How to garrison a town

[Sigmund]

Playing the game as a Swadian (as usual) and I recently came into possession of Dhirim, and i'm in the process of garrisoning it.

currently have 230 troops in it. The bulk of it , 145 are Swadian militia, then i got an assortment of mercenaries as well as random units that i freed from some lord's captivity.
I try not to go too crazy on mercenaries since their hiring cost gets expensive, but they are a nice quick boost to numbers.

Also whenever i want to go storming another town or castle i'll take these high level mercenaries as "cannon fodder", since they are kinda tough too. (maybe not as good as swadian knights but...)

My question is what would be a wise number of troops to put in the town? 1000-2000 ? (also considering Dhirim is in a very central location and is very likely to be attacked from all directions Nord/Vaegir/Khergit/Sarranid, heck even Rhodoks..

And i've been focusing on getting lots of Swadian militia since it's a unit that has Crossbow a shield and a weapon, and an upkeep of 4 denars (2 if garrisoned). And i've read that it's kind of a "dangerous unit" for it's tier. And i train them relatively quick, and i find in a way i prefer to have vast numbers of swadian militia than swadian footman (which aren't ranged) i always train swadian footman->man-at-arms->swadian knights, because i need to replace losses too. (so i'm not taking the ranged route upgrade path for my swadian units. no sharpshooters, etc (unless captured))

And my storming armies (for sieges) are usually Swadian knights as shock troops + cannon fodder (units i dont want to keep, like captured elites from Vaegir/Nord/Khergit, or expensive Mercenaries, and as ranged units i rely solely on Sword sisters (i am very careful not to lose them and i always pick up "peasant woman" when i have the chance to train em into Sword Sisters. who are great at range , melee, and horse (their horse is weak though). My elite squadron of Sword sisters provides cover fire when my knights are assaulting, killing off some of their ranged units and making the assault smoother. I love them, plus they got a cheap upkeep 34 denars only.

What kind of garrison should i prepare for when the enemy comes in full force?

Also what is the typical income a town like Dhirim gives? when i got it i received like more than 20,000 denars for the first time, but the second week only about 5,000.

Any help would be much appreciated :)

[Tuidjy]

The 20K were because the city either had no lord for a while, or he was too busy to collect his taxes. You will not see that amount in normal circumstances.

The Swadina militia is a very good choice for making up numbers. For the top of your roster, not so much. You want, on top of those 150 militia, 50 high tier shield infantry and 50 elite ranged troops. The best, of course, are huscarls and marksmen, if you do not mind going outside of your faction. The Rhodocks top tier infantry and crossbowmen are another favorite. The Swadian top infantry and crossbowmen are sub optimal, but will work. Swadian knights as garrison are a terrible waste. Whatever you do, do not leave your city with 200-300 wimps like militia. You need about 100 elites to fight your sieges, and 150-200 mid tier ranged troops to make up numbers... You probably should also keep training militia, for when you get your second city.

By the way, Dhirim is the very best place for your court, and the very hardest city to keep safe and prosperous. Challenging, and rewarding. Good luck!

[Sigmund]

Thanks for the speedy reply Tuidjy! :)

Yeah, Dhirim was captured by the Nords when Swadia was doing 3 wars at the same time, the garrison was small, so i had my eye on it.

Then suddenly a war erupts between Sarranids and Swadia, and amazingly the Sarranids also at war with the Nords, conquer Dhirim! i coud not believe my luck, so i went in there sieged it alone, fended off 6 or so Sarranid lords ( they came in groups of 2-3), my swadian knights mowed them down and then, assaulted it , only had 100 sarranids as garrison, weak troops too, so was a cakewalk.

Yeah my wife (Lady Timethi, who used to be a Rhodok Lady), just recently moved from Ergellon castle to Dhirim, so my court is now there.

I own Ergellon castle as well, has about 360 troops, tons of Rhodok tribesmen, and spearmen (recruiting locally is easier as well as safer, since i get to be near the fief in case things go bad).

Also Veluca (close to Ergellon castle) which is is also now owned by Swadia had constant farmer help requests in the tavern, so as a result, of doing those clean bandits from village quests, i gain some nice relations with many villages around Veluca , which made recruiting troops for Ergellon much faster.

So, i'm gonna make real sure Dhirim is well protected before i venture off to take another town.
Also buying enteprises whenever i can, keeping an eye on long arming swords on the market (to outfit my 8 companions), as well as lame chargers or lame war horses. (Why pay fullprice when you can have a horse for cheap and then heal em up? :P I got my current charger like that! :D was a bargain.)

Also if you have the messenger post/watch tower (or what's it called) on cities and castles do you get a warning if they are attacked, even if you are on the other side of the world?


Btw just as a curiosity, this is like my second serious playthrough.

[Tacitus Killgore]

I usually keep AT LEAST 100 soldiers in castles and cities. The ones on the front lines close to enemy territory I'll have 1,000 soldiers in. I relocate soldiers accordingly, depending on which place is getting attacked or in danger. Using this strategy I was able to conquer Bulgaria with a few castles lost and Italy with no castles or cities lost. It's also how I took over Calradia in Native.

[Twinkletoes]

You have the right idea on garrisons.

Since you don't have to feed garrison units you definitely want to go quantity over quality, but this tactic is used to spook off small war parties(lords hold enemy numbers above enemy strength). If the sarranids for instance decide that dhirim is a fine choice for a campaign or swadia decides it REALLY wants that city back you can be swarmed with as much as 400-800 troops, those milita are not going to fool anyone at that point.

Like Tuidjy said, You want some actual muscle on the battlments so that if push comes to shove you can actually jump in and defend the city.

[Kimmaz]

Well I would always garison units and continue to hire reqruits all the time, and by the time you take your 2nd city, you can transfer some of the garrison. I also like to keep one full army size made for Field battle, and a different one for attacking castle. That way you can change your army to fit your goal, and change back after you have taken a castle.

[Danny]

2k recruits in Dhirim and only massive war parties will even consider trying to siege it.
Upgrade half of those to top tier ranged units and the other half to tanky infantry and it's pratically immune to attack... XD

[Sigmund]

Thanks for the replies guys.

@Danny

Yeah but, if i get 2k troops (that's 1000 denars city upkeep, if they are recruits), and i upgraded them to elites, it's gonna be in the range of 15 to 25 denars per troop (garrison upkeep is half of normal upkeep, i think and elites field cost is usually between 25-50 denars ,60+ for mercenary cavalry) , so let's say an average of 20 denars x 2000 units. that's 40,000 denars of upkeep. Nobody can afford that.
City brings in about 5000+ denars, I get some more from Enterprises, but my castle probably does not cover it's garrison costs.

Plus, i also need some money to pay for my field army as well, which isn't cheap when i'm riding with a heavy group of swadian knights. Normally i leave some of them in the city to lower costs.
But if i see heavy enemy activity i pick them up from the city and go do some heavy cavalry charges hehe :D It's such a beautiful sight to see heavy cavalry mowing down hapless infantry and that gorgeous sound of the blade. :P

So Elite-wise, i can maybe have 200-300 elites in Dhirim, then some midtier troops.

Also keep in mind i'm playing Native, no mods whatsoever.

[OreGano]

Originally posted by Sigmund:

Also what is the typical income a town like Dhirim gives? when i got it i received like more than 20,000 denars for the first time, but the second week only about 5,000.

This is just a buildup of taxes due to no one collecting them, or tarrifs. The most Ive gotten from tarifs was over 100k :^)