Mercenary Idea

[UberPenguin]

Im new to the forums, so I don't know if this idea has been posted. (My Posts go with stories usually.) I was playing as Man, with AI opponents Marignon, Jotunheim, Ermor and Pangaea. They all started some world war, and excluded me... I was running low on cash because I was beefing up my army, incase they all decided they needed new meat to pick on, but they never declared... at turt 33 I had a huge army and squat for income because of upkeep, so I got this idea 'bout mercs.

The idea is sending out you're exess military units for mercenary duty, like... erm, making them available to other nation's use. I also think a portion of the regiments' income should/would come back to the nation who put them up for service. (And have them come back after maybe a year's work, all with experience and some long tales to tell the children. )

[UberPenguin]

I think Ermor Soul-Gate might abuse this, though, since money is extremely valuable during the Soul-Gate dominion. Making forts with limmited income (Most I've ever gotten is 490 a turn) and temples is extremely hard. Having 70 units and a great leader that you can ship off for 1000 net income would be insane.

[Jack Simth]

Tack some expenses onto the renting of mercenaries (expenses billed to the "seller" of the mercs), and it might work and be less abusable; a per-unit cost of shipping them to the designated province (size dependant?), upkeep for the time away, a flat announcement fee, and perhaps a few other restirctions - e.g., the contract is for 3 months, but they are gone for 4-7 months (initial month to announce, stay available for 3 months if not hired, contract for three months = 4-7 months), and restrict the AI's so they don't hire player's mercs. Charge these expenses up front, regardless of whether or not the mercs get hired (they still had to announce themselves, arrange potential travel, get paid while they were away, et cetera). You can then set the price based on how much it costs you to hire them out. It wouldn't be very abuseable; few people are going to hire troops for much more than their upkeep costs would be if they could make them themselves (unless they are desperate); no-upkeep units, while not having the assossiated mantenence costs, still cost the full amount to transport - and they are usually either disposeable cannon fodder or have an expensive initial cost - cannon fodder nobody will pay much for, and something with a high initial cost is expensive to replace if your opponent sends them on a suicide mission the Last month of the contract. Moreover, running a mercenary company becomes risky buisness; if nobody hires your mercs, you lose money.

Of course, this is probably way too involved to be implemented for Dom II - III maybe.

[Chazar]

I really like the idea, as this would open up much more options for diplomacy:

Your friend is under attack? Make some of your troops serve as mercs for him under his command. (One should be able to restrict the allowed bidders.) If he is your friend, he will certainly give you the troops back...

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...

[Cohen]

I believe this could mess up National balance a lot.

But if Diplomacy is enhanced, it should be a good idea to be able to dispatch troops (moving in map however) in the ally territory without occupying them, and fighting alongside you ally armies, but they're always in your command.

[Chazar]

Originally posted by Cohen:
I believe this could mess up National balance a lot.

Why? If the AI never lends mercs nor hire mercs from human players, then I dont see that much problems:

To clear things: I assume that you can only lend a single commander per bid with the troops under his current command, which cannot be altered by the employer as usual for mercs, so mixing up national troops within squads is still not possible. I would also assume that routing mercs are killed as usual, regardless where they come from. They are in foreign lands, with a foreign tongue and their trusted leader is gone, so they wont be able to return home, bla.
So, for short, I assume that all merc-band are usabel for the employer in exactly the same way, regardless whether they are independent mercs or human sent.

I agree that access to foreign mages is certainly a big boon, but so is sending masses of money, gems and items, which is already allowed. After all, players have to agree upon a price and the lender of the mercs still has to pay their upkeep (maybe increased by some percentage)!

Maybe one should place a limit on the number of bands a player may lend, and prohibit the lending of sacred troops, but otherwise I dream of the diplomatic options this would bring: Sending mercs to aid someone else; or to encourage someone to threaten your current opressor, sending them for fame & money; suddenly not sending them again after their 3 month contract is over; etc.! Fun!

PS: I guess returning mercs should always return to the captial, no matter what, for simplicity.