[quote=Ashgan]
Glad to hear this. I got another question as I contemplate building choices: Is there overlap between the Watch Tower and the Town Guardhouse? Both seem to spot sneaky parties and guard trade routes. Is there a point in getting both? I did some more math guys! Maybe you all realized this already, but in case you didn't, I feel this is some good information:Storehouses. They're super efficient at low-fertility fiefdoms! So they can contain up to 100 people, preferably peasants, and make them not eat food. That's right, it turns them into machines who run on sheer determination alone. Remember what I said about wanting robots to operate my fields back when I talked about food? Well here we go.So, for our food economy, this means the following: A peasant, who normally consumes 4 crops an annum, now doesn't. His production surplus, after personal consumption, on a scrubland fief, turns from a meagre 0.2 (4.2 - 4.0 = 0.2) into the full 4.2! Do you know how many peasants it takes to produce a surplus of 4.2 without this building? 21. In summary, this means that, figuratively speaking, the storehouse turns 1 peasant into 21 peasants. It can house 100 people per storehouse built (which I see no maximum limit of), so to find out how much peasant value (can we make this a term? abbreviate it PV or something) is created, you just multiply by 100, so on a scrubland, a storehouse full of peasants turns 100 of them into 2100. Scrublands start out with 3000 people, so you're technically creating roughly 70% more peasants. Or in other words, your PV is improved by 70%. That's so nuts!It should be said that storehouses rapidly degrade in power. On an infertile fief, it only multiplies by 11, and on a fair fief, it multiplies by 7.66~. Then comes 6, 5, and it goes downhill from there (if there even are more fertility levels than that). So, all things considered, this is only an early game boost for your shit fiefdoms, as I would consider twice if I would want to build it even in a fair fiefdom, let alone higher ones. This also means that if you upgrade your fertility, you are actively devaluing your storehouses, so that's something to bear in mind, though this effect is also less dramatic at higher fertility levels. Actually, some more questions, various subjects. We don't directly control our vassals' actions, like give orders for them, right? I read we can move their levies apparently, but we don't have to build up their infrastructure as well, and conduct trade missions on their behalf?Next, can I trade with my vassals? Can I trade between my own towns, if I have 2 or more?How are the costs of Manors, Walls and Town Fortifications handled? Are they additive, for example 10.000 for Basic Town Fort., plus 25.000 for Improved Town Fort., thus totalling 35.000 for the latter, or can I go from nothing to Improved for a straight 25.000 (meaning it costs only 15.000 to upgrade from the first tier)?
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I'm drunk, but I'll answer all your questions to the best of my current capabilities:

You'll likely find out how morale works during battle simply by the actions that come about. In general, I've found the standard things that you would think would affect a soldiers morale would degrade it, as the system is kind of like the. . . there was that formula whose name escapes me, but it's used to figure out the likelyhood of certain outcomes using custom variables.

I will say the original system I had was flawed, in that it relied on these custom variables too much, thus allowing me, or any GM using to make the outcome of the battle go as they want it by ignoring or factoring in minor details. I have since fixed it, by making concrete lists of what can and can't give bonuses, as well as making formulas for deciding certain things like whether a force is vastly inferior to another, or whether a force will obey an order and such.

Regardless, I must say that morale and discipline are both important things, and are good to have if you want them, but should [i]not[/i] be overdone. Don't try to turn your whole army into elite badasses; 1,000 unruly peasants who've seen one battle are still a match for 300 guardsmen who've done nothing but train for a year.

For whether certain things can inspire soldiers, there are a few things on the list [ I try to keep the items vague, yet not uncertain enough that I can be tempted into fudging results ] that can fill what you're looking for, but only battle can be the test for your ideas.

As for the storehouses, I think I meant to put a limit on those, but forgot while I was preparing lunch/getting ready for work. I'll give it another look in the morning, and see if it needs one. But you got what I had in mind for them perfectly: they're meant to help out people who have large amounts of cruddy fiefs. They're also great for sieges.

For your vassals, it really depends on the vassal. You don't directly control any of your vassals, and you have to ask them to do anything, but some vassals are more obedient than others. They're subordinate to you, but more like a CEO to a President rather than a desk clerk to a manager. You can definitely trade with their towns. All towns have trade routes automatically going between them, but Caravans allow you to accrue both you and whoever owns the town income, if you allow the caravan to stay there. Which I'm not sure is in the rules, but it should be, so another thing for the to-do-list.

Hope that clears things up!

EDIT: In regards to your last thingy, yes, it does. If they have no-one at court [ and they have to specifically specify that, otherwise they just get some generic whatshisface ], then you must send them a letter, with travel times factored in, and the potential for the letter to be intercepted. If you just want to send a letter to a lord, even though they have a representative at court, travel times are still factored in. There's not much benefit to this, unless the situation at court is really tense, or you just don't trust Mr. Whatshisface.

EDIT 2: Also, Manor and Town defenses are not additive. You can just build whatever one you want, with no prerequisites.

And the benefit of building a Town Guard is that they can protect trade routes for you, whereas Watchtowers, while allowing you to respond to threats mid-season as if having posted patrols there, do not automatically protect anything. Also, guards reduce the chance of certain negative random town events happening. Another thing on the to-do list, clarify all this in the rules, heh.