This post will describe the role of the worker and slave units in Hegemony: Philip of Macedon.
In the typical RTS design, workers gather resources or build additional buildings and other structures on the map. In Hegemony: Philip of Macedon workers are organized in the same way as combat brigades are, each with a home city and population support, making them either native Macedonian or mercenary.(Tip: As the game progresses, it will be best to build most of your workers from non-Macedonian population points (i.e. mercenary) and use your limited Macedonian population points to support combat troops.)
Workers, like combat brigades, can be instructed to build/dismantle structures or work in mines.
(Tip: Although you might not want to put your combat troops into mines, you will find yourself in strategic situations where you’ll want to have a large army quickly build or tear-down city walls or forts.)
While combat brigades will pickup and carry food that they consume and share with other combat units within range, workers don’t consume food, so any food that they pickup and carry is simply shared with combat units, making them the natural camp followers (i.e. supply units) for any army on the march. Workers can also stick around and haul battlefield loot back to friendly cities for gold, making this supply-carrying, loot-hauling role a key component of any combined arms force, whether a small raiding party or a large invasion army.
When you take enemy combat troops prisoner they become slaves. They can be killed or marched to a Macedonian City and ransomed (sold) back to their home faction for gold or used as slave labor.
Slaves can do everything that workers can do, except that:
* They didn’t volunteer, so they’re not too happy and will revolt if they think they can escape. You have to guard them!
* They don’t get paid, making them cheap labor for mines, but you have to pay the troops that guard them.
* They move a lot slower than workers do, so shouldn’t be relied on to haul critical food supplies while on campaign. They are more likely to revolt when enemy units are nearby.If you’re caught in a difficult situation, you may choose to kill slaves, but that would be a waste as you can’t sell them or work them if they are dead.
Workers are an important unit in Hegemony: Philip of Macedon and you will need them . Slaves on the other hand, are optional. You can take the high-road and not keep slaves or have slaves do most of the work for you.