There is a need for better starting gear diversity in all levels of recruits to stimulate better background diversity in player companies.
I fully support the idea of retaning gear with recruits as the man was expected to provide his gear by himself.
But the current roster diversity is discouraged by starting gear “tax” and backgrounds that does not have that “tax” are overrepresented in rational-picked rosters
In a world of random quality of hires, you can increase final quality the roster only by inreasing the sample size.
That is achived by rotating the most affordable suitable backgrounds.
* brawler (almost no gear tax)
* wildman (may come with no gear tax whatsover)
* apprentice (almost no gear tax)
* any recruit with “poor” starting gear. (“improvised” cheap level: wooden stick/knife/net/club/wooden flail for militias level, t1 gear for “military” level, poor t2 level for “elite”)
For example I refrain from hiring “cheap military” backgrounds simply due the lack of comparable availability because of “gear tax” (a simple weapon, maybe a shield, armor, and a headhear comes down to a “tax” of 500+ Gold, that is entire 3 picks of “taxless” decent hires.
I do pick this backgrounds when I manage to roll them with “cheap” gear. (a super cheap weapon+ super cheap armor)
How I suggest to buff roster diversity:
1) Add “new” (DLC) weapons to gear selection of current present backgrounds.
*cheap bros comes with improvised/low end gear (T0-t1)
* militia level has the same gear (T0-t1)
For example it is expected that militiaman may be expected to have in possession new mace/spear weapon as well as wooden club or stick.
* military – “mid tier” weapons
*elite (mid-high tier)
2) Cheap hires need addition of simple general and improvised weapons in the gear rotation, to make hiring them more viable by reducing tax on useless gear.
By simple general and improvised weapons I mean knife and wooden stick and wooden club as they are both easy to come by and effective.
For example, butcher never comes without its cleaver , wich is odd choice, because knife and wooden stick are both used in butcher’s work but are not in the rotation. Same with linen shirt or surcoat in armor department.
If butchers could be aquired for 50-100g less that could make them appear more often in the roster in contrary to only being picked as day 0 pick.
Same could be said about axemen, miners, militia, deserters, poachers (you can poach with a spear or a club a trap), wildmen etc.
3) Adjust some background traits:
Miner – totally useless for its price: FAT penalty is just too harsh for no benefit.
Deserter – mathematically inferior, as he pays avg 10 RES for 2 MDEF or RDEF in comparison to militila and has higher chance to get RES-diminishind perks than militia. Deserters are not always cowards, there are other reasons to desert than fear (lack of pay to begin with)
Merchant – costs too much for what it offers and does not affect/benefit entire roster as a monk or cultist or juggler.
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