are merc units good?

[titanopteryx]

The mercenaries in the taverns. Are they worth using? I assume the appeal is their morale isn't affected by faction relations?

[White Knight]

Sure, that could be part of it, I suppose. Mainly, they are well trained and well equipped troops available on short notice - no training required. Top-tier troops are superior but they take a long time to train and that training requires considerable investment of skill points. They also have solid morale and won't freak out like frightened peasants might.

When your mercs die, you buy some more. Speedy, dependable and disposable - that makes them valuable to any warlord. The trick is, they know it and expect to be paid well.

In the early part of the game, many players don't even have the capability to train up good troops or even have the permission to recruit peasants. Mercenaries are a game changer at that point. Later, when you can train your own troops, mercenaries are a kind of buffer that will keep some of your best guys from getting killed in every battle.

In Viking Conquest, training is even more difficult so I rely on mercs all of the time. I'll have up to sixty Svear Warriors, some Aquitanian Skirmishers to bulk up my cavalry, Veterans and Spearmen to fill out my shield walls and around twenty or so Finn Archers, at any given time. If I accidentally hire too many of one type, I stick them in a garrison and pick them up again later on.

The only downside is the cost of their upkeep - prohibitively expensive at low levels and irrelevant at higher ones.

[titanopteryx]

Thank you for the reply. What about manhunters? or sword maidens, or whatever they're called? I saved some manhunters and female peasants and have been training them up. The manhunters are good for taking prisoners, but would either of those be worth using outside of farming sea bandits for gear and prisoners?

[White Knight]

It never occurred to me that Slave Hunters would make it easier to get prisoners. That does make good sense, I wonder if it's true? I don't like having them around because I generally hate slavers...even though I am one, I suppose? I'm certainly keeping them in business.

Sword Sisters are the awesome elite units who are equipped with plate armour and white steeds. They start out as peasant women you rescue and they can train up like other units. The same thing sort of works in Viking Conquest but it cuts out halfway and they never get beyond Camp Defenders:(

Hunting Sea Raiders never gets old. It's your bread and butter early on but their gear is always amongst the best. Anything that works against bandits will eventually work against other enemies too.

My priority is to have the best trained troops of all types. Then use the ones you need for the jobs you need to get done. Training good troops is hard, paying for them is even harder.

[titanopteryx]

Yeah, slave hunters use blunt weapons. I hired a team of heroes that are compatable with each other and so far they have nord helmets, 16 def boots, but the armors tend to be the worn down forms. Still nice though.

[Danny]

The female troop tree are the best mercenaries for the player on a budget, they request 50% less wages. And the top tier of sword sisters can easily go toe to toe with their male counterparts and win ^^

[[e-mail]]

I usually have anywhere from 20%-70% of my infantry populated by Hired Blades (Top Tier Mercenary Swordsmen), they're almost as good as Nord Huscarls. You probably only really want Rhodok Sargeants, Nord Huscarls, and Hired Blades as your high tier infantry to be honest. Mercenary Cavalry is also pretty decent, but Sarranid Mamlukes and Swadian Knights are better. Just skip out on the archers completely, they're outclassed by every archer class except for possibly the Nords.

[Marceline "Marchy"]

Never use caravan guards. They're only use is cannon fodder and the ones that survive upgrade nicely.

[AWACS]

upgrading some slavers to a high level will help you make a lot of money if you have high prisoner management. The only bad thing is that manhunters don't seem to be common enough to justify making them a priority.