Mercenaries - can someone explain...?

Hi,

Has anyone done any research into Mercenaries?

Specifically I'm interested in their availability - what governs the type of unit that becomes available, and what governs the frequency?

Are available mercs restricted to the type of unit that my faction could normally hire?

An example... Playing as the Armenians, I am about to capture the Parthian capital (Arkasias? sp???). The province this city is in has elephants as a 'resource' on the strat map. Does this mean merc elephants are a possibility here? Or does that have no relevance on the merc side of things?

A second example... as above, my faction leader is currently able to hire two Eastern Infantry units. A second general (in a neighbouring province) is also able to hire two EI units. Both sets of mercs became available at the same time (and have been available for 3 turns now) - is this coincidence or is merc availability tied to a regional level as opposed to a provincial one???

Any clarification on this gratefully received.

Cheers,

Rob.

It's very simple : each province has a certain pool of mercenaries you can recruit. Once you've recruited them, they take a certain time to "regenerate".
That's it :)

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Originally Posted by Akka

It's very simple : each province has a certain pool of mercenaries you can recruit. Once you've recruited them, they take a certain time to "regenerate".
That's it :)

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Well, yes that would just about explain it. It doesn't explain the mechanic though does it? I was hoping for a bit more of a scientific answer to be honest...

How is the pool comprised?
Are some provinces more likely to yield mercs than others?
How are the units for each province decided upon?

Cheers,

Rob.

Ok, think of it this way:

A pool is just a set of provinces, like, for example, the North of Italy or Gaul.

In each pool there are certain mercenaries you can recruit. The type is set and will never change. The maximum amout of mercenaries available is also set. So for example in Gaul you will only be able to recruit Mercenary Warbands (a maximum of 4) and Barbarian Cavalry (a maximum of 1). Once you recruited all of them, the pool is empty, so in all the provinces belonging to the pool the mercenary count will now be zero.

Now each turn that passes there is a certain probablility that mercenaries appear in the pool again, so after a number of turns you will again see the above units available to be recruited.

Hote that it does not matter what faction you are, you can always recruit mercenaries. This is especially useful if you play a faction that is lacking in some area, e.g. the Carthigineans not having archers.

Hope this helps.

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Originally Posted by RJV

Well, yes that would just about explain it. It doesn't explain the mechanic though does it? I was hoping for a bit more of a scientific answer to be honest...

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Sorry, but I can't really make a more scientific answer, because it's just that there is no mechanic as of speaking.
There is just a certain number of regional pools that have been set from the start and won't ever change, regardless of the owner of the region, of the army recruiting or of the time passed.

OK, the replies above suggest what I'd thought. For any province (or given set of provinces) there is a given set of units that may or may not become available. Once hired, there is then a probability that one or other of the set units may become available (and there may be more than one type available at any one time)

Not exactly scientific, but at least it reflects my own experience.

So, to the modder types - is this info held in one of the text files somewhere? I seem to remember from MTW that merc probability was something that could be modded (or have I made that up?)

Cheers,

Rob.

The file you're looking for is descr_mercenaries.txt found in the Data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign subdirectory under your RTw installation directory. Unlike many of the other data files there isn't any description included, but the format is fairly self-explanatory.

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Originally Posted by Sinner

The file you're looking for is descr_mercenaries.txt found in the Data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign subdirectory under your RTw installation directory. Unlike many of the other data files there isn't any description included, but the format is fairly self-explanatory.

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Merci!!! Just what I am after I should think. At work now so I can't check at the moment, but will do later.

Cheers,

Rob.

When you look through the file you will see:

--types of mercs that are available in each region set
--max number that will become available in that region set
--probability of a each merc unit becoming available at any given time in that region set

If I pick up some mercs in one province in one of the regions, it depletes the pool for the rest of the region that turn. So often I find that there are fewer mercs than I though in a given area. In your example if you take the three EI units available then you probably will not have any available in the next adjacent region (unless it is in a different pool.)

Strategy tip: When invading or being invaded, snap up those mercs if you can. It is not so much that they will help you, as that you can deny the AI extra troops. For example. If you invade an AI land and see that you have 10 good units and the AI has 6 and you will reach their city, it sounds like an easy win. But if you also see 4 units of mercs available, what will usually happen is that the AI will buy them, boosting its forces. It will probably also produce a unit, and perhaps have a couple appear that you couldn't see. So the small AI force often will outnumber you considerably by the time you engage. The AI is smart about buying mercs. When I know an AI army is coming into my lands, I deplete the merc pool before it arrives. When you consider it, this is a rather historic aspect to the game. Buying loyalty and forces in the face of an invasion or when conducting one was a very important facet of classical warfare.

One thing to remember is that certain mercs are unique to a certain region (Cilician Pirates for example) while most others are more common than rats (Barbarian Mercenaries for example) and yet others will be available in several pools, but in their home region, they will be either 1) more plentiful, or 2) gain a slight exp bonus.

Often times I end up running across a rebel general, far off in the middle of nowhere, years away from my current borders. What is somewhat fun to do is to bribe him, and hire all the mercs you find on his long journey to his new home. You just never know what that crazy boy will bring home! One time, after his trek through Scythian lands, then through Thracian holdings, past Dacian forests, through the hills of Macedonia, and then finally over the rocky alps, I ended up with an army composed of Bastarne and Thracian infantry, Sarmatian Cavalry, Scythian Horse Archers, Mercenary Hoplites, and Illyrian Mercenaries. Now THAT was a well rounded army. They went forth through the Gallic lands with sword and fire, striking the fear of the Gods into those hairy upstarts!