Question about playing as a Criminal Syndicate

[CorDeFerrum]

So, in my playthrough I am ignoring all military tech as well as building fleets. I am going to use my enormous (+345) energy credit income per month to purchase fleets from the Marauders, as this is in my opinion the most immersive way for a Criminal Syndicate to have a fleet.

Question:

Will I need anything other than credits to sustain them? Will I also need alloys and fleet capacity?

Will I eventually be forced to rely on my own fleets, does the AI abruptly begin targeting marauders?

 

[powerofvoid]

I believe the Khan reclaims mercenaries from their marauder group once they show up.

 

[Defiler99]

The "rented" fleets don't cost upkeep, so you don't need alloys/energy for them.

 

[Xephos Demonslayer]

The AI is broken AF RN, so having all three marauder fleets on contract will probably be enough to keep up, but they won't reinforce any looses while you have them, and when paradox finally fixes the AI, the mercs will go back to being a supplementary force that can be used to tip the tides of battle in an even sided war, for whoever can afford them. In addition, you can't actually hire any mercs until mid-game, at which point the khan is probably gonna crop up and you'll loose whoever you hired from them. In addition, once the AI can actually work again, they will actually go kill marauders if they border them and deem that they have sufficient fleet strength to do so.

On a side note, using solely mercenary fleets seems like it would be a cool way to play, so maybe you should suggest having mercenaries being purchasable and some kind of condottieri mechanic (and perhaps even a civic for it) be added as a feature in the suggestion forums.