Using Mercenaries

[Loucipher]

Oh yes... beefing-up the numbers of your own troops performing a "threat-in-being" mission somewhere... maybe I shall add a Reason No.6 to what I had written above...
Still, IMHO the mercs only pay their rent fighting, not standing idly. Therefore, they should be somewhere beating the nine rings of hell out of some wretches. Besides, continual putting them in harm's way let you cut on their salary in the process.
Oh well, playing Mercia in VI you are probably swimming in florins already, so what the heck...

[matteus the inbred]

Oh yes... beefing-up the numbers of your own troops performing a "threat-in-being" mission somewhere... maybe I shall add a Reason No.6 to what I had written above...
Still, IMHO the mercs only pay their rent fighting, not standing idly. Therefore, they should be somewhere beating the nine rings of hell out of some wretches. Besides, continual putting them in harm's way let you cut on their salary in the process.
Oh well, playing Mercia in VI you are probably swimming in florins already, so what the heck...

you're not kidding! my King regularly lights his fire with large bundles of fifty florin notes instead of using damp peat like everyone else...
I'm only in that kind of trouble cos I never have enough military provinces, a weakness I have exhibited throughout my entire Total War career. I'm filthy rich but can only produce about four units per turn, which means I occasionally get caught with my pants down but backstabbing AI factions...and one of the reasons I am filthy rich is cos I skimp on troop numbers! I will probably send most of the mercs in as a first wave to thin out the quite decent Pictish armies before i use my own shiny proper troops, so the main 'ethic' of using mercs still applies really.

[Loucipher]

you're not kidding! my King regularly lights his fire with large bundles of fifty florin notes instead of using damp peat like everyone else...

You made me laugh heartily with that
I'll share an offtopic story with you: a colleague of mine, who is now working in Ireland, told me that he had visited one of those funnies shops and bought a pack of handkerchiefs. The handkerchiefs were quite normal, with one exception: they were resembling printed 50 pound notes. He made me laugh describing the face expressions of the patrons of some bar, where he sat down and began to make joints out of them... They were really thinking he was smoking real money...

I'm only in that kind of trouble cos I never have enough military provinces, a weakness I have exhibited throughout my entire Total War career. I'm filthy rich but can only produce about four units per turn, which means I occasionally get caught with my pants down but backstabbing AI factions...and one of the reasons I am filthy rich is cos I skimp on troop numbers!

I share the same deficiency too. In the beginning I tend to invest just in one or two troop producing provinces, concentrating on economical upgrades of the other. This leaves me up (sometimes) with as little as 4-5 castles per 40 provinces. The rest gets a fort and an inn (just to produce peasantry and ocassionally spawn some mercenaries), and all the economics I can think of (trading structures, ports, farmlands up to max, mines). These are my milk cows, and with added ability to create fleets and trade routes allow to accumulate prodigious amounts of gold. On the other hand, the troops that come out of the "training centres" are really beefed-up: all the best valour, armour and weapon upgrades, the best generals, the cutting-edge roster. I aim at being able to field a full stack (16 units) every 3-4 years. In nearly all my games it is just enough.

I will probably send most of the mercs in as a first wave to thin out the quite decent Pictish armies before i use my own shiny proper troops, so the main 'ethic' of using mercs still applies really.

Sound as a viable strategy, especially against the dreaded Pictish crossbowmen Just allow them to make some target practice on some paid wretches, then let your bloodhounds out to pick them off Cruel , but perfectly medieval

[matteus the inbred]

They were really thinking he was smoking real money

heheh, that's good, wonder if i can get them here!

i also prefer really good teched-up troops with all possible upgrades, whereas the AI prefers fielding loads of rubbish, particularly Egypt with their mass peasant armies. although i do build some sort of castle structure everywhere, even economic provinces.

as for the mercs, well if they're any good, they'll survive, if not...pah. plenty more where they came from. the occasional unit gets retained (lots of noble cav units about in my current game, eg) cos they're very good, i've even had merc units gain 2-3 valour fighting for me, but that of course makes them more expensive. I even had one i'd have made into a governor if he wasn't a sell-sword piece of untrustworthy rubbish (and if it was actually possible...!).

[Procrustes]

One cool thing is that you can buy merc gunpowder units in High, even though you can't build them yourself until Late. I scoop up any hand-gunners, organ guns, arqs that I can find 'cause I get a kick out of them.

I like mercs - I tend to grab the kinds of units I can't build myself - druz cav, italian light infantry, muslim dessert fighters, horse archers, bulgarian bandits, etc. - whatever would be useful. I also get a kick out of not disbanding them when they get worn down - I like taking the 15 remaining mercs from a unit on a battle against overwhelming odds with a general I'm trying to get some good traits for - a very depleted but high valor merc can often do as much damage as a vanilla unit that I built - and by then the upkeep is nothing and I have a better chance of getting 'expert attacker/defender' virtues for my general. (I take the remnants from the units I can build and keep re-combining them - that way I can build some full-strength, high-valor units of my own. Make sure to turn 'automerge' off.)

[matteus the inbred]

One cool thing is that you can buy merc gunpowder units in High, even though you can't build them yourself until Late. I scoop up any hand-gunners, organ guns, arqs that I can find 'cause I get a kick out of them.

yeah! i've got a siege waiting to be played out where i've hired about six different kinds of merc artillery including organ guns and mortars...it's gonna be fun! and very noisy...

[Procrustes]

yeah! i've got a siege waiting to be played out where i've hired about six different kinds of merc artillery including organ guns and mortars...it's gonna be fun! and very noisy...

Watch out for those mortars - you get three shots and then each additional shot runs the risk that the gun will explode. Don't put them too close together, or stand any of your other units too close, or you'll loose some extra guys when they go....