Mercenary XP

[Quinn Inuit]

Would anyone be broken-hearted if I reduced all mercs to 1 XP or none? The reason I ask is that I never saw the point of it and someone (I think it was HoH, but I don't remember--I'm sorry) noted that the ranged units get unbalanced if they start with the extra XP.

[formulapower]

I think it is okay for mercenary units to to some XP. Since they are paid fighters chances are this would not be their first battle and some experience should have been gained from past warfare

[Iskandar]

Would anyone be broken-hearted if I reduced all mercs to 1 XP or none? The reason I ask is that I never saw the point of it and someone (I think it was HoH, but I don't remember--I'm sorry) noted that the ranged units get unbalanced if they start with the extra XP.

Not really, but so long as we're on the topic - I think their spawning rate should be reduced. Variety/number of units is OK, but spawning rate is too much. Sometimes I have to fight 3-4 Mac armies in a row which are mostly mercs.

Oh, and merc phalangites seem to me a bit ahistorical - considering that they needed a lot of drilling before they were battle ready, plus as a unit they are always used in conjunction with other troop types - two very non-merc traits. I doubt there's a historical source implying their existence, either.

[fourganger]

Not really, but so long as we're on the topic - I think their spawning rate should be reduced. Variety/number of units is OK, but spawning rate is too much. Sometimes I have to fight 3-4 Mac armies in a row which are mostly mercs.

Oh, and merc phalangites seem to me a bit ahistorical - considering that they needed a lot of drilling before they were battle ready, plus as a unit they are always used in conjunction with other troop types - two very non-merc traits. I doubt there's a historical source implying their existence, either.

Doesn't seem unrealistic to me. Populations under Hellenic rule would have been drilled in advance in case they were ever needed for battle. Some of them probably took up fighting for money (like the Swiss mercenary pikemen of later times). They may also have been settled veterans who fell on hard times.

[despot_of_rhodes]

I do remember that i asked, why there are so many phalanx mercs in Greece to hire, and Wien1938 answered:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...44#post3946444

And btw. Macs with merc armies: Since Chalks. take 2 rounds to train and merc hoplite stats are really good, the AI seems to prefer them. Playing on H or VH, AI got´s lots of money to hire all of mercs it needs. So the question is: do we want the AI to hire as many mercs as it can afford, and if that´s the case, should they be even better then the the main troops?

[Scutarii]

^^In Greece, wasn't much of the city-states armies made up of mercs? IIRC, they had started to downsize their own regular military forces in favour of just hiring mercs when war came around...

On topic: I wouldn't mind mercs not having any XP.

If you don't want the Maks too train too many, maybe increasing their initial recruiting cost by a lot would help?

[Quinn Inuit]

What I'm seriously considering doing is giving all merc units no XP except for exceptional units recruited in their home territories, which will get one, just to make the occasional trip out there worthwhile.

Phalanx mercs are going to disappear, as per the discussion with Wien1938 that DoR linked to above.

So merc spawn rates are a problem for people? I can address that if you want.

Greek cities are actually going to be able to recruit merc hoplites from their buildings, to represent their reliance on those units. I'm going to nerf them a bit, too. What I'll probably do is make the mercs take two turns to recruit, so the city can build up an army of mercs gradually (hey, there are only so many traveling companies in the area at a time) or a citizen army more rapidly. Mercs will also have lower upkeep than citizens and be more likely to rout.