Strat roster size suggestion

[Tomas]

I know changes aren't being made to Strat but i'm bored and maybe someone will read this and think it is a good idea for the future (if Strat has one  )

Suggestion: scale roster size according to equipment level

Unarmed/Lightly Armed armies = 100% roster size
Armed armies = 95% roster size
Heavily Armed armies = 90% roster size
Shiny Armies = 85% roster size

So for a battle where you get 50 mercs normally, you would only get 43 mercs if your army was so well armed it was listed as shiny.

The numbers will of course need changing for balance.

Outcome:
- Better equipment is no longer an auto win and leaders will have to learn to overcome numerical disadvantages instead of just being able to crutch on their superior equipment
- More interesting battles where it is harder to spawn cap simply by having better gear
- More tactical options in Strat as some faction may actually choose to use lower level equipment in order to have more roster space which in turn means they can afford more tickets overall.  For instance say 150k gold is enough to heavily arm 500 tickets, however it is also enough gold to arm 700 tickets instead which would gain you 2-3 extra mercs on their roster.  Which would you choose?
- Makes people actually think instead of just doing the obvious thing of maxing their equipment according to what they can afford.

[Troyicide]

so you get penalized for having a better equipped army. sounds bad? or did I miss somthing

[Tomas]

so you get penalized for having a better equipped army. sounds bad? or did I miss somthing

Put simply, yes.  It is a penalty for factions that are rich enough to be able to win simply by equipment crutching.  Vary your equipment, use some tactics and you will not be penalised. You will also have money left over for extra equipped tickets which keeps your advantage in tact.

Personally i'm bored of uniformly armed armies where the archers all wear TWOs (or similar) and everybody else wears the heaviest armour that the faction can afford to craft.  Light and Medium Infantry only exist in Strat for factions too poor to afford heavy infantry, which is crap imo.  I want to go back to Strat 2 where the best equipment was only bought in small amounts and was reserved for the best players.  These players were then used tactically and not just left to charge blindly towards their opponents spawn.

Mechanisms were deliberately added to cRPG in order to limit the numbers of tincans and armour crutchers on the battlefield, why not add similar mechanisms to Strat as well? 
Or do you not want Strat battles to actually be a challenge where generals have to think?

[Lepintoi]

result : ordinary peasantnoobs will never be able to fight strat battles in good armor?

[Tomas]

result : ordinary peasantnoobs will never be able to fight strat battles in good armor?

That depends on your definition of "good armour" and the decisions of the faction your are fighting for.  They could have chosen to give everybody "good armour" thinking that they can overcome their numerical disadvantage.

Remember that ordinary peasantnoobs for one faction will be fighting against other ordinary peasantnoobs of another faction as well and if your faction has chosen lighter equipment then you will have a numerical advantage to make the battle more balanced without nerfing the power of a whole faction