does Military Forge produce ancillaries?

[HarbingerOfDestruction「俺様」]

Is it? I just purchased a level 1 Military Forge building in a commendary, should I continue upgrading it?

[BigRockWall]

Right click on the forge and it will open up the building browser and show you what all levels of the forge does

[HarbingerOfDestruction「俺様」]

Originally posted by BigRockWall:

Right click on the forge and it will open up the building browser and show you what all levels of the forge does

That's the thing, it doesn't say it necessarily produce ancilliaries, but in the description of the building it says it produce ancillaries so I got confused..

[Zebedee]

Are you confusing the Military Forge (which ends in a specialising for a cost reduction to a troop type) with the Master Armourer and Master Weaponsmith?

[HarbingerOfDestruction「俺様」]

Originally posted by Zebedee:

Are you confusing the Military Forge (which ends in a specialising for a cost reduction to a troop type) with the Master Armourer and Master Weaponsmith?

I'd send a picture if I could but I can't paste it over here. The description, however, say the following:
"Military Forges produce improved equipment for your troops, the material brought to forge the equipment providing a boost to your income."

[RCMidas]

If you can build it in your main settlement, it will not produce anything that can be equipped - the description of it making arms and armour means that it is doing so for the common soldier.

Actual weapons, armour, and horses that can be equipped by generals are ONLY produced by the minor settlement locations that explicitly state they have a chance to produce those - the Animal Trainer for the horses is the only one of these that can be found in the north, up in the Shuofang commandery; whilst the rest are down in the southlands where Liu Zhang, Shi Xie, and the Sun clan dominate.

[HarbingerOfDestruction「俺様」]

Originally posted by RCMidas:

If you can build it in your main settlement, it will not produce anything that can be equipped - the description of it making arms and armour means that it is doing so for the common soldier.

Actual weapons, armour, and horses that can be equipped by generals are ONLY produced by the minor settlement locations that explicitly state they have a chance to produce those - the Animal Trainer for the horses is the only one of these that can be found in the north, up in the Shuofang commandery; whilst the rest are down in the southlands where Liu Zhang, Shi Xie, and the Sun clan dominate.

Ah that's a shame.. So how often can an army produce ancillaries?

I'm playing as Cao Cao right now and I usually get ancillaries every 3-4 days. Does different factions affect the amount of ancillaries gain?
Also the weapon and armor smiths worth pursuing? Both Sun Jian and his son Sun Ce has died in my campaign and the leader is now lady wu, and she is extremely weak by comparison.

Do you think I should pursue these settlements? How often do they produce ancillaries? Sorry for asking so many questions, it's just I really like the customization in this game.

[RCMidas]

Ancillaries in terms of followers and items tend to drop after a general levels up or after winning a battle; so finding a high-tier settlement and sacking it for a couple of turns may provide a few good ones. You'll have to leave it alone after that however, give it time to restock!

As for the special settlements, since you are playing as the Sun clan, they are definitely worth grabbing and building up just for the amount of money you can get selling off what they produce to other factions! Sure, the investment is a bit of a chore, but it can prove to be a lucrative side business.

There's an Armour Craftstman in the very far west of Chengdu, and a Weapon Craftsman in Shangyong (to the left of Liu Biao's start point). Closer to home, you've got an Armour Craftsman in your home province of Changsha and another Weapon Craftsman to the east in, I think, Poyang.

If I recall, there's also a third Craftsman (Armour I think) a little further to the east among the mountains before you reach the coast.

They tend to produce a new item every three-five turns, depending on what tier they are (higher tier settlements usually are quicker and make a greater number of superior items).

[HarbingerOfDestruction「俺様」]

Originally posted by RCMidas:

Ancillaries in terms of followers and items tend to drop after a general levels up or after winning a battle; so finding a high-tier settlement and sacking it for a couple of turns may provide a few good ones. You'll have to leave it alone after that however, give it time to restock!

As for the special settlements, since you are playing as the Sun clan, they are definitely worth grabbing and building up just for the amount of money you can get selling off what they produce to other factions! Sure, the investment is a bit of a chore, but it can prove to be a lucrative side business.

There's an Armour Craftstman in the very far west of Chengdu, and a Weapon Craftsman in Shangyong (to the left of Liu Biao's start point). Closer to home, you've got an Armour Craftsman in your home province of Changsha and another Weapon Craftsman to the east in, I think, Poyang.

If I recall, there's also a third Craftsman (Armour I think) a little further to the east among the mountains before you reach the coast.

They tend to produce a new item every three-five turns, depending on what tier they are (higher tier settlements usually are quicker and make a greater number of superior items).

Yeah, I've read that there are 2 weapons and armor smiths and 1 animal tamer.
BTW i'm playing as Cao Cao. I'm considering taking over the Sun faction since they're so weak. I hardly have any opposition north with Yuan Shao being so weak, Liu Bei stands strong but we're in good terms for now.

[RCMidas]

Ah yes, so I see, you are playing Cao Cao. I misread your post. Yeah, beating down the Sun clan down would be a good idea if you can manage it. That way it doesn't even matter too much if you lose most of your northern territories - the whole Southlands will be yours to claim and it is very difficult for the AI to fight its way into those once they've been fortified.

[HarbingerOfDestruction「俺様」]

Originally posted by RCMidas:

Ah yes, so I see, you are playing Cao Cao. I misread your post. Yeah, beating down the Sun clan down would be a good idea if you can manage it. That way it doesn't even matter too much if you lose most of your northern territories - the whole Southlands will be yours to claim and it is very difficult for the AI to fight its way into those once they've been fortified.

