User Guide

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forces, so they are indispensable if you intend
to extend your country’s borders across water.
You should ensure that transports are placed
in fleets that include other vessels more suited
to combat unless you are certain that they can
complete their voyage unmolested.
Galleys
A galley is the smallest class of combat vessel.
These ships carry somewhat limited armaments
and cannot withstand very much damage be-
fore being sunk. Their advantage is that they
are quite inexpensive and quick to build, and
are cheap to maintain on a monthly basis. Gal-
leys gain a significant bonus when involved in a
battle that occurs in an inland sea zone such as
the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea; how-
ever, they also receive a rather nasty penalty in
combats that occur in the open ocean.
Light Ships
This is a larger ship than a galley, carrying a
more powerful armament and able to with-
stand considerably more damage. Light ships
are more expensive to build and require a long-
er time before they will be ready. They also
carry a higher monthly maintenance cost. The
greatest advantage of a light ship is its excel-
lent blend of speed, firepower, and tolerance to
damage.
Big Ships
These are the largest class of ship, carrying the
greatest possible armament and able to with-
stand tremendous amounts of damage while
still remaining afloat. They tend to move quite
slowly at sea, and are extremely expensive to
build and maintain.
Unit Types
There are many different possible unit types
for each of the regiment and ship types we out-
lined above. There is not simply a single “in-
fantry regiment” that is used for everyone in
the game. Instead, there are a many different
types of infantry regiment, each of which has
slightly different combat characteristics and
appearance. The types that will be available to
you will depend on the country you play, the
level of land technology you have achieved,
and who considers your provinces to be their
core provinces. The same is true of cavalry regi-
ments, artillery regiments, and all of the vari-
ous ship types.
Each unit type has a series of basic combat
characteristics that affect its performance in
battle. Some units are excellent at defending
but may not inflict much damage on an en-
emy. Other units are geared towards inflicting
maximum casualties on an enemy, but may be
somewhat less likely to win a closely contest-
ed battle. This tends to emphasise a strategy
where spending a bit of time to carefully plan
the composition of your armies and fleets can
lead to military success, even against an op-
ponent that appears much stronger at a casual
glance.
Land combat is handled differently than
naval combat, so you will not be surprised to
learn that the characteristics for regiments
are quite different from the characteristics of
ships. To avoid confusion, we will explain and
describe each of these characteristics in detail
in two separate sections -- one on land combat
and one on naval combat -- later in this chapter.
For the next few sections, let us focus our atten-
tion on your land forces.
Recruiting Land Forces
You will usually begin the game with an army
located in your capital province. The number
of regiments in the army will depend on the
size and economic strength of the country you
have chosen to play, and the exact type of each
regiment will depend on the starting date and
your location in the world. It is common for
the army to be quite small, so to ensure your
security or to begin contemplating war, you
will almost certainly need to expand the size
of your military. To do this, you will need to
recruit some new regiments.
Each regiment is composed of 1000 men