Army size too big?

[t1337Dude]

It seems like my army can't get bigger than 50 without my morale being lowered drastically. How do I keep my army size without low morale or what can I do with my extra troops? I see lords running around with 100 men and they don't seem to have any problems.

 

[Ruthven]

well, do battles often, that always helps. also, make sure you can keep them well payed, and get a large variety of food. that should raise morale enough to support more than 200 troops before you get desertions. but just get lots of different types of food, and look at the morale bonuses.

 

[t1337Dude]

I'm not at war with anyone so I'm having a hard time finding battles. In fact, I'm having a hard time keeping up with my units upkeep (still have 20,000+ denarii though) without looting villages and such.  Any tips?

 

[RayvenQ]

Try giving them a wide variety of food too.

 

[t1337Dude]

How do the food bonuses work? Is it +6 morale per pig or is it +6 if you simply have pork, and +4 if you apples and etc.?

 

[golin]

well i don't see why you need so many people then if your just killing bandits and doing quests you really don't need very many men maby 30 max. really the only thing you would need allot of troops for is takeing down lords towns and castles

 

[RayvenQ]

How do the food bonuses work? Is it +6 morale per pig or is it +6 if you simply have pork, and +4 if you apples and etc.?

I think it may be just per type of food, even if that is the case, it does all add up once you get a wide variety of foods.

 

[t1337Dude]

well i don't see why you need so many people then if your just killing bandits and doing quests you really don't need very many men maby 30 max. really the only thing you would need allot of troops for is takeing down lords towns and castles

I don't just want to release 25 huscarls. My war with Swadia just ended and if I have to go back to war I don't want to have spend 30 battles retraining my men.

 

[DaveDaDude]

You know you dont really NEED that many troops, if you have a high tactics skill and say about 20 or so top tier troops that should be fine for you to win battles and take castles with, Your probably not using EVERY troop in your battles anyway right?

 

[Kraven]

You know you dont really NEED that many troops, if you have a high tactics skill and say about 20 or so top tier troops that should be fine for you to win battles and take castles with, Your probably not using EVERY troop in your battles anyway right?

Really do depend alot on what battlesize your using, battlesize 35 or less, yeah that works fine, battlesize 36-45 i guess it could work on, above that? I would seriously consider having that few troops for a siege suicide.

Personally playing on a battlesize of 80 (my comp sadly cant run higher than that) and only having 20 units with me? Bad idea.

 

[Togakure]

Food morale bonuses of the same type do not stack.  Having multiple types of food will raise your party's morale level by the value shown for as long as that food type is in your inventory (hence "food variety" in the Reports section; click on Reports at the bottom of the screen to access.  There is a party morale report that details what is contributing to your current level of morale).

What is your personal Leadership skill level?  Leadership increases party morale, the higher your Leadership, the higher the bonus.  It also increases the maximum size limite of your party, as do Charisma points.

Fight often.  Positive "Recent events" will raise morale; conversely negative recent events will lower morale.  Fighting often and winning will increase your renown.  Additional renown eventually results in increased maximum party size limit.

What is your party's Tactics skill level?  Tactics affects how many troops you bring to each battle cycle, and how many the enemy brings. 

Finally, the ratio of troops in each battle cycle is based on the total number of troops in your party (including any allies that join the battle) compared to the total number of enemy troops you face (all that join the battle).

 

[bob505]

Who really cares about morale i won with 100 against 500 with very low morale.

 

[SimonForsman]

Who really cares about morale i won with 100 against 500 with very low morale.

If your partys morale drops too low your soldiers will desert , having high tier troops abandon you isn't that fun.

In older versions morale also had an effect on your partys travel speed (I belive it still applies but i havn't tested it yet)

 

[DaveDaDude]

You know you dont really NEED that many troops, if you have a high tactics skill and say about 20 or so top tier troops that should be fine for you to win battles and take castles with, Your probably not using EVERY troop in your battles anyway right?

Really do depend alot on what battlesize your using, battlesize 35 or less, yeah that works fine, battlesize 36-45 i guess it could work on, above that? I would seriously consider having that few troops for a siege suicide.

