Mercenaries + Mines of Gal-Dur

[arcticnightwolf]

Yeah they look like spanish conquistadors.
Just thinking out loud...

30% Regular Melee Unit of your tech level (Warrior, Axe/Sword, Champion).
20% Regular Archer Unit of your tech level (Archer / Longbow)
10% Regular Recon Unit of your tech level (Scout, Hunter, Assassin, Ranger).
20% Regular Mounted Unit of your tech level (Horseman / Chariot / Horse Archer).
5% Regular Siege Unit of your tech level
5% Adept with 1 random mana promo
5% Random Disciple (if you have Religion Tech)
2% Mage ...

That idea looks very interesting ...

 

[rocklikeafool]

That idea looks very interesting ...

I agree. Plz explain exactly how this would work, Westmastaflash, ya know, all the details.

 

[westamastaflash]

I for one like mercs as they are.

To get the mines/merc combo requires sever dedication and then, your army in a can relies heavily on your pockets.

Yes, you can set your research to 0% to keep pumping them out, however, against (metaphoricly) the ashen veil or any larger civ focusing on tech, youll fall behind in a handful of turns and soon your army will be inferior.

It also really depends on the gamespeed. On Quick or Normal you could probably be outteched. But on epic and marathon, mercs get progressively stronger. Though I suppose the game isn't supposed to be balanced for anything but normal speed...

 

[westamastaflash]

I agree. Plz explain exactly how this would work, Westmastaflash, ya know, all the details.

Basically the idea is to replace the "hire mercenary" spell with a more complex piece of python, which, based on your technology level and a random number, gives you a random mercenary based on that % chart.

Perhaps I'll try to throw together a little modmod that would do this. It could all probably be done in the python.

 

[rocklikeafool]

Basically the idea is to replace the "hire mercenary" spell with a more complex piece of python, which, based on your technology level and a random number, gives you a random mercenary based on that % chart.

Ok, that sounds cool. I kinda like it.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

That could be good, but I'd rather it trigger an event letting you choose different units.

 

[avalonnn]

If you _really_ find mercs overpowered, give them a mechanic like the ravenous werewolves that can make them turn on you, or raise their upkeep cost (double?).

Or script a BTS event that allows someone to buy out mercs from another civ. . . .after all, they're _mercenaries_ and available to anyone who can pay.

 

[rocklikeafool]

If you _really_ find mercs overpowered, give them a mechanic like the ravenous werewolves that can make them turn on you, or raise their upkeep cost (double?).

That's an interestin concept.

 

[kenneth]

Another interesting idea would be the bribe mercenary concept. Allows the player nearby to convert enemy mercs to their cause by paying 1.5x the original cost of the merc. After all, mercs hold no loyalties

 

[rocklikeafool]

Another interesting idea would be the bribe mercenary concept. Allows the player nearby to convert enemy mercs to their cause by paying 1.5x the original cost of the merc. After all, mercs hold no loyalties

And how would you implement such a concept. It sounds like a large amount of codin to me.

 

[westamastaflash]

And how would you implement such a concept. It sounds like a large amount of codin to me.

It could be done in python, implemented as a spell. Check the surrounding tiles for enemy or neutral mercenaries, and add a "bribe mercenary" button. It would cost 180 gold, and would get you the lowest promoted merc in a 1-tile radius...?

 

[Blackmantle]

There has been something like that already in (on defeat?) and it has been axed.
To clunky i belive and to much prone to bugs for to few gain funwise. (could be for other reasons i misremember. So...)

If you wan't to implement that via a modmod you might check older versions or just bug Kael for the code needed. (but please if you do the later, wait with that until 0.33 is released? Whould you? )

 

[Chip56]

There has been something like that already in (on defeat?) and it has been axed.
To clunky i belive and to much prone to bugs for to few gain funwise. (could be for other reasons i misremember. So...)

a 50% chance that a defeated merc joined the winner.

