How many mercenary units can a player have?

[<Gun4Higher>]

Is there a coded hard cap to hiring Mercs? The best i have been able to get is 3 units. the baron seems to hog the rest no matter what i do.

[Agony_Aunt]

If you can hire them all then you can have them all.

If you can deny the baron getting any of the bandit camps then he generally won't hire any other than perhaps the first batch.

[Dramatic_Effect]

yes
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198395275326/screenshot/2485504659455813920/

[Didz]

There are a limited number of mercenary companies in the game. I sat and counted eight separate mercenary companies before I started the Mercenary Captains Achievement. I've managed to contract six out of the eight, which means that the other two are probably contracted by the Baron.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3286229337
Whether it is physically possible to hire all eight or not is not clear. I suspect that six triggers the Army Cap anyway. So, it's more a question of trying to hire the best six.

[pckirk]

Yes you can hire all 8, and use all 8 plus your own militia and retinue units.

[Jabberwocky]

Originally posted by Didz:

I suspect that six triggers the Army Cap anyway. So, it's more a question of trying to hire the best six.

Mercenaries do not count towards the army limit.

[<Gun4Higher>]

Originally posted by Dramatic_Effect:

yes
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198395275326/screenshot/2485504659455813920/

Thanks a bunch.. that's what i needed to see

[<Gun4Higher>]

Originally posted by Didz:

There are a limited number of mercenary companies in the game. I sat and counted eight separate mercenary companies before I started the Mercenary Captains Achievement. I've managed to contract six out of the eight, which means that the other two are probably contracted by the Baron.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3286229337
Whether it is physically possible to hire all eight or not is not clear. I suspect that six triggers the Army Cap anyway. So, it's more a question of trying to hire the best six.

Thanks friend

[Saxon]

Good question. No one seems to know for sure. I don't believe that mercs count towards the army limit so I suspect that you can hire as many as your economy can afford to maintain.

[Didz]

Originally posted by Saxon:

Good question. No one seems to know for sure. I don't believe that mercs count towards the army limit so I suspect that you can hire as many as your economy can afford to maintain.

They used to. But that was changed in the last patch.

Now one's army is limited to six units of Militia and any number of Retinues (One per Region) and Mercenaries (Although there are only eight companies)

[Jabberwocky]

Originally posted by Didz:

Originally posted by Saxon:

Good question. No one seems to know for sure. I don't believe that mercs count towards the army limit so I suspect that you can hire as many as your economy can afford to maintain.

They used to. But that was changed in the last patch.

Now one's army is limited to six units of Militia and any number of Retinues (One per Region) and Mercenaries (Although there are one eight companies)

Eight units of militia. If you get two of your militia broken in battle and immediately go back to your town to form two new militias, you will end up with a maximum of eight groups. Provided you have the manpower and equipment to do that. Feels a little exploity, but it works up to a limit of eight militia.

[Didz]

Originally posted by Jabberwocky:

Originally posted by Didz:

They used to. But that was changed in the last patch.

Now one's army is limited to six units of Militia and any number of Retinues (One per Region) and Mercenaries (Although there are one eight companies)

Eight units of militia. If you get two of your militia broken in battle and immediately go back to your town to form two new militias, you will end up with a maximum of eight groups. Provided you have the manpower and equipment to do that. Feels a little exploity, but it works up to a limit of eight militia.

Interesting! So you can 'cheese' the army cap because broken units are discounted from the total even though they still exist?

[Jabberwocky]

Originally posted by Didz:

Originally posted by Jabberwocky:

Eight units of militia. If you get two of your militia broken in battle and immediately go back to your town to form two new militias, you will end up with a maximum of eight groups. Provided you have the manpower and equipment to do that. Feels a little exploity, but it works up to a limit of eight militia.

Interesting! So you can 'cheese' the army cap because broken units are discounted from the total even though they still exist?

Yes, I have tested this and you can get 8 units of militia maximum with this method. After that, it stops working. Here's a screenshot:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3291132501

In order to achieve that, use any battle against the baron or against raiders to get, for instance, your archers broken in melee combat, then pause the game while their unit cards are still greyed out and unavailable in the military tab.

Center your view on one of your towns that is guaranteed to have the manpower and weapons you need, and use the (+) sign in the military tab to form two new groups of militia. That will then hit a hard cap, and these groups, as well as your decimated archers will not be at maximum strength of 36 men mayhaps, but once enough equipment and recruits are available again, they can reach maximum strength.

Your broken militia units will respawn shortly after being broken near the battlefield where they were routed, and still have decimated numbers. Quickly run them back to their home town and dismiss them from military service, but keep them in your list of units. After a mourning period, the widows will remarry and also get another son eventually, so your broken units can get up to maximum strength again.