A bunch of silly newbie questions

In all honesty, what I'd, really, rather have imported to Rozwi for our use is good quality metal farming tools - and other farming equipment that historically wasn't known to the people of South Africa. Lochaber Axes could see use to fell trees and clear undergrowth, I suppose, to aid land reclamation for farming use. Imported methods and equipment for land tillage and harrowing is definitely something that I want to look into in the game. I'd imagine that Rozwi is mainly using wooden / bone / stone implements and tools to farm with, so metal spades etc would be a great help.

Rozwi_Game10 wrote:In all honesty, what I'd, really, rather have imported to Rozwi for our use is good quality metal farming tools - and other farming equipment that historically wasn't known to the people of South Africa. Lochaber Axes could see use to fell trees and clear undergrowth, I suppose, to aid land reclamation for farming use. Imported methods and equipment for land tillage and harrowing is definitely something that I want to look into in the game. I'd imagine that Rozwi is mainly using wooden / bone / stone implements and tools to farm with, so metal spades etc would be a great help.

Have you considered having a "Southern African Gold Rush"..........bring your own Spade?

Most of the major gold sites will probably fall in the Nguni and Herrero lands.

Diamond fields will be the same, as well as Ovambo.

Might be something to look into, leasing land to another country and allowing mining as Rozwi doesn't have the technology to make full use of everything there and would probably do better supplying another nation's workforce with slaves/supplies/entertainments than trying to make money from mining the minerals themselves.

If I have researched weapon by a weapons bureau , then passed it on to an academy to make suggestions ,or they have a research improvement such as trunnions do I have to send the suggestions back to the weapons bureau to draw up a new design .

Thelittleemperor wrote:If I have researched weapon by a weapons bureau , then passed it on to an academy to make suggestions ,or they have a research improvement such as trunnions do I have to send the suggestions back to the weapons bureau to draw up a new design .

I think naming has confused the issue. There are really only 2 relevant types of 'buildings'.

1. Research institutions: These are most commonly called academies, but can also be called bureaus, universities, schools, institute, madrasassa, etc.

Research institutions, naturally, research new technologies. You can also ask them for advice about technologies, or you can ask your advisors for direction on what new technologies to research. Research institutions also train people. So if you want to implement something that requires so many thousands of a certain type of person (administrators for tax collection for instance) you would train those folks at an academy for a year.

There is a specialist type of academy called a training academy. it cannot reasearch, but can train 2,000 recruits a year instead of 1,000. So if you need a lot of people for something that may be a better way to go.

2. Arsenals: These are used to manufacture advanced weapons. Once a research institute has developed a pattern for a new weapon, you can order that weapon built at an Arsenal. They cannot do any research on new weapon types, they just manufacture.


So in your particular case, I think you have an academy called a bureau and they're functionally equivalent. You're just having one academy comment on another's design.

Personally, I name all my academies "Academy of XX" just for simplicity's sake so I don't get confused.

Great, thanks . I might be able to merge a couple and save a bit of money .

Bear in mind that opening an academy/research institution costs $50K. Keeping it open costs $10K.

So once you've paid the expense of opening it, you probably don't want to close it unless you really don't have anything for it to do. The two academies can research different things, so you might want to consider how best to use them both.

Deacon wrote:

Thelittleemperor wrote:If I have researched weapon by a weapons bureau , then passed it on to an academy to make suggestions ,or they have a research improvement such as trunnions do I have to send the suggestions back to the weapons bureau to draw up a new design .

I think naming has confused the issue. There are really only 2 relevant types of 'buildings'.

1. Research institutions: These are most commonly called academies, but can also be called bureaus, universities, schools, institute, madrasassa, etc.

Research institutions, naturally, research new technologies. You can also ask them for advice about technologies, or you can ask your advisors for direction on what new technologies to research. Research institutions also train people. So if you want to implement something that requires so many thousands of a certain type of person (administrators for tax collection for instance) you would train those folks at an academy for a year.

There is a specialist type of academy called a training academy. it cannot reasearch, but can train 2,000 recruits a year instead of 1,000. So if you need a lot of people for something that may be a better way to go.

2. Arsenals: These are used to manufacture advanced weapons. Once a research institute has developed a pattern for a new weapon, you can order that weapon built at an Arsenal. They cannot do any research on new weapon types, they just manufacture.


So in your particular case, I think you have an academy called a bureau and they're functionally equivalent. You're just having one academy comment on another's design.

Personally, I name all my academies "Academy of XX" just for simplicity's sake so I don't get confused.

That is perfect Deacon. Now i would like to have your opinion over an argument that dives thought the first tipe of building.
Let us say that I really really want to implement agriculture, that is an important topic being directly linked to grain availability, famine and troops moving.

