Recruit noble troops from castles only!

[Lucius Confucius]

Others have said this, but it deserves its own topic. This would give another strategic advantage to castles, it would make them more useful and interesting. 1 notable per castle maybe?

Thoughts?

 

[Stromming]

I agree. Castles feel utterly worthless at the moment.

 

[vito397]

Yep, i think a castle notable with noble troops would be a very good idea, and not difficult to implement.

 

[redmark]

Don't think it needs to be 'only'.

What would be interesting (and unique, and logical) for castles is to recruit owning culture nobles, not original culture - and perhaps, only by the owning clan, not every passing party.

 

[black_bulldog]

Don't think it needs to be 'only'.

What would be interesting (and unique, and logical) for castles is to recruit owning culture nobles, not original culture - and perhaps, only by the owning clan, not every passing party.

I've been saying this for over 6 months. It would add a bit of interesting gameplay and make castles more valuable without adding too much complexity. I doubt TW will do it but I'm sure there will be modders who see the value in it.

 

[vonbalt]

They really need to add some notables to castles giving noble troops or atleast anything to make castles worthwhile to hold, right now they are just worse cities in every aspect.

 

[madnessario]

They really need to add some notables to castles giving noble troops or atleast anything to make castles worthwhile to hold, right now they are just worse cities in every aspect.

Mexxico (no tag, no reason to disturb him) has said the following in another thread. I believe the "own culture" castle noble is a solid feature but I do not think there is much probability of it happening based on the last sentence.

Notables giving these troops will increase in 1.5.10 (2 next patch). All rural notables at villages bounded by castle will give these noble troops. Currently only rural notables and headman with 200+ power are giving them but this will change. Currently about 20% of village notables are giving noble troops this will be around 33% with new rule.

Also these notables can give noble troops from even first slots. Currently there are mostly tier-1 common recruits at first slots. This is not guarenteed but will be evaluated.

I will suggest adding 1 notable to castles for giving noble troops but it has less chance to be accepted. Anyway even this is not accepted these rare troops will be more common.

 

[vonbalt]

Mexxico (no tag, no reason to disturb him) has said the following in another thread. I believe the "own culture" castle noble is a solid feature but I do not think there is much probability of it happening based on the last sentence.

This is good news but a shame it seems it'll be difficult to add any notable to the castles themselves, it's strange how TW seems fine with castles doing nothing beyond being a troops stash.

 

[five bucks]

Another way castles could be more useful is if they generated defensive scout patrols that searched the surrounding area for bandits/enemy armies.

 

[black_bulldog]

Another way castles could be more useful is if they generated defensive scout patrols that searched the surrounding area for bandits/enemy armies.

Yeah no patrols no manhunters no one to keep bandits under control except to hunt them yourself and at some point that becomes impossible. I really don't understand what TW was thinking when they decided that this wasn't important.

 

[vonbalt]

Yeah no patrols no manhunters no one to keep bandits under control except to hunt them yourself and at some point that becomes impossible. I really don't understand what TW was thinking when they decided that this wasn't important.

another very important thing missing, would be awesome if each castle generated a patrol to keep bandits and small enemy parties away from their attached villages.

 

[madnessario]

another very important thing missing, would be awesome if each castle generated a patrol to keep bandits and small enemy parties away from their attached villages.

Can you attack those patrols though? Because then the player can cheese the mechanic to drain a castle. I would prefer something more abstract: Based on a constructed building in the castle (player agency), a percentage/fixed number of the garrison can be added to the village defense when attacked.

Easy solution!

 

[vonbalt]

Can you attack those patrols though? Because then the player can cheese the mechanic to drain a castle. I would prefer something more abstract: Based on a constructed building in the castle (player agency), a percentage/fixed number of the garrison can be added to the village defense when attacked.

Easy solution!

that's an easier solution of course but i would like it to take troops from the garrison roaming around the fiefs.

