Hi,

this topic has been broadly covered with many ideas. None is perfect yet and neither is mine but I still want to share it, provided someone did not have the same before.

Mercenaries are expensive (gold) but quick to recruit (build).

So why not make a building spawning mercenary units like every turn or every other turn (taht's not new) but that is extremely expensive to maintain (so you have the troops fast but you have to pay a lot).
Exemple : such a building requires 1 shield (1 turn to build) and creates a mercenary (say Iberian slinger) every turn. Its upkeep cost is 15 gpt. That means you will recruit your slinger by paying 15g (+ 1 shield for the first one (construction of the building = initiate the trade) for each slinger.
Now of course it is not like you pay them every turn 15 g but you can consider 15 g is the hiring amount then you make them require upkeep for usual maintenance.
When you don't need more of these mercenaries, scrap the building. But you will still have to pay for their current upkeep.

Numidian mercenaries produced every other turn in a building costing 10 gpt for maintenance would cost actually 20g to hire.

And you can make these buildings depend on resources.

If the maintenance cost is high enough (10g is very low for instance), only civs with a lot of resources will use them and mostly Just-in-Time for conflicts.

Question : would the AI srap it once it is back at peace for instance, especially to avoid running a deficit ?

I would suggest a 1 HP malus for mercenary units.

Sounds a bit like my Fief/Manor idea. In the mod I'm working on, you can't create knights, but you can give them fiefs (i.e. build the Manor). This costs you a lot, and it is costly to maintain them, but in return you get those yummy Knight units at regular intervals.

I don't think the AI scraps buildings very often.

Cool idea, I think the biggest potential problem is what the AI will do with this. Have you tested it at all, Lou? (Come to think of it, I get my butt kicked so frequently by the AI at Monarch [yeah, that's right, I suck at Civ] maybe I don't care what the AI will do with this? :satan: )

Unfortunately no, I haven't tested it. Justhad the idea while thinking of a may to include mercenaries in a scenario then thought of that.

I must say I am afraid the AI might build tons of such buildings then go bankrupt until (maybe) the building is sold off automatically...

Interesting idea! I am thinking of ways to present mercs in my peloponnesian war scen. Since there are three merc units there: the scythian archer, the peltast (thracian) and the mercenery hoplite. Since in my scen other hoplite units cost in population too (at least -1, and some -2, and a huge one -4) the merc doesnt cost you in population, but costs 50 shields to recruit. But your idea is better, i think that there should be a building + resource to recruit mercs. The scythians on the other hand cost silver.

I just created strategic resources representing the places where the mercenaries come from and place a few of them on the map around the area they're supposed to be, for example, resource I called 'Greeks', have 4 around the aegean sea area, allows construction of both hoplite and toxotis mercenaries, whoever controls the resources or gets on from trade can build these units. Did the same for units like the Sarmatian Swordsman, Numidian Horseman, Slav Horseman, Swiss Pikeman, Balearic Slinger, and a few others.

Good ideas.

I use "mercenaries" a bit differently. Basically, for me they are a high-cost alternative to units that require resources. Sadly, you can't specify upkeep on particular units, which hurts the system. So I have to compensate with a high gold cost.

Maybe I should work with the building idea. Only problem is...once you build a small wonder, you can't get rid of it. And normal improvements can't produce units, correct? So in the epic game, that really wouldn't work. You'd have mercenary slingers running around in modern times.

Normal improvements can. The problem is AI could then build tons of these buildings meaning a VERY strong army but quick bankruptcy.
That would be normal if thought of but I doubt the AI can actually make such a choice...

Maybe I should work with the building idea. Only problem is...once you build a small wonder, you can't get rid of it. And normal improvements can't produce units, correct? So in the epic game, that really wouldn't work. You'd have mercenary slingers running around in modern times.

Actually, (1) in Conquests a regular Improvement can generate units and (2) the Improvement/Wonder could always be rendered obsolete at some point.

-Oz

Really? I'm very happy to be wrong!

*begins renewed mod planning*

It is a problem to set the turn interval between new merc units appearing. It would have to be a ratio, since you pay gold for the building every turn. And yes, sadly, the AI will most of the time ruin the system... But you can set the playable nations in your game and pick which nations will be more likely to build the building that gives mercs, using civ traits. A good idea would be therefore to only give the civ trait that "urges" the AI (or rather enslaves it to do so :lol: ) to the civs that historically used mercs more.

Ah well, the AI is always bankrupt anyway!

You can never underestimate the AI enough, I don't think it would sell those buildings, until it's sold everything else it has. Including it's dear old mother.

I think it's better to have gold, silver and gems as lux:s, and let those be prereq's to more expensive units.