User Guide

89
THE MILITARY
Overview
We have spent a long time talking about inter-
faces and displays, war and peace, domestic af-
fairs and diplomacy; but we haven’t yet talked
directly about the nuts and bolts of one of the
more important aspects of the game: the crea-
tion and control of your military. This chapter
will teach you how to raise an army or a fleet,
assign generals and admirals to lead them, and
then how to control their actions in the field or
at sea. We begin with a basic look at the struc-
ture of your military, and then we’ll proceed to
a series of sections that discuss everything you
need to know about recruiting and using your
land forces. We will then shift our attention to
naval forces and conclude the chapter by look-
ing at a situation where you may need to use a
combination of the two. Although many of the
same considerations apply to the subject of ex-
ploration and colonisation, we will discuss this
separately in the subsequent chapter.
Structure of the
Military
Your country’s military is divided into two dis-
tinct parts: land forces and naval forces. Land
forces are used to defend your provinces, fight
battles, put down rebellion, lay siege to enemy
cities, and conduct any other military opera-
tions that occur on solid ground. They are usu-
ally controlled as armies, which are composed
of a series of regiments of varying types and
abilities. Naval forces operate only at sea and
consist of ships that are assembled into fleets.
Your fleets will engage enemy ships, sink the
occasional privateer, and may also be used to
blockade enemy ports or transport your land
forces overseas.
Regiment Types
The regiment is the basic unit of your land
forces, with each regiment being composed of
1000 soldiers. Each regiment will have a spe-
cific area of expertise that will classify it as ei-
ther infantry, cavalry, or artillery. A series
of regiments with then be assembled into an
army, assigned a general, and used to accom-
plish your military goals. Putting together an
effective army will be essential to your chances
of success, so it is vital that you understand
and consider the distinction between each of
the regiment types.
Infantry Regiments
The infantry regiment is the basic foot soldier.
In the early stages of the game, they are armed
with swords or spears, or sometimes with bows
or javelins. Infantry move fairly slowly, and are
not terribly effective in combat. As the game
progresses and you advance in land technol-
ogy, these will be replaced with increasingly
powerful forms of gunpowder-based weaponry
and will become more and more dangerous to
encounter.
Infantry is at its weakest in open fields, par-
ticularly when faced with an opponent who is
mounted. They are far more effective when
fighting in unfavourable terrain, or treacher-
ous ground. Infantry is especially dangerous
-- even early in the game -- when defending in
heavily forested or mountainous provinces.
Once of the most important aspects of the
infantry regiment is its ability to assault a city
during a siege. If your army lacks infantry, you
will have almost no alternative but to wait for
starvation to eventually force a city to surren-
der. This can take long time, giving the enemy
an opportunity to assemble an army to coun-
terattack and break the siege.
A final advantage to the infantry regiment
is that it is fairly inexpensive to purchase and
quite quick to recruit. If you are in need of a
large, inexpensive force in a short period of
time, the infantry regiment will be your unit
of choice. They also require a much lower
monthly maintenance cost than any other type
of regiment.