The Most Useful Mercenaries

[Phil of Loreauville]

Lately, I've trying to pay closer attention to individual units and how they perform on the battlefield.
So I'm trying to get a feel of what mercenaries are the most useful. Being as I play the Byzantines quite a bit, I have access to many of the same units, and thus, I find myself recruiting some units more than others. I find the Turkoman Calvary effective as well as Armenian Calvary. At he other end of the empire, Prussian Spearman and any Crossbowman are always welcome.

One unit I personally find over-rated is the Frankish Knights. Maybe i'm doing something wrong, but every battle I deploy them in finds them receiving a very high rate of casualties.
So what mercenaries do you guys find the most useful?

Oh and one more question....................
I've noticed that the units have things like Elite or Superior or Urban Militia in their descriptions. How does this correspond to attack and defense attributes in battle?

[ginger_hammer]

My problem with those merc Frankish Knights is their 600+ upkeep! Don't they know we're in a recession?
I like those merc German dismounted knights with the maces, but you also can't beat the old spearmen at the start for some decent early troops

[Ichon]

Any mercenary is useful at the right time. Personally I favor macemen for sieges as you can hire them and send them in first. If they all die... less upkeep. Usually they take 2x their numbers down with them in early game though they are weak vs cavalry.

Many of the mercenary spearmen are very handy as well. Going on crusade early in the game Saracen mercenaries are great as well. 5 attack(often 6 with 1 or 2 experience) 17 defense beats or matches anything a faction can produce until the mid 1200's.

[Navajo Joe]

For me I love Viking Mercenaries, right at the start when you need some solid heavy infantry, they are the men for the job.

Also I like Kwarmezian Heavy Cavarly, bloody lethal used at the right time.

[Tomato_Sandwich]

frankish knights have a low defence but they are suprisingly quick.

[Ichon]

frankish knights have a low defence but they are suprisingly quick.

Something I just found out as well that you can retrain frankish knights to full numbers in castles so if you get some with 4-5 experience and retrained that is great for weak cavalry factions early on.

[Mythlacar]

Mercenary Crossbowmen are one of my favorites, great for field battles. If I'm recruiting an army for hunting down enemy armies in the field I'll leave two-three slots blank in the army so I can recruit a few. Excellent power, range, and can even take a little melee, nothing too heavy of course but much better than most archers, especially early ones. A must have!

Mercenary Spearmen are okay, good for throwing at an enemy general to tie him down for a little while till you can get REAL spearmen in there. Woudln't rely on them too heavily though.

Mercenary Saracens are great, bit pricey, but are awesome, I often use them if I see an enemy army heading for a poorly defended town. Pop the general out of the city, hire a couple, pop back in! Instant wall defenders. Great guys, just can't afford too many, high recruiting cost and high upkeep :-(

Macemen are great as well, cheaper than the Saracens but almost as capable, better bang for your buck against Heavy Armor, but not as good vs lightly armored. Great guys, I always have a couple.

Prussian Spearmen, they can be relied on to hold pretty well, not as well as home-trained spearmen, but a lifesaver if your faction doesn't field great spearmen. Pretty damn good guys.

Theres also a group of Bowmen you can recruit in the same places you typically find Turkomans, Armenian Archers I want to say, but I could be wrong on the name. Regardless of what they're named, they kick ass. Not as good as Mercenary Crossbowmen, but can still pack quite a punch. A bit less expensive too if I remember correctly. Great guys, but not too hard to replace with home grown soldiers, best for replacement archers on a long campaign.

Mercenary Pikemen are awesome, Flemish Pikemen I believe they're called. Those guys can really provide a big bang for the buck! I only wish there were more running around

Never enjoyed the recruitable cavalry, of any variety. Too expensive, I'm not a big cavalry man already but the expense of these guys is just insane. I personally prefer Archer-Infantry combos, never needed much more than one or two units of Cavalry.

Thats a rundown on the mercenary units I've got experience with. I've seen a few more, but not familiar enough to really say much about them lol

[Gnostiko]

Mercenary Pikemen are awesome, Flemish Pikemen I believe they're called. Those guys can really provide a big bang for the buck! I only wish there were more running around

Ah yes, forgot about these guys. Currently own Italy as a resurgent Roman empire and I'm hiring every Swiss Pikeman I can get my hands on! Absolute gold when it comes to fighting my cavalry-heavy enemies.

[Gnostiko]

In the east, I absolutely love Saracen mercenaries; in the early stages of the game they absolutely kick bee-hind, they're not too shabby in later eras, and they look awesome.

[Caesar Clivus]

In the east, I absolutely love Saracen mercenaries; in the early stages of the game they absolutely kick bee-hind, they're not too shabby in later eras, and they look awesome.

Agreed. Up north the merc Vikings and the merc axemen are always good in a pinch. Most (if not all) merc spearmen units are pretty good too.

Oh and one more question....................
I've noticed that the units have things like Elite or Superior or Urban Militia in their descriptions. How does this correspond to attack and defense attributes in battle?

This is from RealCombat. Check that submod's thread for details. Actually when you install that submod, you should find a guide to RC in your SS directory.

[infernocanuck]

I personally adore the Galloglaich. In my current early era Scottish campaign, they were absolute lifesavers when it came to beating back the invading English, and carved up Irish rebels like a Christmas turkey. A brutal unit.

[talknight2]

You can't beat the good old professional spearmen. Be they Mercenary Spearmen, Crusader Sargeants or Armored Sargeants. The perfect backbone unit for early armies. Anything better is almost impossible to recruit in the early period anyway, from personal experience, even if you have the right buildings and 75% friendly religion.

[Darioos]

My favorite are always the archer units with very long range and a good ranged attack particularly Bulgarian Brigands. Also love using mercenary rocket launchers as they are simply amazing in a a cramped space and in both offensive and defensive siege warfare. Flemish pikemen are great when they are basically the only pike units available in mainland Europe.

[HighLord z0b]

Alan light cavalry can be very useful, as you recruit them in the middle east you're almost always going to fight factions with lots of horse archers and foot archers. So a couple of units of fast alans are very useful as you can send them to attack at the start of the battle, they will either spend the entire battle chasing the enemy horse archers (thereby keeping them from attacking your core units) or they will route the archers and then you can have them wheel around to charge into the enemy's rear. If I can't get them I will often use turkomans with skirmish off in a similar fashion.

[Warmaster Tibs]

The saracens as others have said are amazingly effective. The Kwarz...kwarzimena...Kwarq.. it the big empire in east merc cavarly if pretty strong to.

The good old merc spearmen are awesome to because they dominate early spearmen.

[JiangZiya]

Honestly? Scottish pikemen are severely underrated in the earlier years. Especially during sieges, or defensive battles, or even an assault, as long as you have the higher ground.

[XICenturionIX]

I find the pikemen to be the most useful of the mercenaries.

[Gogolometro]

Flemish and especialy Swiss mercs are a good investion. Never disband them. If wanna make a trip in levant, than your friends are armenians from Cilicia, armenian cavalry and the stars of the east the saracens militia.

[merocaine]

Those Islamic spearmen you can get in Spain, Andalusian spearmen, life saver in the early spanish campaign, as spanish spears suck and blow...

[Navajo Joe]

I also love the Elephant Mercenaries, recruitable in the east, they are bloody superb. In one siege I played a Mongol Heavy Lancer unit on its own, the elephants wandered to the square, the Mongols charged, 10 fell to the Arquesbusiers, the rest tangled with the Elephants. My words were 'Die you mother ..........', horses and elephants don't mix well. The result was 50 dead Lancers and a elephant with a bruised toe!