I think at least a couple of agricultural academy are needed, one focused over researching new tecniques, the other focused over researching new devices.
Then you probably need a training academy to train farmers.
I think also providing estates (at least one) were to implement new species of vegetable and new tecniques could be useful to "accelerate" the research process of academies.
Last thing, and I really do not have an opinion about that, should we fund a "society" able to publish books over the arguments for nobles to implement in their lands, provide pensions for researchers and facilitate the exchange of ideas.

What do you think?

Are those steps useful also for others areas of research?

Thanks

Also, has anyone any info over the argument "manifactures"?

With Agriculture the best method would be to turn more land into farming land. Some countries have alot of spare land, some don't have any.

You could also purchase farm tools. A farming subsidy.

jamesbond007 wrote:With Agriculture the best method would be to turn more land into farming land. Some countries have alot of spare land, some don't have any.

You could also purchase farm tools. A farming subsidy.

Are u sure it's a matter of size? In Russia I have plenty of forest to cut in order to enlarge farming land, but I think it's not very productive.

For sure provide farming tools to farmers is another action good to do!

Farming/Agriculture is pretty well trodden ground in the game.

To deal with famines, you just need extra grain. You can get that either from a good harvest in your own land, or from a neighbor who has had a good harvest.

You can plant the excess (November I think?) and will if the harvest doesn't fall, get 5x what you planted the following June with the rest of the normal harvest results.

If you have excess grain and an agricultural academy, you can attempt to research hardy grain. You have to use some grain to start that research so an academy alone isn't enough. (Note: that's traditional, but I've noticed that Richard has loosened the rules on some of these things so it may not be required, you might ask.)

If you get hardy grain, it will be much less likely to fail, and you will get 10x what you plant.

You can then also use the extra grain for logistics and army movement.

You can also try to make farming more efficient to improve your economy, etc. The rule books have several ideas, and you could certainly come up with your own. Don't expect it to be easy or cheap however.

One of the best early ways of improving the economy through farming is to implement the norfolk system. It requires 1,000 trained farmers per million of population to implement, and then will be implemented a year after you order it. Because the system is more efficient, you will see an improvement in your EH.

You can also give all your farmers farm tools. I don't know what benefit that brings, having never done it.

Nexus06 wrote:

jamesbond007 wrote:With Agriculture the best method would be to turn more land into farming land. Some countries have alot of spare land, some don't have any.

You could also purchase farm tools. A farming subsidy.

Are u sure it's a matter of size? In Russia I have plenty of forest to cut in order to enlarge farming land, but I think it's not very productive.

For sure provide farming tools to farmers is another action good to do!

For me converting extra land for farming has been hugely successful. It costs the same as a canal upgrade, so not cheap. In one game of lgdr I have had two such upgrades. The result was getting over a 950, million ton surplus. If anything, too successful.

Not sure about Russia but in India it works very well.

jamesbond007 wrote:

Nexus06 wrote:

jamesbond007 wrote:With Agriculture the best method would be to turn more land into farming land. Some countries have alot of spare land, some don't have any.

You could also purchase farm tools. A farming subsidy.

Are u sure it's a matter of size? In Russia I have plenty of forest to cut in order to enlarge farming land, but I think it's not very productive.

For sure provide farming tools to farmers is another action good to do!

For me converting extra land for farming has been hugely successful. It costs the same as a canal upgrade, so not cheap. In one game of lgdr I have had two such upgrades. The result was getting over a 950, million ton surplus. If anything, too successful.

Not sure about Russia but in India it works very well.

Russia has the farming land in south, in the black belt which is owned by Crimean kanate. Cutting trees in the north would probably free mostly permafrost I think.

Any experience with night soil man?

I have used nighsoilmen. Hard to tell how good they have been. I have not had a famine whilst useing them.

Can I raise units of waggons and assign them to " help trade in Europe" in the same manner as raising merchant ships and assigning them to" aid trade in the Levant" or other sea .?

Thelittleemperor wrote:Can I raise units of waggons  and assign them to " help trade in Europe" in the same manner as raising merchant ships and assigning them to" aid trade in the Levant" or other sea .?

I'm sure you can, but I would wonder if it's a good use of your recruits, since raising any type of units costs recruits. Further, you'd have to have enough trade already established to make good use of caravan trains (which is what you're effectively recruiting).

I think you're better off not doing this, but that's my take.

I put a lot of ships into service backing my own ocean going trade, and while they helped, I don't think they helped near as much as I would have liked given how many recruits they cost...

If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't have done it.

Hard to gage the value of caravan trains, building ships to help trade ect. They definatly increase trade but by how much.?

