. Most of them were my friends too.

[kevindrosario]

To answer your garrison question, it's a bit complicated I think. Like an elite unit might cost the same money as 50 peasants. Which is the better garrison to have, 1 knight or 50 peasants? Definitely the 50 peasants. Especially if you have unlimited reinforcements for both sides during a siege, which you really should have on anyway.

Now what garrison would you rather have, 100 knights or 5000 peasants? The 5000 peasants would be more effective in scaring off potential attackers. However, actually getting the 5000 peasants would take months and months of recruiting.

So I guess the answer is that a larger amount of lower tier troops is ideal. However, since you can't recruit the lower tier units on such a massive scale, you should also mix some higher tier units in as well.

[Kale_Fellblade]

To answer your garrison question, it's a bit complicated I think. Like an elite unit might cost the same money as 50 peasants. Which is the better garrison to have, 1 knight or 50 peasants? Definitely the 50 peasants. Especially if you have unlimited reinforcements for both sides during a siege, which you really should have on anyway.

Now what garrison would you rather have, 100 knights or 5000 peasants? The 5000 peasants would be more effective in scaring off potential attackers. However, actually getting the 5000 peasants would take months and months of recruiting.

So I guess the answer is that a larger amount of lower tier troops is ideal. However, since you can't recruit the lower tier units on such a massive scale, you should also mix some higher tier units in as well.

okay, so a bit of both then, gotcha. Thanks. 

[Rallix]

I say never have more than one of each kind of fief. They're much too difficult to take care of otherwise.
You should just station petty garrisons of troops you don't want inside the castles you don't need.

For a castle or town that you actually want to hold, and keep, then have a combination of high-tier infantry and ranged troops, as well as tons of 1st, 2nd, or 3rd tier troops.

[Kale_Fellblade]

I say never have more than one of each kind of fief. They're much too difficult to take care of otherwise.
You should just station petty garrisons of troops you don't want inside the castles you don't need.

For a castle or town that you actually want to hold, and keep, then have a combination of high-tier infantry and ranged troops, as well as tons of 1st, 2nd, or 3rd tier troops.

Hmm yeah, that makes sense. Nice thing about the fiefs I've got now, they're real cash cows. I get like almost 10k/week net between my town and castle and various industries.

[Remmik]

To answer your garrison question, it's a bit complicated I think. Like an elite unit might cost the same money as 50 peasants. Which is the better garrison to have, 1 knight or 50 peasants? Definitely the 50 peasants. Especially if you have unlimited reinforcements for both sides during a siege, which you really should have on anyway.

Now what garrison would you rather have, 100 knights or 5000 peasants? The 5000 peasants would be more effective in scaring off potential attackers. However, actually getting the 5000 peasants would take months and months of recruiting.

So I guess the answer is that a larger amount of lower tier troops is ideal. However, since you can't recruit the lower tier units on such a massive scale, you should also mix some higher tier units in as well.

okay, so a bit of both then, gotcha. Thanks. 

personally i use 2nd or 3rd tier troops for garrisons, usually footmen and crossbowmen

[Kale_Fellblade]

To answer your garrison question, it's a bit complicated I think. Like an elite unit might cost the same money as 50 peasants. Which is the better garrison to have, 1 knight or 50 peasants? Definitely the 50 peasants. Especially if you have unlimited reinforcements for both sides during a siege, which you really should have on anyway.

Now what garrison would you rather have, 100 knights or 5000 peasants? The 5000 peasants would be more effective in scaring off potential attackers. However, actually getting the 5000 peasants would take months and months of recruiting.

So I guess the answer is that a larger amount of lower tier troops is ideal. However, since you can't recruit the lower tier units on such a massive scale, you should also mix some higher tier units in as well.

okay, so a bit of both then, gotcha. Thanks. 

personally i use 2nd or 3rd tier troops for garrisons, usually footmen and crossbowmen

yeah I think that might be a better idea, i was wondering though, do troops in garrisons gain exp? Or are they stuck at whatever level you left them in?

[Rallix]

I'm pretty sure they're stuck. Some mods train troops while they're in a garrison.

[Kale_Fellblade]

Hmm okay. I guess I really need to fix my home connection already so I can get me some mods. Is that in the Floris Mod? I plan to install that one as soon as I can.

[Rallix]

Sword of Damocles specifically. Not sure if Floris' does it, but hell, it probably does with its gigabytes of features.

[Thedalitz]

In Prophesy of Pendor, troops can get trained in garrisons too. If you have the right building

[Kale_Fellblade]

Awesome. Thanks for the mod recommendations, I'll get them as soon as my net's back up.