Infinitos Mundos

Here are the guidelines for your military traits. These are just guidelines, and players are expected to describe their military traits themselves, building off of these values. There are no base values for a nation's military, and the entirety of one's military must be built into their Military Traits post. Maximum values can be found below, however players are expected to be reasonable, this is at the discretion of the moderation staff. Players are required to use the values found in this thread for their military traits application. Players are free to design their military specs as they wish, and are expected to include the base details of their military equipment in their factbook.

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Population
Population is important for various factors including how large a military you can field, as well as your ability to directly colonize new lands. Population estimates for 1700 can be difficult to come by, a rough estimate for global populations can be found here. Calculate the rough percentage for the land that your nation holds based on these values, keeping in mind that the approximate world population was 682,000,000. If exact numbers are not available, you may approximate using the best available numbers for your area. Feel free to round your population to the nearest 500.

Population must be separated into mainland and overseas population, with overseas population not typically contributing to military manpower.

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Coastal or Landlocked
Is your nation coastal or landlocked? Nations bordering the Great Lakes are not considered coastal, but do have access to canoes and the like.

Coastal: Can field a navy
Landlocked: No navy, can field a larger ground force

Tribal/Native tech level nations can only field canoes unless special circumstances apply (eg Polynesians).

Smaller sea vessels (primarily canoes) can travel inland on larger rivers and lakes, but must be portaged across areas of difficult terrain.

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Tech Level
Each nation will have a different tech level based upon their development. This will affect how well a player does in military combat situations. Tech level does not affect troop count. A nations tech level must be explained in their factbook and in their military traits application. It is up to a player to explain your tech level, though if your tech level does not match that of the area you are claiming in (eg European in Central Africa), you must provide a thorough explanation as to why that is.

Western: A western nation is one which has access to the latest military and naval technology. Typically located in Europe, most western European nations would be considered western in the 1700s. Examples include Spain, France, and the Netherlands.
Eastern: An eastern nation is one which has access to strong military and naval technology, but is not quite up to the same standards as western nations for a variety of reasons. Eastern nations can be found throughout all of Asia, ranging from Arabia to Japan. Examples include Oman, the Mughals, and the Qing Dynasty.
Sub-Eastern: Sub-Eastern nations are those which are not quite as developed as eastern nations, but which still have decent military and naval technologies. Sub-Eastern nations can are mostly found in South East Asia or around the Sahara in Africa. Examples include Ethiopia or Ayutthaya.
Tribal/Native: A tribal or native nation is one which is significantly lacking in military and naval technology, sometimes lacking a navy or proper military entirely. These nations are often found in isolated or less developed areas, often in the Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, Siberia, and Australia. Examples include the Iroquois, Australian Aborigines, and others.

Western: No change.
Eastern: Presumed to perform 20% less effectively than a western nation.
Sub-Eastern: Presumed to perform 40% less effectively than a western nation.
Tribal/Native: Presumed to perform 60-90% less effectively than a western nation.

Eastern, Sub-Eastern, and Tribal/Native nations will perform at normal values when engaging against nations of a similar tech level, with each performing worse when fighting against nations that are more developed than them (eg Eastern vs Eastern would be on par, whereas Eastern vs Tribal/Native will favour the Eastern nation). It is still possible that a lower tech level nation to defeat a higher one, depending on the circumstances and size of the invading army (eg 10,000 Tribal/Native troops stand a good chance against 250 Western troops).

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Economy
The economy of a nation is influenced by a variety of factors, including its government, colonies, trade, tech level, and others. Your economy is also influenced by your natural resources, your trade, your population, your location, and your colonies. Players are expected to list the various factors that influence their economy, and what benefits, if any, they have. Historically governments that relied on trade and prioritized them (especially global trade) were more successful than others. Your economy influences how many ships you can have and how well you can colonize.

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Unrest
While not influential to the same extent as the 21st century, unrest was still a very real aspect of nations in the 1700s. Unrest was most often influenced by factors such as religious differences, the economy and access to food (was there food available, and could the people afford it), treatment of the locals (were the local people actively oppressed), and recent conquests (people in recently conquered areas might be more prone to unrest than others). Culturally unified nations or nations with very relaxed religious tolerance laws will often have less unrest. Players are expected to list any potential unrest factors that influence their nation, both positive and negative. Having a high unrest could lead to peasant revolts, and even full fledged uprisings, depending on how they are managed.

Standard military values
These are the standard values for military numbers for all users. You are free to deviate from these values, but they need to be defined in your military traits posts.

• Troops are comprised of different units, as seen below. Players are expected to detail the composition of their units in their factbook to customize their units to their desires, according to their total troop count from their military traits application. Players are expected to RP their units according to their composition (eg an infantry vs a cavalry- in a city the infantry might have the upper hand, while in the open the cavalry might win).
• If players are unable to come to a resolution during an RP, or if a disagreement arises, a moderator will step in to review and/or solve the conflict. In such situations a moderator will view all units as equal (eg an armoured brigade and an infantry brigade will be seen to have a 1:1 ratio in the eyes of a moderator). This will be used solely by moderators if they need to step in during an RP.
• NPC militaries must be RP'd with the same detail and customization as is expected from a player nation.
  • Infantry
  • Cavalry
  • Artillery
• It is up to a player to describe their navy in their factbook, listing the specs along with guns per ship for their various vessels.
• It is up to the player to describe the equipment and specs used by their troops in their factbook.
• Terrain, fort development levels, and supply lines play a significant role in battles during this time period and are expected to be taken into consideration during RP's.
• Ships are defined by guns per ship, rather than tonnage.
• Players may use ship designs from later in the 1700s if they wish.

A players maximum army size should be at most 1% of their population. This is expected to be kept reasonable. Populations in colonies often do not directly contribute to population for manpower calculations.

A key component of the army in the time was professionalism, which influenced how well an army did in conflicts and the like. Players are expected to describe how professionalism impacts their army. One aspect of professionalism is the training of your forces, both during initial training, and ongoing training. Ongoing training must be done via RP.

During a war or other circumstances players may increase their military up to 2.5% of their population. However these increases must be done via RP, and the increased troops will not have the same level of professionalism as the initial armies. At the end of the conflict these extra troops are expected to be disbanded and return home. These troops can be seen as conscripts from the countryside who have little formal training compared to professional standing armies.

Players can also recruit mercenaries from other nations. These are defined as small groups of professional soldiers who will assist in your battles - for a price. Players must RP the recruitment and payment of these mercenaries. Mercenary sizes must be reasonable (ie typically less than 25,000 troops), and can not usually be sent to the colonies.

Navy sizes were historically much smaller than they are today, with most having less than 50 vessels, but the number depending on ship size and the like. Players are expected to keep their number reasonable in relation to population and economy.

This website can help for finding examples of age-of-sail vessels.