Well, what do you know? It's Legacy of Rome dev diary day again! Today's topics are Liege Levies and Retinues.

In patch v1.07, you raise fewer, larger levies from your direct vassals (we call these "Liege Levies" for lack of a better term.) These levies are now handled separately from actual Holding levies; you only get regular holding levies from your own Demesne. The opinions of vassals of vassals are thus now mostly irrelevant; you only need to worry about the opinions of your direct vassals. Another benefit is that you don't get tiny little armies all over the place when you mobilize your realm. Liege levies also fix a fundamental balancing flaw in that you can no longer just keep raising little levies from all vassals as a war drags on (due to the portion of holding levies that was reserved for the liege.) The new Liege Levies do not reinforce at home while raised.



That's it for Liege Levies. Now, the concept of Retinues should be familiar to those of you who have played Sengoku. Basically, Retinues are your household guard; your elite core of professional soldiers. At the start of the game, most rulers are not able to employ Retinues, but it becomes possible as their total manpower (based on all the levies in their realm) and average Military Organization (a new technology) level increase. Over time, the Retinues turn into proper standing armies. The downside is that, as your Retinue capacity increases, your normal levies decrease in size. However, even at max tech, levies will still account for the majority of your armies.

There are many types of Retinues available for hire - including several unique cultural variants - though they always come in 500-man regiments with a commander of your own culture. Retinues reinforce in the field, like mercenaries, and when you first hire them, they start with 1 man. Unlike armies in other games, for example Europa Universalis, Retinues only cost maintenance while they reinforce. You are of course allowed to declare war even if you have Retinues (which are always standing on the map.)



So, why did we choose to add the Retinue system to the DLC? Why should you spend $6 on Legacy of Rome rather than a Latte and a slice of cake? There are many reasons, including these:

• Retinues make arranging your flanks and balancing your armies far more tactical
• Having a dependable standing army ready is strategically preferable
• They fit nicely into the overall military system in patch v1.07 with Liege Levies, etc
• History saw levy based militaries transform gradually into more professional forces

I should mention again that the whole Retinue mechanic requires that you own the DLC; if you don't, the new Retinue tab will be grayed out in the military view and the AI will not use Retinues either. However, if the host in a multiplayer game owns the DLC, all players will be able to use Retinues.

I think that will do it for today. Next week, I plan to talk about the new Leader traits and cultural buildings. Until then!

 

[grumphie]

i keep asking questions

my(hopefuly) last question: can we levy the standing armies of vassels as well?

 

[Chamboozer]

Cool, retinues seem like a good way to represent Mamluks in Islamic armies.

 

[J0kk3]

Another benefit is that you don't get tiny little armies all over the place when you mobilize your realm.

I love you

 

[Meneth]

The Legacy of Rome wiki page has been updated with the new info.

 

[Alexandre_007]

congratulations to the team it is looking FANTASTIC
loved the way the cataphract looks. can't wait already

 

[repent]

Brilliant!

 

[bitparity]

Just wondering, if say your retinue gets destroyed, why you can't just create a new retinue? Or is the reinforce speed of an existing retinue faster than the recruit speed of a new one?

Because I remember one of the problems of EU3 was that destroying whole armies almost meant nothing except as a financial hit (especially if you have a ton of manpower), when you can simply raise newer armies.

How is this different in CK2?

 

[Cromelex]

Can't wait for the release

 

[Doomdark]

i keep asking questions

my(hopefuly) last question: can we levy the standing armies of vassels as well?

I take it you mean the retinues of vassals? No, you can not.

 

[Doomdark]

Just wondering, if say your retinue gets destroyed, why you can't just create a new retinue? Or is the reinforce speed of an existing retinue faster than the recruit speed of a new one?

Because I remember one of the problems of EU3 was that destroying whole armies almost meant nothing except as a financial hit (especially if you have a ton of manpower), when you can simply raise newer armies.

How is this different in CK2?

I am not sure I understand the problem. If you raise a new retinue regiment, it will start with 1 man, cost you a bunch to hire, and reinforce very slowly (though it's the same rate as for old damaged retinues).

 

[Tiax]

If my vassal can raise, say, 15k troops, will that potentially give me a stack that is immediately over the supply limit of the province they're raised in?

 

[bitparity]

I meant say you lose a horrific battle, but they're not wiped out and out of all your retinues, there's only like 15-20 guys left, but they aren't dead yet!

Is there a significant different in how fast those surviving retinues get back to full strength over just creating a new one?

EDIT: Or at this point, there is no reasonable difference between an almost completely wiped out retinue, and a new retinue?

 

[Ruwaard]

Great additions! I really like the separation of liege levies and holding levies; vassals had to feudal obligation to supply a certain amount of men (sometimes the equivalent in gold) to their liege, but not all their men. OTOH you have much more control over own holdings, so I like the decision to split those types of levies.
A retinue is a great addition too; which most likely will be earlier available for Byzantine and Muslim rulers, than for their Catholic and other Orthodox counterparts.

wait, does this mean we no longer get the HRE raising a million troops anymore from the entire realm? great. just great.

This applies to every realm (not just the HRE), so I guess armies will overall be a bit smaller; for instance France and England too won't be able to raise as much troops as previously.

 

[Damorte]

Liege levis is a really good idea, no longer will you have to spend half your wars just organizing up your levies

I have a question, have you considered adding more map filters? I would like to see a duchy/count map mode, so lets say if your a duke/count inside an empire youd be able to see your own duchy/county on the map as in contrast to how it is now where vassal map mode only allows you to see a kingdom inside an empire.

 

[Doomdark]

If my vassal can raise, say, 15k troops, will that potentially give me a stack that is immediately over the supply limit of the province they're raised in?

No, it's handled by splitting it up.

 

[Maizel]

Can vassals have standing armies? Or is it a top level character thing only?

 

[Comradebot]

So... I take it the whole "only your direct vassals' opinions now matter with levies" thing was done to help put an end to the ridiculousness of people being an Emperor with only counts as vassals?

 

[Jamey]

A couple things:

What happens to retinues which are wiped out to a man? Do they reset to capital, or do you have to buy them again? Or something else?

Can you assign commanders to your retinues? Or do you get randomly generated guys who may be losers? If you can assign them, does that result in a relations bonus and/or change the person from state to personal diplomacy (like a council position)?

 

[tompalmer]

3 thousands seems historicaly too much. 200 men is more likely

 

[Jia Xu]

How many more DDs are there after this one? Are we getting close to release now?