Mercenaries...

[LintMan]

Yesterday, I was using Rexor's Barbarians, who had faced some pretty steep attrition and were down to Rexor and 7 barabarians, when it can came time for me to re-hire them.

They didn't seem worth rehiring, but I thought: "Why not get one final usage out of them?", and throw them (alone) in a suicide attack at the Indep-7 province I was gearing up (but not yet ready) to take.

Does anyone else do that, or is it considered "dirty pool" to casually toss departing mercenaries into a blender? (Better than facing them in your enemy's army next turn, and get some final use out of them to boot...)

Another time, I had a cyclops mercenary (just one big guy), who stacked up a few afflictions (sadly including a lost eye) in my service. I laughed when I saw he was then hired by one of my AI opponents.

But, it's happened to me, too: I hired some guy (red's something?) (it was just him, no army) for some not so small $$$ and then discovered he was barely more powerful than a standard independent commander (if that), and probably initially came with a batch of other units which were just a memory by the time I hired him.

I guess it would help to know more about the original mercenary force to know if it's worth bidding on them. I wonder if the AI is able to figure out that Rexor and just 7 Barbarians just isn't worth the money he was asking (which was based on 50 Barbarians)?

[tinkthank]

Yes, the AI bids on mercs is suboptimal at the moment. This is a known issue, but it is not known whether it is considered important enough for the devs to work on a new re-hire pricing scheme.

As to tossing away half- or mostly-used mercs: I think many people do this. But alternatively, you can just let them get hired by others and have them waste their money (see above).

[PDF]

I'd like to see Mercs bands "going on leave" when they have no more troops (or very few) then back again after replenishing their ranks, at least in part...

[Chris Byler]

Originally posted by PDF:
I'd like to see Mercs bands "going on leave" when they have no more troops (or very few) then back again after replenishing their ranks, at least in part...

Understrength unemployed mercs should recruit a few men (or whatever their troops are) every month, back up to their starting strength if they are left alone long enough. Eventually between the price dropping and the recruiting, they'll be worth it again.

This doesn't help (not so) Mighty Pak-ur with 7 afflictions; maybe mercs on vacation should recuperate too.

[HotNifeThruButr]

Don't merc companies with less men cost less money?

I throw mercs into the blender all the time, they've got no real loyalty to me and I've none for them.

[Firebreath]

Originally posted by HotNifeThruButr:
Don't merc companies with less men cost less money?

Yes. Some. I think they loose maybe 1/3 of their original cost, without the troops. This doesn't seem logical, if you only look at unit commanders, but many merc leaders are also wizzards, and it would not make sense go 'give' wizzards away at ridiculously low prices, which is probably why it's only 1/3. As it is a (relatively) minor issue, the devs havn't bothered doing anything more complicated (i think).

I throw mercs into the blender all the time, they've got no real loyalty to me and I've none for them.

That's their purpose. You're paying them to either: kill lots of enemy in 3 turns, or else save lots of your own units being killed in those 3 turns by dying themselves. Since most mercs are ordinary heavy inf. or worse, the second choice is the only one. Anything else is either bluffing the AI into thinking you're stronger than or are, or else wasting you $.

And to answer the thread creator, when you hire a merc, it tells you 'bob has x men and costs y gold' - so you know exactly how many men he has with him. After a while, you remember what kind of men they are (usually heavy inf).

[LintMan]

Originally posted by Firebreath:
Yes. Some. I think they loose maybe 1/3 of their original cost, without the troops. This doesn't seem logical, if you only look at unit commanders, but many merc leaders are also wizzards, and it would not make sense go 'give' wizzards away at ridiculously low prices, which is probably why it's only 1/3. As it is a (relatively) minor issue, the devs havn't bothered doing anything more complicated (i think).

The way I thought it worked was that the mercs price remained constant, until no one bids on them, and then they start dropping the price. I know for sure that the depleted mercs I had mentioned originally still cost the same to rehire as when they had a full complement.

And to answer the thread creator, when you hire a merc, it tells you 'bob has x men and costs y gold' - so you know exactly how many men he has with him. After a while, you remember what kind of men they are (usually heavy inf).

Well, you know how many mercs they currently have, but not how many they started with (unless you happen to remember). In the case I mention with the "red-somthing" merc, it was something like "Red has 0 men and costs 80 gold". I (incorrectly) assumed Red was some sort of devil or other lone tough character, like Mighty Pak-ur, rather than a fairly standard commander with no troops, costing that much money. I guess the trick is to pay more attention to the mercs, so then as you say, after a while I'd have a better idea of what they are offering.

[Chris Byler]

Originally posted by HotNifeThruButr:
Don't merc companies with less men cost less money?

I throw mercs into the blender all the time, they've got no real loyalty to me and I've none for them.

No. Mercs that are unemployed lower their gold demand gradually, but mercs that take heavy casualties and are then released start at the same demand they were at before they were hired.

If you're in a game with highly competitive merc bidding, mangled merc companies might cost less, but their base cost is unaffected by casualties. If they entire merc company routs but the commander survives behind others of your troops, the lone commander tries to charge the cost of a full 50 man company, if anyone is foolish enough to hire him. That's exactly what happened in the original post.

[PhilD]

Originally posted by HotNifeThruButr:
Don't merc companies with less men cost less money?

I throw mercs into the blender all the time, they've got no real loyalty to me and I've none for them.

The real trick is to guess when someone will try to steal them from you, and blend them right on that turn. IIRC, movement and battles happen before merc hiring, so they bid on the full company, and buy what's left after the month's fighting. (even better if you send them in their blender)

[Taqwus]

Eh, you could give one a Bane Venom Charm right before the contract expires. It's not cursed so it can be removed, but with a bit of luck you'll disease somebody of whoever next hires 'em.