player1 fanatic
Fanatic
Asking King for troops at 50% price seemed like a great idea when I played. It was also one of the reasons why you would not want to anger the King by not giving money when he asks (since he would refuse to sell troops if he was annoyed).
But, as I found reading some threads and through in game testing, every time you get troops from king, it factors into increasing his Royal Expeditionary Force.
As far as I understand the code (and was explained in one of the threads), every time you buy soldiers or cannons from the king, it adds number of liberty bells equal to price you paid to get those troops.
So, if you buy solider for 750gp, it adds 750 LB for calculating REF.
This does not get obvious at first, since in case you gain no liberty bells per turn, King REF does not increase, even if you bought several units from him.
But the moment you add first +3LB statesmen in the settlement, all those bells from units you bought will be added to the pool, and you'll get REF increases every turn, for next 5-15 years (as long as you gain at least +1LB from statesmen), until those LB generated from buying troops are spent.
So, if you, like me in one game, bought around 6 cannons and 6 veterans soldiers through the King discount, expect to have REF higher for amount equal to 9000 liberty bells, compared to player who hasn't used "King's discount".
To make sure of this, I did a test case, when I started the game on Conquistador difficulty and added extra 5000gold after founding my first town (using world builder). Then I bought one veteran solider from the King. Pressed enter, nothing happens, again, nothing happens. Then I moved colonist from field to town hall (+3LB). Pressed enter, REF increase, pressed enter, REF increase, etc... Lasted for around 10 turns. Bought cannon. Same thing (REF increase for several turns).
P.S.
Anyway, I'm pretty disappointed to discover how this works. Getting troops from King seemed like cool mechanic to reward player for being friendly to the King, but was actually just a disguise for yet another penalizing mechanic (with very heavy penalty).
What is especially weird is that asking troops from king increases REF, while being disobedient (like refusing to give gold) does not.
P.P.S.
I'll probably never again use this option again, exempt in dire emergency (like sudden war with indians or other europeans, when I need troops ASAP).
But, as I found reading some threads and through in game testing, every time you get troops from king, it factors into increasing his Royal Expeditionary Force.
As far as I understand the code (and was explained in one of the threads), every time you buy soldiers or cannons from the king, it adds number of liberty bells equal to price you paid to get those troops.
So, if you buy solider for 750gp, it adds 750 LB for calculating REF.
This does not get obvious at first, since in case you gain no liberty bells per turn, King REF does not increase, even if you bought several units from him.
But the moment you add first +3LB statesmen in the settlement, all those bells from units you bought will be added to the pool, and you'll get REF increases every turn, for next 5-15 years (as long as you gain at least +1LB from statesmen), until those LB generated from buying troops are spent.
So, if you, like me in one game, bought around 6 cannons and 6 veterans soldiers through the King discount, expect to have REF higher for amount equal to 9000 liberty bells, compared to player who hasn't used "King's discount".
To make sure of this, I did a test case, when I started the game on Conquistador difficulty and added extra 5000gold after founding my first town (using world builder). Then I bought one veteran solider from the King. Pressed enter, nothing happens, again, nothing happens. Then I moved colonist from field to town hall (+3LB). Pressed enter, REF increase, pressed enter, REF increase, etc... Lasted for around 10 turns. Bought cannon. Same thing (REF increase for several turns).
P.S.
Anyway, I'm pretty disappointed to discover how this works. Getting troops from King seemed like cool mechanic to reward player for being friendly to the King, but was actually just a disguise for yet another penalizing mechanic (with very heavy penalty).
What is especially weird is that asking troops from king increases REF, while being disobedient (like refusing to give gold) does not.
P.P.S.
I'll probably never again use this option again, exempt in dire emergency (like sudden war with indians or other europeans, when I need troops ASAP).
