Help with Mercenaries

[Scipio Canadensis]

Hi All,

As the search function seems to be disabled I have not been able to find any information regarding mercenaries. I am playing VI and have the required building (inn) and can see the mercs available for hire but when I buy them they don't show up the next year. Any suggestions/help/advice?

Thanks in advance

[Duke of Gloucester]

Are you clicking on the hand with money on the right hand side of the training screen. If not, then the transaction is not completed.

[Scipio Canadensis]

I'll give that a try, thanks very, very much

[mdutr0]

Also try and make sure that your inn is close to the area of conflict.

By that I mean to say that an inn waaaaay behind the front lines isn't going to produce the quality of units or number of units that an inn right on the frontier with an enemy empire will.

You might also want to be aware that while hiring mercs may be a relatively inexpensive way to get troops fast, you're paying double the support costs for them every year IIRC. So keep an eye on your finances.

What many of us do, I believe, is try to limit your merc activities to the very early game or to units that your empire would not otherwise have access to.

Hope this helps,

Micah

[Colovion]

Yes and also limit hiring mercs (and keeping them) to when you are on the attack and need a few more units to bolster your force. I usually only hire mercs when I want to give my army a bit more variety like if I don't have many HA then I'll hire some

[mdutr0]

Exactly Colovion.

A good use for mercs is a fill-in-the-blank approach. Find the gaps in your unit line up and use the inn to help fill those gaps

Thanks,

Micah

[Somebody Else]

Playing as the Italians once, I managed to bribe Anatolia or something. From there, due to the tremendous cash reserves aquired through trade, I conquered all of the Holy Land and some way along Africa with mercenaries, supplemented by an heir or two as generals. My regulars were too few, and were holding my Western territories. Because I already had the shipping lanes in place, this turned out to be very profitable due to the aquisition of Antioch, Tripoli and Egypt.

[Seven.the.Hun]

often i get those merc guys who have like a 7 acumen and they lead a mangonel crew, and stuff like that,

odd

[Drake]

Just as aslight add on, siege weapons can be a pain to construct so try hiring merc siege weapons to cut down on the wait time it takes to make an army and make a move.

[Despot of the English]

It is very unusual for me to hire mercenaries, mainly because of the costs involved. However, when the proverbial faeces hits the fan and I need troops urgently then I will try to hire them if I can. I don't use them willy-nilly. But, as has already been said, hiring mercenary artillery is an advantage (don't have to wait ages to build several cannon) and the support costs are well worth it.

[Makuri_Dog]

I also hire mercenaries sometimes if i haven't fought with them before just for something different, Through them in and see how they go (also some rare mercs) just for game play.

[Scipio Canadensis]

I've noticed that using mercs for artillery certainly allows me to go on the offensive quicker than by waiting for my shops to build them.

Can you merge two merc units (of the same type) that have become understrength and can no longer fire their catapults?

Thanks again for the help and insights

[Sardo]

Merc units cannot be merged, so if your mercenary siege crew is understrength, you should just disband it.

In my current HRE campaign, I've made use of mercenaries quite a bit already, though I usually avoid it as much as possible. This time though, I've been involved in a lot of war with the French, the Hungarians (which took longer than I expected), the Italians and most importantly, the Pope, whose untimely demise prompted me to create a large force in and around Italy, awaiting the return of His Holiness.

I did try not to exceed my needs, and I hired mostly Italian infantry, vikings and kwarazmian cavalry, because I lacked good spears, sword troops and heavy cav. Now that the Pope business has been settled (he is now my ally, after some bitter fighting), I'm planning on sending as much troops as I can spare to the east, to fulfill the Drang nach Ost GA. After that war, I think I'll disband all surviving mercenaries, as I expect to have produced enough troops of my own by then, and enjoy the rise in income.

[massamuusi]

I just love the merc infantry....
When you're about to storm the enemy fortress with 3 layers and barbican, it's very nice to send in some 500-800 merc infantry first, it doesn't matter, actually, the better the more of them die The more casualties they get the less you will have to pay, and it's always a good idea to dismiss understrength mercs. Instead of throwing your regulars to die, these fools can spare lives for a modest monetary compensation. Sometimes I wonder when I've hired them and next turn they are already dying at the enemy castle's crossfire, did these guys ever get the chance to actually use the money I hired them with? No it's not easy to be a merc, you're always thrown in the hard spot, just to wear down the enemy's elites so that they are easier to beat.