My mercenary band is disappointing me. Apparently, I am doing something wrong.

[Secret Master]

I'm having a good time with my Germanic Pagan Venice. And since city levies are garbage, I thought it would be a good idea to form a mercenary band. But I've been a bit disappointed with how it has turned out. Maybe I'm not planning my mercenary company properly.

First of all, is there an optimal size? Smaller ones make no money and larger ones never seem to get hired. Maybe if I don't let it get too big, it will get hired more often.

I notice that the mercenary band can be voluntarily upgraded for 50 gold. You can add troops or upgrade existing types. This should let you tailor the composition of the band to suit your needs. But the number of troops added or upgraded is so small, that it seems like a waste. Is there a better option?

Also, can I land my own mercenary band and make them a vassal? If so, does anyone think it is worth tailoring the band's troop types to the kind your culture uses well so that the landed mercenary band can act as a secondary set of retinues? Or is this not possible?

I should point out that, like all income in a merchant republic, a mercenary band's income is spread out to adult males of your dynasty at your court. So my master plan was kind of doomed from the start. But it also seems like kind of a waste. If you own a bunch of holdings, they all take the levy penalty (except trade posts and patrician mansion), without the band getting larger. It seems to be a hefty investment.

 

[Walkaboutout]

So, before giving my opinion, let me first say that I played around with the mechanic for all of 10 minutes.

But, with that said, I have to admit to the same disappointment as yourself. With a fat 30% nerf on your holdings for soldiers, and only 15% of their revenue stream, mercenary companies made by you seemed to be very lackluster to me.

Primarily for the reasons you've observed. In my current game, mercenary companies larger than roughly 1000 men seem to be hired very rarely, if at all. So, if the company is small enough to be hired, the revenue you get (and even that the head of the company gets), is not that stellar. But, if the company is quite large, then no one hires them.

I think it comes down to the AI not being the best money manager sometimes, and so your big company (which can be painful to field with that 30% nerf on your holdings), just sits around doing nothing.

It just felt very lackluster to me and so I set it aside. I'd rather work to land and vassalize a standard mercenary company or holy order than mess with the personally created ones. Which is too bad, I was hoping making one would be funner for me.

 

[Talq]

Mercenary companies are really an option to turn levies to gold, so are more valuable if you are feeling gold constrained, as a germanic merchant republic you probably are not feeling particularly gold constrained.

 

[Secret Master]

Mercenary companies are really an option to turn levies to gold, so are more valuable if you are feeling gold constrained, as a germanic merchant republic you probably are not feeling particularly gold constrained.

Well, that was my original thought: turn crappy city levies into gold. As Germanic, I get +30% to levies anyway, so I figured it would be a wash.

But I feel like I'm doing something obviously wrong. If I were feudal, the loss of levies would be a significant hit to my military power. On the other hand, the upgrade costs are so high for so little, it feels weird to try and make a decent mercenary band.

Does anyone know if landing them makes them a vassal in the vein of the Varangian Guard.

 

[name_here]

I've messed around with it a bit; the levy nerf is mitigated by hiring them yourself when you need troops since you get an upkeep discount. Upgrade prices are steep, but assuming the company doesn't go rogue (mine did) they're persistent indefinitely. I did it as Byzantium and it seemed to be a good deal in troop terms.

 

[ghaladh]

Custom mercenary companies behave like the vanilla ones. You can't give them land nor vassallize them normally. You can google a few guides that explain you how to vassallize mercenaries, though. I create mercenary companies only when I have an overflow of gold, so that I can relate on a bigger and stronger band that I already know I will be the only one hiring.