Suggestions

[Gasket]

Partly so you can't hire troops or use rescued prisoners aggressively, with the intent of killing them or disbanding them before pay day, and partly because a steady daily expense is easier to track and account for.

Removing the potential to exploit hiring certain soldiers and then firing them is indeed a plus, but a day is so short?! I fail to see how anyone would benefit via paying their soldiers each day, besides it's not at all realistic.

 

[AlxGvr]

If you disband them before payday, you should give them money. If maintain for the unit costs 20 shillingas per week, you should pay 20 when you disbanding him. Otherwise, you will loose moral and honor. How do you like that?)

 

[Untitled.]

History-wise there's always been some sort of payday. I don't think you should pay daily, but you have a point from which I got an idea.

I like the idea that Alx proposed too, but I'd like to think a bit further on it:
If there's one payday every seven days troops should be accounted for how many days they've been in the party.
For instance, if the wage of a troop is 20 for a week and you hire them for one day but then disband them or you hire them one day before payday you should only pay one seventh of the 20 (20/7). I know 20/7 isn't a full number, so it'd have to be rounded.
In a similar fashion if a troop whose wages are 117/week and you have them for three days you should pay only three sevenths of one weeks wages.

Just my opinion though.

 

[JuJu70]

Well it doesn't work that way, if you have a contract you can't just terminate it whenever you want and only pay for a day. Contract is for 1 week if you disband early that's your choice but you should pay for a full week of services.

 

[Untitled.]

Yeah, true. But then again, companions often cite the beginning cash as an 'advance payment'. Shouldn't you be able to skip the first couple of weeks payment for the companions?

 

[Mooncabbage]

I don't ever think of firing companions because tbh their wages are so low. It's less firing them and more parting ways temporarily.

 

[JuJu70]

Advance payment or a signing bonus how it's known now was a form of insurance in case you would use their services and then refuse to pay (or successor in case you're killed or captured).

 

[Mooncabbage]

In the context of this mod I see companions less as adventuring buddies and more as sort of generals and nobles and the like. Really I think they should replace Mercenary Captains and spies.

Perhaps there could be a few classes of companions? Bodyguards who can join you in towns, spies who can do spy missions, and captains who can lead troops for you. Maybe some like Aleifir could be used like the wagon through a dialogue option, to send them off to town with an escort to sell all your stuff. It won't happen because to do it properly would be very complex, but I think it's a good idea.

 

[Untitled.]

And the class would be depending on the background story of the companion, or could you choose it?
In any case, it sounds like a wonderful idea. I rarely get all the companions anyway, but if they had more depth to them I would be more inclined to do that.

 

[Mooncabbage]

Companions would have their own class when you get them. Classes I can think of:

Captain: Capable of leading troops for you, on patrols or whatever you like, just like Merc Captains.
Bodyguards: Very strong melee fighters, the only companions that can follow you into town, in the event you get ambushed etc.
Trader: Non-combatant class, can organise the supply train, and lead a supply wagon back to town to sell loot & purchase supplies. Doesn't appear in battles even when leading the supply wagon.
Spy/Spymaster: Non-combatant class, is not available to fight battles with you. Can be sent out to spy on lords, assess armed forces etc. All the regular spy duties.
Camp Followers: Non-combatant support classes. Siege engineers, doctors, cooks, blacksmiths & armourers, entertainers and whores. Perhaps also a paymaster, with the leadership skill, to reduce the cost of your weekly upkeep.

Non-combatant classes only appear in the camp scene, with the exception of traders and spies who can be seen on the world map.

 

[Untitled.]

I really think this is an awesome idea.
Although, if you've ever had a large party in Brytenwalda (which you most probably have ) you know that most parties tend to run away from you and you have almost no possibility of catching them. I use spies to intercept the enemy and keep them busy until the main bulk of my army can reach the battle. Maybe if you could give the spy/spymaster companion a max troop count of, say, 14 regular troops (I'm thinking mainly skirmishers/horsemen but whatever) that you can give to them when they go out to intercept an enemy party?

 

[Mooncabbage]

No. If you want to catch fast movers, you'd have to assign light cavalry to one of your Captains and order him to skirmish with them. This would be accomplished simply by right clicking on the enemy party, selecting "Skirmish", choosing a captain from your party, and assigning him some troops.

 

[Mooncabbage]

Another camp follower might be the Recruiter. Recruiters would have high persuasion skill. If you have one in your party, their persuasion score will count for recruiting villagers (assuming it's higher than your own). You would also be able to send them out with or without escort to a particular area to recruit troops for you. You might also have Trainers, who train your troops.

 

[Idibil]

You have companions for these things.

I saw a lot of ideas here that are do for companions. Nobody like them? 

