Yo ho, Yo ho, tis' a Mercenary's life for me (post 1.0.8) - Mercenary feedback and suggestion for in-depth contract terms

[Pancakelord333]

So I've been playing with a fresh save for 1.0.8 with the intention of being the most mercurial clan I can be, living by the philosophy; 'If it aint gold, it aint for me.' And have been operating as sword-for-hire jumping between the Imperial factions in their seemingly never-ending war against the Aserai.

It feels a lot nicer playing as a mercenary now that you actually get paid a decent sum of money for your work.
Though breaking your contract still feels weird (I understand this is placeholder or overlaps with the vassal system right now?)

I'd also quite like a "mercenary statistics" tab in the clan screen [visible when a mercenary contract is active] to show me my stats on my current contract, stuff like:

• Employed for N days
• Gold accrued from contract
• Gold spent buying replacement units during this contract
• units lost / friendly parties lost (i.e. run by companions or spouse)
• hostile units / parties destroyed
• Nobles captured / freed / killed (see below)

I'm also seeing a lot more mercenary AI clans roaming around the map and showing up in wars, which is nice to see.

Though I would like to see an expansion on the "Contractual rules of war" (I.e. the terms and conditions of my mercenary contract)

Currently I've been playing and releasing every noble/hero character I find after a victory as I'm technically not being paid to kill nobles
(and thus not being paid extra for that long-term reputation hit from cutting their heads off).

I'd like to see something like "terms and conditions" in addition to the offered pay when i'm negotiating with a lord, they'd set a statute of limitations, of what I can and cannot do, per my contract:

• Nobles:
  • No Nobles clause
    • You may do whatever you want to nobles after a battle.
  • You may not execute any nobles we are at war with. (No executions clause)
    • A bonus cash sum is paid to the mercenary captain for each Noble prisoner delivered to an allied castle / dungeon.
    • Edit for clarification:
      • the execution button is either outright disabled for the duration of your contract,
      • or your contract gets voided / you get a BIG reputation hit with your employer if you execute a noble.
  • You must execute any nobles of any empires we are at war with. (Mandatory executions clause)
    • A large bonus cash-sum is paid to the mercenary captain for each severed head delivered.
    • Edit for clarification:
      • If you let an enemy noble go free you receive a small, but repeatable, reputation hit with your employer.
• Non-combatants:
  • You may / may not raid enemy villages & roaming villager parties. (Pillage Clause)
  • You may / may not raid enemy caravans (Caravan clause)
    • As caravans do technically operate across war-fronts, servicing multiple cities, destroying them could hurt your employer's own economy / city prosperity.
    • so it may not be in your employers best interests to have you wiping out every enemy caravan you see.

The nobles requirements would be a good way to actually make me want to stop-off at castles to drop off noble prisoners.

• My rationale is nobles still stick to their own kind/class, they'd probably want to avoid hiring/financing a bloodthirsty noble-killing mercenary - as they know it could be their own neck on the chopping block one day - mercenaries are only loyal to gold.

There is some historical basis in trying to minimise collateral damage in war, too, so not unduly harming peasants or caravans makes some sense too.

• Mostly this was done for religious reasons in Europe, that one should be decent to their fellow man,
• Or it was implicit within the "feudal contract" between noble and commoner. Nobility were meant to look out for their charges (whether they always did or not, is another matter).
• Or shrewd kings / lords who knew that ruling over a rubble pile was worthless to them etc

Though these medieval measures were nowhere near as robust as more modern attempts (geneva convention etc).

Anyone else have similar/any thoughts on this?

Edit 1: two small edits to clarify downsides of breaking the noble clauses.
Generally, IMO, if you break a clause you should get a small rep-hit with your employer for the first time.
If you do it again, you get a bigger reputation hit with your employer + your contract gets ripped up.

Edit 2: Maybe Deceitful, Cruel or non-Honourable lords are more likely to offer contracts demanding the execution of enemy lords, to keep with the theme of the games existing character traits.

 

[Dearmad]

I like all these ideas!

So... no input here.

 

[Pancakelord333]

I like all these ideas!

So... no input here.