Imperator - Development Diary - 7th of January 2019

[Martynios]

Isn’t the size of the individual mercenary armies excessive, compared to the armies of nearby states? It’s a bit immersion-breaking to me.

 

[Trin Tragula]

Isn’t the size of the individual mercenary armies excessive, compared to the armies of nearby states? It’s a bit immersion-breaking to me.

This is in a startup situation for screenshots
You would have big armies of your own soon enough.

 

[Brad198]

Not sure i like the idea of mercs being bought with mil points. Perhaps a base currency cost modified by the size of the company as well as the type of units it has, e.g. more heavy infantry would make it more expensive to hire etc. Overall though, i like the change from EU4's system of merc spam.

 

[Martynios]

This is in a startup situation for screenshots
You would have big armies of your own soon enough.

Will even small AI states be able to contest the manpower of a single mercenary army?

 

[Nostalgium]

I've been wondering about it for a while, but those white provinces in places like the Syrian Desert and the Horn of Africa - are they colonizable, or just provinces armies can move through but that are otherwise empty?

 

[mavregade]

Hello and welcome again to one of the Developer Diaries of Imperator:Rome!


Today I will be talking a bit about how Mercenaries work in the game, as well as some words about the Arabian Peninsula.

Mercenaries​

Armies came in many shapes, forms, and levels of professionalism, in the era that Imperator:Rome covers, something we to some degree try to cover in the Military Traditions that we have spoken about in previous developer diaries (and which we will return to).

One big difference however is that not all troops fought for the country in which they were born. Then as well as later in history mercenary groups played a big part, such as Cretan Archers, the famous Mamertines and others.

At times Mercenary groups played a decisive part in conflicts, as did their tendency to abandon an employer that could not pay them.

In Imperator Mercenary armies are always present, spread out over the map, using their own banner and the unit graphics of the local culture. As long as a mercenary army is not hired by anyone it will also not count towards the supply limit in the city they are located. Mercenary armies all have their own General, to whom all the troops are loyal.

View attachment 438728​

Mercenary Overview Screen. Here you can at all times see what Mercenaries exist (sorted by Proximity) and who has hired them. It also displays the monthly cost of employing each Mercenary group. You can also see Papirius’ unemployed Mercenaries on the map between Rome and Etruria.


Hiring a Mercenary regiment comes at a one time cost of 50 Military Power, but also obliges you to pay their upkeep for the duration of their employment (at a rate 400% more expensive than what one of your own armies would cost).

Hiring the army immediately brings it under your control, but does not move it to your territory. Instead, hired mercenary armies hired outside of your territory will begin in a state of exile, so they can be brought to your territory to then be used in whatever conflict you intend.

Any Mercenary company in diplomatic range can be hired, but their high upkeep means that hiring an army far from your conflict could get expensive as you would be paying their upkeep from the day they are hired.

Once no longer exiled, the mercenary army will act as any other army under your control, except for the fact that you cannot remove its leader, or remove any units. They will use your military bonuses, you can alter their deployment and their military tactics.

As with any army you can also disband a mercenary army at any time it is not in battle. Their increased upkeep cost will however also mean that disbanding them can be quite costly.

Once disbanded the mercenary army will again be considered available for hire, and it will begin its journey back to its home location.

View attachment 438729​

Desertion & Mercenary Princes:​

Mercenaries are not only known for how useful they were to their employers. Men like Pyrrhus and, in his youth, Agathocles, also made names for themselves as Mercenary captains when their prospects at home looked bleak.

Succession and Monarchies is something we will talk more about later but it is possible for the Mercenary company list to be supplemented by characters from the wider game world, such as disenfranchised heirs.

View attachment 438727

Last of all, should you not be able to pay your mercenaries you may find that this makes them quite unhappy. Among the various possible events that can happen as a result from a negative treasury (as mentioned in the diary on Economy) is that mercenaries might offer to join the opposing side in an ongoing war.

Arabia
View attachment 438730​

For the map part of today’s diary we are going to be looking to the south of regions we have previously visited. In 450 AUC or 304 BCE, the Arabian peninsula is at the same time isolated and integrated in the Mediterranean world.

The region is closely tied to the trade network of the Indian Ocean, which while not nearly as developed as it would become later, was still ancient by this time.

It is this trade in spices, cloth and incense that brought greek traders and explorers, to the region and eventually led to Roman trading posts on the Indian subcontinent, and it is this trade that is the lifeblood of the more advanced of the Arabian kingdoms.

Arabia Felix / Felicitous Arabia:
View attachment 438733​

Throughout history southern Arabia has been the more densely populated and more developed part of the peninsula. The temperate highlands provide basis for agriculture and larger cities while the coastline is strategically situated to benefit from the trade flowing between Africa, India and the Mediterranean. This is how the region came to be described as Felicitous Arabia in greek and latin, or Al Yaman in Arabic.

In 304 BCE this region is home to a number of ancient kingdoms, with their own writing, bureaucracy and mode of government. Up until recently this area was dominated by the Sabean kingdom, but it is now divided between a number of smaller kingdoms.

Apart from the Arabian majority this region is by our start date also home to sizable Jewish communities, though these are at the time of our start not in control of any of its states.

View attachment 438732​

• Saba: Ancient Autocratic Kingdom and center of Semitic civilization in Yemen. In many ways in decline at our start date and challenged by smaller nearby arabian kingdoms.
• Himjar: Kingdom of the Himyarites who eventually would come to dominate the region. Rival to the other south arabian kingdoms and already in control of the important coastal strip along the Bab el Mandeb strait between Arabia and Africa. Himjar starts independent and unaligned.
• Qataban: Small kingdom in southern Yemen. Starts in control of the southern part of the Yemeni highland as well as some of the Incense ports of the south.
• Hadhramut: Ancient South Arabian kingdom that was eventually conquered by Himjar. Controls some of the most valuable incense producing regions but is generally not nearly as rich and fertile as western Yemen.
• Ma’in: Kingdom of the Mineans, who predate the kingdom of Saba but only recently rose to relevance in the region.

