Brendan,
Thanks for the email. In response to your question, the total maintenance
is figured the turn before and this is what you pay. Figure it as death
benefits for your troops. 
On the flip side, you do not pay maintenence
for troops you recruit or hire the turn you recruit of hire them. One of
the things the game designers were trying to prevent was have players hire
armies at pop centers where enemy armies have arrived and then not having
to pay for the army at all when the troops were wiped out the next turn.
This was a game flaw the game designers wanted to eliminate and so they
did. We hope this answers your questions. If you have any further comments,
feel free to get in touch with us.
Good Gaming,
Stuart
Second point was the part regarding the economy. I was most shocked to
find
out that you still have to pay for troops that we lost in battle during the
turn. I was even more shocked to find out in my latest turn that this was
true when my tax rate was automatically raised. I had done my calculation
assuming that I wouldn't have to pay for the 3000HI that was burnt by a
dragon alas I was wrong
Correct me if I am wrong but battles occur prior to maintenance costs ? So
how can I pay the wages of dead troops ? It's perfectly understandly that
if you lose a pop center due to battle then you obviously don't the
taxes....so it should work both ways in my opinion, i.e. you don't have to
pay for dead troops. Is this true for armies that get disbanded as well ?
I
guess so as assassinations come AFTER maintenance.
I haven't gone through the rulebook as yet but is this listed anywhere in
the rule-book ? I am sure that I am not the first person to be count out by
this and I am sure that I won't be the last. It hit me pretty hard as I
have a very poor tax base.
Cheers
Brendan
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