Part 17

Learn how troop morale and city reputation impact combat strength in The Settlers. Discover bonuses, penalties, and the strategic use of thieves and siege weapons.

In The Settlers, troop morale is crucial for victory, directly affecting your knight's strength. Morale is tied to your city's reputation, measured in percentages. Every 20% of reputation grants your troops an additional star of strength, ranging from 1 star (0%-19%) to 5 stars (80%-100%).

Reputation is influenced by various factors:

• Knight promotions: +10% permanent bonus per promotion.
• Offering leather and wool clothes: +10%.
• Offering soap and brooms: +10%.
• Offering baths and mead: +10%.
• Holding a festival: +10%.
• Holding a sermon: +10%.
• High soldier pay: +20%.
• No soldier pay: -30%.
• High taxes: -30%.
• No taxes: +20%.

Rare factors like buying salt or jesters from harbor traders can also affect reputation. Reputation may fluctuate after the knight reaches level 4, possibly due to building types or a bug. The key takeaway is that providing for your troops and settlers boosts morale and fighting strength, while neglecting them leads to losses.

Most reputation bonuses are temporary, changing monthly with tax collection. Before battle, consider holding a sermon and festival to temporarily boost your troops' strength, regardless of attendance or troop proximity to the city.

Reputation also affects enemies. Bandits have low reputation, making them minor threats. Enemy troop morale is based on their main city's reputation. Lowering enemy reputation while maintaining your own can significantly weaken their military.

Thieves

Thieves become available after promoting your knight, recruited at the castle for 120 gold. They count towards your troop limit and have the same salary. Thieves cannot attack or defend but are invaluable for spying, gathering intelligence, and stealing resources. They are virtually undetectable by enemy troops, blending in with settlers and passing through enemy gates and past wild animals unharmed.

Thieves can interact with enemy special buildings:

• Enemy Castle: Stealing paperwork can damage the enemy cathedral, significantly lowering enemy reputation and giving your troops a combat edge.
• Enemy Storehouse: Stealing a small amount of raw supplies. This is generally not worth the risk unless the enemy's resource gathering buildings are destroyed, potentially causing an economic strike.

Thieves are often required for quests in later maps. Their best use is as a spy; by positioning them behind enemy buildings away from patrols, you can observe enemy activities and plan assaults effectively.

Siege Weapons

For enemies behind stone walls, siege weapons are essential. They are built at the siege engine workshop, available when your knight is promoted sufficiently. The workshop uses iron to create siege engine parts for one of three types of siege equipment, each requiring a specific promotion level.

Once an engine is chosen, an ox-drawn cart delivers the parts and an assembly manual. Assigning troops to the cart initiates the assembly process, with new buttons appearing near the mini-map to control the troops using the manual.