Disclaimer:

This topic summarizes the perceptions of a new player. From a
veteran’s point of view the information described here might appear
as redundant.  Empire only because reasons (favorite faction).
First part will generally describe the recruitment boosting
buildings of the Empire, second part contains an assessment of
various Empire provinces as to their importance in regards to
special recruiting buildings and other useful buildings, third part
covers how to max out on recruitment ranks, including additional
boosters like Lord skills & traits, Captain skills, research,
items, offices and followers.
When I started playing Total War: Warhammer all those “recruitment
boosting buildings” managed to confuse me greatly. At first I
assumed they would generally stack, so I built Warhorse Breeder’s
Stables and Woodworkers’ Shops all over the place (same thing would
apply to Master Swordsmith’s Forges, but there are only a few
places where you can build those, so that prevented me from going
full noob for this structure ;P).

About recruitment boosting buildings:

First thing to note is that there are two types of buildings that
boost recruitment ranks for units and heroes. For sake of
simplicity the buildings list will contain only the boni to
recruitment ranks, excluding other effects such as increased income
or reduced corruption. The full effect of those buildings will be
covered in part 2 of this topic if I deem them to be relevant (a
complete list of Empire general and unique buildings can be found
here:
http://www.honga.net/totalwar/warhammer/building.php?l=en&v=warhamm
er&f=wh_main_emp_empire). In addition to buildings, there are
various other sources that globally or locally boost recruitment
ranks, to be elaborated on in part 2 and especially 3.

Global

Recruitment bonus ranks from such buildings apply globally. The
affected type of unit or hero can be recruited anywhere, the bonus
ranks upon recruiting will always be applied. This especially
means, that you don’t need to recruit units / heroes in the
province that feature such a building, only the building itself
matters. Boni to Lord recruitment ranks always apply globally (and
they don’t need buildings for recruitment, which sets them apart
from units and heroes in that regard).
List of buildings that boost recruitment ranks globally:

Bokha Palace: +2 for Lords
Archecclesiatium of Myrmidia: +2 for Warrior Priests
Blazing Sun Chapterhouse: +1 for Empire Knights, Reiksguard,
Knights of the Blazing Sun, and Demigryphs
Couronne Tournament Grounds: +2 for all types of cavalry units
Nuln Cannon Foundry: +2 for all types of artillery
Nuln Gunnery School: +4 for all types of artillery

Local

Recruitment bonus ranks from such buildings apply locally. The
affected type of unit or hero has to be recruited in the province
featuring the related building; otherwise bonus ranks won’t be
applied. This especially means that you have to plan that
particular province with the military production buildings in mind,
which are able to produce the units / heroes, which will profit
from the “recruitment booster”.
List of buildings that boost recruitment ranks locally:

Warhorse Breeder’s Stables: +2 for Empire Knights, Knights of the
Blazing Sun and Reiksguard, +3 for Pistoliers and Outriders
Woodworker’s Shop: +3 for Empire Crossbowmen and Spearmen
Master Swordsmith’s Forge: +3 for Empire Swordsmen, Free Company
Militia and Greatswords
Armoury: +1 for Empire infantry recruits
Knights Panther Chapterhouse: +4 for Empire Knights, Reiksguard,
Knights of the Blazing Sun, and Demigryphs
Wizard’s Tower: +4 for Battle Wizards
Temple of Sigmar: +2 for Warriors Priests
Cathedral of Sigmar: +4 for Warriors Priests and Witch Hunters
Altdorf Colleges of Magic: +6 for Battle Wizards
Middenheim Great Temple of Ulric: +6 for Warrior Priests and Witch
Hunters

Province Analysis

Reikland

Since the Altdorf Colleges of Altdorf provide flat-out better
recruitment ranks for Battle Wizards this is where you should
recruit them. Other than that you only need Wizard’s Conclaves in
other provinces to boost Battle Wizard hero capacity. To further
boost recruitment rank, make use of Balthasar Gelt + the office of
Patriarch. One of his quest items also increases Battle Wizard
recruitment rank, but that is pretty late game, so level  11
wizards are what you can expect for the major part of an Empire
Campaign. No point in upgrading to Wizard’s Towers as they don’t
yield additional capacity, only build one if you want to set up for
Luminark of Hesh production. You can make use of the Warhorse
Breeder’s Stables in Grunburg if you want to focus on cavalry, but
there are plenty of regions to offer this building, so there is no
need per se to set up for cavalry production in this province.
Altdorf plays a central role in the Empire’s economy, as it buffs
the income of regions in its own and all surrounding provinces.

