Mercenaries improvements

[Nirmara]

The key missing aspect of mercenaries in Eu4 is the risks that came for employing them. Mercenaries companies were, in general, treacherous and disloyal, deserting on the eve of the battle or switching side.

Each mercenary regiment should have a loyalty percentage, 100% meaning they are totally loyal to you and 0% making them desert immediately.

Loyalty should increase overtime and when the mercenary regiment is part of an army plundering a province.

Loyalty would decrease with casualties either due to battle or attrition.

An option to "increase payment" should be available increasing the amount of loyalty gained for all mercenaries in the same army, but increasing their maintenance cost.

An other option to increase loyalty faster would be to enable the mercenary of an army to plunder your own provinces causing unrest in the said province and of course the regular drawback of plunder.

If a mercenary regiment reach 0% in battle, the regiment will defect to the other side or desert. In order to avoid tedious micromanagement, a regiment defecting would in priority "consolidate" with an enemy mercenary regiment. The remaining mercenaries would be added to the opposing force as new mercenaries regiments.

With the new risks for using mercenaries, their cost could be tone down.

P.S. I want to apologize if any of the suggestion I made have already been proposed.

 

[bzflater]

Overfeed enemy with mercenaries, watch their economy collapse to maintenance, laugh.

 

[Lemont Elwood]

I would like to see an "Auction" for Mercenaries. Basically, you can place a Bid on an enemy's Mercenary unit, and the other side has an opportunity to Outbid, with Bids being measured as percentage increases to Maintenance for that particular unit.

 

[Nirmara]

Overfeed enemy with mercenaries, watch their economy collapse to maintenance, laugh.

If the AI can't learn to disband regiments it doesn't need, which I doubt, we could just go for a ransom system were extra mercenaries just get automatically disbanded in return for a small sum of ducats.

I would like to see an "Auction" for Mercenaries. Basically, you can place a Bid on an enemy's Mercenary unit, and the other side has an opportunity to Outbid, with Bids being measured as percentage increases to Maintenance for that particular unit.

There was really no lack of mercenaries during Eu4 period. It would also introduce some tedious micromanagement without bringing much to warfare. The best way to counter someone using this tactic would be to disband the mercenary regiment affected.

 

[t6.28]

You could maybe have the mercenaries turn to rebels instead. I think that would be more realistic and avoid some ways to exploit the system.

The system should probably also be added to normal armies. I see no reason why they shouldn't be able to desert.
Maybe they could start with a higher loyalty?

 

[Mattius]

I wish you could mass recruit them in bands like in CKII.