I believe the current morale system is a too shallow to be of much use or effect. Here I want to discuss some potential improvements.
"Food"
Firstly I would change that to 'rations', or supply, has a more arm-y sound to it.
- Remove the penalty from lack of food variety, instead add ....
- A set and customizable regular diet for the army, aka daily rations, deciding ow often soldiers would eat and what they'd eat. These should be very basic things like bread, cheap vegetables, water, and on special occasions, say celebrating after a victory, they could have wines, grapes, fresh meat, and of course, butter. This, along with the addition of camps and these kinds of "celebrations" in a camp or a settlement would increase morale. Adding to the standard amount of rations would increase morale whereas cutting rations further would decrease morale and increase attrition and exhaustion. And so on.
Camp Followers
They are mentioned in the game but we don't see them at all in the gameplay. This would be a nice addition to the game and especially to army morale. Some ideas as to how they could be implemented include:
- First of all, who would they be and what would they do? Let's take inspiration from real life; wives and families of soldiers? Not sure how that could be implemented so let's look at more simpler options, which are the:
Servants, merchants, and prostitutes. The last part might be a little controversial, not historically I mean politically which is unfortunately something devs feel they need to consider these days.
In the case of M&B I always assumed soldiers did everything themselves, so servants could take some weight off their shoulders, increasing morale and decreasing attrition. Also there should be the option to take peasant slaves and make them servants as well. Merchants, I think should be completely independent, maybe when you've visited a settlement or just roaming around in the map they could come to your army and request to hop on, they could be an interesting potential for spy plots. Again these merchants would sell soldiers any good the army doesn't provide, could be alcohol, or better armour or something, which means higher morale. And lastly prostitutes would.. do their thing and increase morale, decreasing exhaustion. Maybe taking slaves as.. no? Too far?
-Besides the options I've stated previously, they could also be hired individually or in complete groups, encountered in taverns or more appropriately on the road, hell, even better when they visit your camp (when they'rehopefully eventually added)
Immersive events at army camps (when they'rehopefully eventually added)
This is something I wanted to see in general but for now I'll only mention the things related to army morale.
- Giving speeches, I mean, there is a charm skill that doesn't effect the army in the slightest, this could be a good reason. When there's unrest and a possible mutiny in the army, I should be able to begin a speech with the word "Quirites" and solve all the aforementioned problems with a high enough charm level... if you know what I mean.
- Promising your soldiers higher wages (or sth similar)when their exhaustion is high, giving them a reason to push through with war, it would appear as a quest and have a deadline, if the promises aren't held until the deadline morale takes a big hit. If they are, exactly the opposite. Maybe that's too far but hey, Caesar did it, and we can't have a medieval sandbox game that doesn't allow me to RP Caesar.
- The festivals and celebrations I mentioned earlier.
- Training together, or instructing your army personally, performing drills displaying military might could boost morale. Parades in settlements?
Other / Relevant
- General war attrition and army exhaustion could also cause an army to demand to be discharged, the player would have to make an interesting moral choice:
1) Give into their demands, losing perhaps your most experienced and veteran units, even possibly appearing as weak, or merciful.
2) Or, as I've mentioned in the original post, give a speech, the higher your charm skill, more likely it is to work.
3) Threaten and force them to stay in the army, would give you negative honour maybe and decrease loyalty, increase exhaustion, perfect recipe for a mutiny.
I'll add more as ideas come to my mind or if you've anything to add, I can edit it in the thread.
"Food"
Firstly I would change that to 'rations', or supply, has a more arm-y sound to it.
- Remove the penalty from lack of food variety, instead add ....
- A set and customizable regular diet for the army, aka daily rations, deciding ow often soldiers would eat and what they'd eat. These should be very basic things like bread, cheap vegetables, water, and on special occasions, say celebrating after a victory, they could have wines, grapes, fresh meat, and of course, butter. This, along with the addition of camps and these kinds of "celebrations" in a camp or a settlement would increase morale. Adding to the standard amount of rations would increase morale whereas cutting rations further would decrease morale and increase attrition and exhaustion. And so on.
Camp Followers
They are mentioned in the game but we don't see them at all in the gameplay. This would be a nice addition to the game and especially to army morale. Some ideas as to how they could be implemented include:
- First of all, who would they be and what would they do? Let's take inspiration from real life; wives and families of soldiers? Not sure how that could be implemented so let's look at more simpler options, which are the:
Servants, merchants, and prostitutes. The last part might be a little controversial, not historically I mean politically which is unfortunately something devs feel they need to consider these days.
In the case of M&B I always assumed soldiers did everything themselves, so servants could take some weight off their shoulders, increasing morale and decreasing attrition. Also there should be the option to take peasant slaves and make them servants as well. Merchants, I think should be completely independent, maybe when you've visited a settlement or just roaming around in the map they could come to your army and request to hop on, they could be an interesting potential for spy plots. Again these merchants would sell soldiers any good the army doesn't provide, could be alcohol, or better armour or something, which means higher morale. And lastly prostitutes would.. do their thing and increase morale, decreasing exhaustion. Maybe taking slaves as.. no? Too far?
-Besides the options I've stated previously, they could also be hired individually or in complete groups, encountered in taverns or more appropriately on the road, hell, even better when they visit your camp (when they're
Immersive events at army camps (when they're
This is something I wanted to see in general but for now I'll only mention the things related to army morale.
- Giving speeches, I mean, there is a charm skill that doesn't effect the army in the slightest, this could be a good reason. When there's unrest and a possible mutiny in the army, I should be able to begin a speech with the word "Quirites" and solve all the aforementioned problems with a high enough charm level... if you know what I mean.
- Promising your soldiers higher wages (or sth similar)when their exhaustion is high, giving them a reason to push through with war, it would appear as a quest and have a deadline, if the promises aren't held until the deadline morale takes a big hit. If they are, exactly the opposite. Maybe that's too far but hey, Caesar did it, and we can't have a medieval sandbox game that doesn't allow me to RP Caesar.
- The festivals and celebrations I mentioned earlier.
- Training together, or instructing your army personally, performing drills displaying military might could boost morale. Parades in settlements?
Other / Relevant
- General war attrition and army exhaustion could also cause an army to demand to be discharged, the player would have to make an interesting moral choice:
1) Give into their demands, losing perhaps your most experienced and veteran units, even possibly appearing as weak, or merciful.
2) Or, as I've mentioned in the original post, give a speech, the higher your charm skill, more likely it is to work.
3) Threaten and force them to stay in the army, would give you negative honour maybe and decrease loyalty, increase exhaustion, perfect recipe for a mutiny.
I'll add more as ideas come to my mind or if you've anything to add, I can edit it in the thread.
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