Northern & Greater Arabia:​

View attachment 438734
View attachment 438735
View attachment 438736​

Northern Arabia is not nearly as fertile or settled as the south, it is dominated by the huge Syrian and Arabian deserts, which most peoples have a hard time crossing. The Arab peoples have however made the trade through and around their peninsula their main source of income and their kingdoms can be found all around the deserts.
While never the dominant force that they would become later in history, some Arab kingdoms such as Nabatea, Himjar, and later Hatra and Palmyra, would prosper in a region that was constantly at the edge of the conflicts of greater empires.
Arabian pops are also present far beyond the region where Arabian states exist at our start, opening for the possible formation of more such states in the future in Syria and Mesopotamia.

View attachment 438731

• Lihyan: Up until recently a small city state kingdom based around the Dedan oasis, south of Nabatea. Have recently grown to control a wider region, wresting control of the Tayma or Tiamat oasis from the Qadarites.
• Thamud: Independent Tribal state along the red sea coast attested for hundreds of years before the start of the game.
• Thaqif: Independent Tribe controlling the area around the Ta’if oasis.
• Qedar: Old tribal federation formerly in control of the region conquered by Lihyan. Traditionally allies of the Nabateans but at the start of the game unaligned.
• Gerrha: Independent Tribal kingdom in control of the eastern arabian coastline (Barayn).
• Maka: Tribal Kingdom in modern Oman. Was previously under Achaemenid rule but has since slid into obscurity and been left to its own devices.
• Tylos: Small trade kingdom on the island today known as Bahrain. The economy of Tylos is based on pearl fishing and it is home to a sizable greek minority.

But look at all the empty spaces on the map!!! No Tuscan raiders? No Saarlac? /s

 

[Elryos]

Will the mercenairies have special traits? Like the Rhodian Slingers ("Archers") doing more damage to heavy infantry?

 

[Bearjuden]

I foresee some frustration when walking into a province to attack an army where a mercenary company is based, and the day before the battle starts that nation hires said mercenary company. Maybe moreso in multiplayer, AI probably won't work that out.

Will there be a way to make mercenaries your subjects? If you have a good and longstanding relationship with certain companies by repeatedly hiring them (or alternatively, their captains), will you get discounts? What about if you own the province they're based in, are they cheaper, or is that encompassed by "not having to march them across the world"? If you hire mercenaries based in enemy territory, do they start out not exiled and immediately begin plundering? Will they reinforce using manpower from the provinces around which they are based, the provinces they travel through generally, or for free?

 

[LeSingeAffame]

I foresee some frustration when walking into a province to attack an army where a mercenary company is based, and the day before the battle starts that nation hires said mercenary company. Maybe moreso in multiplayer, AI probably won't work that out.

Not an issue, they start as exiled

 

[mavregade]

If mercs are 4x as expensive, and Carthage only gets a 15% cost reduction, it doesn't seem enough to offset the cost for them. It's still 340% more expensive for them. Maybe 25% cost reduction would be better?

 

[timtheboost]

Shouldn’t mercernary armies have their own unique set of bonuses, rather than simply inheriting ur countries bonuses? For example, in the Gallic wars and his expedition to Britain, Caesar “borrowed” cavalry from his Gaullic Allies because they were far superior to Roman ones.

To me it wouldn’t make sense that a Germanic merc army suddenly were as disclipined as the Roman armies in the field. Is there anyway of giving the merc armies their own set of bonuses?

Indeed it would make sense. Furthermore, mercenaries with a lot of action would get better and in peace time there skill decreases

 

[Bearjuden]

Not an issue, they start as exiled

They start exiled until they reach your territory. Therefore, if you hire mercenaries in your own province, they start not exiled. If you bait an enemy army into attacking your own province that the mercenaries are based in, wait until they get locked into movement, then hire those mercenaries...

 

[Zarastro Marchio]

They start exiled until they reach your territory. Therefore, if you hire mercenaries in your own province, they start not exiled. If you bait an enemy army into attacking your own province that the mercenaries are based in, wait until they get locked into movement, then hire those mercenaries...

I hope the devs adress this issue, this could be very problematic indeed.

 

[mavregade]

Could something like the Mercenary War happen? Where mercenaries turn independently hostile to the power that couldn't pay them, maybe as the result of having war reparation forced on them?

 

[Denkt]

If mercs are 4x as expensive, and Carthage only gets a 15% cost reduction, it doesn't seem enough to offset the cost for them. It's still 340% more expensive for them. Maybe 25% cost reduction would be better?

Overdependence on mercs was one reason why Carthage lost the Punic wars.

Not sure i like the idea of mercs being bought with mil points. Perhaps a base currency cost modified by the size of the company as well as the type of units it has, e.g. more heavy infantry would make it more expensive to hire etc. Overall though, i like the change from EU4's system of merc spam.

Maybe mercs grow in size just like they do in CK2.

 

[viola]

No closeup on the Thamud/Thaqif area?

 

[Efimer]

Will we be able to join a mercenary army with one of our national armies?
Will there be available specialized mercenary armies? (like Numidian cavalry, I mean)

 

[Denkt]

Interested in the merc mechanics. Is 400% maintenance cost perhaps too much to consider using them, or is manpower really that limited?

They are probably very valuable when you need just an extra army to win the war instead of fighting a long stalement.

 

[romavatandasi]

Do you add kaaba to Arabia?

It was holly for pagans and monotheists in Arabia.

 

[monstermash]

will I be able to form a mercenary company like in ck2