Update 1.2 Cicero Beta Patch: Feedback Thread!

[CrazyMe]

The lowest good (after hiring mercs) among my opponents was 961. At 20 per month for a huge stack, that’s 48 months in the bank. Presuming they had positive income before that (because how else would they get that much cash), they can likely support them far longer.

I do not normally hire mercs because I like Military Traditions. At my current point in the game, each merc unit costs 8.5 ME to hire and then decreases ME income. Presuming that every 10 merc units I hire costs me a Tradition is probably an underestimate, but I think it makes it clear why I don’t hire them routinely.

Lastly, yes, mercs will unflag on friendly territory occupied by the enemy. I watched 6 separate merc units do so one at a time.

What was meant as a short victorious war turned into a bit of a meat grinder, but I eventually won in part because the AI decided to try to replenish a huge stack of troops in the mountains while eating massive attrition.

How AI hires mercs may depend only on their monthly balance (you can actually see it in diplomacy view), which means accumulated money may be irrelevant. Though I do not know this, possibly both factors are taken into account. To me it looked like AI did not hire big stacks unless it was a really big nation.

I see you are role playing and avoid mercs due to ME. I do not care much about ME because mercs are very cheap, do the job and AI is not getting them because they fight on my side.

 

[Crunbum]

Speaking of mercs, they really should make them costly again... one beta patch they dropped a 3x decrease in cost for them like it was no big deal, a footnote in the patchnotes, but in fact it made manpower completely irrevelant for small nations, when mercs only cost 1.25x what normal troops do, and you do not even have to pay upfront to create them, just monthly. Not to mention laws and traditions that reduce their cost even further. Meaning its actually cheaper to employ mercs in wars than normal troops, and they have godly generals to boot.

Tbh, I have them at 5x the current price in my modded game (normal troops are 2x roughly), and it feels just right. They should be used in a pinch when you have no alternative, not spammed every war. A mercenary company should never cost less than building a fortress over a year's maintenance. Currently it can cost less than a city building, which is 40g, over that period.

In official beta the main cost of mercenaries is not even gold, its the mil experience opportunity cost, which is simply absurd. Its a "free win out of every war" card, and feels like cheating, because it really is just that.

 

[Jamey]

I see you are role playing and avoid mercs due to ME. I do not care much about ME because mercs are very cheap, do the job and AI is not getting them because they fight on my side.

I'd say that I'm more power-gaming than role-playing, because I'm avoiding using mercs for an in-game advantage.

In official beta the main cost of mercenaries is not even gold, its the mil experience opportunity cost, which is simply absurd.

This is my problem with the current merc design.

I just took a look at my game, and mercs actually cost me substantially less per month than regular armies, mostly due to the wages for the general. I mostly avoid using them due to the ME cost because I'd rather save up for another tradition.

 

[nikkythegreat]

Yes! Please make mercs costly again. Maybe turn that x1.25 to something like x2

 

[TheMadEmperor]

Yes! Please make mercs costly again. Maybe turn that x1.25 to something like x2

Please!! Also remove the flat cost of military tradition, make the mercenary reliance modifier more painful.

 

[Reavici]

Not sure where to post this... So I will write it here.
More or less, Colchis is drawn accurately, I really appreciate all the effort made by devs. B-but...
There is huge wasteland in mountainous part of Colchis, so I made some suggestions about it. By now, Argveti region, that is Colchian-Iberian marchland is represented as Svaneti, which is so wrong. Districts that are coloured in white is place where Svans dwelt. I really hope devs can do something about it.

I also changed name of Klukhori pass into more appropiate one, it should be named either as Chakhari (fortress) or Misimiani (tribes that dwelt there). Lastly I think Kutaisi or Kotais should be part of Colchis proper.

Spoiler: Map changes

 

[Craksus]

1. wrong demotion target
citizen optimal(desired) ratio = 0% freeman = 0% tribesman = 50% slave = 50% at tribe nation settlement.

so citizen directly demotion to tirbesman or slave is make sense.
citizen -> freeman(which have 0% optimal ratio) -> tribesman or slave is duplicated demotion and wrong. fix this plz.

2. and i think settlment building "Tribal settlement" and "Slave estate" must have
ideal fraction effect.
then tribal nation can have a choice which focus to slave or tribesman.
100% slave for surplus or 100% tribesman for other bonus.
i think current 1:1 ratio is breaking tribal play.

 

[Halv5]

The Technology Centuria still shows as + 5% to Quadrireme discipline instead of (I believe this is what it should provide ) +5% Tetrere discipline