question about mercanaries..

[Krosh]

I think they've alot of fun and I purchase alot of them while campaigning, but theres one thing about them thats kind of puzzled me... Can their numbers ever be replenished? or do you have to keep buying extra units to make up for losses. It's just annoying to end a battle with a few merc casualties knowing that you won't be able to replenish the supply easily. Is this just something you have to deal with or am I missing something?

[tibilicus]

Nope i dont think it is psible to replenish a unit of merces.

[Craterus]

I don't think it is possible but if you think about it, it makes sense. If these mercenaries are "unique" warriors from one part of the world, their unit cannot be replenished.. e.g. You hire some Thracians in Thrace, you won't find any Thracians in Asia Minor when you try to retrain them... That's how I think about it.

[Krosh]

You can buy Thracian mercs in asia minor though :P But thanks for the help guys.

[Quietus]

Hey Krosh,

Yes. Mercs are already trained thus they are instantly available (that's what makes them different from your normal units - that you have to train for a period of time).

You can still combine similar units though.

In addition, you can retrain/replenish all your regular units at the same time! So, if you can put your regular units in a city with compatible military buildings, just go to the retrain tab. And the next turn you can have all those units at full strength.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

You can refit them, but I do not think you can replenish their ranks. I also like using mercs, they give you specialists in types of warfare that your culture is bad at, Cretans for almost all, Samnites for Greek invasion of Italia, Sarmations for anybody (look too cool to pass up).

[The Stranger]

yeah SARMATIAN KNIGHTS charge, normally you can't replenish but you can merge two beaten up units in one. and there is a trick to make some mercs replenishable.

[Kraxis]

Certain mercs are available in large enough numbers that you shouldn't have much trouble in replenishing them, such as Mercenary Peltasts, Mercenary Hoplites and the ever present Eastern Mercenaries.

I find the merc system both fitting and fine. The mercs are bands of men seeking money and/or glory (there is a lack of Gaesatae mercs though), and each group is unique. They might fight alongside other mercs of equal equipment (they will most likely have a lot in common, such as language and culture), but they will not likely be willing to take in a common man from the fields.

[Kekvit Irae]

Mercenary War Elephants are FAR too expensive (4000 initially, and 400 upkeep) and are too rare. Unfortunately, like all mercenaries, they cannot be retrained if their numbers fall, and thus are best used as makeshift rams instead of frontline troops.

[Watchman]

(there is a lack of Gaesatae mercs though).

Doing some creative copy-pasting in the unit data file regarding the Naked Fanatics (who'd be the closest thing by what I know of those guys), merc file editing and the appropriate data-card shuffling ought to take care of that, you know. Or at least it worked right fine when I tried it with the Amazons and the Yubtsebs...

But yeah, historically too mercenaries tended to hail from certain given regions and if their ranks were depleted during capmaigns reinforcements had to be quite literally shipped in from wherever the heck it was. That actually more or less held true until fairly recently (say until the 1800s or so; Americans will likely know more than enough about the Hessian mercenaries that fought for the Brits in a certain colonial conflict for one example...)

[Kraxis]

Well my gripe is with the fact that the northern barbarians only get a few mercs while the most famous mercs are left out... That is not fair to me. Especially considering the massive amount of other mercs in the game.

[Magraev]

Mercenary War Elephants are FAR too expensive (4000 initially, and 400 upkeep) and are too rare. Unfortunately, like all mercenaries, they cannot be retrained if their numbers fall, and thus are best used as makeshift rams instead of frontline troops.

I always buy them though (unless I can build elephants myself). They are useful but wasted as only rams. I like to use them for missile support and as a great charge down the middle at the crucial moment. Every time you lose one it's a tragedy though.

[Watchman]

They're pretty neat for chasing off those über-annoying Egyptian chariots, though...

[MajorFreak]

mmmmmm...i find that the elephants will sometimes take the place of the bedoin camel archers, which i love as well. i would like to know the "trick" to replenishing them tho, and hope the poster reveals this gem.

oh, and i'm darned sure that upgrading mercs never seems to work (anymore?)

[Kraxis]

Of course you can upgrade them, that is not hard to do. Just send them to a city where there are upgrades available to their type and put them into the Retraining qeue.
I always upgrade my mercs as they might lag behind if you don't.

[MajorFreak]

*ahem* go take your mercs into battle and you'll see nary an upgrade present, even though you might see it cosmetically on the strategy map.

[pezhetairoi]

Well, what's the trick for replenishable mercs? Someone mentioned it but never elaborated on it...

[Kraxis]

*ahem* go take your mercs into battle and you'll see nary an upgrade present, even though you might see it cosmetically on the strategy map.

What are you talking about??? I see plenty of upgrades, and they are applied as well. Are you sure you haven't mistaken some of your different mercs? I have a screenshot lying where this is very obvious, but sadly the uploadtool doesn't work at the moment.

pez, there is no trick. You have to find another depleted merc unit, then you can combine them. So obviously mercs are easier to use in large numbers.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

I see upgrades as well...

Maybe the monkey in your head is confused, mine gets confused all the time...

[pezhetairoi]

Aw, no trick. Oh well. Back to the same old procedures, then. For my two cents' worth, yeap, I see upgrades on mine when I use them too.