I vassalized the Sun faction, they came at me with these huge offer and I just had to accept. Sun Jian's wife ruler's capabilities is a joke. With Sun Jian and Sun Ce dead the Sun clan is weak. I can take them on whenever I want. it's turn 70 and they're only Marquis, plus they're very poor in resources.

Up north I have Liu Bei to contend with, but as i've said we're on good terms, Yuan Shao is pathetic now, only Second Marquis with no vassals. He is a shell of his former self before the nerfs and his military potential is way weaker than mine.

I've started a war with Liao Bai and Cai Something and another vassal of Liao's which I already destroyed. Now it's a fight with these two. Also Yuan Shu is probably gonna attack me sometime soon, he hates me badly and he keeps invading my territory, once I'll deal with the two it's his ass next.

Do you think I should betray the Sun clan after I deal with all the nuisances up north? I like the idea of vassalizing, on the other hand I want these weapon and armor smiths badly, and that ♥♥♥♥♥ won't give it up!

Also... WTF...? turn 70 and Dung Zhou is still alive and kicking? In my previous campaigns he died within 15+- turns.

[Krono]

Rather than just backstabbing your vassal, you can annex them to absorb their territory and stuff into your own. I haven’t done it myself yet so I don’t know if there are negatives involved, but it can’t be worse than attacking them with your armies.

Unless you gave them a guarantee of autonomy, which means you agreed to not annex them. Then it would probably make you untrustworthy to annex them

[RCMidas]

Well, at least it suggests that Dong Zhuo will be one of the other two emperors in this game. Quite possibly Liu Bei will as well, if Yuan Shao is so weak. That'll keep both of them off your back whilst you solidify your grip on the Southlands.

As for betraying the Sun clan, you may just want to wait until you are emperor and either annexing them outright - diplomacy will matter very little and so the massive hit to your Trustworthiness rating will be easy to ignore - or liberating them and asking them to confederate with you.

Also sounds like you're going for a paint-the-map type of campaign. I recommend starting to go down the reform path that unlocks higher tiers of the administrative building. You'll want to upgrade your cities to tier 7 and, once you secure at least one of the two jade mines on the map, build the Office of Archives and Seals in each one.

Otherwise, growing corruption across your commanderies will suck away a good 75%+ of your income. If you get started on that process now, you won't lose nearly so much money as I did on my first major campaigns. It's quicker to build the industrial structure that lowers corruption, but less effective in the long-term.

[HarbingerOfDestruction「俺様」]

Originally posted by Krono:

Rather than just backstabbing your vassal, you can annex them to absorb their territory and stuff into your own. I haven’t done it myself yet so I don’t know if there are negatives involved, but it can’t be worse than attacking them with your armies.

Unless you gave them a guarantee of autonomy, which means you agreed to not annex them. Then it would probably make you untrustworthy to annex them

Originally posted by RCMidas:

Well, at least it suggests that Dong Zhuo will be one of the other two emperors in this game. Quite possibly Liu Bei will as well, if Yuan Shao is so weak. That'll keep both of them off your back whilst you solidify your grip on the Southlands.

As for betraying the Sun clan, you may just want to wait until you are emperor and either annexing them outright - diplomacy will matter very little and so the massive hit to your Trustworthiness rating will be easy to ignore - or liberating them and asking them to confederate with you.

Also sounds like you're going for a paint-the-map type of campaign. I recommend starting to go down the reform path that unlocks higher tiers of the administrative building. You'll want to upgrade your cities to tier 7 and, once you secure at least one of the two jade mines on the map, build the Office of Archives and Seals in each one.

Otherwise, growing corruption across your commanderies will suck away a good 75%+ of your income. If you get started on that process now, you won't lose nearly so much money as I did on my first major campaigns. It's quicker to build the industrial structure that lowers corruption, but less effective in the long-term.

Listening to your suggestions I annexed the Sun clan and have taken over 70% of the map, but as you've stated i've run into a new problem - corruption. My corruption rate which was 65% by the time I got hold of Sun's territory and it was a very big problem since my income was cut by huge numbers.
I've continued to micromanagement the cities more and further to decrease the corruption rate, thus now my corruption percentages is at 50% respectively in most commanderies.


and as soon as I annexed the Sun clan, that happened.
It turns out the big bad boy Liu Bei has declared himself emperor along with Gongsun zan, but I was at peace with them for a good time while continuing building new settlements and increasing my income. I've also made a few deals with the Liu Bei to make him hesitate to attack me, I had lots of food production and I kept him at bay with that while taking out other less threatening counties.

I've also joined an alliance with Yuan Tan to keep him at bay (Yuan Shao is dead) Whom strangely is way more competent than his dad was.

After a dozen turns Liu Bei was overtaken by Yuan Shu, and Yuan Shu is the next emperor who've taken Liu Bei's capital. Liu Bei's is now on the run, he has 2 armies but he is very poor in food and money, thus he cannot produce new armies.
Not just him, too, almost every nation is now poor, except for me (standing at 10k with 1k income per turn) and Yuan Shu.

Dong Zhou was finally killed by Lu Bu at around turn 90 finally and he is now against me which terrifies me.

[Vyktor]

there's a mod on reddit called "legendary ancillary buildings" that pretty much changes top tier forges into ancillary makers anywhere you build them.