[Guide] The Bare Essentials of your Army

So I've been playing the game a little while and am a veteran of some of the previous settlers games (believe me I don't want to know how many hours I've spent playing the original on Amiga when it was new).

TSO is different in that it actually has a levelling system where the only way of increasing level (and opening up new buildings) is to build up an army and defeat bandit camps and complete adventures. As new players peruse the forums they'll realise that in the vast majority of fights you're going to loose a number of troops and if your army has been well thought out, in the majority of occasions this loss will be from your Recruits. Recruits really are the bread and butter of an army as they're quick to train and cheap to equip. However they die in their droves!

As such it's pretty critical to have an economy that can support a regular replacement of these essential and undervalued troop.

Throughout this guide any buildings I refer to relate to a basic level 1 version. You can "stack" building levels together so if I say "8 Farms" it actually means a cumulative total of 8 - which could be 6 level 1 Farms and a level 2 Farm. In addition to this all quoted production values don't cater for travel to/from the storehouse - there are plenty of other excellent guides surrounding efficient placement of buildings.

Note: I'm not going to go over the basics of having enough houses, masons or wood cutters.

They're All Dead Jim
Ok, the first problem you're going to encounter is the fact that you've just lost a huge swathe of your army. To begin with it might only be 4 or 5 Recruits by towards the end of your Isle this is going to be 200+. It's unlikely you're going to have enough spare settlers to just replace the losses so you're faced with having to wait 15 minutes for each one... Or not. Within your Provision House you have the ability to turn Bread into settlers. There are three options - 1 settler will cost 25 bread (15 minute creation), 5 setters will cost 125 bread (30 minute creation) and 25 settlers will cost 625 bread (45 minute creation). Needless to say it's the largest one we're looking at. One Bakery will create 480 bread per day so you're going to need 2 to make 625 within a day. In addition you're going to need 4 Wells, 4 Mills and 8 Farms. Don't forget to upgrade all of your Residents to Noble Residents when you can.

The Vorpal Blade Went Snicker-snack
Well maybe not Vorpal, but Bronze... Each Recruit requires 10 Bronze Swords to train - clearly because they have ten arms or are very clumsy and keep leaving them places. Bronze weapons fall into the category of "complicated chain" in that they require a total of 5 different buildings and each sub-building requires at least 1 supporting building. However it's not actually too bad providing you plan everything out. 25 fresh Recruits will require 250 Bronze Swords to train them, a single Bronze Sword Weaponsmith produces 240 swords each day, so you're going to need 2 (don't worry about producing extra, they all help). In addition to produce this you require 5 Coking Plants, 3 Pine Wood Cutters; 4 Pine Wood Foresters and 2 Copper Smelters.

But Where Has All The Beer Gone?
Training is thirsty work, clearly the water from our wells isn't good enough so the loutish Recruits insist on beer, 5 mugs of the stuff to be precise. The Brewery chain is the simplest chain in the whole process and just needs Wheat and Water. A single Brewery will produce 240 mugs of beer every day so produces well in excess the necessary for 25 Recruits. In fact 2 Breweries produce enough for 75 Recruits! In addition to the Brewery you're going to need 2 Farms and 1 Well.


Now Tell Me Something I Don't Know
Ok, I'll admit it, the above information isn't particularly useful on it's own and enough bits to train 25 Recruits a day really isn't going to do much when you've just lost over 200. However I have prepared a little spreadsheet that lists the various numbers of building required to maintain a certain level of Recruit training every day. My final word is to try and build your settlement with the above production concept in mind as it will make your life easier when you get to the higher levels of the game.