Couronne

The Couronne Tournament Grounds provide a major boost to your
cavalry game and are without a doubt a highly useful unique
building. They also provide a nice improvement to economy with
+1200 income and with the +10 local public order buff rebellions
are hardly an issue in this province. The only problem is that it
isn’t exactly in your territory, meaning you will have to attack
Brettonia at some point to gain access.

Nuln

If you want to go artillery heavy, Nuln is a crucial province. The
reduced upkeep provided by the Nuln Cannon Foundry and – once the
Nuln Gunnery School is built – also reduced recruitment cost
compliment the boost to artillery recruitment ranks nicely.
Wissensland is also one of the few provinces to feature a Master
Swordsmith’s Forge, so it is recommended to setup Greatsword
recruitment here. By making use of diplomacy and not making Nuln
angry, you can confederate with them very early in the campaign.

Talabecland

The Blazing Sun Chapterhouse appears to be a less potent version of
the Couronne Tournament Grounds, with the difference for secondary
boni being, that it provides reduction of corruption instead of
increased income and the option to recruit Knights of the Blazing
Sun if you purchased the corresponding DLC. However, it should be
noted that the boni to recruitment ranks stack with those of the
Couronne Tournament Grounds (as is the case with all global
boosts), assuming you recruit a cavalry type that matches with the
requirements of the Blazing Sun Chapterhouse. So it is not a
question of deciding between Brettonia and Talabecland but instead
if and when to acquire both of these provinces to buff your
cavalry. Once again, confederation is a realistic option, just like
with Wissensland [I am still experimenting with Knights of the
Blazing Sun, so no hard opinion on them yet].

Estalia

You will have to travel quite far to get hold of this global rise
to Warrior Priest recruitment ranks. Other than that Estalia is an
economy-heavy province with ports and lots of special resource
buildings. Recommended to either conquer early on before or late
after dealing with Chaos. Of questionable importance if you only
care about the bonus to Warrior Priests, since there are several
other ways to raise Warrior Priest recruitment ranks. However it
also provides a global increase to public order, which helps to
stop rebellions from happening. Lastly, it features a local public
order buff and reduction of corruption, so you can safely leave
Estalia alone once the Archecclesiatium of Myrmidia has been built.

Middenland

Middenland offers two super important unique buildings: The
Middenheim Great Temple of Ulric and the Knights Panther
Chapterhouse. In combination with the Cathedral of Sigmar + the
corresponding research you can pump out level 13 Witch Hunters and
Warrior Priests for great effect (Warrior Priest level can be even
further increases by making use of various other sources for higher
recruitment ranks, especially Volkmar). The local bonus to public
order and decrease of corruption helps to keep this province
rebellion-free, but what’s more a lesser decrease of corruption is
also applied in the surrounding provinces. Very helpful in the
fight against Chaos (it also adds 2 Greatsword units to the
garrison so in combination with walls you can put up a very strong
infantry line on the walls during siege defence).
If you take a closer look at the Warhorse Breeder’s Stables you
will notice that it sadly does not feature Demigryphs. That is
where the Knights Panther Chapterhouse comes in and with a whopping
+4 gain at that. If you want to produce elite Demigryphs,
Middenland it is where it is at! Under the right conditions (mainly
buildings) you don’t even need a Captain to obtain max rank
Demigryphs and / or Reiksguard (details in part 3).

