[Jack Simth]

Originally posted by Chazar:
I'm not sure if payment has to be made as much complicated as described below, though, but paying upkeep for your troops while they are away is certainly a necessity...

The problem with the only expense being upkeep, or some multiple of upkeep, is that Ashen Empire or Soul Gate Eremor(sp?) (not sure if pangea's Carrion Woods gets free commanders) gets free 0-upkeep units and commanders - it wouldn't be a gamble for them; it would be pure revenue to a nation that is designed around not having much revenue available at all (due to pop-killing dominion). Other expenses are necessary to keep the change from forcing SG and AE Eremor from needing rebalancing.

As for boobytrapped brigades, the fix would be to flag what nation the mercs are from - that way, you could only do so *once* (perhaps per player and/or per game, but still, a sharply limited number of times) after which the other players would simply refuse to hire your mercs (would you shop again at a store that deliberately sold you flawed merchandise?). Added to additional expenses for hiring out troops, it makes boobytrapped brigades a bad idea most of the time - they cost you money in the long run (can't hire them out more than a couple times, and you don't necessarilly find out about not being able to hire them out anymore until after you have gone to the expense of trying a few times).