A shoutout to Retinues
I want to start highlighting features I think are particularly great in the hopes of seeing them continue to future titles.
Retinues: They are a great improvement to the 20stack army.
They modularize the forces. You can have retinues of assault forces, siege forces, cavalry, skirmishers, ect who can be called upon to alter the purpose of an army.
They allow an army to split apart to engage multiple fragmented opponents without drawing up a new army, or to bolster a garrison of complete other tasks suitable for forces less than a full army.
They allow units to feel much more personal, as they feel like a unified detachment. The fact that leader bonus’ are applying to a smaller contingent makes those bonus’ more impactful and specialist. Where Steve’s spearmen may have expert charge defense and be specialists in holding the line, Henry’s archers are focused sharpshooters, outfighting their foes at long ranges. This does not require the player to decide from the get-go that the whole army needs range enhancements or an expert charge defense bonus.
They also enhance the ability of the army to strategically reposition across the map by re-raising a retinue and mustering.
I do not know if restricting the general type to certain troop types is helpful/needed, at least not in the way currently implemented. Why can’t a strategist field a force of heavy cavalry, ect.
Depending on the era of a game force composition could be effected by social strata, ie(roman) a republican legionary commander could field citizens, an auxiliary captain could field aux troops, and a noble could field expensive equites.
I think retinues are a perfect size for the return of Shugun2’s unit customizer. Certainly for aesthetics/colors but possibly also for unit upgrades.
Any thoughts? Disagreements or Agreements? Do you think retinues should be series standard going forward? What do you think is a great existing feature, in TW new or old, that should be integrated into future releases?
Other topics I’d like to discuss in the future: Formations, Garrison-able structures, Unit Customization, Manpower Pools, Captains.