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)

IMHO Mercenaries are the men who love battle above all. They don't care for the comfort of a couch and a title, or a steady tax income. Why not have them be paid based on their results in battle? Perhaps realms could be enabled to offer a certain amount of gold per slain head, monster or undead. In that way mercenaries could be hired to defend the home front from monsters, while the main army can move out and loot somewhere else. Mercenaries should not have the same probability to die in a battle as a hero, as they are the winners of every battle in war. One realm loses, and another one wins, but the winner is often hurt as well. Mercenaries should be above this. Maybe a setting enabling the mercenaries to flee battle in any case from a certain amount of casualties on their side would be useful. Eg. you set the max casualties on XX%, and the mercenaries are not bound to luck or coincidence to flee. As they have no honour, they see no issue in fleeing the battlefield at any given time, if nothing is to gain for themselves. To ensure mercenaries to keep to their promises, a contract would have to be implemented. The contract states the duration of the services to the realm, price per head, and the bail out fee in case the mercenary wishes not to fulfill the contract. Or maybe the realm could set a date when to pay for the services, and if the mercenary quits earlier he will receive less, or nothing at all. In that particukar situation, the power of disolving the contract should be fully at the mercenary's side. When it comes to honor and prestige: this too could be linked to the results in battle. Each mercenary hes a resumé showing how many he has killed in battle, and how much gold he has earned in the past, or perhaps a combination of those 2 shown in a certain ratio. (#gold / # heads = average payment in the past) So far my contribution, as you can see, I really would like this class. A word of warning: the mercenaries in a battle should always be restricted to a minor group, if the larger portion of any given army would consist or mercenaries, the whole idea of aiding smaller realms would be torn apart. Bigger realms will always have more funds at their disposal. An idea I just got: what if a certain value is set for each army (maybe the total amount of soldiers, perhaps rather the amount of units) and once an army is above that value, all mercenary forces are prohibited to join the battle. The value could also be variable based on the value of the opposing (largest of the 2) army. Ideas and reflections on mercenaries, Meplphrydd Family, Fryhtan in BoM, Adventurer Wasylla and Skyndarbau of Myern. 31/12/09, 09.55am

Why not have a mercenary class similar to adventurers? Adventurers go where they wish, as a mercenary would, and mercenaries would be hired for a certain amount of time to fight, they could become almost a bridge between noble and adventurer classes. Wolfwood1200 7/30/2010, 3.15 PM (EST)

I must say I love your idea, Wolfwood, and it's a lot shorter than mine! ^^ --FryhtanWolf 14:05, 20 August 2010 (UTC)