Mercs

[AntiDamascus]

Why did you just define what we all already knew?

[Bramborough]

Why did you just define what we all already knew?

Because when I initially read through the comments in the thread, underlying assumptions of what "aux" and "merc" meant didn't seem consistent. Upon re-read, however, I was wrong....so I guess I was the only one temporarily confused.

[AntiDamascus]

Well then apologies from me. The post was a nice summation of the discussion though.

[Myth]

A unit of merc cav I hired as Rome I kicked out as soon as I saw it costs as much as 3 units of Pretorian Cohorts. The costs are prohibitive for anything other than a band aid solution for right before a clutch battle.

[ReluctantSamurai]

I recall doing more or less just that in Rome1 with its comparatively cheap mercs -- gamey as all get-out, but it worked.

Cheap compared to what? The mercs I preferred to hire were mostly 1000+ denarii to hire and several hundred per turn to keep (Bastarnae, Elephants, Sarmatian Cavalry) although I always thought "Creeshan Arshers" @ 750 were a bit cheap...

the only mercs I have right now are slingers and bowmen, which are unavailable to the faction otherwise

a band aid solution for right before a clutch battle

I certainly used mercs for the 2nd reason above, especially when a siege-relieving army turned out to be much bigger then I thought....

....but I mostly used them for the 1st reason; to get a unit that was unavailable to me normally. And I used them for a 'fun' factor, as well. Loved Arab Cavalry, those scimitar-wielding maniacs that could chase down any routing cav unit in the game under desert conditions; loved Bastarnae because they just looked cool, could run across just about any battle map and arrive merely "winded", and they had a knack for killing enemy generals; loved "Creeshans" for obvious reasons besides hearing that ethic retort when you selected their unit; loved Spanish Mercenaries (when playing a non-Roman faction) as a spear-chucking skirmisher unit that could switch to melee when needed......

And besides:

and now they're literally a really colourful bunch ^^

This!

[nearchos]

I used mercs in the begining of the campaign to conquer and fight battles with the ods against me and dispand them after.
I only keep the Cretan archers units, and later in the campaign, with the economy flourishing, any merc elephand unit i could get and scythian and parthian horse archers, as i think these are worth having in an army mostly Hellenistic as Macedon.
In general i agree with the point that as historicaly happened, you use them for a period of time and when you have achived your objective, you dismise them.

[nearchos]

Since we are talking about mercenaries, has any one noticed if there are dacian falxmen units in the game?
I think there are not any merc units but are there units available for the factions that originaly start at Dacia?
Just curious.