Military Modifier is a modifier calculated for decisions in Diplomacy based on relative army strength between wizards. The original Military Modifier only considered troops standing on the land of the decision making wizard's home continent, where their fortress is located. Any armies stationed on other continents, or over water, even if directly adjacent to the city containing the Fortress of the wizard, was ignored. Additionally, troops were measured by their Production Cost (or in case of Fantastic Units, their Summoning Cost) which has a very poor correlation to actual military power.
Due to this, investigation on how the modifier actually works, and what values it generates for which relative army power was deemed unnecessary, and the entire system was replaced in the unofficial 1.50 patch with a more accurate one.
Military Modifier in the 1.50 unofficial patch[]
The Military Modifier in this patch is based on the Astrologer Total Military Power bar length, a value between 1-200 for each wizard. The calculation of this bar was also replaced, and considers the actual sum of combat rating of all troops, which is used in various other AI decisions, and which was also significantly improved. Every single unit is considered in the entire game world, which, although less relevant to the short term outcome, much more accurate on measuring the long term risks of a War, and eliminates the problem of units on sea being ignored. There are 4 parts of the game code which uses a Military Modifier, and the Modifier used for each uses their own formula :
Threatening in Player to AI Diplomacy[]
Military Modifier = (Human Player Astrologer Military Strength *100 / AI Wizard Astrologer Military Strength) -100
Treaty offers in Player to AI Diplomacy[]
Military Modifier = (Human Player Astrologer Military Strength *100 / AI Wizard Astrologer Military Strength) -100
Militarist check in Need for War[]
If own Astrologer Military Strength<= target's Astrologer Military Strength then Military Modifier = 0, otherwise
Military Modifier = 150* (target's Astrologer Military Strength) / own Astrologer Military Strength - 150
in simple terms, it is a negative value that shows how much weaker the enemy is, scaled linearly between 0 and -150.
Generic check in Need for War[]
Military Modifier = 150 * abs (own Astrologer Military Strength - target's Astrologer Military Strength) / (own Astrologer Military Strength + target's Astrologer Military Strength)
which is, in simpler terms, a positive value that shows how far the military power of two player are from each other in any direction that ranges from 0 to +150 in a nonlinear way.