Are mercenaries working as intended?

[OptiqueMarquis]

So im starting out with my new kingdom and don't have many lords to call to war.

so i travelled all over the map to recruit a couple of mercenaries and first off they dont tell me how much it will cost me when i meet up with them "we will join you if you agree to pay our fee" they say but the fee doesn't show up in our conversation.

i agree nontheless because i need them.

but then, and even though ive got the funds to support them (i realise they are costing me around 1k a day in the tooltip) they will leave me after a few days. in one ocassion i had them in my army for a single day, went onto besiege a caste and they left in the middle of the preparations, leaving my army vulnerable to the rival faction army.

now i realise they are mercernaries and they own me no aliegance but what the hell? there should be some kind of contract if not written then moral that they just cant pack up and leave after two days if I am sticking to my side of the bargain and paying their fees.

what am i doing wrong? i see that other factions acutally manage to keep mercenaries employed for long periods of time.

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

I don't know what their intention is, but I think at some point early in the "fix snowballing" saga, mercs changed from real merc like parties into "keep week faction in war" robots. I think the merc just do a roll every day or so to check if they will leave the faction and then roll to join another, I don't really know what it considers, it may know some wage offered by each IA faction, however it pretty blatantly slanted to give more merc to weaker factions.

The main problem with this is that the player has to waste time tracking down the clan leader to make a contract, so if they happen to leave it's a big loss as the recourse of the player's campaign time is much greater, they could defeat many parties, siege a new fief, recruit and train 100 troops, or any other useful things instead.

In addition to other changes needed to mercs, TW absolutely need to either make the AI waste time walking around the map to recruit mercs (and all other actions) or give the player instant remote recruitment or mercs and all other actions the AI uses.

My advice for now is to use the "create clan from wanderer" as you main strategy in growing your kingdom. Opportunistically hiring mercs is okay but I think it's a dubious thing to spend too much time on.

TLDR: AI cheats, TW fix it please

 

[OptiqueMarquis]

well i have created clans from wonderers but they are level 2 clans.

their army is like 50-60 units.

how am i supposed to defend my small kingdom or expand even when my neighbours can summon 1000+ armies?

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

well i have created clans from wonderers but they are level 2 clans.

their army is like 50-60 units.

how am i supposed to defend my small kingdom or expand even when my neighbours can summon 1000+ armies?

What I have done is make my own party strong units like Khan's guards, so you have 1 fast powerful party, then even against a 1k army you can stop them in the field and gun them down with horse archers, retreat as needed for ammo and wear them down. You could also make additional clan parties and call them to an army, but IMO you 1 party at clan rank 4 is enough if you use good units and hood tactics. I also like to swap the KG for less valuable troops after defeating the enemies armies and use those to siege so I don't lose valuable troops to the siege weapon fire, you can do that same with clan parties or summon other vassals too, but I like to let them deal with raiders and stuff earl in the faction.

I also always build my character to have keen sight (225 scouting) and mounted patrols (225 riding) so that I can hold lord prisoners in my party with zero escape chance, this way after a few armies and a sweep of small parties, the enemy faction is done and I can take what I want.

 

[Antaeus]

We need a "mercenary clan is available to hire" notice - "click here to open negotiation"

But yeah... they'll drop you like the plague if they're not winning enough battles.

I think I've only ever hired a couple of mercenary clans ever, as I've wandered past them on the map. It's just too much investment of time to find them for something that might leave you in a second.

Also, I'm with Ananda... even low tier companion clans are more useful than mercenaries. I will also marry spare girl children into their clans to help get them moving. We seem to have no limits on children these days. You really only need them to pad out your army. Any armies they might lead on their own are a bonus. Although by late game, you can usually field a thousand men from your own clan anyway - which should be enough to take down most enemies using the techniques above - calling in a bunch of small companion clan parties only when more size is needed.

 

[five bucks]

Perhaps some kind of minister at the player's Lord's hall when they own a kingdom, who you can talk to in order to hire mercenaries remotely?

 

[OptiqueMarquis]

Also, I'm with Ananda... even low tier companion clans are more useful than mercenaries.

