This is not about warfare aspect of CK3, or rather just about winning wars in battles etc. Rather, this is more about how one actually goes about managing the military/army in CK3, and how current system barely have anything to reflect this important aspect of the game.
Right now, the game is divided into two troop types, levies and MAA. Levies as it works are merely units for early game as you "build up" a professional army with more MAA. By late game, your MAA are loyal to a fault, and can easily beat up all your rivals in the game.
The only "management" options for CK3 is entirely around the idea of improving your MAA with more increased stats due to stationing them at right place, having buffs that alllows you to increase unit size of MAA and so on. As such, it provides no real challenge to the player as the player will nearly always learn how to buff their MAA better than an AI.
I think what we need to go back to is a whole basic drawing board of how the game offers a challenge for the player to actually manage the army. By management I do not mean just about selecting troop types and getting the best combo of units. No, I mean something else.
Actual army management should ideally be more about the basic stuff like knowing who you appoint to be leaders of the units and men, and the effectiveness of the units depends on the capabilities of the people you appoint.
Right now, being appointed as the Akolouthos doesn't actually make you a direct commander of the Varangian Guard MAA. It's just essentially a modifier that boost the Varangian Guards. You can even have multiple Varangian Guards MAA without appointing anyone as the Akolouthos. This is not only unrealistic, but an indication of the design issue with army management in the game.
1. What would an Akolouthos actually do?
Any character that is in charge of a MAA unit would have to manage several things. They are in charge of payment, making sure the soldiers are getting paid well, in charge of bonus for good performance, and also in charge of punishment of the unit. They are also in charge of the training and recruitment of the MAA.
The player character, if they are the Emperor should have little direct say over the internal performance and capabilities of this MAA. A player should not be able to stack any stats to "improve" the MAA just because it is stationed properly, or you unlock tech and buffs for this unit. Instead, everything depends on whether this Akolouthos has the right personality and ability to ensure all those tasks are done well. This should be tied to the personality of the Akolouthos character, whomever that is appointed. A greedy character as Akolouthos might increase the odds of corruption as the pay of the soldiers went into the commander personal pocket. A lavish Akolouthos might overindulge his men with rewards and benefits, making them less effective. A harsh Akolouthos might punish his men too easily, leading to resentment.
Akolouthos would also be in charge of making recommendations of good performing soldiers that can be noticed by the higher military ranks and even the emperor for possible promotion in the future. Good Akolouthos would give you better men that would become good "knights" for the player.
Prowess for Akolouthos might be more important here as they will be leading men directly from the front, and you want someone that can fight directly.
Promotions
Now, each MAA is commanded by an Akolouthos. And a player, especially in an admin empire can command several MAA units. What this means is these MAA units will require another higher officer to manage more than one MAA.
For the Byzantines, this can be in the form of the Droungarios of the Watch
Droungarios is the one in charge of all the 3 MAA units under his command in a given command/region. Droungarios is now the commander of a Tagma, and this role is the one in charge of making sure Akolouthos are doing their job well, They also have a big battlefield role as commanders of given flanks, and this is where all sorts of traits might come in regards to overall battle performances. But as commanders of larger units, their prowess is less important than their command traits.
Droungarios also have to eventually select which of the 3 Akolouthos would be up for promotions into their title as their successors. This is where the office politics comes into play, as all 3 Akolouthos might find they are equally deserving of promotion, and might get jealous or even angry if they are being overlooked as successor. As Droungarios, you want to manage peaceful rivalry amongst the Akolouthos without things getting out of hand. You don't want Akolouthos fighting each other, or undermining each other. A jealous Akolouthos might sabotage his rival candidate by framing corruption on him, or inciting the soldiers of that MAA to disobey the rival Akolouthos.
You also have to deal with which of the MAA units might get certain glory like being the vanguard unit, first unit to be the one to storm a city walls, and which MAA is considered underperforming.
Droungarios is also in charge of negotiation of equipment, logistics and payrates from the emperor. They might challenge with the other Tagmatic generals for prominence, bonus and prestige of the each command.
As emperor, you don't manage the units directly. You simply can't. Instead, everything depends on the commanders you appoint at the highest level, who will in turn perform their duties either well, or poorly, with different varying levels of results for your Men at Arms. You can decide to increase the units of each respective Tagmata, by increasing more men ( which will make the commanders happy) or try and save cost by cutting the amount of men in the units ( which will make the commanders unhappy as they have to fire their soldiers).
