An Overview The key to survival in Utopia is a strong and sustainable military. Almost everything else you do will likely be focused on being able to develop this area of your province. Your military consists of four (4) basic military units. I will take this opportunity to explain how your military structure works. Military Units Your military is composed of a mix of three types of units: Soldiers, Specialists, and Elites. Soldiers are cheap but weak - these are the conscripts in your army which can be easily replaced. Specialists can be trained only to attack or defend and can be a key component of any army. Elite units are capable of both attacking and defending, and offer special abilities in addition to their military capabilities. Elite unit strength varies by race; special abilities vary by personality. You can learn more about these unique features in Chapter II: Races and Personalities. Some important numbers to know:
Military Effectiveness & Wages Each day, you must pay your army wages. This money is used for training and other purposes, so changing pay will lower or raise your military's strength over time. You may opt to pay anywhere from 50% to 200% of their normal wages. Your army's pay, combined with other factors such as spells and buildings, will determine its overall fighting effectiveness. For example, a 10 soldier army with 110% effectiveness will fight as though it were 11 soldiers. As your army grows, you will find its effectiveness may fall - this is the result of training lower quality troops. More information on Military Effectiveness can be found in your Military Advisor. Training Your Military Acquiring basic Soldiers is based on the draft of your peasant population. Drafting an individual requires time and money - the more you would like to draft per day, the higher the cost. You may set both a Draft Speed and a Draft Rate to determine what portion of your total populace will be drafted into the military. For example, a 30% Draft Rate will train 3 of every 10 peasants in your kingdom into your army. You may draft up to 99% of your peasants, but an excessive draft rate will result in a shortage of income. Drafting a soldier costs money and will automatically be taken out of your coffers. If you do not have available funds for the draft, only those soldiers which you can afford will be drafted. As you draft a larger portion of your populace, you will find that the costs begin to rise as recruiting gets more difficult. It is up to you to determine the ideal size and structure of your military. Once your peasant has been trained into a soldier, you can spend more time and money to train them into any of the more advanced combat forces. This allows to you to build a stronger army without consuming a larger portion of your peasant population. |