Military unit

The Cullach march.

Definition

A military unit represents a small band of approximately 20 skilled soldiers. The military unit could be as few as a dozen elite warriors or it could be as many as a hundred raw recruits. Imperial civil servants use simple day magic rituals to rate the effective fighting force a unit is equivalent to.

Production

A military unit can raid adjacent regions and territories held by enemies of the Empire to produce valuable resources. This happens automatically if the owner does not select any other option. Raiding produces ten ingots or measures chosen randomly from the eight basic resources available.

In rare circumstances a unit may recover herbs or mana crystals instead. This is a rare, random outcome; it is not possible to take action to improve the likelihood of this outcome.

Downtime Options

A military unit can be assigned to fight alongside an Imperial army. An normal Imperial Army has an effective fighting force equivalent to 5000 soldiers who are raw recruits. When the skills and experience of a military unit are combined with a campaign army, they improve the effective fighting force of the army by the equivalent of 100 soldiers. A unit assigned to an Imperial army produces five ingots or measures chosen randomly from the eight basic resources.

Military units lack the deep logistical support that is the backbone of the Imperial Armies and without which it is impossible to operate in large numbers. As a result it is not possible for military units to work together independently of an Imperial Army. If you wish your military unit to take part in a military campaign, it can only do so by being attached to an Imperial Army.

Sometimes the option to assign a military unit to a special project may be available. Examples might include assignment to deal with bandits in an Imperial territory, or to assist a scouting campaign in an enemy territory. Such special projects show up in the Downtime system as if they were Imperial armies. Any character can assign their military unit to help with one of these projects.The degree of success depends on the total number of ranks of military units assigned. Military units assigned to a special project receive the same half income, as if they were assigned to an Imperial army.

Upgrades

A military unit can be upgraded using mithril obtained from the Bourse. Each time a military unit is upgraded, the effective fighting force of the unit is increased by 20, returns from raiding are increased by 2, and returns from assignment to an Imperial army are increased by 1.

To upgrade a military unit requires Imperial Wains of mithril equal to the level the military unit is being upgraded to. So the first upgrade of a starting level 1 military unit costs 2 Imperial Wains of mithril, from 2 to 3 costs 3 Imperial Wains, etc.

Upgraded military units are proportionally more effective when contributing to a special project such as a spy network. Each upgrade a military unit has adds the equivalent of 1/5 of an extra unit to the overall tally.

Diversification

A military unit cannot be diversified.