M:TW2 Mercs?

[Quigs]

So, been playing Total War 2 for a bit now. Tried a few different things.

Ive got to say at the start that the Nobility ratings really piss me off. Im playing as england, and right off the bat, ally with france. I do nothing but attack rebel factions, seizing some lands, etc, when france attacks me out of nowhere. I crush down the country to the last man, and my nobility rating (Or whatever its called, basically the stat that determines how trustworthy you are in political dealings) falls to the lowest possible level? WTF?

Anyway, after that I kept getting pounded from all sides, and since at any given time, at least one country was at war with me, I couldnt secure any allies, nor fight battles on 2-5 fronts. I got pissed and started again as an arab, which is where my mercs question comes in.

Is there any downside to mercs? As an arab, my infantry is shit poor, but im sitting in piles of cash. What ive ended up doing is taking a quater full army, then right before a fight buying as many mercs as can be found, using the mercs like fodder to take a city, then dismissing them all. They seem to go back into the general pool for merc hiring in the area, and ive never had a negative quality come about from dismissing so many troops at once. Since ive got so few troops, my upkeep costs are nil, and the cash keeps piling in.

 

[JarlFrank]

There's no negative side to that, except that your army will be small if you get suddenly attacked and the enemy has taken all your mercs.
Oh, and you won't get units with high experience that way. And have to pay a huge sum to buy mercs before each attack.

 

[Quigs]

I wont get experience, true, but my units generally dont anyway. I might have one or two with a single bronze chevy, but its such a pain in the ass keeping them full strength.

I dont think its all that expensive to buy mercs as ya need them, rather then marching a large army around, but your right about someone else buying up my mercs. Just hasnt happened yet, but it could.

 

[Fez]

The mercs in M:TW2 are cheaper and easier to use than the mercs in M:TW. Instead of them being massively expensive and only really usable in the short term, you can now reinforce them and they act like any other unit. They are also much more reasonably priced. You can even often upgrade their weapons. I preferred the old system of them being a temporary force for a hasty defence or a single campaign. There is less variety in the mercs for each area too now.

 

[Quigs]

The mercs in M:TW2 are cheaper and easier to use than the mercs in M:TW. Instead of them being massively expensive and only really usable in the short term, you can now reinforce them and they act like any other unit. They are also much more reasonably priced. You can even often upgrade their weapons. I preferred the old system of them being a temporary force for a hasty defence or a single campaign. There is less variety in the mercs for each area too now.

Yeah. The downside is, with the new "ZOMG REALASM" system, as opposed to the (imho) superior board game setup, its much much more likely that youll be paying those mercs for multiple turns per attack, rather then taking over a new town/castle every turn, so maybe it evens out.

 

[flabbyjack]

I've been playing a lot of Medieval: Total War II lately.

Yeah there's not that much of a downside to mercenaries other than the $$ issue. Also about unit experience -- try to keep all your bodyguard units in the same army, that way they accrue experience points and turn into total badasses. Plus apparently they retrain themselves(Refill # of soldiers) in the field.

 

[Fez]

Yeah. The downside is, with the new "ZOMG REALASM" system, as opposed to the (imho) superior board game setup, its much much more likely that youll be paying those mercs for multiple turns per attack, rather then taking over a new town/castle every turn, so maybe it evens out.

The mercs can sometimes be quite cheap though. Although they can be overpriced too, at times they are so cheap it is more than worth making them regulars. The crusades are good recruiting spots now because of this kind of thing.

Another thing that annoys me with M:TW2 is the amount of bugs and unfinished or unpolished parts there are in it. Forums list endless problems but there isn't much in the way of feedback or reassurances. Even the recent 600B patch doesn't sort a lot of the problems and even seems to have introduced new ones. Urgh. Of course CA are more interested in making their expansion than finishing the beta that is the vanilla game.