Raiu
Per Aspera Ad Astra
- Location
- United States
or just better troops really. If ours are better armed they would beat greater numbers of weaker troops.
its why I had voted for the guns research but sadly people don't want our troops to have guns and be able to fight at range.
Gun research is a difficult path, not only in research but in turning Dust from Crystal to Powder and creating metal of sufficient quality to withstand the force. There are guns in the hands of the tribe, but they are mostly relics from other lands reinforced to act as clubs since the act of reloading such a weapon is extremely slow. Their accuracy is also poor, so they're often used as a close range shock weapon to lessen the amount of time the user is not attacking after firing, unlike the bow or javelin which out-range them due to their greater accuracy.
Then we have the troops themselves, or rather your Warriors since they bear little resemblance to a standing army. This is not a time of large standing armies, or of strict battle formations all supporting one another on a large scale. These are lightning raids, short contests of strength and skill where the goal is not to defeat your enemy, but to take their things before they can fully respond. War is used for territorial control, yes, but the Grimm own everything outside your walls, and they're greedy landlords. Instead of gaining land, you should think of war as a tool to exert political control, to weaken your rival tribes, to show you shouldn't be messed with, etc. Let me make it clear, the amount of people you can call your troops is 1000, not 250. A Warrior is simply the elite of your tribe, and it's fully expected for them to die in battle. The remaining 750? Normal people who are quite able to defend themselves. Everyone in the Schnee Tribe is a combatant, even if they're not trained to do so.
Most tribes have around 200 to 300 Warriors. This means you can throw four times the number of defenders at an enemy tribe to completely overwhelm them. The catch is you'd be throwing the entire population of your tribe at a problem. People will die, and significant losses will be slow to replace without a large surplus in food. It also paints a large target onto your back, meaning others are more likely to strike you. The risks are there, but the reward can be gaining much of the enemy's resources or even destroying them outright.
Again, welcome to a more primitive Age of Grimm.