The Imperial State - Army

Army Structure
Embracing and incorporating the technology of gunpowder, the IS ensure that every trooper they have from foot to rider are armed with firearms, be it pistols to advanced calivers. Every soldier is instilled with strong nationalism and trained thoroughly with the gun. The generals however, forgot to teach the normal line infantry proper fencing drills, preffering to focus more on firing guns; thus IS infantry are generally weaker in close combat. The usual IS tactic is to form a solid firing line and keep firing continuous volleys at the enemy. When the enemy is weakened or gets too close, charge in with cavalry and reform the infantry line to a safer firing line.

Tactics
Fighting

Order your Cavalry to charge while you form the line (rank) of Gunners. Once the line has been formed, order your Cavalry to retreat behind the infantry line. The Gunners will take care of any remaining enemy forces. If the enemy is too great in number (100+ men) order your cavalry to charge once more. Another tactic (viable only in the presence of hilly terrain) is to tell your men to hold position at the top of a nearby hill, and to bring only your Gunners. Tell them to spread out until they make a zig-zag-like line, such that the troops form a w formation (a soldier will stand at every point of the w, or five in that formation, for as long as the line extends.). This will allow for each soldier to fire at once, unobstructed, as well as avoiding both unwanted clusters and weakly, thin-spread lines. Have your Gunners hold fire until the enemy starts to try to scale the hill. Then, direct them to fire at will. A deadly volley such as this can decimate up to 30 elite troops (Winged Hussars included) with ease, every couple of seconds. All Kaiserlicher troops are fairly fragile at best (glass cannons). Keeping this in mind, avoid direct confrontations at all costs. Have your infantry rain death upon the enemy, while the Cavalry utilize 'hit-and-run' tactics.

Different Classes and Effectiveness

Kaiserlicher Recruit: Easy to train, easily the best recruit. Effective v. Infantry, avoid Cavalry.

Kaiserlicher Infantry: Backbone of the Gunners. Effective v. Infantry, Archers, Light Cavalry. Avoid heavy Cavalry.

Kaiserlicher Guard: More armor than infantry, better melee and a double-barrel gun, allowing for extremely deadly (doubly effective) volleys.

Kaiserlicher Dragoon: Backbone of the Cavalry. Effective v. Archers, avoid Pikemen.

Kaiserlicher Uhlan: Lancer-melee Cavalry. Effective v. Cavalry, Archers, avoid Pikemen.

Kaiserlicher Curaisser: Strange ranged-Cavalry hybrid. Uses flintlock pistol mainly. Effective v. All (if accurate), avoid getting surrounded.

(Note: The Curaisser is largely ineffective compared to other forms of Cavalry, but it's left to the descretion of the reader whether or not to field them.)

Recruiting

Try to recruit "Special" Soldiers such as the Repeater Gunner, Cannoneer, and Standard Bearer. Try to recruit some Mercenaries to protect the Gunner line. The greatest threats to the Imperial State are their own troops and Heavy Cavalry, meaning the aspiring conqueror takes them out first. An enemy of the State cannot recruit from the villages, but if you take a town, you can (for the heavy price of 100 denars each) recruit Kaiserlicher Liberals (Infantry with pikes). These upgrade into Kaiserlicher Guards.

(Note: Use caution when fielding Cannoneers- they instantly kill anything in a radius [they could easily kill 10 winged hussars with a single blast if they're clustered up] but can accidentally fire too close. This means they can kill you, your troops, and themselves with a single misfire.)

Kaiserlicher Recruit
The recruits of the Imperial state are worth mentioning compared to other town recruits of other factions. Strong propaganda and nationalism incorporated to every state citizen makes it easy to draw recruits and volunteers. This makes recruiting cheaper and allowing the government to allocate funds to arming the recruits. These men are given uniforms and low-grade but massed produced arquebusiers. Don't expect them to be accurate, although the average citizen has enough skill to aim arquebus, the massed produced variant given to them are inaccurate and doesn't pack much punch thanks to the low-grade cartridges. Still, they are willing to fight for the Kaiser and the State with brave resolve.

Kaiserlicher Infantry
The standard line infantry of the Imperial State. Given better looking uniforms and standard arquebuses, these men form the core of the IS armies (supposedly). Take note that they are still not that skilled in close combat, having minimal fencing training and given only a short sword. But they'll lay down their lives if they have to, routing pretty much leads to court-martial and death.

Kaiserlicher Guard
Well trained, nationalistic, and maybe even patriotic, the Kaiserlicher Guard are the elite infantry of the IS army. They are given much better armor and spiked pickelhaubes(indicating that they are supposed to be aggressive assualt troops). The are better trained in hand to hand combat, but take note that they are still dedicated ranged troops. What makes Guards so powerful is their weapons, the Double Barreled Caliver an accurate firearm that gives the Guard the power to beat most enemies with sheer overwhelming firepower.

Kaiserlicher Dragoon
Riders who police the cities and patrol the state border; in war-time however, the serve as scouts and support skirmishers. They are given the same armor as IS guards and are armed with sabres and pistols. They do their job of keeping enemy cavalry at bay, while infantry reform themselves; as well as harrassing much slower cavalry also. But take note that most of their training is aimed towards defeating bandits especially the gun-totting ones, don't expect them to win against proffessional soldiers.

Kaiserlicher Uhlan
The IS lancer cavalry. The IS never really had the best metallurgy in Calradia- their definition of heavy armor barely reaches that of other factions. The Uhlan shock cavalry knows this, but they are brave and proud enough to charge head-on against enemies. What makes them special is their very long lances, and their fast hunter horses making them fast assualt cavalry. Most generals, however, use them only in times of great need; when the enemy is getting too close, or enemy cavalry is around.

Kaiserlicher Cuirassier
While the Uhlans are charge and retire shock cavalry, the Cuirassiers are the charge and destroy heavy shock cavalry. Given the best armor the IS could provide, these men charge enemies with their pistols and later sabres. Designed to charge home against weakened forces or as distractions to buy the infantry line a chance to reform. It is worth noting however, that without proper orders, these men can be easily defeated by pikemen since they only wield sabres and pistols.

Kaiserlicher Standard Bearer
- When nationalistic generals want a symbol, or less nationalistic generals want order among their melee mercenaries, they get the Standard Bearer. This man is trained enough and brave enough to go where no IS infantry has ever gone willingly to, gritty melee combat. True to the IS doctrine of overwhelming firepower, this brave one is given a pistol as honor of his sacrifice.

Kaiserlicher Repeater Gunner
Brainchild of Mourne tinkers, these specialist support troopers are armed with the four shot Caliver. Although, the gattling mechanism used by the weapon makes it inaccurate. But it's okay for these men, for their job is help the infantry line in times of distress when enemy melee troops get too close. They do this by laying down a continous barrage of fire that'll wittle down most infantry formations. At medium range they can fire, at short range they decimate, outstanding.

Kaiserlicher Cannoneer
When hordes of infantry disciplined or not come along, the IS puts forth their Cannoneers. Expensive to arm but powerful enough to destroy scores of men with each shot. Unfortunately, making the cannon portable sacrifices its accuracy. It is very inaccurate at long ranges and can inflict friendly fire. But beware all enemy formations that approach this trooper.