Is army professionalism worth it in a WC?

[Reman]

I'm wondering what other players' thoughts on this are. Is it better to shoot for high professionalism for the siege ability + damage, or are you better off slackening recruitment standards to get more manpower and merc bonuses?

I've nearly finished my first WC as Karaman in the new patch, and I spent a bit of the early game focusing on getting professionalism high. The bonuses it provides are quite nice, and I'm finding that I can keep it high while still using lots of mercenaries.

What have other players' experiences been?

 

[Rusky]

I would think that the Bonuses from Professionalism will help keep your Manpower in check as less people will die & You can just take Quantity to fix any shortfalls.

The Siege ability is amazing as well sense the faster Sieges will help cut down on your conquest time (those lvl 8 forts are a pain) and anything that does that is a big bonus for WC i assume.

 

[bly08]

I don't think either drilling or professionalism are worth it for WCs.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

You can 1 tag while maxing professionalism, but I doubt doing so will improve your time. Drilling on the other hand becomes increasingly less practical as you grow and are more capable of sustaining expansion. You have more wars, more rebels, and realistically less down time, so drilling quickly takes itself off the table after a while.

Still, as mechanics I don't mind them. Drilling can be useful in early game tough situations, and even if you don't go for max professionalism you can use it to cough up manpower (IE it can help generate money, indirectly), so it's something we'll be interacting with to some degree.

 

[makaramus]

when you are in a war they you are winning you can drill with some of your troops but no its not that worth it... mercs will be better in wc

 

[magni.]

Drilling is clearly not worth it but spamming military buildings to bet professionalism um is worth it at the point where u got enough money any way

 

[Zwirbaum]

Drilling is clearly not worth it but spamming military buildings to bet professionalism um is worth it at the point where u got enough money any way

Have you even played the game?

 

[magni.]

Have you even played the game?

jes I have, but I admit I ondly did a fun WC 2 times so far (one was a true one Tag on very hard with Yuan)

but no, I do not have, and I won't connect my forum account to Steam

 

[deathbypie]

jes I have, but I admit I ondly did a fun WC 2 times so far (one was a true one Tag on very hard with Yuan)

but no, I do not have, and I won't connect my forum account to Steam

I think he meant....in the current patch, with the dlc. Using professionalism. Which isn't affected by buildings at all.

 

[magni.]

I think he meant....in the current patch, with the dlc. Using professionalism. Which isn't affected by buildings at all.

jet I have, and it feels like drilling is a wast of time since drill disappears so fast that it is gone after 1-2 sieges and the chance of getting general stats scales with how much of your army he is drilling compared to you force limit what in a WC scenario the answer often is: not a lot

and when it comes to professionalism gain from drilling, if u spend 16 money on average, a month, on building barracks u get as much professionalism as if u were drilling your entire army all the time

so as soon as drilling is more expensive then building barracks (what is if your army upkeep is 32 ducats or more) I normally consider building barracks the better option

 

[Zwirbaum]

jet I have, and it feels like drilling is a wast of time since drill disappears so fast that it is gone after 1-2 sieges and the chance of getting general stats scales with how much of your army he is drilling compared to you force limit what in a WC scenario the answer often is: not a lot

and when it comes to professionalism gain from drilling, if u spend 16 money on average, a month, on building barracks u get as much professionalism as if u were drilling your entire army all the time

so as soon as drilling is more expensive then building barracks (what is if your army upkeep is 32 ducats or more) I normally consider building barracks the better option

Building buildings DO NOT increase professionalism

 

[True_Heir_of_Rome]

I haven't made any WC runs this patch, but I'd imagine It would be worth it if you can manage it. I don't see why you couldn't have an army drilling at all times in the heartland of your empire, possibly switching out when Drill is maxed for a stack of undrilled soldiers. Once you reach a certain size you're unlikely to have the entirety of your army engaged. I very rarely did anyway, even fighting on multiple fronts.

 

[magni.]

Buildings buildings DO NOT increase professionalism

Your Army's Professionalism is a national value measuring how closely your army models a “modern” standing army versus heavy reliance on mercenaries. It is increased by:

• Drilling your armies (+1 per year if 100% forcelimit drills, to scale)
• Constructing military buildings: Barracks/regimental camps (+0.5 per tier)
• Recruiting Generals (+1 per general)

 

[myzael]

If only you actually played the DLC...

 

[deathbypie]

Quoting a developer diary from way before the patch came out, rather than the patch notes, seems silly. You could also just play the game and build a building and notice how nothing happens.

 

[Zwirbaum]

Quoting a developer diary from way before the patch came out, rather than the patch notes, seems silly. You could also just play the game and build a building and notice how nothing happens.

Or hover the army professionalism and get the tooltip that explains what affects it and what not.

 

[Atalvyr]

To be fair, it says nowhere in the patch notes that professionalism gain from buildings was removed. It doesn't even say you can gain it by recruiting generals.

PDox should update their diaries to avoid spreading misinformation when people read up on an expansion to figure out if they want to buy it or not. Not necessarily in perpetuity, but certainly when you put out new content where the diaries are all the information people have to go on (professionalism is not on the wiki yet, for instance).

 

[rattatta]

I'm wondering what other players' thoughts on this are. Is it better to shoot for high professionalism for the siege ability + damage, or are you better off slackening recruitment standards to get more manpower and merc bonuses?

I've nearly finished my first WC as Karaman in the new patch, and I spent a bit of the early game focusing on getting professionalism high. The bonuses it provides are quite nice, and I'm finding that I can keep it high while still using lots of mercenaries.

What have other players' experiences been?

I found professionalism to be a godsend once you have a big nation and quantity ideas. You can literally get tens of thousands of manpower by spending just 5 professionalism, making sure you never run out. Alternatively you could aim for 100 professionalism but I have found it more useful to spend it for manpower once I have a large enough pool.

 

[myzael]

I am aiming to do a Sunni Otto WC-One Faith using no mercs and maxing professionalism. We'll see how it goes.

 

[AnssiA]

Maxing is definitely worth it. After midgame your prof is over 80, which let's you use the slacken recruiting at cost of 125 mil. You even get 5 generals as a bonus. You can still use mercs, but you don't want to ever dismiss them.