Well in my save the western empire used the mercenaries to great effect as they kept sacking villages over and over again like pesky parasites that just wouldn't go away they brought my town prosperity down by the hundreds costing me a lot of income.

But ya after reading the comments here I think mercenaries are just meant to be employed by the AI for balancing purposes and not really intended for us to use.

 

[Antaeus]

Well in my save the western empire used the mercenaries to great effect as they kept sacking villages over and over again like pesky parasites that just wouldn't go away they brought my town prosperity down by the hundreds costing me a lot of income.

But ya after reading the comments here I think mercenaries are just meant to be employed by the AI for balancing purposes and not really intended for us to use.

They are a great source for interesting troops via prisoners.

Also, so long as you release all captive nobles, you shouldn't have too many problems with villages being raided. Enemies will bypass you for other AI clan's lands.

 

[Julio-Claudian]

Yeah it's even more noticeable when you're using mods that add more factions to a campaign. Mercenaries and minor factions pretty much always join the weakest kingdoms or those with no settlements. They barely have any of their unique troops either as they just sort of flit around the world recruiting from everywhere.

 

[Danny5]

This might be a bit off topic but I would like to see mercs to gain power and influence over time due to them joining in other major factions, then they'll eventually form a settlement and become a major faction, or take over another faction that they're against. This is what I actually thought these minor factions would be like, I mean the Vladians had a similar story to this.

 

[OptiqueMarquis]

well i was told over at REDDIT website that if you want to keep mercs on your side you've got to keep on pumping influence to their clan.

this will make them ever more expensive but they will apparently stick around for longer.

i havent tested this out yet but just like with almost anything with bannerlord we need to keep guessing how things work. i'd rather have them tell me they wont work for me or that they'll work if they can maintain a certain amount of influence rather than tell me they'll take my money and pack up and leave without explenation on the next day.

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

They barely have any of their unique troops either as they just sort of flit around the world recruiting from everywhere.

Yeah this sucks! They should have their recruit have like 75% chance of becoming thier own troops, or even 100%.

Hmmmmm small minor clans packing Khan's guards and reeking havoc, I feel like I've seen this somewhere before.....

f you want to keep mercs on your side you've got to keep on pumping influence to their clan.

That's funny, because they get paid based on how much influence they've earned, but the idea is that they should be fighting to earn it... because they're mercenaries, if they're slacking off but then staying because you use the support feature to keep them getting paid.... well that's some sleazy mercs for you!

 

[Death2Tyrants]

Mercs as a concept is poorly thought out. Giving them unique themes just doesn't work. How mercs should be implemented:


1. Every tavern should have merc reps that you can talk to if that's too much, establish "capitals" and then have those taverns host the reps.

2. Contracts should be set in stone for specific time frames. 30 days, 60 days or whatever. This nonsense of mercs leaving and joining willy nilly is silly.

3. Merc relations should always reset after the contract is over. It's almost impossible to hire mercs after you've been at war with them unless you keep releasing them.

4. Unaffiliated nobles should be hirable as mercs. In fact, all mercs should be wanderers with troops or unaffiliated nobles. Forget the current clowns. Wolfskins and Embers...are just childish.

 

[Antaeus]

Yeah this sucks! They should have their recruit have like 75% chance of becoming thier own troops, or even 100%.

Hmmmmm small minor clans packing Khan's guards and reeking havoc, I feel like I've seen this somewhere before.....

I've been thinking about this. There is a lore exercise here.

If we're looking at the mercs as if they were medieval companies, then they're likely recruited somewhere local to their home, and reinforced through that company office back home. E.g. A German company operating in renaissance Italy, might expect that it's office back in Germany might continue to remain in touch, to aid in supply and recruits. Same is true of a Scottish company in renaissance France or Dutch company in late medieval England...

But if we're looking at mercs as if they are wandering tribes or refugees that have been hired, then they likely have no recruitment pool, and over time would end up being a bastardised hodge-podge of whoever they pick up along the way - robbers, thieves, second sons and adventurers. I'm thinking of the various goth groups wandering the Roman Empire or any number of the resettled Slavic and Turkic peoples who ended up in Byzantine service through coercion, and largely being absorbed into the local Theme system over time.

The first option would always be mercs. The second might eventually earn a fief.