@veekie wouldn't/didn't protest that squads come from something other than having more warriors to organize into squads or a need to do so to have more fluid movement in the case of carts. Carts will provide better material tech due to planks, and maybe if we get a DO cart treated leather, too.
Armor maybe comes from more warriors but the ability to do so comes from material technology.
Study Forest is more likely to provide poisons and cotton than blackbirds or farming alone. Study Health is more likely to provide medicine than warriors.
Raids on the DP are an easy/reliable way of getting tech for armor and weapons.
So basically do we want a shield against nomads and later Econ or current Econ, balanced against do we want to save Econ or help the HK become a shield against DP.
Going to sleep.
Except again, we HAVE the material technology. We build planked boats. We figured out the Wicker armor the moment we saw it because we already knew how to build wood cages(we use them for fishing and a number of wier designs).
The carts are valuable, but the problem is
we've only expanded Warriors twice in our entire civilization.
Read the fluff please:
-Blackbirds were trained from our base warrior population. This is why they only cost Mysticism, the manpower is already allocated to warriors.
-Cart warriors are simply elite warriors equipped with carts. This is why they only cost the Econ of building the cart, the manpower is simply taken again, from the best warriors.
-Our regulars have a large proportion of archers, and a weak front line since the time of lower valleyhome.
-We've been discussing adding another Sacred Warrior type, more Blackbirds, or more Carts, all of which further reduce the proportion and quality of our regulars because their best are being taken away for special forces, while they don't increase on their own.
What does that say about our army size? It's
small, as small as the Spirit Talkers' were, possibly smaller. That's why AN said we'd get facewrecked on anything other than defense, we've been making the exact same mistake as the STs, building an army that's pretty much just elites and specialty units instead of having a line force.
Our military weakness is not diversity, but
quantity. Our main weakness is a frail melee line, which we experienced right last turn, when we sent a significant force, which got outnumbered AND that represented 2 points of Martial.
If we want a shield against nomads we need FAR more base warriors. If we get a decent Martial leader double Main Martial may not go amiss.
Because that probably won't happen for 4ish turns? The actions the local chiefs take are pretty random (with some leanings towards certain things). We should get thick ass forests in the north now, before the nomads start raiding our northern settlement again.
As AN already said, our terrain bonuses are great...and our terrain bonuses won't stop them forever. People adapt, and the Nomads have been dealing with our walls and forests for a while now. We simply don't have the number of warriors to actually man all the forests to stave them off that way
For the Nomads, the best solution to deal with them with the current chief is probably a trade mission to build positive ties with the Thunder Horse. He's a Heroic diplomat, this is his thing, end war through trade.
You see, look to the bolded part. What our Chiefs will do is based on their percieved problems and traits:
-Shapers of the Land + Sacred Forest - For all settlements which are not fully Forested, Expand Forest is always a possibility. It's a holy act for our people to work the land and shape it productively.
-Protective Justice + Harmony - For all settlements facing Disharmony(not necessarily polity wide, I think we're large enough now that the major settlements may have their own local conditions), the chiefs are likely to perform small scale Restore Harmony or Festivals at Stability 1 and 0 in the larger settlements.
Then you look at the sites(Valleyhome in more detail because I ran out of motivation):
-Valleyhome - Near fully developed, all the land is cultivated on nearly every inch and the most densely populated, their primary concerns are social and political.
--Build Wall - Low priority for us, but maybe not locally.
--Festival/Restore Harmony - Social issues. Being at Stability 0 is going to be...uncomfortable at their population density.
--Expand Holy Sites - Likewise, with so many people they're liable to be interested in a larger holy site to provide for the medical coverage from our megaproject(and politically to butter up the local shaman so they'd support them on greater politics). A primary temptation for shaman chiefs to expand personal power.
--Expand Warriors - Concerns over the greater military situation and high manpower also means that they might actually run out of land for idle hands to work locally. Expand Warriors would put some of these to work. A primary temptation for warrior chiefs to expand personal power.
--More Blackbirds - Ties into the high population density, more Blackbirds means more oversight.
--New Trails/New Settlement - Possible choice. They're near the Lapis Lazuli site, and also the ones most likely to decide that expanding towards the former Spirit Talkers is profitable.
--Study Forests/Survey Lands - Look for resources to exploit. Requires higher Mysticism to reflect idle shamans to employ, otherwise will take Expand Holy Site first.
--Study Health - More likely in larger settlements, as the sheer population density means diseases spread like wildfire.
-Lower Valleyhome - Relatively the younger of our major settlements, most of the land around it is already fully developed. Lower Valleyhome's primary concern are military and trade, as they are closest to the Lowland Kingdom and the Dead Priests.
