What do I do with this large Viking man in my court?

[Liquid Ghost]

Hi, I'm a new player, I hope you can entertain my newbie questions.

I recently had a Dane soldier come to my court and offer his services. He has a very impressive 22 Martial attribute. I currently don't have an opening for a Commander, much less Marshal, but I still want to make use of him. I know I could easily make way for him in any of those positions, but I was exploring other options when I came to the Assemble a Mercenary Company action. My question is, do mercenary companies pay themselves? Just glancing at the Mercenaries tab, I would think that the market is pretty full. There's one other thing to consider: he has the Trickster trait, which I understand can come back to bite you on the butt and could be an incentive to move him away from my own troops. Right?

So what do I do with him? Will I get back my gold investment if I form a merc company under him?

 

[Kapitalisti]

Kick out one of your lesser commanders? And/or marry him matrilineally to your daughter to get some of that viking blood into your family. And I don't think command traits like trickster affect actual behavior.

 

[Sonmi]

Fire one of your commanders and replace him by this burly Dane.

Mercenary companies are more trouble than they are worth in my opinion, they require too much of your levy and of money to be truly worth it, the only circumstance in which I'd say it's worth forming one is if your heir has a martial education, but is rather low on attributes, send him on his little adventure and he might come back with extra traits/prestige/piety, and might even level up in education once he inherits.

 

[Liquid Ghost]

Alright, thanks. I'll give him a job then. Sadly, I have no available daughters.

 

[Xinkc]

Yeah, unless all your commanders have a higher martial than this Dane, you really should have him be one.

Since you're new, also make sure you have commanders with a martial score no less than 8. The higher the score, the better. Period. It doesn't matter if that high martial score character doesn't have as many modifiers, his martial score makes all positive effects work better and the negative ones hurt less. That's not even considering that higher martial commanders use better tactics.

If you're hurting for commanders and are a somewhat large or wealthy realm, consider searching for one with the character finder. Search for men that aren't married, rulers, are your religion, and adults. Sort by martial and look for somebody not an heir, celibate, and a councillor. Invite any with the green thumb up with high martial to your court. If somebody looks like they have little ties (as per what I said to ignore in the previous sentence) then try sending a gift to them and asking. This seriously helped so far in my current campaign when time, the plague, and my own murderous rampage to keep the throne cost me most high martial people in my realm.

 

[Gurkhal]

What I do is usually to find him, I will assume its Ogier we're talking about, a bit of land and settle him to let him spread those genes around. Same with Roland.

And I still think its a pity there are not more stuff with Charlemagne and that not more paladins are, to my knowledge, put into the game. Would be great to see Olivier, Gangelon and the gang have a go at it. Hm, now there's a suggestion.

 

[StarSword]

Last time I got that event, the guy had a claim. I was able to land him and press it to conquer Connacht.

 

[RagingJaws]

Bed him.

On a serious note, don't assemble merc companies. They are useless outside of the first few years as they cut into your ever growing amount of levy at the same flat rate. They also don't make money for you unless they are hired and that can be a dice roll that doesn't land your way for quite a while. Plus, hiring them yourself doesn't offer any discount. For some reason never fully explained by PD.

 

[Narvait]

High martial is good, but some traits are important.
In North Europe as Kingdom I dont go into significant war without Winter Warrior. That is like insta-win from Sep to Apr.
Trickster I would avoid. Of course 20+ trickster is better than 10-ish blank guy. But patient and brave 16 guy would become my choise over 20+ blank trickster.

 

[FrosT37]

I hate trickster commanders, but he could make a very good marshal.

 

[Harassercat]

What's the problem with trickster commanders? Do they pick bad tactics? I just ask because I had no idea there was any downside to that.

 

[Narvait]

What's the problem with trickster commanders? Do they pick bad tactics? I just ask because I had no idea there was any downside to that.

http://www.ckiiwiki.com/Traits#Leadership
Casualties - random +30%/-30%
Allows Clever Ambush - which is good tactics in melee if you get to melee with troops of Light Cavalry, Light Infantry, Archers in forest or hills.

I am not a fan of random +/- 30% casualties part of it, which ALWAYS switch on. Tactics may switch on when in forests/hilss or may not switch on.

 

[Dr Gonzo]

Bed him.

On a serious note, don't assemble merc companies. They are useless outside of the first few years as they cut into your ever growing amount of levy at the same flat rate. They also don't make money for you unless they are hired and that can be a dice roll that doesn't land your way for quite a while. Plus, hiring them yourself doesn't offer any discount. For some reason never fully explained by PD.

Can be useful in regions where the only available merc companies are poor quality. When you form your own they tend to have a good proportion of HI and when your only other option is HA or LI mercs it can seem a good idea. I completely agree that long run they are not worthwhile but during the early game they can be a nice boost to your nascent retinues.

 

[MichaelStakely]

On a serious note, don't assemble merc companies. They are useless outside of the first few years as they cut into your ever growing amount of levy at the same flat rate. They also don't make money for you unless they are hired and that can be a dice roll that doesn't land your way for quite a while. Plus, hiring them yourself doesn't offer any discount. For some reason never fully explained by PD.

They can also get pissy and leave you as well; I had a Dublin Band Commander get angry at my Doge and just take off with the company.

 

[FrosT37]

What's the problem with trickster commanders? Do they pick bad tactics? I just ask because I had no idea there was any downside to that.

They can be good or bad. It's random. I don't like random.