Mercs.

[mdutr0]

OK, here's the deal.

Started a new campaign - Byz/early. I took out the Turks, built up some, blah, blah, blah.

I built an inn to hire some mercs. I attempted to hire some but then nothing happened. I clicked on hire mercs chose the units I wanted and then clicked train mercs. Nothing happened. I got no mercs; not that turn and not the next turn. I tried it again. This time the units I wanted were not listed on the merc screen. I tried to hire some more. Nothing happened.

What am I doing wrong? Granted the inn was not on my front line with Egypt. And the range of units I had to select from sucked.

I have so much to learn....

Thanks,

Micah

[Maeda Toshiie]

Dump whatever units you want to hire onto the recruitment queue. Thereafter hit the button of the hand holding the coins. Thereafter the units would pop out right inside the province, ready for deployment.

If thats what you are doing, then I dont really know what is going on. Is this the first time this is happening?

[mdutr0]

Oh Ok. I didn't realize that hand with the coins was a button

Is there any way to encourage better, or at least a wider selection of merc units? Does it have to do with the province your inn is in? Does its position relative to the fighting have anything to do with it or is it purely random?

Thanks,

Micah

[YAKOBU]

If the province is near your border and you are at war then you have a wider/bigger selection of mercs. Also more mercs appear with a lower castle level.

[mdutr0]

So basically, for the widest possible selection I should build a fort and inn as close to the front lines as possible?

When the computer calculates the position of the inn relative to the fighting does it take your navy into account? I've got ships positioned such that my reinforcements can reach the front lines from my troop producing provinces in one turn. Does the computer take that into account or does it only count land routes?

Thanks,

Micah

[Doug-Thompson]

Developing provinces discourages mercs, I think. The more civilized a province is, the less likely it is to attract mercenaries.

[Paranoid Android]

Doug-Thompson, I agree.

If you have the Gnome Stat editor thingy, you can go to the column labeled 'Mercenary Magnetism Integer', and see what building increase or decrease the likelihood or Mercs appearing.

Inn : +40

Forts, Keeps, Castles : -10

Citadel, Fortress : -15

Constables Palace : -10

Marshals Palace : -10

These seems to be the only ones that do anything.

[Doug-Thompson]

Intresting. Next time I level all the buildings in a province I'm raiding, I'll leave the inn open and see what happens.

[Sociopsychoactive]

Mercs are also directly effected by disbanded units, most of them (that can be recruited at all) go instantly to the nearest inn, if there is one nearby. Early on (pre-navy) this can be an effective, if extreamly expensive, way of getting troops to the front line in only 1 or 2 years, disband them then rehire them at the front, saves a few years of travelling.

They are only really that much of an impact early in the game though, as you ca hire siege quite often and save yourself the time and money needed to build up siege engineers stuff. Other than that they are only really usefull in getting you out of a tight spot when unexpectedly invaded.

[Doug-Thompson]

I agree in general, Sociopsychoactive, but there are exceptions.

Steppe Heavy Cavalry, for example. I snatch up every one of those I see. Even at mercenary-level upkeep costs, they're no more expensive than owning Byz Cavalry, for instance.

Vikings are another example. They're roughly equivalent to Chivalric Men at Arms in combat, assuming decent valor, and their upkeep costs as mercs is acceptable. Longbowmen are nice, too. I've sometimes hired Murabitin javelin troops if there's a battle coming up with a Jedi general. A high-valor unit is just another target to a javelin.

I won't keep disloyal mercenaries, though.

I also keep mercenary siege engines, even after I can build my own. Keeps them out of the opposition's hands. I'll disband them once they take losses -- and therefore can't function.

I'll also hire all kinds of mercs for the mission of storming a castle, then disband them after the castle falls. And put them in Jihads, where there's no upkeep costs.

=============

The cheesiest thing I ever did -- and this is really, really cheesy -- was when I saw a Crusade marker pop up in French territory, and I didn't have many troops to spare. I did have control of the sea, though, and the marker popped up in a coastal province.

I hired every mercenary in my empire and unloaded them on the French province. At the exact same time, the French launched their Crusade and moved it out to the next province -- leaving the province with the chapter house almost unguarded.

The small French garrison holed up in the Castle, but the chapter house was destroyed, disbanding the new crusade. It was a medieval version of sinking the Shinano.

Then I disbanded the mercs.

Then I flooded the coastal province with about a dozen Jihads. After all, it was mine for a little bit.

Then I marched across France with a huge army of Ghulam Cavalry and Nizari, destroying every structure. The French went into an enormous civil war. I used peasants and other expendable units to storm castles.

I didn't have a sea route back because the last harbor was destroyed by accident, before I could embark my troops. No problem. I declared war on the neutral Spanish and put three of their provinces to fire and sword before making it back to Cordoba. Then I retrained all my fine new Nizari.

[ah_dut]

I told u all DOug was an evil infidel he'll burn and pillage all our lands just to get home and hires cheap merc scum to spite us

[katank]

mercs can fuel you early rushes/blitzes well

just make them fight and die fast.

they cost half the regular cost to hire and are instantly available but cost double the upkeep.

therefore, use them in wartime and use them fast for cheap overwhelming force.

merc druzhina should always get hired as they are 60 men FFKs when dismounted.

amulghavars are another that I always hire.

if you have a province with only an inn surrounded by enemy provinces, you'll have a gazillion mercs.

[ah_dut]

my friend you have forgotten the mighty longbow, or for many catholic factions, decent HA's

[RexImperator]

Once a butchered a crusade heading to my territory (i was turks) and the next turn I was able to hire knights templar, fanatics and order foot soldgiers as mercanaries.
I took the knights and foot soldgiers but left the fanatics. I find it odd though that knights templar would fight for a muslim king.

[Gith]

Not really on topic, but I was thinking about this the other day:

Anyone try and play the campaign using all mercenaries? Maybe not ALL, that seems impossible, but having all offensive armies consist of maybe a few loyal units and the rest mercenary units?, with a few loyal units in each province as a garrison?

It seemed to me like it would be more of a challenge, not having a standing offensive army, and it would certainly make the economic aspect harder.

[Al Khalifah]

If you have to use Mercs always try to use them in the front line of any army on the strategic battles. That way the units are depleted, making them useless to your opponents and also you don't have to pay the dead men. The English used to do this quite a lot with Irish mercenaries so they didn't have to pay the dead men and also it helped keep the warrior population of the country down.

[ConstableBrew]

Doug, that is just great