The army (Composition and training)

Armies are trained in castles in Lands & Lords. Every castle can only train one army at any given time. The time needed for training (4) depends on the number of units in the army (3), and the expansion level of the castle (1). The castle's level also increases the training quality; this means, a level I castle only trains green recruits white a higher level leads to the training of more experienced veterans.

A part of the population of the surrounding 18 fields is sent into the castle to form a pool of recruits for training armies. Up to 10% of the population from regular fields, 15% from towns and harbours and 20% from castles can be drafted into an army. In each turn the pool of recreuits regenerated by 0.15%; this means it takes 66 turns until 10% of the population can be drafted again. The number of available recruits for each castle is shown in the menu "Train army". (2)

Training armies takes gold, weapons, logs and bread. The training of each unit type costs different amounts. Horsemen also need horses, that can be bred on paddocks. Of course, the unit types also have different strengths during attack and defence. If a ressource not available (5), the army can not be trained; but this ressource might be bought in the marketplace. If all necessary ressources are present, then the armie has to be named (7) and the training to be started (6). The training can be canceled; 90% of the paid ressources are returned. The training costs of the armies already include all logs, weapons, horses, and bread needed by unit for the rest of their lives. However, the armies ask for pay in form of gold in each turn. The pay is 1/20 of the gold paid for training the unit. If troups don't receive their pay because the realm does not have enough gold, parts of the troups will desert the army.

The map displays armies with an picture showing the unit with the highest number of members on the field. Above the armies a symbol is shown that reflects the size and experience of the army. For small armies, the size of the army picture on the map is always an indication for the army size. The colour of the symbol changes from bronce to silver and finally gold with increasing army experience.

Examples for the various army symbols:

Small army with low level of experience	Medium-sized army with low level of experience	Slightly larger army with medium-leveled experience	Big army with lots of experience	Very big army with low level of experience	Enormous army with medium-leveled experience	Unbeliebalbe big army with high level of experience.

Under each army the number of armies on the field and their diplomatic stance to you is shown. The following colours are used:

Own armies	blue
Allied armies	pink
Neutral armies	gray
Friendly army (Peace/NAP) (Peace/NAP):	green
Enemies (War):	red

In the following example, an own army and an allied army stand opposit of 5 hostile armies.

• The armies to the left consists mainly of swordsman, have a numeric advantage (1 star) over the hostile armies under the castle and are fairly experienced soldates (silver symbol).
• The 4 hostile armies under the castle are mainly horsemen, are elite troups (golden symbol) and a little lower in numbers (3 bars).
• The smaller army (1 caret) to the right are mainly archers and is very inexperienced (bronce symbol).

When players click a field with an army, additional informations are shown:

1. All armies are headed by a leader of experience level 10. This leader is not explicitedly mentioned (no hero) and can be substituted with a Hero.
2. In addition, all units of the same kind (swordsmen, archers, horsemen) in an armie are lead by their own general. Generals are promoted due to won combats; the propability of a promotion decreases with a high numeric advantage during the combat. A high-ranked general can be a deciding factor during combat; inapt generals often lead their numerical superiour troups into defeat. The rank of a general is displayed as a sign in front of his name. The following picture shows all ranks: . A precise explanation can be found under [Generals].
3. Victories increas ethe moral of an army and by that increase the combat value.
4. On the other side, losses have a negative impact on the combat strength.
5. Victories also increase the experience of armies. Experience is an important factor for the combat value.
6. Moving an army increases its exhaustion. Mountains and woods exhaust armies more than for example plains; fields with an high expansion level cause less exhaustion. The highest increase in exhaustion is cuased by combats.
7. The speed of the reduction of exhaustion of armies depends on the research status. Lacking "Field Kitchen" (research path "Military") a resting army on any field will lose one point of exhaustion per turn; with "Field Kitchen" the army will lose two points. In castles exhaustion is reduced faster - precise numbers can be found in the Formulary.
8. Up to 8 moves for each army can be entered in advance. These moves are than performed in the entered order. Details about moving armies can be found under Army movement.