About Merceneries/Prisoners of War

[MiniKiller]

Hey,

I was wondering what you do with merceneries you hire when their numbers are low or you took the land you wanted to. I started my first campagin with The English and took Scotland and Whales with merceneris, I cant give them titles and they just bring my unit cost up, should I disband them and only hire more if I need to battle it out with someone?


Also what happens if I decide to let all the PoW's go? like if I capture Scotland and I let them go...where do they go?

THANKS

[Exile]

I use the lives of my mercenaries and then disband them http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

If there's still some strength in them, send them against an enemy/nuetral prov you plan to attack. Might as well get your money' worth...then when there's only a few left disband them. They're too expensive to keep around, unless your playing th Byz or, Egyptians or Almos in late - they might need a few to beat off Christian armies.

As far as letting prisoners (rebels I think you mean) go - it affects your V&Vs. Kill them and you'll get dread modifiers. Release them (as I usually do) and you'll get 'mercy' happiness modifiers.

[MiniKiller]

Thank you very much, now I just creat a 3 star unit who is much better a duke then my current duke, how can I take away the title from one and give it to another?

[Beelzebub]

drop an emissary on him to strip title.

[Gaius Julius]

In future, I'll use little or no mercs.
They have big support cost, and little or no loyalty to your faction.
I made the mistake of hiring alot of mercs. when smashing the Egyptians.
Come to believe they're one fo the main reasons I've been having revolt troubles, among other things.
Instead of disbanding them, send them into battle, try to kill off as many as possible.

I always kill POW's. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Cooperman]

mercs are great for big battles where I want to lose but destroy a large enemy force at the same time. Both armies get annihilated then I move in the next turn with my main army and theres no opposition, the computer falls for it everytime http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Lord Of Storms]

I usually disband the mercs when they have outlived their usefullness as to prisoners kill them all they could be tomorrows rebellion bring on the dread http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif

[Hermann the Lombard]

Pre-patch, you can combine merc units with other units to bring the latter up toward full strength...so I used some surviving merc Khwarzmians to replenish the "regulars" that I got from a Jihad. Then I disbanded the remnants. (Could be considered cheating, I know, but I think of it as offering a permanent job to a temp...)

I don't know if the patch changed this.

[Odyssey of War]

The patch did correct the stacking/regrouping of multiple merc armies even if they are the same kind. Which sucks. Once mercenaries outlive their usefullness let them go and replace them with your own armies which are much more loyal.