We got to change how mercenaries work

[Audoucet]

I've got around 200 hours on CK2.

The problem is, it's really not that much, and I don't think that you are representative of the average player in 2018.

I completely understand your point, but it would be making changes for a category of players which are, essentially... Still in the tutorial.

I think that the best for your would be to look at mods making the game a little easier for someone without a lot of time to play.

 

[WomboCombo]

Why don't you people like my idea. Take back those Disagrees or I will fight you all individually.

 

[General WVPM]

Mercenaries disbanding or even switching sides was not that common in real life.
Most of the time, they'd just raid and pillage the lands they passed through to collect their payment.
The 30 years war is a great example of this.
Imagine them not getting paid, so they turn into a neutral raiding force for some time (until you can pay them again or something).

 

[Rags17]

I mean maybe they fixed it, but I recall no mercenary band showing up. It's like I can't hire Scots to defeat Englishmen? Really? They are paid to fight, not to moralize me.

Fair call.

Maybe it's a trust thing. Me and my band of irregulars have been working this area for decades, the band was started by my great grandfather over 70 years ago. Every time someone wants to hire us I meet with the local laird, discuss terms, he hands me a fat bag of coin and I get to work. He pays me regular like, doesn't send me on suicide missions and generally doesn't try to stab me in the back or murder me and take all his cash back.

Next thing I know some jibber-jabberer blathering on about the Sun (the Sun ? What the hell is that - this Scotland FFS ! ) says that he'll pay me to take out the Laird of the Isles for him. Or at least I think that's what he said I couldn't tell, but I do know that he and his commanders kept jabbering in their funny speak so i have NO idea what they are up to.

I think I'll pass - better to have a few lean months than to find out too late that these sun worshiping Orientals really just wanted to trick us into a suicide rush or march us all into a secluded glen so they can slaughter us and loot our corpses.

 

[Admiral_Obvious]

I'd be in favor of contract negotiations between a ruler and a mercenary band.

I've been recently playing Battle Brothers (you play as a mercenary band). Basically every mercenary can be bought to do anything, as long as it doesn't involve "burn down your own house" if you negotiate the right price.

I do think that the initial cost of mercs is a bit high (and as a result makes merchant republics stronger than feudal in the very late game). There should be some sort of negotiation for the "payment in advance" the "support pay" and the "payment when done", which would be when you disband the men.

Basically all mercenaries had some form of advanced payment.

Support pay, depending on where the force needed to be could vary from "here's money to fix stuff and get food" to "here's supplies, and we'll comp you on the ammo you use, and anything else". Going further from the capital should make these costs more expensive, since you can't keep as close an eye on the mercs. Of course you could not have support pay, but then the mercs expect a much higher starting pay.

Lastly, all mercs, really were looking for the payment done at the end of the contract, where most of the money sum went, if they were hired on temporarily. That's usually the biggest part of where the money goes for an employer.

You can possibly get away with not paying the mercs as much if they do a poor job, or you might not even pay them at all, depending on how greedy you are, and how much you'd risk an army for hire not getting paid at the end of a contract.

However, mercs "flipping sides" the second a ruler hits 0 gold is exceptionally dumb.

 

[General WVPM]

After doing some research on the mercenaries employed in the hundred years war I can conclude that my earlier suggestion is realistic.

When the Treaty of Brétigny was signed May 8, 1360, the peace that resulted left many soldiers and those who provided services to the armies without employment. While the King of England evacuated his forces from France and paid them. Some captains of the garrisons, knights and squires left to find employment as mercenaries for the King of Navarre. Additionally the German mercenaries, as well as mercenaries and adventurers from Brabant, Gascony, Flanders, Hainault, Breton and France were left to fend for themselves. Dismissed, they formed bands and began to pillage.

from Wikipedia.

It would seem that you should pay mercenaries to go away and disband.

Another quote seems to indicate that mercenaries were cost effective compared to retinue:

During the later Middle Ages, Free Companies (or Free Lances) were formed, consisting of companies of mercenary troops. Nation-states lacked the funds needed to maintain standing forces, so they tended to hire free companies to serve in their armies during wartime. Such companies typically formed at the ends of periods of conflict, when men-at-arms were no longer needed by their respective governments. The veteran soldiers thus looked for other forms of employment, often becoming mercenaries.

from Wikipedia.