Mercenaries and what you can do with them

[Sensei Warrior]

I've noticed something else kind of tricky. I haven't pinned what happened exactly, but will report on it just in case.

Well, when we last left I was at war with Spain (a problem), France (a nuisance), and a Crusade staged to take Palestine. Mercs had been trickling in a little but for the most part stopped. I took Palestine, and a little later Antioch. I must of overstretched my resources because Spain attacked Aquitaine with 4 stacks.

I was outnumbered 3 to 1, so a fighting retreat was in order. I lost Aquitaine, Anjou, Brittany, and Normandy, and no new Mercs appeared to replenish my losses. Weird, usually with this much fighting every Merc in the known world flocks to my doorstep. Several years later Il de France falls, my last army is squatting in Flanders, and I'm thinking I'm gonna have to report that I was wiped off the map.

As a last ditch effort I have 5 stacks of troops 3 in Palestine (under a 5* general with Skilled Defender, making him 6* while defending), and I have 2 stacks in Antioch. I abandon Palestine (I already got the GA points for it and there really is no point in staying, especially since I'm getting no new Mercs), and move the troops to Flanders to bolster the rag-tag defense I have there.

As I am reviewing what troops I have left in Flanders, I notice alot of units with 1-10 men in it. I disband them, they won't do much good in a fight, and as usual, I see them available in the Inn for hire. I end turn and pray Spain does not attack. They don't, and the next year the same troops I disbanded are available nothing new. I take care of buisness and end turn.

The next year new full units of troops are available at the Inn, alot of them. Well, I suck them up and go through my roster and see units with 10-20 units in it. I disband them.

The same thing happens more new full units of troops appear. Then I disband any 1/2 full troops, than any troops that have any missing at all. The same thing happens. Now, the part of this that makes it unfortunate is I am not keeping track of who I disbanded or how many. I am not sure if the Inn is replenishing the partial units I disbanded, or merging them together, but it happened to many times to be coincidental.

Anyways, I have gained all the land I've lost using this tactic. Money is pouring in from Antioch, and the other Provences. I have a decent lead in GA points, and I am thinking I have reached a critical mass of sorts, where it will be impossible to not stay in the top dog slot.

The only Faction that may be problematic is the Turkish. They have claimed all of the Byz's lands, some of Egypts, all of the rebel Provences of Eastern Europe, and lokk like they are about to wipe the Novrogod and Hungarians off the map. They are huge, but I forsee the Mongols giving them a run for there money soon. We shall see, I am off to play a few more years to see what happens.

EDIT I've played to 1250. I'm in the same spot I'm in before. It seems like there is some cap to how many Mercenaries you can have in play. It is approximately 5 stacks. I no longer have Mercs available unless unit groups get disbanded or die in battle. Tonight I plan on burn and raze back to Flanders, and regrouping, resetting my Merc armies and letting everyone know just how many units I think you can have in play. I'm sure it'll be approximate, but unless macsen rufus can shed some light on this then I do think I can progress any farther in the game.

FINAL EDIT Well I've counted, condensed, and recounted my Merc troops at a point where I am getting no more new troops. At the initial count I had 100 Merc units. I disbanded all partial units, cycled though 5 years, hiring as many full units as I could. At the end of the 5th year, I recounted the Merc units. I had 87. I am guessing the comp won't give, make, or allow the equivalent of 100 full units or so out into the game. That's an awful lot of units, but not enough in my opinion to win the game solely on the use of Merc troops.