Vulpes_Corvum
Recruit
I started a new campaign recently and decided to remain a mercenary for as long as possible because I generally lose interest when I become a vassal or create a kingdom.
Things are good in the life of a soldier-of-fortune when I happen across a castle with just over 100 defenders. "A mercenary company needs a base of operations" I say to myself, and roll the dice. I attack a peasant party to enter into war, siege the castle, take it, and (just barely) negotiate peace.
So I get my affairs in order with my new base of operations and head back into the field to find a war in which to ply my trade. I find a lord and intend to offer my party for hire when I'm greeted with a message saying "clans with settlements are not considered mercenaries".
It was disappointing but got me thinking. What if mercenary companies were set up more like factions? You could join an existing one, or start your own. Instead of policies, companies could have "tenants" that determine how they carry themselves (take/don't take noble prisoners, recruit/don't recruit bandit troops, etc.). Each company could have a "reputation" score indicating how the nobles view the company (independent of your own relationships) as well as an "effectiveness" score (perhaps total accumulated influence) showing how they perform in the field.
This could also give some depth to the vassal/kingdom playthrough when you have to decide whether to hire an effective, but disreputable company (perhaps at a relations loss to other nobles) or a less effective but more respected group.
Perhaps new "workshops" could become available in cities allowing you to set up a company HQ to garrison, train, and recruit troops. Perhaps the larger existing mercenary companies have their own independent castles? Perhaps rarely a bandit camp spawns in a "ruined fortification" that you can claim and repair after clearing them out?
I feel like there is a lot of possibilities to making mercenary companies function more like factions. Any other soldiers of fortune agree?
Things are good in the life of a soldier-of-fortune when I happen across a castle with just over 100 defenders. "A mercenary company needs a base of operations" I say to myself, and roll the dice. I attack a peasant party to enter into war, siege the castle, take it, and (just barely) negotiate peace.
So I get my affairs in order with my new base of operations and head back into the field to find a war in which to ply my trade. I find a lord and intend to offer my party for hire when I'm greeted with a message saying "clans with settlements are not considered mercenaries".
It was disappointing but got me thinking. What if mercenary companies were set up more like factions? You could join an existing one, or start your own. Instead of policies, companies could have "tenants" that determine how they carry themselves (take/don't take noble prisoners, recruit/don't recruit bandit troops, etc.). Each company could have a "reputation" score indicating how the nobles view the company (independent of your own relationships) as well as an "effectiveness" score (perhaps total accumulated influence) showing how they perform in the field.
This could also give some depth to the vassal/kingdom playthrough when you have to decide whether to hire an effective, but disreputable company (perhaps at a relations loss to other nobles) or a less effective but more respected group.
Perhaps new "workshops" could become available in cities allowing you to set up a company HQ to garrison, train, and recruit troops. Perhaps the larger existing mercenary companies have their own independent castles? Perhaps rarely a bandit camp spawns in a "ruined fortification" that you can claim and repair after clearing them out?
I feel like there is a lot of possibilities to making mercenary companies function more like factions. Any other soldiers of fortune agree?
