Why do mercenaries suck?

[Martok]

I'm finding that so of the Cav mercs can be helpful it the desert (if you play a catholic faction) can help. Many units of the units you can get are better then the Mounted Sargeants you would normally have to take into the heat with you.

Or you can just do what I do, which is to play as the Spanish all the time and descend on the Muslims with hordes of Jinnettes.

[antisocialmunky]

Jinettes > j00 until they bring out the camel stick.

[Geezer57]

Jinettes > j00 until they bring out the camel stick.

Jinette sees camel, Jinette switches to skirmish mode using javelins. Camel run speed = 14 (charge = 16), Jinette run speed = 24 (charge = 26). Who's going to catch who in this scenario?

[dgfred]

Jinette sees camel, Jinette switches to skirmish mode using javelins. Camel run speed = 14 (charge = 16), Jinette run speed = 24 (charge = 26). Who's going to catch who in this scenario?

Good to know! I forsee bad times ahead for the camel
population .

[Patron]

javelins suck

[ichi]

Two things to remember.

First Jinettes get four shots before running empty, and these are best used on elite armored troops.

Second, Javelins can suck, but they can also be deadly. They are quite effective when trying to break down a high valor elite armored unit holding a bridge or hole in a castle. Place them on Hold Form in deep formation and order them right up behind your good inf, then manually order them to toss their pointies at the toughest enemy unit.

Javelins can also work well in the open skirmishing against enemy inf. Just don't let them try to melee. They can kill some or at the very least, exhaust an enemy unit trying to chase them down.

ichi

[Budwise]

Jinette sees camel, Jinette switches to skirmish mode using javelins. Camel run speed = 14 (charge = 16), Jinette run speed = 24 (charge = 26). Who's going to catch who in this scenario?

Easy, the Berber Camel when they fire back.

[bretwalda]

Easy, the Berber Camel when they fire back.

Exactly - never mix them up with plain Camels: they are deadly in desert. You can try to take Berbers out with a horse archer if you have a height advantage or archer + fast cavalry combo.

[Talain]

I use mercenaries for three things.

Mercenaries are primarily for absorbing casualties and filling out a line so your national troops can flank and destroy the enemy and get the Valour. Lovely Italian Light Infantry and pretty much any Muslim foot fill that position nicely.

My secondary use of mercenaries is for throwaway cavalry. In this form they are the disposable RPG of the medieval era, to chase down a thicket of archers or get a quick charge in faster than my knights can get there. Light horse and Horse Archers are preffered, along with Jinettes. When a couple brigades of Khwazariman are going to stomp on my flank a bit before I can break their line, harassing mercenaries force them to chase, and if they ignore them a couple volleys of Javelins will ruin their day, as will being charged in the rear, even if its just by Hobilars. Scotch Highlanders and Irish Gallowglasses do a good job as fire-and-forget weapons too, but I usually am England and pumping them out at a steady pace.

The tertiary use is for filling up on one-use gimmick units without having to payout for the infrastructure. I don't want to have to spend thirty years and thousands of florins to be able to nationalize artillery support for the one or two castles I'll bother assaulting in the course of a game. And Longbows are in scarce supply even when I am playing England, since I have to replace line infantry casualties and replace my fire-and-forget troops on a regular basis. If I see them, I grab them.

[dgfred]

So do you just siege most of the castles you run across?

I didn't think of the florin savings by NOT trying to build up for siege
weapons and such . Give me some mercs .