Recruiting non-faction troops

[Skatan]

Hello all,

I've searched the forums but couldn't find a topic about this. If there is already, I'd appreciate a link.

So, I've played around 200 hours of mostly un/semi-modded BL now and most of those hours over about 3-4 main playthroughs. One thing I've contemplated a lot is whether or not it should be possible to recruit from non-faction villages. Let me give an example;

Playing 1.4.1 and .2 lately as Battanians we were at war with Vlandia. The war ended quickly, as they seem to do nowadays (my last playthrough was back in 1.2 and .3 then I took a break), and as soon as it ended all Vlandian lords in Battanian territory went around and recruited Battanian volunteers like literally the same day as a peace was brokered. It seems odd. The only way to _not_ be able to recruit is to take hostile action towards every individual village so you get negative relations with the notables there, but to be frank I don't know for sure that applies to NPCs. The next time war broke out half of the vlandian vassals had a lot of battanian units in their armies, which just feels a bit off. Would recruits really care so little whom they join that they would literally join any vassal that comes along, even their mortal enemies? Sure, it may just be the lower ranks but most armies consist of recruits/volunteers anyways.

I don't want to completely stop the ability to recruit from non-faction villages obviously, but I would like to raise the question if it should be as easy as it is now. To create a challenge for myself I've decided to only use Battanian units, and some sturgians since they are wiped out on the map. So whenever I have to replenish troops I go back around Marunath, Senion etc and recruit. I've had other playthroughs where I've used whatever I had and even went down the "force recruit" route which is way more effective than normal recruiting.

Already now, as is, you can't replenish troops in enemy territory but as soon as war ends, you can again. I am contemplating if perhaps a negative relation could be issued to all vassals in enemy factions. Meaning, be applied to the faction notables during war and remain after war. This means even if the war ends, the previous enemy vassals will normally have negative relations and thus can't just recruit willy nilly. if they take the fief, they will in time raise the relations through security and be able to recruit again. I like the idea of a dymanic where you, as well as enemy vassals, have to go back home to gain units. It may create a sort of "war of attrition" perhaps.

Not sure about this idea, just curious to throw it out there and see what you all think about it.

P.S
And before you tell me about mods, this thread is for discussing vanilla behaviors hehe

 

[Skatan]

Some add-on comments;

This could be one benefit to stay mercenary instead of vassal, perhaps the negative relationship debuff should only be applied to real vassals. Also minor factions could perhaps be excluded.

 

[stevehoos]

Just me, but I feel you should not be able to recruit from any village without a positive relation. Secondly, there should be a cultural penalty for having troops in the same party from different regions. There's just not much depth in this game.

 

[Skatan]

Good point @stevehoos. Perhaps a pretty significant morale debuff for mixing units, like;

-10 if 2 maor faction units
-20 if 3 major faction units
-30 if 4 major.. etc

You would still be powerful as hell mixing battanian fians with imperial legionaries and vlandian banner knights, but if you started to get hard resistance your entire army could route because they don't care about you or your faction.

A very high leadership skill would then be needed to counteract this since it adds to the morale of the army so a great leader could still employ a mixed faction army successfully.

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

I think they should have limitations to where and what they can recruit similar to the player. Now it's too easy/fast for AI. One problem though is empire recruits EVERYWHERE. They're gonna end up in everyone's forces always unless they make cultures change with conquest.

I think when a fief is taken over by a new culture, some new notables should be added and have 2 troops types. Perhaps as the game goes on a fief that's changed hands a lot could have all kinds of people living their bringing in different types of troops. I also think we should have the ability to replace notables we have low relation with if we own the fief and aren't a vassal. I mean who does this *** hat with -100 think he is? I Own everything he can see for miles around and killed everyone he ever knew and he's gonna tell me no?

Just me, but I feel you should not be able to recruit from any village without a positive relation. Secondly, there should be a cultural penalty for having troops in the same party from different regions. There's just not much depth in this game.

I agree, it's surprisingly lax even on the 'realistic' setting. That said, more, better and always available quests are a must. Or another means to get in good with a village or notable. I also think it's funny how good forced recruitment is. Compared to grinding up high relations you can just go to an enemy and clean out all their troops. Save and re-load resets it so you can suck em dry.

 

[Skatan]

I'm not so sure about replacing notables. There's still laws and if you just take someones property and/or kill them, you would be hated (perhaps with massive negative penalties in the game). Though over time it would indeed be cool of the towns had ppl of your culture move in and take a place, perhaps replacing one previous notable. It could even be a quest, like one of the gang leaders would have a quest to be replaced by a new from your factions and one civilian one per town. The villages I think should remain as-is. Fiefs you own you should be able to recruit from, but not other fiefs from non-faction villages. At least not as easily as now.

You can still recruit from prisoners and so should the NPCs.

 

[HalfMetalJacket]

Someone else suggested something along these lines, but the option to straight up murder notables during razing actions could be interesting. When they get offed, another notable will come in their place, one that is neutral to you and shares the culture of their new rulers.

Maybe that, or enstating a notable if there's enough space for them. The notables system has surprising potential and I wish to see it used.