With New Retinue System......Varangian Guard needs changing!

[Hootieleece]

I just started playing the Alexiad bookmark.Just to look around.....

Since We now have Retinues in Game.Why have Varangians as a Free Mercenary Unit with 3200 soldiers.

Why not just make them retinues?Since retinues represent "Standing Armies" in Game.


It makes it almost too easy to conquer stuff.......I didn't realize the were FREE until about 15 years in.

 

[Kiithis]

I believe they do cost a little bit if I am not mistaken. Later on I rarely need them though, what with 3k troops being a drop in the bucket when you can field nearly 300k with a restored Roman Empire. Perhaps there can be a Heavy/Light retinue named Varangian Retinue that you can get similar to the Cataphract Retinue you can get.

 

[unmerged(196653)]

They aren't free unless you're using a mod that made them that way. They cost half of the starting ERE's income.

 

[brxbrx]

Mercenaries are half-cost as vassals, and can be raised for free if you own them. I learned this from revoking the Mamlukes as a Fatimid (it's possible I actually banished him instead of revoking him).

 

[unmerged(218998)]

The Varangian Guard is not free. Plain and simple. I am playing the Emporer from the Alexiad start, and it cost's me 33 gold to raise them. And 3.4 per month to keep them.

 

[Sarog]

Once a retinue is destroyed, it is gone. Turning the varangians into a retinue would mean fiddling the mechanics in a way that binds a retinue to a always_exists title in the same way that mercenaries and holy orders are. I'm not sure that it could be achieved very elegantly, nor that it would be worth the bother.

My only issues with the varangians are that they are relatively inconsequential in the long, being a small company, and that you don't have more ways to use them and interact them.

So rather than see them turned into a retinue, I would like to see mechanics added to allow us to interact with mercenary companies and holy orders with more depth. Courtiers/dynasty members joining one, leasing land to them, unique events triggered that involve characters in the "court" of the company or order, that sort of thing.

 

[unmerged(218998)]

In my current SP game, the Varangian Guard is extremely needed. Especially the first 20 or 30 years when that 3,000+ soldiers(including some HC and HA) really bolsters your numbers which will really help in those Holy War battles against the Rummites and the like.