Rather than cluttering up other peoples' threads with all my questions, I decided to create my own.
I'm effectively new to the game. I played a T/M a few ages ago (not well), the only relevance of which being that I know I enjoy the thief aspects. Stealing and night striking suit me, I guess. Since T/Ms suck (and may have always sucked), I've decided on running an A/T
My newness, coupled with some things I've read on the boards here, has led me to decide on Human for my race.
Similarly, Rogue seemed to make the most sense for a personality, until I considered the benefits. Is the +1 stealth regen, Greater Arson, Propaganda, and Assassinate Wizards really worth it, or would I be better served with something different? Merchant for extra gold or Shepherd for faster...everything? What personality would you recommend for a newbie Human A/T?
I know that your build needs to be fluid, that out of war, in war, and certain opponents all require their own plans. I put together the following general build. It will probably work, but I seriously doubt it's as efficient as it should be.
10% - Homes
08% - Farms
15% - Training Grounds
10% - Barracks
10% - Forts
10% - Hospitals
10% - Guilds
07% - Towers
20% - Thieves' Dens
Banks - Should I reduce something and make room for some? Or will my income boost from my race (and possibly Personality) make the land better spent elsewhere?
Homes - I've read that with enough Pop science which, as a Human, I should have, homes can provide an offensive benefit similar to the same number of Stables.
Farms - Not sure if this is enough, I can always Rob Granaries to supplement.
Training Grounds & Forts - Offensive and Defensive bonuses respectively. My only concern here is having to little of one and too much of the other. Or, maybe, too little of both.
Barracks - I don't know why, but to me this building seems like the kind of thing you should either have a lot of or none of. I assume I need them, but is there some minimum threshold I may be missing before which it's useless to have them?
Hospitals - Less losses are good. Similar to Barracks, do I have enough to make it worth taking any?
Guilds & Towers - I really don't know how much magic I'll be using. I'll need Wizards for defense and for self spells, that's about it. Is this too much? Not enough? Should I lower Towers and just plan on stealing runes when I need them?
Thieves' Dens - 20% seems like a lot. But I see myself as more of a T/A than an A/T. It's just more my playstyle. However, when it comes down to it I'd rather survive than do what I want (within reason), so if it makes more sense to lower this, I can.
When it comes to units, I'm in the same situation as I am for buildings. What is the minimum of Unit X I'll need to not be easy pickings?
Draft Rate - 68%
Wages - 100% (Unless this should be raised?)
With 10% Homes, that gives me 25 * 1.032 = 25.8 Units per Acre on average.
25.8 * .68 = 17.5 Military Units and 8.3 Peasants
5 - DefSpecs
7 - Elites
5 - Thieves
2 - Wizards
That leaves me with a total of 19 Drafted Units and 6 Peasants per acre. I'm pretty concerned about my number of Wizards. Human A/T are pretty much fireball fodder to begin with, but I would like the opportunity to deflect one or two every now and then. Will I even get to this number with the amount of Guilds I have? Is this Unit Breakdown worthwhile, or should I change my allocations?
Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. I'm probably going to fall flat on my face anyway, but the more newbie mistakes I can avoid, the better off I'll be.