Recruiting

[histgamer]

Sorry i am looking to buy the game but i was curious how this was handled? Do you just buy brigades? Is cost all that limits you as well as govenor support?

Do you take into account the actual numbers of men so that over time you could actually run out of men? Or is it all by cost.

Do a certain amount of men volunteer per month sort of like ACW worked or no?

Sorry for the questions but as it is 50 dollars which is quiet an investment i would like to know specifically how its handled.

[Terminus]

Don't be sorry about asking. You buy brigades, yes, but they certainly can deteriorate, size-wise. And yes, you can run out of replacements; you'll never have enough men to maintain your entire fielded army at full strength.

As for volunteers, that's handled by mustering units; you can also do conscription, in addition to building them from the ground up. Think of it as taking the time to properly train and equip a regular brigade vs. "shake-and-baking" a volunteer brigade.

[Gil R.]

I should add the infantry brigades take up 2 Men while cavalry and artillery take just 1 Men, and a typical city will have just 2-4 Men (though Chicago, Boston, New York, etc. have many more), so one is limited in the number of infantry brigades one can produce until the annual population replenishment. This is an important consideration, especially if you're playing with the advanced rule that ties a province's economic production in to the level of Men still available in that province. So, if playing with advanced rules, purchasing an infantry brigade will cost you money, labor, iron and horses, will lower the amount of economic resources you get from that province until the 2 Men are restored in April (assuming that they are restored, which might not happen if the war is going badly for you). Mustering and conscripting cost no resources but have the same effect on economic production, plus they negatively impact the governor's attitude and in the case of conscription can cause unrest (which can lead to the destruction of buildings, i.e. important infrastructure).

Regarding replacements, one can build "Camps," which provide 500 reinforcements each turn, so while brigades do lose strength, they can also regain it.

Ask away if you have any other questions.

[ColinWright]

...