Mercenaries

The Ba state of ancient China was big on hiring out their soldiers as mercenaries. That is, until they stabbed you in the back and their mercenaries conquered your turf for Ba.

 

Are Tyrell Corporation (Blade Runner) and Omni Consumer Products (Robocop) already in? Could be restricted to X-COM and GDR units respectively.

 

I forget to update ExCe, thanks for the information

 

It is the time now.

Here is 3 mercenary contracts for the doppelsoldner unit:

the Black Bands Doppelsoldner:

Spoiler :

This contract represent the typical Doppelsoldners in the Landsknechten army of late 15 - early 16 century.

Like ordinary landsknechts, they can steals gold equal to 100% of the damage inflicted on a city and pillage without movement cost.

3 stars contract.

Availble in Medieval and Renaissence era.

the Brotherhood of St.Mark:

Spoiler :

The Brotherhood of St.Mark is the most important organization of German fencers in the 16th century. This contract represent the fencers and swordmasters of renaissence German martial arts in 16th century.

4 stars contract.

Get the bouns of +15% Attack vs melee unit.

Availble in Medieval and Renaissence era.

the Vortragschwerter:

Spoiler :

Vortragschwerters or processional swords are a kind of two handed swords made exclusively for ceremony, which are prevalent in northern Germany(especially in the Brunswick, Westphalia, Lippe, etc.) in late 16th to 17th century. This contract is just some kind of 'joking' contract like the Postdam Giant.

2 stars contract.

Get the bouns of 10% stronger while fighting in the capital.

Availble in Renaissence era.

If you want to use the doppelsoldner contracts above, please add the files(1 xml and 1 sql) in the attachment into your own JFD's HRE mod.

 

What about OCP (from Robocop), Stark Industries and/or OsCorp (Marvel Comics), LexCorp (DC Comics) or Morgan Industries (SMAC)?

 

Preview of a special mercenary which I'm working on.

Spoiler :

 

Good job Zwei! Looking forward to it, glad this unit (and icon) is getting some love. I hope it isn't dependent on the HRE mod though, as I'm holding off with using it until JFD has the time to update it.

 

Wait... Is ExCE currently adding new contracts? I'm seeing more units at the tech tree, but they have the wrong icons...
(Dogon Sofa has the Jäger's icon, for example)

 

Really fun mod JFD. Especially great with Civ's that have a gold focus

 

Hakkapeliittas could be a good one. Tough and light medieval-renaissance horsemen from Finland. Maybe 4 stars, as they were quite popular in Sweden. (got even as far as as a UU ) Age of Empires III had them as mercenaries, and in that game were good bits of Finnish dialogue for them, if you'd want to reuse them.

For Modern era, were the Cosa Nostra and Camorra already in? They could have a pillage gold bonus, and maybe a Mafia promotion, that steals happiness and gold for you from the civilization they are on.

Lol'd at the Weyland co. - the fictional ones are amazing. Maybe Abstergo Inc. also, if Ubisoft (and Jan) don't come at your door!

 

Gallowglass would also be a good (possibly Northern only) mercenary contract - given that was the primary purpose they served throughout history, and were pretty damn popular in Ireland, which is also where they get their name from.

That of course is only relevant if the Gallowglass are not already in the mod

Harland and Wolff could be another good Naval contractor, they produced a large amount of the British navy up to and throughout the First World War, notably they also constructed the Titanic and her two sister ships the Olympic and the Brittanic - the company are still around however.

Edit; The Wild Geese should certainly be a contract either as a reference to the film or to the Mercenaries who served in Europe largely between the late sixteenth century and the mid eighteenth.

 

William gauge would be nice as an information era mercenary....
(From Supreme Commander 2? Anyone?)

 

I love that UU art! Where did you get that?

Modern contractors, hmm... a lot of great ideas already.

 

@Zwei
Being German and interested in medieval stuff, I have _never_ heard the term "Vortragsschwert".
Even google doesn't know it - where does ist come from?

 

Could some entries for Mercenaries change as the era go on? We have Machine Gunners labeled as skilled assassins. Apparently you don't need to be discreet

Also, Milan does not seem to get any decisions. Could be because of all the mods I have installed, but other JFD civs work just fine...