 

[Mooncabbage]

I meant certain companions would have specific abilities, such as the ability to lead troops etc. Also I think it important that not ALL troops and companions be required to fight in battles. Otherwise you have to invest in their combat skills which in some cases is just pointless. So perhaps a more organic approach:

• Any troop can be assigned to the camp, rather than to the main troops. Alternatively, at the start of a battle you can choose which troops to take with you.
• Companions with leadership & tactics over 5 each can lead troops and skirmish.
• Companions with trade & looting over 5 can lead a supply wagon to a town to sell loot.
• Companions with persuasion & trainer over 5 can be sent to recruit troops.
• Companions with persuasion & entertainment over 5 can be sent to spy.
• Companions with Ironflesh & Shield over 5 can accompany you into scenes as personal bodyguards. Alternatively you might substitute Spotting for one of those skills.

Just for example.

 

[JuJu70]

I think having an ability to make your companions generals and lead small parties to skirmish or for reconnaissance is a very good idea. Also giving them position at your court is good too, as long as they earn renown by this appointments, and also for each won battle.  You should be able to send them as messengers too, not just spies.

Mercenary captains should be reworked like I said - this is too kludgy now, they grab alot of prisoners which prevents them from rejoining my party. They run away alot too. They don't stick to an area at all.

So I think this exchange should be done easier, so for example I can freely exchange troops and prisoners like a garrison.

Also maybe allow to ransom prisoners from other lords and castles/towns and offer them to join you.

 

[Untitled.]

Spoiler

I meant certain companions would have specific abilities, such as the ability to lead troops etc. Also I think it important that not ALL troops and companions be required to fight in battles. Otherwise you have to invest in their combat skills which in some cases is just pointless. So perhaps a more organic approach:

• Any troop can be assigned to the camp, rather than to the main troops. Alternatively, at the start of a battle you can choose which troops to take with you.
• Companions with leadership & tactics over 5 each can lead troops and skirmish.
• Companions with trade & looting over 5 can lead a supply wagon to a town to sell loot.
• Companions with persuasion & trainer over 5 can be sent to recruit troops.
• Companions with persuasion & entertainment over 5 can be sent to spy.
• Companions with Ironflesh & Shield over 5 can accompany you into scenes as personal bodyguards. Alternatively you might substitute Spotting for one of those skills.

Just for example.

Still liking the idea, except that for now the Shield skill can be raised to 3, but that's hardly a problem.

 

[Mooncabbage]

Something does need to be done about merc captains not rejoining your army. It seems that the AI takes any prisoners you don't, so after a big battle, there are LOTS. I guess the thing to do is to either enforce prisoner limits on the AI (which is probably a good idea, you can recruit awesome armies jsut by rescuing prisoners from worn down AI armies, it's totally unbalanced), or else remove prisoner counts from the rejoin calculation.

I would agree that all companions should be able to send messages, but I believe they can already do that. They should earn renown also. I don't know about assigning companions to your court though. It doesn't seem to have any effect so what's the point? I mean if it was scripted such that the relevant skills of court members had an obvious effect on their performance then it might make sense, but otherwise I can't see the point.

Spoiler

I meant certain companions would have specific abilities, such as the ability to lead troops etc. Also I think it important that not ALL troops and companions be required to fight in battles. Otherwise you have to invest in their combat skills which in some cases is just pointless. So perhaps a more organic approach:

• Any troop can be assigned to the camp, rather than to the main troops. Alternatively, at the start of a battle you can choose which troops to take with you.
• Companions with leadership & tactics over 5 each can lead troops and skirmish.
• Companions with trade & looting over 5 can lead a supply wagon to a town to sell loot.
• Companions with persuasion & trainer over 5 can be sent to recruit troops.
• Companions with persuasion & entertainment over 5 can be sent to spy.
• Companions with Ironflesh & Shield over 5 can accompany you into scenes as personal bodyguards. Alternatively you might substitute Spotting for one of those skills.

Just for example.

Still liking the idea, except that for now the Shield skill can be raised to 3, but that's hardly a problem.

I wrote that list off the top of my head Imo though, shield skill should be allowed to go to 10, have no effect on shield radius, but significant effect on the speed with which a shield can be raised and lowered.

 

[JuJu70]

don't know about assigning companions to your court though. It doesn't seem to have any effect so what's the point?

Mmm, how many companions can you use before they all start whining? I hire the same and don't bother with others, so pretty much they're wasted in the game. If you could grab them and make into some court positions, that's like extra 3 to be used. And if they earn some renown then you can make them vassals later.

 

[Mooncabbage]

Well in my scenario, companions wouldn't argue at all, so you could have as many as you could reasonably afford. Companions would just be uniquely skilled troops. I always thought the way companions fought was remarkably unprofessional anyway, and only made sense in the context of an adventuring party.