Reason for Composition Numbers?

[Zolem]

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/erf0096.html shows the numbers for units from each side in the Coalition. Jetstone and Uniroyal are the only capital sides to include over 1000 troops. Sofaking comes close. Marbits are over 1800, and elves number about 800. Compaired to taht, the next largest force on the capital side is Foxmund's 208. I wonder why they didn't send more troops. Same with Hobbittm and Trasylvito. We know the last one has a lot more units and warlords, so why did they contribute so little to the coalition? Meanwhile Jetstone and Uniroyal are comiting at least half, if not more, of thier total fighting force. If I were Uniroyal and my neighbors weren't commiting a signifigant portion of thier force to the effort, I'd be worried. But if my neighbors weren't participating, I wouldn't send so manny troops in the first place. The numbers distribution means either Foxmund and Hobbittm are weak nations, maybe even trounced by Stanly for a bit, or like Transyvito they just aren't that dedicated. But I wonder what sort of streign could develop from such a show of lack of commitment?

Please note that the preceeding was how I interprited things. The asymetrical unit comitment has me baffled and I'd enjoy your interpritation.

[AgentPaper]

For transilvito at least, I assume that figure is just Vinnie and all of his bats, which leads me to believe that Vinnie is there for personal reasons, and Transilvito isn't involved. Or wasn't, seems they agreed to help more later on, probably from Vinnie's prodding. As well, they weren't willing to spend the money to keep Charlie on their side, too. If they were more dedicated they might have put up with the high cost for at least a turn or two, if it meant taking out Stanly. So instead, they send a bunch of warlords to keep relations with Jetstone good, whereas if they really were dedicated to the cause, they would have done both, and probably sent some other strong units as well. Since the warlords are, well, warlords, and Stanly is just trying to break through, they probably figure they won't loose any, as Stanly won't waste time taking out warlords. Instead the warlords can sit in the back giving their hefty leadership bonus and not loose any units.

[Justyn]

I've been assuming that it has probably been that the nations are either, as you said, small and weak, that the committed units are just token forces to comply with alliances with Jetstone, or the units that those forces commited are disporportionately powerful

To be honest, I've been assuming that the forces have been token forces committed to a cause that they really don't care about.

[The Old Hack]

What I find interesting is the massive Jetstone contribution in spite of the fact that Stanley only rubbed out a few of their field units. This certainly underlines just how obsessed Ansom is with defeating the non-Royal upstart.

[Zolem]

Especialy when you consider unlead scouts runign into each otehr probably happens every so often in this world, and is probbly an accepted risk and if you don't watn to antagonize the stronger party you apologise and offer them some Shmucks as compensation.

[The Old Hack]

Especialy when you consider unlead scouts runign into each otehr probably happens every so often in this world, and is probbly an accepted risk and if you don't watn to antagonize the stronger party you apologise and offer them some Shmucks as compensation.

*cough* ...errr, I think that should be Shmuckers, but yeah, I agree. Really sorry, it's just that the way you put it gives me some truly terrible mental images...

[SteveMB]

*cough* ...errr, I think that should be Shmuckers, but yeah, I agree. Really sorry, it's just that the way you put it gives me some truly terrible mental images...

Although Ansom is after a Shmuck, or at least a Shmuck's little square head on a platter....

[The Old Hack]

Although Ansom is after a Shmuck, or at least a Shmuck's little square head on a platter....

*smack* Bad Steve! I am so resuming my campaign to have the mods declare you our forum MB!

[raphfrk]

Especialy when you consider unlead scouts runign into each otehr probably happens every so often in this world, and is probbly an accepted risk and if you don't watn to antagonize the stronger party you apologise and offer them some Shmucks as compensation.

I wonder if that is actually true in the general case. It is possible that sides can be in 4 states, alllied, friendly, neutral and war.

Unless both sides are at war, maybe units don't auto-attack.

[Zolem]

I wonder if that is actually true in the general case. It is possible that sides can be in 4 states, alllied, friendly, neutral and war.

Unless both sides are at war, maybe units don't auto-attack.

No, it's already been stated taht any non-aligned units auto-attack each other unless at least one is lead by a leader who chooses not to engage.

[tribble]

It's also possible that HobbitM and foxwhatsit are simply remote. Armies are hard to move long distances, thats just a fact of life. its also possible they sent specialist forces, such as, i dont know, tchotckes.

[The Old Hack]

It's also possible that HobbitM and foxwhatsit are simply remote. Armies are hard to move long distances, thats just a fact of life. its also possible they sent specialist forces, such as, i dont know, tchotckes.

In very deed. They could have sent small contributions that made up for it in quality and level, and possibly expertise. Siege engineers are always valuable; so are casters.

[tribble]

Casters for certain would make up for low numbers, siege engineers, I dont know. Thing about them is that you're getting a diminishing return on each of them the more you have with you. If one engineer could plan the entire thing, then you wouldnt want to take more than four or five,(the reason for taking more than the bare minimum being that it reduces strain on induviduals and gives you a "spare tire" just in case.) furthermore, we've seen nothing to indicate that Siege Engines dont just Automatically work, in fact it tends to indicate that they do, because Uncroaked stacks can take siege units with them, and it seems unlikely that uncroaked would be the type of unit to have a Siege engineer with them, as being dead "Doesnt make 'em cheap to Feed" certain other units would also be useful in spite of low numbers, for example dedicated Anti-units (such as Fire Ships in Age of Empires and Protoss Corsairs from Starcraft) would be useful in smaller numbers, but would eventually hit a point where there are more of them than you can use, and those units would be an unnecessary drain on the country in question.

[The Old Hack]

Casters for certain would make up for low numbers, siege engineers, I dont know. Thing about them is that you're getting a diminishing return on each of them the more you have with you.

Absolutely true. I was thinking along the lines of telling some minor ally, "We are short on this kind of unit, could you help us out here?" In this way, even fairly small contributions could be meaningful as they go towards closing a gap the main force might otherwise have felt. Too bad for Ansom that no Lookamancers were available...