mercs, battle hardened troops?

[BiggBudd]

Is it just me? Why do mercs have little or no ex? They are supp to be professional troops, ie they been in a few battles, yet no1 gives them much ex in vanilla or any mod, seems silly to me, esp when u can recuit most units with +2 ex via a temple. Have modded mine to have at least +2/+4 ex. So it is just me that thk's they should have more ex? or are there good reasons why they shouldnt? ie not realistic/balance issue?

[LordSaradain]

They should proably be more experienced than regular fresh recruits, but to make it realistic they would also be alot more expensive to keep.

[Holger Danske]

Yup.. Mecenaries such be professional units on pair with some of the best units and they should also be expensive so you won't have a standing army of mecenaries.. - but they should be available in huge numbers so you actually could hire an entire army of mecenaries (as fx: Carthage)

[DARTH VADER]

You have a point for sure...but the answer came here from LordSaradain and also note this from my dark experience in modding.
By giving too much experience campaign AI will surely prefer Mercs as their core army than using their native forces.
Not really a good visual dont you think?
Better to be used as AUX

[BiggBudd]

Thx 4 replie's, i modded mine + 2 ex to all mercs, ill let u know if i find to many merc based stacks, or if they r balanced, Budd.