This makes your army management overall much more about managing people rather than a case of managing stats.
Right now, the game is divided into two troop types, levies and MAA. Levies as it works are merely units for early game as you "build up" a professional army with more MAA. By late game, your MAA are loyal to a fault, and can easily beat up all your rivals in the game.
The only "management" options for CK3 is entirely around the idea of improving your MAA with more increased stats due to stationing them at right place, having buffs that alllows you to increase unit size of MAA and so on. As such, it provides no real challenge to the player as the player will nearly always learn how to buff their MAA better than an AI.
I think what we need to go back to is a whole basic drawing board of how the game offers a challenge for the player to actually manage the army. By management I do not mean just about selecting troop types and getting the best combo of units. No, I mean something else.
Actual army management should ideally be more about the basic stuff like knowing who you appoint to be leaders of the units and men, and the effectiveness of the units depends on the capabilities of the people you appoint.
Right now, being appointed as the Akolouthos doesn't actually make you a direct commander of the Varangian Guard MAA. It's just essentially a modifier that boost the Varangian Guards. You can even have multiple Varangian Guards MAA without appointing anyone as the Akolouthos. This is not only unrealistic, but an indication of the design issue with army management in the game.
1. What would an Akolouthos actually do?
Any character that is in charge of a MAA unit would have to manage several things. They are in charge of payment, making sure the soldiers are getting paid well, in charge of bonus for good performance, and also in charge of punishment of the unit. They are also in charge of the training and recruitment of the MAA.
The player character, if they are the Emperor should have little direct say over the internal performance and capabilities of this MAA. A player should not be able to stack any stats to "improve" the MAA just because it is stationed properly, or you unlock tech and buffs for this unit. Instead, everything depends on whether this Akolouthos has the right personality and ability to ensure all those tasks are done well. This should be tied to the personality of the Akolouthos character, whomever that is appointed. A greedy character as Akolouthos might increase the odds of corruption as the pay of the soldiers went into the commander personal pocket. A lavish Akolouthos might overindulge his men with rewards and benefits, making them less effective. A harsh Akolouthos might punish his men too easily, leading to resentment.
Akolouthos would also be in charge of making recommendations of good performing soldiers that can be noticed by the higher military ranks and even the emperor for possible promotion in the future. Good Akolouthos would give you better men that would become good "knights" for the player.
Prowess for Akolouthos might be more important here as they will be leading men directly from the front, and you want someone that can fight directly.
Promotions
Now, each MAA is commanded by an Akolouthos. And a player, especially in an admin empire can command several MAA units. What this means is these MAA units will require another higher officer to manage more than one MAA.
For the Byzantines, this can be in the form of the Droungarios of the Watch
Droungarios is the one in charge of all the 3 MAA units under his command in a given command/region. Droungarios is now the commander of a Tagma, and this role is the one in charge of making sure Akolouthos are doing their job well, They also have a big battlefield role as commanders of given flanks, and this is where all sorts of traits might come in regards to overall battle performances. But as commanders of larger units, their prowess is less important than their command traits.
Droungarios also have to eventually select which of the 3 Akolouthos would be up for promotions into their title as their successors. This is where the office politics comes into play, as all 3 Akolouthos might find they are equally deserving of promotion, and might get jealous or even angry if they are being overlooked as successor. As Droungarios, you want to manage peaceful rivalry amongst the Akolouthos without things getting out of hand. You don't want Akolouthos fighting each other, or undermining each other. A jealous Akolouthos might sabotage his rival candidate by framing corruption on him, or inciting the soldiers of that MAA to disobey the rival Akolouthos.
You also have to deal with which of the MAA units might get certain glory like being the vanguard unit, first unit to be the one to storm a city walls, and which MAA is considered underperforming.
Droungarios is also in charge of negotiation of equipment, logistics and payrates from the emperor. They might challenge with the other Tagmatic generals for prominence, bonus and prestige of the each command.
As emperor, you don't manage the units directly. You simply can't. Instead, everything depends on the commanders you appoint at the highest level, who will in turn perform their duties either well, or poorly, with different varying levels of results for your Men at Arms. You can decide to increase the units of each respective Tagmata, by increasing more men ( which will make the commanders happy) or try and save cost by cutting the amount of men in the units ( which will make the commanders unhappy as they have to fire their soldiers).
This makes your army management overall much more about managing people rather than a case of managing stats.
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