In my opinion, half of the fun of the game is building an economy that will sustain the adventures.
However, the developers have taken several decisions that have thrown the economy off balance. It is far to easy to amass a great surplus of resources. So they are handed over to grateful lower lvl players. However, this is not how the game should be played.
The treasure is overflowing with coin. This causes inflation, with coin losing value. And with the extra goldmines this will only get worse.
These resources will have to be put to good use to balance the economy again.
So I suggest the standing army demands to be paid in coin.
Higher lvl players have an army of 10k ore more, but most of them would be cannon fodder: recruits and bowmen. These are basically armed civilians and they only require 1 coin per week.
Militia and longbowmen demand 2 coin per week.
Cavalry, soldiers and crossbowmen are professional soldiers and demand 1 coin per day.
Elite and cannons are more expensive, they require 2 coin per day.
If they don't get paid, they refuse to go out on adventures. Don't pay them for a week and they defect. Half of them will take their weapons with them when they leave.
It takes resources to sustain a standing army.
1 bread and beer for every professional soldier per week, so for Cav, S, E, XB & cannons
2 wheat for every cav per week
1 meat for every cav, s or xb per week
1 sausage for E and cannons per week
Also, a survivor in battle has a 10% chance of getting his weapon destroyed or lost, and this would have to be replaced. The survivors don't have to retrained, new weapons would simply be taken from stock. If they aren't enough weapons in stock, the military would be unarmed and unable to participate in the adventure until they are fully equipped.
I also suggest we dispose of the "special troops". Simply don't allow R & B to participate in colony and you would get a similar effect.
What do you guys think?