Idea for unit research

[Ludens]

You mean as an alternative mercenary pool that can be constructed in cities? It sounds feasible and realistic, although I still doubt horse archers would make it all the way to Carthage unless there was a single empire in between.

[Cullhwch]

That's why the horse archer upgrade for that particular building in Carthage would be either extremely expensive or produce very small pools of units.

[Majd il-Romani]

you guys realize there are REGIONALS, right? Like if Lusotannan conquers Saka they will recruit local Horse Achers, Casse will recuit italian-style units if they take italy, etc

[Cullhwch]

Yes, I understand the regional recruitment concept perfectly. But my idea is to recruit units from the surrounding regions, not the local area. For instance, a low level Roman merc recruitment network in Italy would be limited to a few Gallic units and the odd Illyrian here and there. However, if the network was fully upgraded, the Romans would be able to recruit a smattering of unit types from all over the Mediterranean, although the Gallic mercs would have the greatest availability.

This may at appear to de-emphasize the regional MIC system, but there is a fix for that. Merc recruitment centers could be linked to the regional MICs. A level 2 regional MIC could be a prerequisite for a level 1 merc network, for instance. There are ways to implement this without supplanting the MIC system.