Disbanding units

[Northernlight]

Is this feature in Dominions 6?

[Zonk]

It's not.
But I know that when the idea has been brought up in the past the developers weren't against it, although they thought such an action might require some sort of cost.
So it makes sense to bring the concept up again from time to time.

I'm somewhat in favor, including the idea of having a cost for it: perhaps monthly upkeep * 3 (so a season's worth of wages).

There's the issue of how the UI for this would be implemented though, especially for troops, but it shouldn't be impossible to come up with one that is good enough.
EDIT: for commanders, it could be an order or hotkey, for troops it might be a special "will be dismissed next turn" squad that only shows up in some situations.

[Chris]

Originally posted by Zonk:

It's not.
But I know that when the idea has been brought up in the past the developers weren't against it, although they thought such an action might require some sort of cost.
So it makes sense to bring the concept up again from time to time.

I'm somewhat in favor, including the idea of having a cost for it: perhaps monthly upkeep * 3 (so a season's worth of wages).

There's the issue of how the UI for this would be implemented though, especially for troops, but it shouldn't be impossible to come up with one that is good enough.
EDIT: for commanders, it could be an order or hotkey, for troops it might be a special "will be dismissed next turn" squad that only shows up in some situations.

I wonder if a more interesting cost wouldn’t be an unrest penalty per unit (or unit*size)? To simulate that these formerly employed troops are suddenly jobless, and some may have turned to banditry.

In a province with patrollers or high PD, this doesn’t represent a problem, as local forces keep them in line. Buf if disbanded in some neglected backwater, a sudden influx of struggling ex-soldiers could cause real problems.

As for how to handle the UI, we could just have a new troop box/line at the end of all the the commanders in a province labeled “to disband”. Pop units in there, and they get disbanded during turn generation.

[Zonk]

+unrest wouldn't always be thematic: the dismissed troops might be conscripts/militia who are happy to return to their civilian lives where they have jobs, families, support networks...
Unrest might make sense in SOME situations, and you could even argue for having 2 options:
"dismiss with no payment" (causes unrest) and "dismiss, pay 3 months of wages" (no unrest, but obviously costs you money), but it's simpler to just have one option and I'd prefer if it was just paying gold.

Also:

Buf if disbanded in some neglected backwater, a sudden influx of struggling ex-soldiers could cause real problems.

Unrest's main effect is a scaling penalty to income and resources (not recruitment points, oddly effect), it is more noticeable in bigger/richer provinces.

Dimissing causing unrest would encourage doing it in low-income/resource provinces, where the unrest might last a long time but cause very little damage, while dismissing in richer provinces would result in unrest that lasts a short time (PD, high dominion, patrols...) but still inflicts significant economical damage.

To use very rough numbers: -50% income in very poor province that's gradually removed over 10 turns could be much more convenient than the same penalty in a rich province that's removed in 2-3 (because patrolling/unrest reduction is much better there).

So really, it's simpler to just have dismissal cost gold.

[ЧPOG]

Any updates on "disband/retire troops" topic yet?
I've found old mod that creates a spell you can cast on troops and they disband themselves, but it's not working now. So, any mod which address the issue is welcome too! Thanks!

[Andrej_S.]

Hell. Just put usless troops in one squad, then give order retreat, send to enemy, and this is solve your problem

[Emphyrio]

Originally posted by Chris:

I wonder if a more interesting cost wouldn’t be an unrest penalty per unit (or unit*size)? To simulate that these formerly employed troops are suddenly jobless, and some may have turned to banditry.

Agreed, these are my own thoughts. Mindless would be the exception.

[Morgan]

It would make sense to have a mechanic to disband wounded units rather than be forced to drag around a bunch of crippled, frightened guys who can no longer perform their job duties.

Unrest, gold, or a combination of the two seems fine. Maybe more unrest if they are dismissed without a proper severance or pension?

[Andkat]

It would probably make the most sense if disbanding 'healthy' units caused local unrest due to the usual dynamics of demilitarizing soldiers (but added to population 1:1) maybe with the penalty also modified by order/turmoil scales, while disbanding units with old age or afflictions (ready for retirement rather than e.g. eager for plunder) was neutral. Militia units and the like that don't really want to be there and are meant to be temporary levies would also be penalty-free in that case, most non-mindless magical and undead and most summons wouldn't be eligible at all or would cause disproportionate unrest (they're not so much integrating into society as just being allowed to run wild while usually being killing machines), whereas mindless undead/magical units could be dissolved without penalty. Ideally you'd have the option to pay off folks not at their expiry date to reduce the unrest created but that could easily make the mechanic very clunky if you have to click through multiple menus per unit.

Could also throw in some turmoil/misfortune related events tied to mass banditry and disgruntled ex-soldiers seizing control of a province if you want to discourage "find a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ low income province to dump all the troops I don't need into".

[stadtpark-hartmut]

bump. - Any news on disbanding functionality?

In a game with "events" set to high, I keep getting volunteer Heroes / Commanders I have no real need of. Also: some units I try out (I am a new player) end up not really helping much, yet they still cost upkeep. I could try getting them killed in combat, but then they take away supplies and "being commanded" slots and "breathing under water" slots etc. from the troops I actually want in a battle.

[Draken]

Originally posted by stadtpark-hartmut:

bump. - Any news on disbanding functionality?

In a game with "events" set to high, I keep getting volunteer Heroes / Commanders I have no real need of. Also: some units I try out (I am a new player) end up not really helping much, yet they still cost upkeep. I could try getting them killed in combat, but then they take away supplies and "being commanded" slots and "breathing under water" slots etc. from the troops I actually want in a battle.

It's a common usage to summon pretty bad units like wolves to blunt the charges of enemy cavalry or to be put in the front of your army, so that they get targeted first by arrows.

If you are actually fighting an opponent, you should have very little reasons to have trouble getting specific units killed in a productive way.

Extra commanders are always useful. You can use them to ferry around troops or build forts, freeing your better commanders up from doing those menial tasks.

[Sombre]

Originally posted by stadtpark-hartmut:

bump. - Any news on disbanding functionality?

There's very unlikely to be any news on disbanding functionality.