 

[Magnifficus]

EDIT: (Sorry kenneth, I've just oversight your post.)
(Basically I've got the same Idea as you got.)

I don't think at all, that mercenaries are overpowered.
Especially, if we're just speaking about hiring one mercenary per turn.
Gaining a huge mercenary army on this way, feels somehow right to me.

But I even don’t think that hiring mercenaries should be a rewarding emergency strategy, at all.
Hiring many mercenary in one turn should be only feasible to civ's which got a very strong economy.

Though, in the current situation it's also feasible to civ's that got a bit over average economy.

Therfore it seems a good idea to ad some kind of a mercenary-market simulation.
The basic Idea:
To meet an increased mercenary demand on a given mercenary-supply-capability (the capability of providing mercenaries within your nation) a higher mercenary-price must be established on the mercenary-market.
This means, hiring the second mercenary should cost more than hiring the first, hiring the third more than the second and so on.

For example: Each mercenary’s price could increase by 1/2 based on the last mercenary’s price. The first Mercenary’s price remains on 120 Gold.
Therefore it would look this way:
1’st mercenary hired this turn: 120 Gold
2’nd mercenary hired this turn: 120 *1_1/2= 180 Gold
3’rd mercenary h.t.t.: 180 *1_1/2= 270 Gold
4’rd mercenary h.t.t.: 270*1_1/2= 405 Gold
and so on.

By this small modification it would take 975 Gold instead of 480 Gold to hire 4 mercenaries in one turn.
Of cours each other rate of increase would be as well as this one. The real improvement is the increase, it self.
Therefore an emergency hiring of mercenary would only be feasible to the strongest economies on Erebus.

So, what do you think, is it a good idea, would it be easy to mod.
Thanks for your responses.

 

[Magnifficus]

Ohh, and I like the Idea of defeated mercenaries joining the enemy on a certain probability.

 

[Medicine_Man_55]

Mercenaries should have a limited life span, like summoned units, except longer than 1-3 turns. After all, you're just hiring the mercenaries for a campaign, not for life service.

There should also be a limit of how many mercs you can hire per city per turn.

 

[westamastaflash]

I'm working on a ModMod to change how mercenaries work. See my post earlier in the thread about random mercenaries.

I'm also looking into making a screen where when you click "hire mercenary" the screen comes up and you select a mercenary from the "pool" available in the current city. Naturally, larger cites will have more mercs available to them, and a greater chance of pulling a random "elite" named unit merc with promos etc.

I was going to give a "mercenary" promotion to each mercenary unit and have them cost +1 gold / turn.

I thought about a "rehire" mechanic where after, say, 20 turns, the mercenaries demand additional payment, but that can be abstracted out to +1 gold / turn.

 

[Nor'easter]

I'm working on a ModMod to change how mercenaries work. See my post earlier in the thread about random mercenaries.

I'm also looking into making a screen where when you click "hire mercenary" the screen comes up and you select a mercenary from the "pool" available in the current city. Naturally, larger cites will have more mercs available to them, and a greater chance of pulling a random "elite" named unit merc with promos etc.

I was going to give a "mercenary" promotion to each mercenary unit and have them cost +1 gold / turn.

I thought about a "rehire" mechanic where after, say, 20 turns, the mercenaries demand additional payment, but that can be abstracted out to +1 gold / turn.

There are some mod components for vanilla civ that involve mercenaries. You might want to see if they have some of what you're looking for, if you haven't already checked them out.

 

[arcticnightwolf]

.. allows someone to buy out mercs from another civ ..

In Civilization 1 there was unit named "Diplomate" (or something like that) with ability to convert any unit for money. Maybe if ...
(

 

[rocklikeafool]

In Civilization 1 there was unit named "Diplomate" (or something like that) with ability to convert any unit for money. Maybe if ...
(

The same unit was in CivII and its expansions, notably Test of Time. I loved the Diplomat in the Fantasy game on Test of Time. You could snag the powerful Ice Giants and the ever useful Dwarves with the Diplomat.