Southern Oblast

Kislev is pretty much late game content. By the time you get there,
you will have several experienced Lords, so the +2 bonus to Lord
recruitment rank isn’t much of a game changer. Same goes for the
increase income in the region (btw Vampires are better suited for
making use of that trait since they feature more buildings that
provide income) and the local increase to public order (at this
point in the campaign there should be plenty of ways available to
keep public order under control).

The Wasteland

This province does not feature any common let alone unique
buildings for increased recruitment ranks. Nonetheless I wanted to
include this province here, as it allows you to considerably
improve your economy with honorable mentions going to the
Marienburg Port and you can get access early on, as it is a
neighboring province. Good synergy with Altdorfs’s buff to income
in regions of surrounding provinces. Securing the Wasteland early
on makes it easier to fund the construction of buildings in other
provinces and to bolster your war efforts.

Maxing out recruitment ranks

Note that some recruitment rank boosters will take a while to
acquire or may not suit your preferences (e.g. the Lord skill
“Headhunter” requires you to heavily invest into the support skill
tree), so depending on the situation recruiting at the maximum
possible rank is not a realistic option. If there are several ways
to achieve maximum possible rank for units, I will outline the one
which is most realistic / viable in my opinion.

Units

Infantry without a building related to them
Rank 9: State Troops Sergeants (+2), Armoury (+1), Militiaman (+1),
Exemplar (+3), Headhunter (+2)

Steam Tanks
Rank 7: Veteran Gunners (+2), Exemplar (+3), Headhunter (+2)

Luminark of Hysh
Rank 5: Exemplar (+3), Headhunter (+2)

Spearmen and Crossbowmen
Rank 9: State Troops Sergeants (+2), Woodworker’s Shop (+3), either
Militiaman, Spearmen / Crossbow Follower or Armoury (+1), Exemplar
(+3)

Swordsmen, Free Company and Greatswords
Rank 9: State Troops Sergeants (+2), Master Swordsmith’s Forge
(+3), Armoury (+1), Exemplar (+3)

Free Company Militia are not mentioned in the tooltip, but are
affected nonetheless (because they carry swords i guess).

Pistoliers and Outriders
Rank 9: Warhorse Breeder’s Stables (+3), Couronne Tournament
Grounds (+2), at least second level of Exemplar (+2), Headhunter
(+2)

Knights of the Blazing Sun
Rank 9: Knightly Preceptors (+2), Couronne Tournament Grounds (+2),
Blazing Sun Chapterhouse (+1), at least second level of Exemplar
(+2), Headhunter (+2)

Demigryph, Reiksguard and Empire Knights
Rank 9: Knightly Preceptors (+2), Couronne Tournament Grounds (+2),
Blazing Sun Chapterhouse (+1), Knights Panther Chapterhouse (+4)

This setup is quite unique as it doesn’t need any character skills
for recruitment at rank 9. A quite viable alternative for
Reiksguard recruitment at rank 9 is to use Warhorse Breeder’s
Stables (+2) in combination with the office of Reiksmarshall (+2)
or second level of Exemplar. As for Demigryphs you would have again
to make us of at least second level of Exemplar (+2) and the
elusive Headhunter skill (+2) to substitute the Knights Panther
Chapterhouse.

Artillery
Rank 9: Veteran Gunners (+2), Nuln Gunnery School (+4), Exemplar
(+3)

Heroes

Battle Wizards
Rank 12: Altdorf Colleges of Magic (+6), Transmuter (+2), office of
Patriarch (+2), Staff of Volans (+1)

Witch Hunters
Rank 13: Ecclesial Writ (+2), Cathedral of Sigmar (+4), Middenheim
Great Temple of Ulric (+6)

Warrior Priests
Rank 27: Ecclesial Writ (+2), Cathedral of Sigmar (+4), Middenheim
Great Temple of Ulric (+6), Grand Theogonist (+2), Heretic Hunter
(+5), Jade Griffon (+5), Archecclesiatium of Myrmidia (+2)

Captains
No boosters for increased recruitment ranks available.

You are viewing proxied material from tilde.pink. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.