Alot depends on how many recruits you get. If you get some lower grade recruits like some countries like India does, then allocating these to ships and wagons for trade are a good idea. But to use up good quality recruits that can be used for anything and everything that is a differant matter.

Alot will also depend on your in game aims. Are you a warmonger, politician or Merchant.? Probably no right or wrong answer. Depends on your in game objectives.

In last war in G7 Spain's forces have generally outfought their opponents on the actual field of battle l but have been totally "outmarched" and have seen their plan's of campaign ruined by forces taking ages longer to complete a march than the rule books indicate.

I suspect that this may partly be down to Agema trying out more random journey times.  Master plans which involve a siege train marching 80 miles to join up with a flying column, a cavalry column, a field army and a couple of fleets all marching/sailing different distances as per rules to all end up on the same battlefield just do not seem to work like clockwork anymore.

The other possible problem may be due to hire of civilian transport to move grain supplies and ammo.  Historically, provision of transport was one of the major headaches suffered Generals in our period and our period saw did see a gradual attempt to introduce military control and discipline into the Army Traynes.

This is partly reflected in the rules by option to "militarise" artillery.  I now think it may be a worthwhile option to have Army Waggons and/or Animal trains to carry grain etc rather than using civilian contractors.

Basically, if you are a small army with a small recruit base which only intends to fight of the defensive, in a limited geographic area or in area's in which you can "live of the land" this option is probably a waste of recruits which would better be used in fighting formations.  But for other positions the "Royal Corp of Logistics" may be a worthwhile option.

Having raised your Transport Fleets, Logistics Corp and perhaps drilled them for a while do you really want hundreds of merchant ships, wagons, draught horses etc cluttering up your Army bases and harbours?  The historic solution for such auxilliary formations was to stand them down in peace time and hire them to merchants, farmers etc and only call them up in War Time (The Cantonment Order).

Of course it should probably be noted that while the use of your "Military Logistics Corp" for civilian trade and farming may only help a little as soon as you call them up Richard will almost certainly knock a point or two off your Economic Health.  Oddly I was reading about German in WW1 recently and the causes of the famine by 1918 and it seems that what hurt German Agriculture more than the calling up of Farm Workers and the Royal Navy Blockade which stopped imported fertilizer was the huge call up and loss of horses.

On Ships & Wagon traynes, it maybe better to offer subsidies to merchants to build their own, that way you save the recruits & get seen as a benevolent ruler willing to give money to those working to make the world a better place. Personally would invest money in Roads & Canal networks rather than wagons. If you do however raise wagons to support the military in times of conflict, then in peace time putting them on the inactive list as CS ( Canton System) is probably not a bad idea, although as Stuart says making them active may knock EH.

Historically as we know most of the logistical side of things was run by civilian contract basically to save money, also the expertise was lacking in most military circles, many of the Generals simply thought it was beneath their station to have to deal with Logistical matters.

If you are prepared to & indeed have the time & resources to implement logistical improvements it is probably worth it.

Personally I started with the appointment of a Quartermaster General, & use him as a sounding post for things that may help. It also gives you someone to shoot if it all goes wrong, which of course is an added bonus.

What is the rate , orders to money ? I mean I think you get about 4 orders for a tenner and 6 orders for £15 . What do you think ?

I think there is a complexity issue when it comes to orders. Not sure quite how to quantify it but if you do a 'simple' order, such as raise a unit at a location, that doesn't involve much work for Richard and cost for you...but if you were to do some major changes to how you tax your people or merchants, which could involve a lot of work for Richard, it might cost you more.

Yes , I remember something like that being said in the rules somewhere. Hard to quantify like you said . Somewhere else it says you'll get a feel for what you can do . It might have been on this forum . On average , and taking into account what you said , I feel that's what I get .My orders are seldom longer than a line or two .

When do new recruits come again ? Is it with money in December ?I looked back but haven't saved all the previous turns

I get the feeling that research orders do cost more. For example I have sometimes given an expenditure order like "spent £500,000 building sewers at lots of places" and that hasn't cost me anything extra but saying "get academy to develop an improved loom" or "rediscover how to make paddlewheels for ships", when Richard might have to go away and do some research to carry out the order, does cost more.

In the early days of me playing, in 2000, the rules did limit the number of military orders a nation could make per turn to the level of national running costs (for example think it was up to running costs of £100,000 2 military orders a turn; £100-£200 K 3 orders; etc). I know rules around orders ahve changed since then but I still tend to work on that principle (and apply it to other areas so 2 military orders plus 2 expenditure orders plus 2 movement orders plus 2 'diplomatic' orders a turn) , if I do that then my turn costs tend to not require extra expenditure, go beyond those numbers and my turn costs more.