Army Composition

The best army composition we have found so far for early combat consists of.....

4 Spearmen
2 Swordsmen
2 Archers

Light Spearmen have a base defense of 75

Heavy Spearmen have a base defense of 110

With a few bonuses you can easily get Light Spearmen on par with Heavy Spearmen in
nearly all stats.

Swordsmen and Archers are a different ball game because their is a vast variety of
Sword and Board and Missile units
Marshal Skills
The Skills I highly recommend to take on the Marshal to compliment your army are...

Primary Skills

Infantry Tactics

+10|15|25 Infantry And Spearmen Defense

+10|15|20 Defense squads resilience

Field Tactics

+1|2|3 Character Level

+5|10|20% Squads Defense
+20|30|50% Natural Terrain Bonuses

Siegecraft

+1|2|3 Character Level

+10|15|20% Defense when defending during siege, assault and break-siege battles
Allows construction of Catapults
+5|10|15% siege attack

Secondary Skills

Medicine

+1|2|3 Character Level

-10|20|50% cost for refilling squads
+2|3|5 workers in Town

Logistics

+1|2|3 Character Level

+2|3|5% Army travel speed
-20|30|50% usage of army's supplies
+50|100|200 Food storage in governed Town

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In a nutshell this is your Build-Order

1. Village Militia and Housings in a province with villages (the more the better)
2. 1 Crop Field or 1 Harbor
3. Some Market Squares in provinces with villages (the more the better)
4. Barracks in a province with castles (the more the better)

The Kingdom Adventages "Abundance", "Mercantilism", "Masonry" and "Progress" are

the easiest to get and most benefitial early on.

To-Do-List for game start

1. Hire 1 merchant and get him to trade

2. Assign Governors wisely. Check if your royal family provides any knights or
recruit some.

3. Search for the province with the most villages and construct the buildings
"Village Militia" and "Housings".

4. Recruit troops asap, since your population needs some time to regenerate.

5. Build "Crop Fields" or "Harbor" (preferably in a town with crop farms). Build
some Market Squares on towns with villages.

6. Check your Stances and Relations and choose an easy first target to attack. Make
some trade- and non-aggression-pacts while you're at it. Allign Marriages!

7. Have 2 Marshalls avaible and recruit as many Village Militia and Peasants as
possible. (Remember, if a non-marshall-knight is though a marshall skill, you can
call him to function as an army leader)

8. Attack a weak Kingdom next to yours.

9. Build Barracks (Upgrade Fletchers and Spearman) to deal with other Kingdoms and
Rebels.

10. Hire 1 diplomat (send him to improve relations) and 1 cleric (adopt population
and book-generation are very useful). You should also have at least 2 merchants at
this point.

11. Skill your Knights and look for benefial governing-bonuses.

12. Plan on what Kingdom Adventage to go first. Abundance, Mercantilism, Masonry

and Progress are the easiest and most benefitial early on.

13. Make long-term-plans: Choose your future foes and allies -> Consider what Goods
and benefits each Province provides!!!

14. Look for ways to increase your economical Income = Commerce Points, Books,
Levies! + Look for ways to increase kingdom stability!

15. Rise an Empire!