It could easily prevent the cheesing by setting the AI to only send out mounted patrols (faster), they avoiding enemies with same strength or higher (they are there to clear the trash, patrol and report not to be heroes) and the garrison needing to be at certain strength of men before sending a patrol (something like minimum troops garrisoning to send patrols equal or more than 100 for example)

If you had a small, quick and strong party you could weaken them by destroying a few patrols yes but after some time they would avoid sending out patrols to preserve the strength of the garrison and would be cool if patrols reported to their faction nearby enemies and their relative strength (a nearby patrol reports a large enemy party moving past Ataconia castle)

 

[five bucks]

Can you attack those patrols though? Because then the player can cheese the mechanic to drain a castle. I would prefer something more abstract: Based on a constructed building in the castle (player agency), a percentage/fixed number of the garrison can be added to the village defense when attacked.

Easy solution!

It's easy to prevent such a thing from happening: make a castle only generate a patrol once per season, and stop generating patrols if the garrison falls below a certain number of troops.

 

[Kingofmetal]

Disagree. It's already a pain in the behind enough to recruit noble troops. The are fun to use and add to the lore of each kingdom, and restricting them behind castles would preclude many roleplay possibilities. There are other ways to make castles matter such as zones of control, etc.

 

[LuciusDomitiusAurelianus]

Pretty sure castle recruitment (or at least bound village) for Nobles is in scope for 1.5.10. Though I agree, at least one notable providing Noble troops for a castle is better than what we have right now. Without a very high-skilled companion (which don't exist really) maintaining castles are expensive without the garrison wage reduction and having most of the buildings at Level 3, and even then, they still consume food too fast and end up losing loyalty and tax revenue.

 

[Bluko88]

Others have said this, but it deserves its own topic. This would give another strategic advantage to castles, it would make them more useful and interesting. 1 notable per castle maybe?

Thoughts?

This would be an excellent change as it:

1. Gives Castles some real meaning/tactical advantage besides being cheaper places to store Troops.
2. Would help balance them against towns a bit which provide you with way more recruits (and income).
3. All these efforts to add more Noble Troops to villages is just going to do the following:

• Make it harder to recruit regular veteran troops (I may not need/want all Noble units in the last 3 slots you know?)
• Will help keep Noble troops from becoming too prevalent

Also lore wise it makes more sense these units would only be available at Castles. Why would you be getting Fians, Cataphracts, etc. from humble little villages? Wouldn't these elite warriors need to be trained somewhere?

Unfortunately I'm guessing TW won't do this namely because Castles don't offer recruits and adding that effects a great many things. i.e. how A.I. Parties recruit, the effect of essentially providing more troops to the game world as well. Though honestly I think it would be a worthwhile effort. Still won't be surprised if someone mods this in at some point. Folks have already added quite a few additional menu items to towns/villages.

 

[Schlarkenstein]

This would be an excellent change as it:

1. Gives Castles some real meaning/tactical advantage besides being cheaper places to store Troops.
2. Would help balance them against towns a bit which provide you with way more recruits (and income).
3. All these efforts to add more Noble Troops to villages is just going to do the following:

• Make it harder to recruit regular veteran troops (I may not need/want all Noble units in the last 3 slots you know?)
• Will help keep Noble troops from becoming too prevalent

Also lore wise it makes more sense these units would only be available at Castles. Why would you be getting Fians, Cataphracts, etc. from humble little villages? Wouldn't these elite warriors need to be trained somewhere?

Unfortunately I'm guessing TW won't do this namely because Castles don't offer recruits and adding that effects a great many things. i.e. how A.I. Parties recruit, the effect of essentially providing more troops to the game world as well. Though honestly I think it would be a worthwhile effort. Still won't be surprised if someone mods this in at some point. Folks have already added quite a few additional menu items to towns/villages.

Yeah, immersion-wise it would make a lot more sense for noble troops to only come from castles.

I actually voted no to this idea, but I might change it to yes. - If the player (and AI) could recruit as many nobles from castles as currently exist in villages then it would make sense.

Also - If you could pay to have a "trainer" live in your castle and produce noble recruits that are only available to you - that would create another great incentive to hold castles. (And another way to spend late game money).

 

[MakinTorf]

and then the game is flooded with noble troops and the hole aha effect by finding them is gone...

 

[Death2Tyrants]

Disagree. It's already a pain in the behind enough to recruit noble troops. The are fun to use and add to the lore of each kingdom, and restricting them behind castles would preclude many roleplay possibilities. There are other ways to make castles matter such as zones of control, etc.

Leadership 150 my friend. My castles are garrisoned by Fian Champions.