Gentlemen & Research
Gentlemen
Gentlemen are a special unit type available and visible on the strategic map that do not participate in battles. Unlike military units gentlemen cannot be recruited. Instead gentlemen have a chance to spawn based on the number and upgrade level of certain related building types. All gentlemen can move across national borders on the strategic map and undertake actions without causing a war. Failed actions however will lead to a hit in your diplomatic relations, which in turn can quickly lead to war.
There are three major types of gentlemen:
- Researchers are spawned in region capitals by observatories and are the most valuable type of gentlemen. If you move a researcher to a school they will contribute research points to the technology being researched. Researchers can also move into enemy territory where they can duel other gentlemen or attempt to steal technology by moving to an opposing school. Duels are often, but not always, fatal and generally are far more likely to succeed than assassination attempts by rakes.
- Rakes are spawned in villages by theater buildings. Rakes are the eighteenth century equivalent of assassins and spies. Rakes can undertake missions to sabotage opposing structures or assassinate opposing gentlemen. The chance of rakes successfully completing most missions is quite low, in the range of 30-35 percent. This means that rakes in general tend to be relegated to the more reliable role of scout, where they move into enemy territories to reveal what the composition of standing forces are then move out. Building theaters to increase your production of rakes is a very bad idea. Not only do theaters provide little else the role rakes play on the battlefield can usually be filled just as well by researchers which you will already be producing.
- Missionaries are spawned in villages by church and church school buildings. Missionaries can be moved into a regional capital where they begin shifting the religious beliefs of the population. This is quite useful when waging campaigns in certain areas as it can pacify otherwise resistant populations. While possessing a few missionaries is useful when playing nearly any faction it is very easy to over commit as these units tend to survive longer than other gentlemen units. We recommend that you limit church construction to villages in rebellious borderlands.
Gentlemen can be removed from the strategic map in three ways:
- A gentleman can be killed in a duel with another gentleman.
- A gentleman can be assassinated by a rake.
- A gentleman can die a natural death, this occurs most often in the campaign mode with gentlemen whom are quite old when they are spawned.
Research
Researching new technologies at schools is essential to staying one step ahead of your enemies. The priorities you should place on which technology to research first will vary based on what faction you are playing and what your strategic goals are. However all factions will need to maintain reasonable levels of research in the primary line of infantry related military technologies. These technologies which begin with Plug Bayonet open up more advanced versions of the barracks building and later on valuable specialized infantry units. The most important military technologies are:
- Square Formation will allow you to defend against cavalry charges with your line infantry.
- Fire By Rank will allow soldiers in your second and third rank to fire in turn after the first rank. This allows you to squeeze line infantry into tighter lines with more ranks without losing a significant amount of firepower.
- Light Infantry Doctrine allows you to recruit light infantry which are a valuable support unit for your main offensive army.
When researching industrial technologies it is important to invest primarily in the technologies that affect the most common types of industrial buildings you control. In many regions metalworking craftsman or weavers will be far more numerous than the other type. When investing in industrial research it is important that you do not stall your economy by progressing too fast. The most advanced types of industrial buildings also cause unhappiness in the region where they are constructed and should only be constructed in regions where you can offset this deficit. If you can't currently support constructing the most technologically advanced buildings you have access shift your industrial research to another area.
Enlightenment philosophy is the least desirable type of research. It will become essential as a campaign progresses, because it can drastically increase the number of research points you generate in a turn. The downside to this is that all enlightenment philosophies increase unhappiness. If you research heavily into industrial technology and enlightenment philosophy early you can quickly bankrupt your nation as both require expensive upgrades to buildings to have an effect and also increase the unhappiness of your lower classes.