Hey guys, new POP3 player here (and new to M&B as well). I'm on my first POP game and wondering how you guys deal with attrition in the late game when you're fighting constantly and laying siege to castles.
Just to let you know where I am: Day 900, ~1.8 million in the bank, level 37 with stats something like 25/29/43/27, leadership/pathfinding/surgery maxed, ~15 companions mostly around level 25 except for the knights. I have 5 walled fiefs: Laria, 2 nearby castles, Seven Cross Keep (between Laria and Sarleon), and Sarleon (my capital). 3 of those have CKO chapters, 2 have clarion call (which I am a member of and currently on the grandmaster quest). I've upgraded Clarion Call 4 times, I think. Playing on max difficulty, battlesizer 350 (comp can't go higher), except I savescum and lower difficulty for Noldor tournaments. Gotten only 1 qualis from there so far. Weekly income is -15000 or so, Sarleon/Laria have 1k+ troops each and all my villages are looted, but no problem since I have tons of cash in the bank.
I'm king of Pendor and currently own more than half the map--all of Sarleon and Fierdsvain (they are both wiped out), plus Singal/Nal Tar and a few castles here and there. I've recruited almost every good-natured/upstanding lord in the game, and probably have around 15-20 vassals (they like me but they suck at fighting). At war with the other 3 factions, and have about 30 of their lords rotting in the dungeon (including Marius Imperator). Ishkoman and Ethos have traded hands and their garrisons are currently very weak. Ravenstern is currently the strongest AI faction.
Aside from using mass gladiator stacks to autocalc noldor and unique spawns in the earlier parts of the game, I have been using a force of Hero Adventurers supported by Ravenstern Rangers for much of the game, supplemented by plain Rogue Knights (when I can rescue them) and Clarion Call knights. This was a very effective force for much of the game. Now, despite 10+4 surgery, I have been losing 2-3 HAs per major lord battle/siege plus a handful of RRs. I also have ~20 adventurers that are upgrading slowly. I have an army size of 370 or so and I am down to 20 HAs (from 60 originally), 70 RRs (from 150+ originally), and ~10 each of Clarion Call and Rogue Knights.
My problem is that I am finding it very difficult to replace my RRs and HAs, which were my bread and butter troops. Since I'm at war on three fronts (and multiple peace emissaries to each faction have been rejected), I don't have time to run all the way to Ravenstern to hire 3 recruits per village, nor do I have time to do a circuit of each city to look for young directional nobles in the taverns. Out of necessity, I've been experimenting with other troops and haven't been happy with the results. What kind of units should I look at to replenish my army? In hindsight I made a mistake not stockpiling more Ravenstern recruits, but can't fix that now.
I have a ton of random Sarleon troops in my fiefs, but they seem crappy and I don't want to use them. Same with Pendor obviously. I have some Fierds guys left over, and have been messing around with AAs and Huscarls---the Huscarls have done reasonably well in sieges, but the attrition rate is even higher than HAs and they don't train any faster (both come from level 30 troops). Empire's villages are close by and are still Empire culture, and I have 50+ relation with several of them so I can hire tons of Empire troops. I've been playing around with Legionnaires and EACs, and I've found that the Legionnaires look great on paper (320 WPF, good armor, throwing weapons) but aren't actually that effective. EACs seem okay, but still inferior to RRs. And they are way harder to train since they come from level 30 guys.
I have around 120+ CKO troops sitting around from gradual accumulation, but they are still a few months away from being ready (I'm using bobknight's basic gear guide--doom mace, netherworld shield, noldor bow, meltine arrows, plus serviceable armor that doesn't take too long to make). I haven't used up any of my Pendor nobles yet (I think I must have at least 300-400 waiting to be recruited), nor have I spent any prestige other than upgrading Clarion Call and creating knighthood chapters. So I have around 4500 prestige.
So I'm wondering--where should I go from here? I don't have any Qualis gems, so I can't make a KotEG chapter. I also don't have Sarleon nobles for more CCs, but I could disband a chapter and use Falcons or something. To be honest though I want to save all my prestige for CKOs when they're ready. Are Pendor foot knights/grey archers good? They look great on paper, but infantry tends to have a high attrition rate and several threads I've read on here suggest that RRs are the best foot archers in the game, even better than Pendor Greys and unupgraded Silvermists.
Any help appreciated. I realize I'm in a good spot, with a big bankroll and a lot of the map already conquered, but I feel I've stagnated the last few weeks as my army has suffered from more and more attrition.