Contractors:

(I should add that, as per request, these are all fictional. The last one is just a renamed artillery piece )

Fortit Industries/Innovations- (2 x Landship) A conglomerate of military engineers and operators that produce machines of steel and fire capable of breaking through any line.
*Landship gains bonuses against fortified units/Forts & Citadels/when an enemy has another friendly military unit adjacent to it.
(If only AI built forts more often and used citadels more then just land grabs )

Cebeille Stingers - (3 x Bomber) An entrepreneurial group consisting of retrofitted Bombers to better match the quick sting of a Fighter.
*Bomber is weaker against cities, better at harassing units, harder to shoot down. Be neat if they had some Fighter promotions.

Gilliam Murray Machinery - (1 x Landship/Tank) Formally an industrial giant, Gilliam Murray has expanded his developments to include Heavy Weight Tanks/Landships that are essentially rolling artillery.
*Tank/Landship is slow (2/3 MP), but gains +1 range (Possible?) and extra HP. This could also be a replacement for Artillery that can do a melee atack

Imperial Interests Inc. (3 x GWI) Mercenaries driven by the belief the world should hang beneath a single banner, these veterans and youths fight with the passion and fury of idealists.
*Decent cheap units that fight better against a foe with less cities than their Contractor

Verteid Associated (2 x Subs) Seeing how global warfare could disrupt their bottom line, a intrepid group of merchants pooled their money to form a reliable defense for their investments.
*Greater area of sight. Extra damage and movement for every two cargo ships/trade routes. Maybe bonuses are only in effect near contractors borders or their cargo ships.

Sky Compress Coalition (2/1 x Anti-Air) Refined AA guns allow these silver-eyes to move from hot zone to hot zone.
*Extra damage when stationed in cities, extra movement when not

Trench Panthers (2 x MG, Replace Assassin?)
Elite soldiers equipped with light weight MG's, these troops are perfect for harassing a stronger enemy.
*A little less damage, May move after attacking, have +1 MP, not affected by rough terrain.

Beta-Berat Experimental (1 x Artillery)
Sometimes, bigger is better.
*May only move on railway lines, has +1 range and massive damage

 

From the Into the Renaissance Deluxe, made by JanBoruta. And, it is not an UU but a special mercenary unit, just like the landsknecht or Hessian.

I'm not sure wheather it is suitable too, may be changed in the future. I will give you some reference about Vortragsschwert when I back home later.

I agree! Give me more idea about the contract name and description and I can make it!

The doppelsoldner is depend on HRE mod becuase it is the UU of HRE. I don't want to add any UU of the new civ mods into the Merc. mod as a independent unit, as this may cause confilt between the new civ mods and the Merc. mod.
However, the Black Rider is not depend on HRE mod nor any other mod, it is not a UU but a special mercenary unit, just like the Hessian.

And as all you know the Black Rider is come from the Cuirassier of ItRD, I don't want it confilt with the Cuirassier in the Enlightenment Era in the future, so I steal the concept of 'Black Rider' from AoE3. Not sure wheather it is the best name or not. Any one have better idea about the name(and history informantion) of this unit?

 

I think that if it isn't already in the mod, something to do with the Varangian Guard would be nice for this mod. Perhaps you could get a few Berserkers & Norway's-Unique-Unit-that-I-always-forget-the-name-of-and-I'm-too-lazy-to-look-it-up-currently, and if the contracts are civ-specific, make them limited to any Byzantine civs (only Alexios Komnenos & Theodora so far).

 

Varangians are a good idea, hope JFD would accomodate that. Since I made the icon and a reskin for them for ItRD, they could get used here - as they are pretty much wasted over there.

They could be called "Reiters" or "Schwarze Reiters", which translates to Black Riders quite literally. Nothing super about them except that they used a fine maneouvre called the Caracole. Don't remember what it meant exactly, but it could be a starting point. There is an article on wikipedia at least, for starters.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll look over them carefully when I get to updating Mercs. I did tred on the side of caution when it came to contractors that are obviously already unique units (e.g. Jannissaries, Hakkapelitta, etc.), though I did end up adding the Mamlukes anyway (as I wanted a high-quality slave contractor, as specifically-slave ones interact especially with Sovereignty).

It's why I also didn't go with the Varangian Guard, because I know (classified?) intends to use them in his Byzantine civ. But I suppose I can figure something out. So I take it having Jannissaries as a Contractor and the unique unit of the Ottomans doesn't bother anyone? If not, I may just add their kind in. I can incorporate your additions, too, zwei833, if that's fine with you, which would at the very least reduce the chances of conflict with HRE. Although this is exactly the kind of thing Pouakai wanted - are you guys conspiring?

I didn't realize this. I'll have to have a look. This would at least allow your Finland to have unique dialogue and... omg... I wonder if the Pistolero has unique dialogue...