Military Units

Military Units are similar to charactes except that a unit can represent anywhere from 5 to 500 soldiers and a military unit cannot perform actions. There are also specialized forms of military units including Ships and Catapults.

Because, Ships and Catapults are special they follow a completely different set of rules. They are outlined in their own section.

Creating a Military Unit (MU)
Military Units (MUs) require coin and recruits as basic components during the creation process. Military units must be created at a City with a Barracks. The level of the Barracks dictates how many recruits can be trained at one time. Each level of barracks allows 10 recruits to be trained. For example, a level 13 barracks can train a military unit up to 130 soldiers in size. A level 40 barracks can train a military unit up to 400 soldiers in size.

The cost to create a military unit can be changed from module to module, but in general, the cost is 10 * number of recruits.

Note: Recruits are created at Cities based on the amount of and the race of the population in the city. Each turn, population produces recruits that can be used for training new MUs.

Increasing XP through Training
Using a Fighter's Guild, players can train their military units in order to increase their XP and their level.

A Fighter's Guild can provide XP for each round of training equal to 50 times the Guild's level.

For example, a level 20 Fighter's Guild can provide a military unit 50*20=1,000XP for each round of training it provides. There is no cost for this type of training, but it does use up the Guild's action for the turn.

Upgrading a Military Unit
Military Units can be upgraded with Feats at Cities with Guilds present. The type and quality of the guild will dictate the type of upgrade that can be made to the unit.

The available upgrades can change from game to game, but here are some sample upgrades that might be available in a game:

A city with a level 20+ Magic Guild allows a military unit to buy one or more of the following feats: fire resistance 5, cold resistance 5, fire damage, cold damage.

The cost for purchasing this feat can also change from game to game, but in general the cost is:

100 * Feat Level * Feat Level * number of soldiers in the MU.

For example, upgrading a military unit with 100 soldiers with Fire Resistance 5 (a level 2 feat) would cost 100 * 2 * 2 * 100 = 40,000 coins.

Gaining XP
MUs, including ships and catapults, gain XP the same way that characters do. XP can be gained through combat or through Quests.

For example, a player may choose to complete a quest that requires a Level 10 Army to travel to an outpost to deliver supplies. For completing the quest, the army receives 10,000 XP which is divided up among the MUs and Characters in the stack. The distribution of the XP would be based on the relative contribution of each MU in the stack.

Encounter Levels (EL)
Encounter levels for MUs are calculated a bit differently than they are for characters. To calculate the EL of a military unit, you have to consider both it's level and the number of soldiers present.

The EL of an MU is based on the following formula:

Level + Square Root(number of soldiers / 25) - rounded to the nearest whole number.

For example, a level 3 MU with 100 soldiers would have an encounter level of: 3 + Square Root(100/25) = 5.

Once the ELs of the MUs are calculated, they can be used to calculate the EL of the Army in the same way ELs are calculated for Character Parties which is as follows:

Combine pairs of same level units and add 1 to their level. Keep doing this until there are no more matching pairs. Take the sum of the level of the units lower than the highest level unit. If the sum is greater than the highest level unit, add 1 to the highest level unit.

For example, suppose you have a stack that has 5 units of levels 2, 2, 3, 4, 4.

Combine the like level units and add 1 to their level. This leaves us with (2+2)=3, 3, (4+4)=5. The pair of 3's can then be combined to create a 4, leaving us with a level 4 and a level 5.

Take the sum of the level of the units lower than the highest level unit (a single level 4). The sum is not higher than the highest unit, so the EL for the stack is 5.

If the stack contained 3, 4, 4, 4, 5 the outcome would have been 3, 4, 6. The sum of 3+4 > 6 so the EL for that stack would have been 7. Here is a breakdown of the calculations:

3, (4+4)=5, 4, 5

3, 4, (5+5)=6

3+4 > 6 giving us an EL 7.

Creating Catapults
Catapults is a general term for specialized MUs that have Bombard capabilities. See the Combat Rules for details on what bombardment is, but in short when a city is bombarded it reduces the walls and/or towers as well as the level of any guilds present. In standard combat, catapults are assumed to be manned by 25 soldiers. In standard combat, the catapult behaves like a normal 25 soldier MU.

There are various forms of catapults, each with their own unique properties and cost.

Catapults are created by Lumber Mills. A lumber mill can make 3 catapults for each level of the lumber mill. A level 4 lumber mill can make 12 catapults of a single type in a turn.

Creating catapults uses up the Lumber Mill's action for the turn.

Balista
A balistas launch huge missiles at a ctiy, damaging it's walls or towers. Each balista attack randomly reduces the city's walls or towers by 1.

Balista's have a range of 1 and a movement speed of 25.

Creating a Balista requires 25 recruits, 300 units of wood and 5,000 coins.

Catapult
A catapult launches huge bolders at a city, damaging it's walls or towers. It also has a chance of doing internal damage to the city, by reducing the level of a guild. Each catapult attack randomly reduces the city's walls or towers by 1 and has a chance of reducing a random guild level by 1.

Catapults have a range of 1 and a movement speed of 20.

Creating a Catapult requires 25 recruits, 300 units of wood and 10,000 coins.

Trebuchet
A trebuchet is an advanced catapult that launches huge bolders at a city with a great amount of force. A trebuchet can reduce the city's walls and towers up to 3 points and can reduce a city's guild by up to 3 points.

Trebuchets have a range of 2 and a movement speed of 20.

Creating a Trebuchet requires 25 recruits, 500 units of wood and 15,000 coins.

Creating Ships
All ships are created at Shipyards. Some ships, like catapults, have Bombard capabilities. See the Combat Rules for details on what bombardment is, but in short when a city is bombarded it reduces the walls and/or towers as well as the level of any guilds present. In standard combat, ships are assumed to be manned by soldiers. In naval combat, the ship behaves like a normal soldier MU. See Naval Combat for more details.

A shipyard can build up to its Level in ships each turn. It can build only one ship type at a time.

Each type of ship has it's own "recipe" for what is required to build it, including cost, the number of recruits and materials.

Barge
In general, a barge is a slow moving ship that has a very high carrying capacity. It typically has a very small crew, giving it little to no combat abilities.

Merchant Vessel
Merchant Vessels are fast moving ships with a high carrying capacity. They typically have only a small crew, giving it limited combat abilities.

Runner
Runners are very fast ships with limited carrying capacity and crew. These are typically used to shuttle Characters around because of their great speed.

Light Warship
Light Warships are fast ships with a decent crew compliment. They can be used to shuttle characters and soldiers alike. They are often used as guardships for Merchant Vessels because they can match their speed. They are also the preferred ship used by Pirates because of their speed and versatility.

Heavy Warship
Heavy Warships are fast ships with a large crew compliment. They are equipped with a balista, giving them bombard capabilities. They are slower than Merchant Vessels and they are primarily used to bring an invasion of soldiers to it's target.

Dragon Ship
Dragon Ships are very large, slow moving combat vessels with a very large crew compliment. They have limited carrying capacity because they are laiden down with 6 catapults, giving them devestating bombardment capabilities.