Just to let you know where I am: Day 900, ~1.8 million in the bank, level 37 with stats something like 25/29/43/27, leadership/pathfinding/surgery maxed, ~15 companions mostly around level 25 except for the knights. I have 5 walled fiefs: Laria, 2 nearby castles, Seven Cross Keep (between Laria and Sarleon), and Sarleon (my capital). 3 of those have CKO chapters, 2 have clarion call (which I am a member of and currently on the grandmaster quest). I've upgraded Clarion Call 4 times, I think. Playing on max difficulty, battlesizer 350 (comp can't go higher), except I savescum and lower difficulty for Noldor tournaments. Gotten only 1 qualis from there so far. Weekly income is -15000 or so, Sarleon/Laria have 1k+ troops each and all my villages are looted, but no problem since I have tons of cash in the bank.
I'm king of Pendor and currently own more than half the map--all of Sarleon and Fierdsvain (they are both wiped out), plus Singal/Nal Tar and a few castles here and there. I've recruited almost every good-natured/upstanding lord in the game, and probably have around 15-20 vassals (they like me but they suck at fighting). At war with the other 3 factions, and have about 30 of their lords rotting in the dungeon (including Marius Imperator). Ishkoman and Ethos have traded hands and their garrisons are currently very weak. Ravenstern is currently the strongest AI faction.
Aside from using mass gladiator stacks to autocalc noldor and unique spawns in the earlier parts of the game, I have been using a force of Hero Adventurers supported by Ravenstern Rangers for much of the game, supplemented by plain Rogue Knights (when I can rescue them) and Clarion Call knights. This was a very effective force for much of the game. Now, despite 10+4 surgery, I have been losing 2-3 HAs per major lord battle/siege plus a handful of RRs. I also have ~20 adventurers that are upgrading slowly. I have an army size of 370 or so and I am down to 20 HAs (from 60 originally), 70 RRs (from 150+ originally), and ~10 each of Clarion Call and Rogue Knights.
My problem is that I am finding it very difficult to replace my RRs and HAs, which were my bread and butter troops. Since I'm at war on three fronts (and multiple peace emissaries to each faction have been rejected), I don't have time to run all the way to Ravenstern to hire 3 recruits per village, nor do I have time to do a circuit of each city to look for young directional nobles in the taverns. Out of necessity, I've been experimenting with other troops and haven't been happy with the results. What kind of units should I look at to replenish my army? In hindsight I made a mistake not stockpiling more Ravenstern recruits, but can't fix that now.
I have a ton of random Sarleon troops in my fiefs, but they seem crappy and I don't want to use them. Same with Pendor obviously. I have some Fierds guys left over, and have been messing around with AAs and Huscarls---the Huscarls have done reasonably well in sieges, but the attrition rate is even higher than HAs and they don't train any faster (both come from level 30 troops). Empire's villages are close by and are still Empire culture, and I have 50+ relation with several of them so I can hire tons of Empire troops. I've been playing around with Legionnaires and EACs, and I've found that the Legionnaires look great on paper (320 WPF, good armor, throwing weapons) but aren't actually that effective. EACs seem okay, but still inferior to RRs. And they are way harder to train since they come from level 30 guys.
I have around 120+ CKO troops sitting around from gradual accumulation, but they are still a few months away from being ready (I'm using bobknight's basic gear guide--doom mace, netherworld shield, noldor bow, meltine arrows, plus serviceable armor that doesn't take too long to make). I haven't used up any of my Pendor nobles yet (I think I must have at least 300-400 waiting to be recruited), nor have I spent any prestige other than upgrading Clarion Call and creating knighthood chapters. So I have around 4500 prestige.
So I'm wondering--where should I go from here? I don't have any Qualis gems, so I can't make a KotEG chapter. I also don't have Sarleon nobles for more CCs, but I could disband a chapter and use Falcons or something. To be honest though I want to save all my prestige for CKOs when they're ready. Are Pendor foot knights/grey archers good? They look great on paper, but infantry tends to have a high attrition rate and several threads I've read on here suggest that RRs are the best foot archers in the game, even better than Pendor Greys and unupgraded Silvermists.
Any help appreciated. I realize I'm in a good spot, with a big bankroll and a lot of the map already conquered, but I feel I've stagnated the last few weeks as my army has suffered from more and more attrition.