[Discuss] Limiting recruitment to centres from the region/duchy (not recruiting within the duchy)

[psymann]

Dorian Gray wrote:
> Why not instead keep recruitment in the realm capital, but limit the 
> centers you could recruit from to those within your duchy...Or perhaps
 > recruitment could be allowed from whichever center you
> want... but if you want men from a center not in your region/duchy, you 
> have to pay more.

I like all these ideas for a variety of reasons (strengthening the 
individuality of duchies, giving something to think about, opportunities 
for RP about different troop abilities).

And add to this Alex's idea that lords can set an additional couple of 
pence on the top of the cost if they want to.

-----Payment could be affected by distance to recruiting region-----

I'd personally like to see it that you can choose to recruit from any 
recruitment centre in the realm, but with the following costs:
- from your own region: 10% discount
- from your own duchy: normal cost
- from a region outside your duchy: 5% additional cost for each region 
between your region and their region.

So, for example, in Perdan, you might have some good archers in Perdan 
Mines, Duchy of Perdan City.

Cost for a knight of the Duchy of Perdan City: 40 gold.
Cost for a knight of Perdan Mines: 40 - 10% = 36 gold.
Cost for a knight of Lorient, Duchy of Aix (3 regions away from Perdan 
Mines):  40 + 15% = 46 gold.

This has the side benefit that it becomes increasingly difficult to 
sustain a really big realm on the back of having one really good 
recruitment centre, as the costs for all knights to be able to use the 
best troops would be too high.  However, if, for example, the King 
really wants and deserves the best, he can fork out the gold and get them.

-----Profit for the Region Lord-----

If you're the Lord of Perdan Mines, with your amazing recruitment 
centre, then you might want to make a little profit off the back of it. 
  So you could set extra fees:

- An extra fee (up to 10%) on the total cost of the troops.  So for 
example, you can raise the price to 44 for everyone.

- An extra fee (up to 10%) on the cost of the troops for people outside 
your duchy.  So for example, you can raise the base price to 44 for 
people outside the duchy, but keep it at 40 for those inside.

- An extra fee (up to 10%) on the cost of the troops for people outside 
your region.  So you might only allow your own knights to purchase at 
40, charge the rest of the duchy 42, and those outside the duchy 44. 
(Making actual costs 36 for your knights, 42 for the duchy, and 50 for 
someone from Lorient when you add in the previous distance-related costs).

Make it so that:
outsideDuchyFee >= ownDuchyFee >= ownRealmFee
and don't add the fees together.

-----Involvement for the Simple Knight-----

Ok, so all that's missing is a bit of involvement for everyone else, 
apart from just the lords and dukes.  This would involve a bit of a 
change to the way recruits are currently put into recruitment centres.

Instead of recruits drifting in as time goes by, make it so that you 
have got to actively draft them in, or they won't turn up.  No drafting 
= no recruits.

Then make it so that as well as Lords being able to draft, Knights can 
draft on their estates.  Make it so that the larger their estate, the 
more they can recruit for any given number of hours.

So, say Perdan Mines has run out of troops.  There are two ways for the 
Lord to make more.  He can either draft them himself, or he can get one 
of his knights to do it for him.  If a knight gets himself a large 
estate, and drafts a substantial number of troops into a popular 
recruitment centre, then he might be able to negotiate a better oath as 
a result of providing his lord with troops that he can sell at a profit. 
  Or the Lord might get financial incentives from the government to keep 
his drafting level high, some of which he can pass onto his knights, if 
they are helping to do the recruiting.

This would give simple knights something to do (something which is 
currently done by the game automatically, so it would be a good thing to 
open up to real people).  It would give them more of a purpose to having 
a large estate, and would give them something to negotiate with.  Since 
they'd have to be in the region to recruit, it would also give them some 
planning and arranging with their Lord and Marshal, since they'd have 
conflicting requirements.

Also, since you'd not need every (or even any) knights to draft, since 
the Lord could always do it himself, or you could always just use a 
different recruitment centre, it would not make the game any less 
lightweight for those simple knights who really don't want anything to do.

-----

psymann