Personally playing on a battlesize of 80 (my comp sadly cant run higher than that) and only having 20 units with me? Bad idea.

I actually meant for 100 battle size. I mean who relys on there troops to do most of the work anyway? Im sure everyone kills over half the enemy troops themselves anyway.

 

[Nash]

Who really cares about morale i won with 100 against 500 with very low morale.

If your partys morale drops too low your soldiers will desert , having high tier troops abandon you isn't that fun.

In older versions morale also had an effect on your partys travel speed (I belive it still applies but i havn't tested it yet)

I remember that being the case as well, but I've yet to notice any such effect thus far (granted I get into battles quite often).

You know you dont really NEED that many troops, if you have a high tactics skill and say about 20 or so top tier troops that should be fine for you to win battles and take castles with, Your probably not using EVERY troop in your battles anyway right?

Really do depend alot on what battlesize your using, battlesize 35 or less, yeah that works fine, battlesize 36-45 i guess it could work on, above that? I would seriously consider having that few troops for a siege suicide.

Personally playing on a battlesize of 80 (my comp sadly cant run higher than that) and only having 20 units with me? Bad idea.

I actually meant for 100 battle size. I mean who relys on there troops to do most of the work anyway? Im sure everyone kills over half the enemy troops themselves anyway.

I don't. 

Well, I kill a lot, but my men do quite a bit of murdering themselves, thankfully.

 

[DaveDaDude]

Well since you play as a Khergit i can see why you dont get much chance to get in and kill yourself, since all your men are on horses and get into the enemy the same time as you

 

[Nash]

Well since you play as a Khergit i can see why you dont get much chance to get in and kill yourself, since all your men are on horses and get into the enemy the same time as you

I've actually been playing as a Nord. 

I just can't get the hang of mounted combat in this version for some reason. Plus after getting used to on-foot combat, I find riding around on a horse rather dull.

 

[DaveDaDude]

well if your going to play on foot then yeah you DO need alot of men on your side to back you up so you dont get surrounded

 

[Nash]

well if your going to play on foot then yeah you DO need alot of men on your side to back you up so you dont get surrounded

Definitely. I try to keep my army size above 60 at all times, even if I'm just padding that number with 10 or so recruits. Plus having a lot of troops helps to surround and stop cavalry (when they charge into you that is).

 

[TheMageLord]

Food variety is always good. I like to carry every food item except for bread apples and beef - bread and apples are heavier than other stuff and beef spoils. Honey is especially good - very light and +10 morale. It's a little bit expensive, but you can find it in villages at a good price. Higher leadership helps too (+7 morale per point). I usually run with ~60 troops (including me and my 5 heroes, so ~54), but I'll bring along twice that if the situation calls for it - like to stop a 900 man invasion or siege a city. You really need a castle to drop troops off when you don't need them.

One thing I have to ask: How many heroes do you have?
Each hero character subtracts 3 from morale (including you, funnily enough), while normal troops take 1. So if you have 8 heroes it's like having 24 troops right there. I seems kind of silly to me. Shouldn't having powerful companions helping lead your army BOOST morale, not lower it? But I guess it's in as a balancing thing since heroes can be so powerful.

As far as getting top tier troops, the best way I've found to do it is to spend some time leveling up my companions and raising their training skill. I currently have 5 companions all level 20ish with very high training skill, and I can train top tier troops in a couple of days. I keep a few hundred nord and vaegir footmen stored in my citys and if I suffer heavy losses I can stop off for 2 days and have as many extra tier 4 troops as I want. A few more days and they're tier 5. I can't quickly train them straight to huscarl yet, but as soon as my companions get a couple more levels that'll be possible too. Once you reach this point losses in battle and even disbanding troops that you don't need doesn't really hurt that much - just travel to a few villages and spend a couple days training. You really start to feel more like the npc lords - lose your army, just visit the villages and come right back with a new one.

I play without surgery (feels too much like cheating imo, I'd rather take my losses than magically keep the guy with his head cut off alive) so training is more necessary - you lose too many just working them up in battles.