Do I play it wrong?

[saamohod]

Why am I asking this? Because I don't need mercenaries at all.
I remember playing mods for Medieval 2 Total War and often mercs were an essential part of my armies, mailnly because unit replenishment was only possible in a province which produces the given unit. Now there is no need to manage this stuff. No matter what tier unit you've got you are able to replenish it ANYWHERE on friendly land in matter of a couple of turns after an average battle and roll on. Expensive mercenaries have simply no use now.
And another thing. I simply don't need the awesome variety of units my barracks provide. From midgame or so you just recruit the best unit in necessary amounts and go to fight. There seems to be no incentive to purchase other (usually lower tier) units.
What do you think?

[Alexandre Lange]

I never need mercenaries. I just hire them when I intend to kill them killing the enemy, so I don't need to pay the upkeep. Just as an option, not a need.

[ThatWhichThinks]

While it is cool for flavor and immersion, I rarely find mercenaries to be very necessary. On occasion I will hire them when I need a quick force to fight a superior foe, but I rarely need them when I am playing as a large faction, unless I really want some Syrian armored elephants or Galatian mercenaries while I am passing through those areas.

That said, I also am rarely able to maintain armies of purely the best units I can recruit. Maybe I'm just not as good at managing economies, but I usually find it optimal to put some cheaper units in the mix as well for unit versatility, cannon fodder, or just to save on upkeep and recruitment expenses while I am trying to build.

[bogac94]

While it is cool for flavor and immersion, I rarely find mercenaries to be very necessary. On occasion I will hire them when I need a quick force to fight a superior foe, but I rarely need them when I am playing as a large faction, unless I really want some Syrian armored elephants or Galatian mercenaries while I am passing through those areas.

That said, I also am rarely able to maintain armies of purely the best units I can recruit. Maybe I'm just not as good at managing economies, but I usually find it optimal to put some cheaper units in the mix as well for unit versatility, cannon fodder, or just to save on upkeep and recruitment expenses while I am trying to build.

Agree with you. I only take Cataphracts and Elephant mercs. And after battle i disband them. Because their upkeep is so expensive.

[RollingWave]

The solution would be to increase unit disband threshhold due to losses, if you do that then you will need them since you may lose 1/3 of your army after a victory as well.

But yeah, outside of playing Odrissian I almost never use them either. except in a few occasion.

[FlashHeart07]

KAM have already increased unit disband threshold. And with the Populous mod from Mitch, mercs might be more usefull.

[geala]

I like the mercenaries and use them quite often in some situations, mostly emergencies. I also have some favorites that I have in my armies in small numbers (one unit) anyway, f.e. Celtic naked swords (I even made a new unit card for them like for my core units). I have a spear heavy faction and sword fighters are a good complement.

I also use KAM's experimental BAI pack and although I lowered the disband theshold for winners a little bit I quite often have some of my units annihilated (mainly because they usually have very few armour). I only have a barrack in my core province, so I'm stuck with aor and mercenaries till I can move my core armies back home or transfer units to them. Mercenaries and the aor system for me is a big plus of DeI. I hope for more aor units later on.

[txfirefghter]

I used them when a town got sacked and i restarted from my save game. Hired a general and about 6 mercs and defeated the invasion.