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My character is a Shia Muslim fighting against a Shia neighbour (Fatimid). The Fatimid has Mamluks as his vassals and when he raises them he never pays upkeep, even when fighting fellow Muslims.
They also never abandon him, even when he has -200 gold - I've seen this many times, including when I was part of the Fatimid empire.
Aren't the Mamluks the Fatamid's personal guards? Akin to the Varangian Guard of the Byzantines.
I've gone into the red several times as Byz in a war, and they pretty much never abandon me. Go check if Mamluks are vassalized by the Fatamids like the Guard is for the Byzantines.
This is a specific case - the Mamluks are a vassal merc unit, so never abandon their liege and cost less, like the Varangian guard for the Byzantines and Ghulams for the Seljuks.
Apart from this the AI definitely pays for mercs. I have noticed that since Conclave mercs don't IMMEDIATELY leave their employer anymore once they hit 0 funds, so you actually have a chance to do something about it now like borrow money.
This is a specific case - the Mamluks are a vassal merc unit, so never abandon their liege and cost less, like the Varangian guard for the Byzantines and Ghulams for the Seljuks.
Apart from this the AI definitely pays for mercs. I have noticed that since Conclave mercs don't IMMEDIATELY leave their employer anymore once they hit 0 funds, so you actually have a chance to do something about it now like borrow money.
How so? The Fatimids only have to pay a heavily discounted rate for the unit.
What I suspect IS showing up wrong is the cost of the unit - not showing the real amount the are charging. For example the Varangian guard show up only costing something like 5 gold/month.
(Sorry for the double post, couldn't insert more quotes when editing in the mobile version).
How so? The Fatimids only have to pay a heavily discounted rate for the unit.
What I suspect IS showing up wrong is the cost of the unit - not showing the real amount the are charging. For example the Varangian guard show up only costing something like 5 gold/month.
(Sorry for the double post, couldn't insert more quotes when editing in the mobile version).
The realm menu shows yearly income and the character menu shows monthly income. Divide the first number or multiply the second one with 12 and you'll see they match.
I wish the AI handled vassal merc companies better, not just the owner going in to the red but also my co-religionists declaring a hopeless holy war because it seems the caliph is low on troops only for a couple of kingdom's worth of Mamluks to materialise in short order.
I can confirm that AI does pay for merc upkeep. I actually have quite a funny tale about that. I was playing as Jerusalem. My brother was my rival so I thought I'd make him less troublesome and send him off as a mercenary. He ends up fighting for some tiny remnant of a once proud Sunni emirate. The infidels run out of money so my brother decides to launch an invasion for their territory!
It didn't work, unfortunately. Now my brother is hiding in the court of my mother, the Queen of France. Whatever, he'll come back once my mother dies and I inherit the, quite literal, motherland.
I've also had a case where my enemy ran out of money and the mercs went over to my side. I didn't understand what was going on at first, I just saw that I got some extra troops out of nowhere that were fighting the enemy and got decimated. Then I checked and realized what had happened.
The realm menu shows yearly income and the character menu shows monthly income. Divide the first number or multiply the second one with 12 and you'll see they match.
Vassal mercs don't rebel simply from not being paid, they're not really even mercenaries, they just fit there for gameplay purposes. The Mamluks and the Ghazis were even slave soldiers, and the company being under the mercenary tab is representing private armies. You can get one too if you go about it right (you have to find someone with a claim to the title, land them and then press the claim but several companies can't have this happen for a variety of reasons) and you can enjoy the same benefits.
Think of them as desmense troops. That's pretty much what they are.
I can't say for the others but if you have ever been Byz Emperor or a vassal they are a HUGE early game advantage. +3k troops to you 8k is huge and heavily stabilizes the Byzantine Empire. Either through expansion or in supressing revolts.
They pale to the Mamluks and the like later on, but damn are they a godsend when they arrive. Also makes playing as a Byz vassal even more anal than it already is.
They pale to the Mamluks and the like later on, but damn are they a godsend when they arrive. Also makes playing as a Byz vassal even more anal than it already is.
When playing as a king-tier vassal to the Emperor he has transferred the Varangians to me when he got over the vassal limit a non-zero number of times. Probably something to do with them being unlanded.
When playing as a king-tier vassal to the Emperor he has transferred the Varangians to me when he got over the vassal limit a non-zero number of times. Probably something to do with them being unlanded.
Oh man I have got to try doing that in my King of Sicily game. Though I am getting to the point in that game where they are irrelevant for the empire. Still a huge boost to the ~10k I can summon. As byz Emperor I usually give them that barony in Constantinople so they would contribute to tech there.
Damn that's clever. I've never thought of that or seen someone do that before. Handy little trick for vassal holy orders and the like.
I usually burn all my tech points on 3-4 select techs, having another ruler spending their tech in my capital indiscriminately the way the AI does on the lower techs could be useful as hell.
I guess the ecumenical patriarch also does this until he takes extra land from the start for the byzzies.
