Wish List/Mercenary

Mercenary Class

There have been alot of cool games where one is capable of playing as a mercenary. It would be very cool to see such a thing brought to Battlemaster, besides having an entire realm play as a "mercenary".

I have below the ideas I have thought of to make this happen, obviously I am up for suggestions, so feel free to add them below the proposal.

Proposal

Mercenaries are soldiers like any other, but do not entirely allign themselves with a particular nation. As such, the Mercenary class should be able to freely join another realm without the threat of a ban and/or prestige/honor loss. This would make it possible for a soldier under the mercenary class to join whatever realm he/she sees fit and then join another if they offer him/her a sweeter deal.

I think Mercenaries should not be allowed to become duke of a city, king, judge, etc, but should act mostly like a hero (with or without the threat of death in battle, not sure about this) in that they can tell tales and the sort. The trade-off for not being allowed to become king/duke/judge (like an infiltrator), is that they receive a considerable CS bonus for their unit, have the freedom to join any realm they wish without threat of ban, and they should be allowed to set their men at a new setting (basically a mercenary setting that costs much less for a mercenary for obvious reasons).

I have thought that they should be allowed to recruit for free, but that doesn't seem to fit. I have thought that they should not gain honor/prestige but have both honor and prestige mean nothing to them (IE, have no importance) but that also seems too complex.

All in all, I think this could be a very cool class. It'd add more flare to the game, as well as allow for smaller realms under threat of war with a massive realm to offer high taxes to mercenaries (if their troopleader level is low it could help out a bit for a price). It'd add more balance and realism to the game, not every nation in history relied entirely on their military to win battles and support their diplomatic interests.

Feel free to add suggestions below, I know I left out something in the original construction of this class in my head.

Suggestions

Not sure about this, but I think HIGH Honour requirements would be a must. It really doesnt seem like a Class that you want to see around on a massive scale.

And I'm still not sure how it'd all work out in the grand plan of things. But I'm thinking instead of what you say, Mercenaries should actually be a Troopleader tied down to a single realm. But as a Mercenary, they should be able to go fight for Friends and Allies. Though how/where they get their money from in that scenario I don't know... - Revan February 26, 2006 18:23 (CET)

about the prestige/honor, maybe make it the same as Cavalier? That'd make an average of... ohh... at MOST 80-100 mercenaries running around at any given time per continent. I think that would be an awesome class, though. I know at least one of my characters would be a mercenary. :DVellos 26 February 2006 19:37 (CET)

How about Mercenaries use the settings to determine who the fight for, like they become rouges, and if there on aggressive the help the aggressor, defensive they help the defeder, nutrel they dont fight, and murderous they fight everyone, and evasive they try to well evade, if they cant evade then they fight at random. And if mercenaries are captured by enemy forces they can be executed same as a rouge. In fact i think it should be a class that when you switch to it you become rouge, but with out the ban. They should be able to recruit in any capital, as well as use the bank ect. ect. And they should only be able to be captured in battle, not by police work if they have no troops. And they shouldnt be able to do paid work. They just shouldnt. No mercenary would do paid work. This would be an awsome class, i too would definitly have at least 1 mercenary in my family...--Twinblade 27 February 2006 21:10 (CET)

If a mercenary got executed, perhaps some fame points could be integrated into this class?

Hey! Maybe, to become a mercenary, your family has to have a certain amount of fame... that'd be very, very weird... and probably not possible... but also very, very cool...Vellos 28 February 2006 04:47 (CET)

Uh.. Why wouldn't a mercenary do paid work? If a hero is low enough for it, a mercenary should be low enough to even do it while leading a unit! Just my idea of a mercenary.

maybe he would be like an outlaw in places he attacks, and can be executed at once? Eirik felde 1 March 2006 21:46 (CET)

If you really wanted to roleplay as a mercenary, why don't you just turn yourself into a hero and send a message to all rulers 'Mercenary for hire - cost XYZ much to come to your realm + (X) amount on top of normal taxes' or something like that? After all, infiltrators do it for infiltrator services, and you're forgetting the H/P loss is not just from the 'dishonour' of moving to another realm, but simply because the people in your new realm don't know your name as well as people in your old realm, so whatever glorious title you held before is irrelevant to them now - it means nothing to them. DorianGray 26 March 2006 12:14 (CEST)