--Build Wall - High priority for them if we don't do it. They're the most exposed, and the dry and open badlands makes it easy for chariot riders to go up the paths we put there to reach them.
--Expand Warriors - Not enough armed dudes to feel safe. They're running defense, and since they have traders going south, they need a lot more warriors to provide escorts for caravans and also the settlement.
--Build War Carts - Similarly, that means they want to patrol the badlands and they need more carts for that.
--Expand Forests - They'd probably do this after the military improvements, but expanding forests into the badlands, while hideously expensive without a large excess of Black Soil, is a good solution for them. The main challenge is getting water out there.
--Black Soil - See Expand Forests
--Trade Mission/Lowland settlement - If their sense of danger from the south is low, these two become a distinct possibility. This is probably one of the complications mentioned, because the lowland settlement is slated to be one of the most productive possible sites for settlements by Word of AN.
-Redshore - Our second oldest settlement, Redshore has been largely cultivated fully, and in a nice and secure location. Their fishing efforts are maxed out as it is.
--Expand Snail Cultivation - Their primary trade good, and demand will be very high now that our polity is so large.
--Expand Fishing - Take advantage of the new boat design to range even further out.
--More Boats - More boats = More Everything for them.
--New Settlement/New Trails - The coast has at least two more settlement sites. They're likely to expand in those directions.
--Sailing Mission - A bit of a shot in the dark, but a risk taker chief might try it.
-Stonepen - Relatively recent, but already largely developed with lots of pastures, their main issue is nomad raiders
--Expand Warriors - Not enough armed dudes to feel safe. They're running defense, and since they have traders going north, they need a lot more warriors to provide escorts for caravans and also the settlement.
--Build War Carts - Similarly, that means they want to patrol the nearer steppes and they need more carts for that.
--Expand Forests - Slightly more iffy, because they use the land for pasturing animals as their primary produce, even if it helps fend off the Nomads, it hurts their key trades.
--Trade Mission - Their second lifeblood, as they can trade past the nomads at high risk for matching rewards. Will likely be after a Warrior boost so they can actually escort the traders.
--New Settlement+Walls - These two generations are GREAT for starting new settlements while the Nomads are on the backfoot, so they can roll out new settlements and wall them before raiding resumes again.
-Mistyhome - There's been a settlement here for a long time, but it's known more as a place of spirits, so they'd be focused mainly on the Study and Survey actions, or further improving the trails connecting our internal settlements. Might not count as a major site.
-Mistysnake - Still very new, and ripe for new farms or pastures. This is mainly a trade settlement internally, they're a primary stop point for the canal shipments.
-Newnet - They'd be taking a fair while before they count. For now they'd be passively expanding their fishing and boats.
Looking back I saw this:
So after we raise our centralization and mysticism, I think it might be a good idea to research how we managed to combat senility in our High Chief. Because I think this route might be a good way to maximize the usefulness of our hero units and delay the degradation of their abilities as they age.
Not so urgently I think. Because it turns out that the High Chief back then was
fatigued, distracted and thus forgetful from old age and working long hours, not actually senile. Senility cannot be cured even in the modern day, but an old man working long hours?
Well, remember this is before coffee. A stimulant drug like coffee would have given him the pickup needed to work himself to death like is honorable.
If the local chiefs get more power, would they setup more settlements even if it reduces their power? (Duu to more competition and lower population)
Do we have means to keep the local chiefs from bloating in size & number and from demanding more power?
I can only hope we maintain tight control over warriors.
1) People do that all the time. Especially for large mature settlements, starting a new settlement lets you offload population pressure, and gain authority(remember, until it becomes a major settlement, new minor settlements would likely be under the jurisdiction of the founding settlement)
2) That's probably what AN meant by complications. Sort of like when we first went to Early Kingdom and had to deal with proud leaders, when we went to High chief and had to deal with corruption/gaming the election system. We're inevitably going to be dealing with complications from moving to Provincial. Having high Stability would probably help with going through it smoothly.
3) Each settlement's chief already has command of their local warriors. Otherwise it'd be a logistical nightmare to use them to guard caravans, run patrols, etc. We'd need to take Expand Warriors as a main to possibly trigger the idea of a national army...or do that and spam holy warriors to have a shaman led army.
We need writing.
Pity we have no idea on how to acquire it. Maybe our increased bureaucracy would help...
Can't force it, but it'd probably more likely if we had the shaman population to support a revision of the language.
OR, we just keep going as we are and see the chiefs figure out better writing because god damn they have a lot of instructions to give out.
