Mercenaries for Native Civs?

As far as I know all European civs, Asian civs and USA has access to powerful mercenaries:
Mamelukes, Jaegers, Elmeti, Fusiliers, Manchu…
These units shipped in age III or IV can sometimes win a game for you if well used.

What native civs have instead:

  1. Comanchero, Pistolero, Renegado always available in Native Embassy - outlaws units taking 4-6 population space - lets be honest - no one will ever use it
  2. Shipments with allies - Zapotec Lightning Warrior, Maya Holcan Spearmen, Cree Trackers… - These units are not stronger than any normal Commerce Age/Fortress Age units. Their advantage is that they are not taking any population space.

I know that this is a design of a native Americans and probably will not change much. However I just want to express that using powerful mercenary units is funnier. If you are playing against let say Ottoman player and he is sending Mamelukes in early Fortress you need to show them a little respect and focus them down otherwise you will lose. Native Americans can’t threat you that way.

3 Likes

Natives have european allies aswell, like currasiers, lancers, etc. and they can have a somewhat similiar impact

As an Inca main, at least for that civ, not really.

They get rodeleros and lancers apart from the native allies, but these are not particularly strong for using up a shipment/gold.

Jesuit allies are the only good ones since they fill the missing “dragoon” unit (At least a fast one).

1 Like

I think there should be a card that allows access to mercenaries in the same way New Ways enables arsenal upgrades.

I think the concept is fine, maybe you are right in saying that the units as not as powerful I must admit.

I much rather devs to focus on expanding on these historically accurate ideas that make civs unique, rather than standardizing every civ.

The case is different for Asian for examples that already have merc mechanic but it died halfway through by not having access to Imperial Mercenaries or infinite mercenary cards in Age IV like Europeans do now.

1 Like

renegade shipments are terrible. they all ship melee units such as halberds, or rodeleros for the inca and aztecs?? the only decent ones are the 5 gendarme for the haud and 8 lancers for the inca, giving them good capability they don’t normally have access to.

they are one time shipments that send non-consulate versions of the units, and the age 4 shipments do not upgrade them to guard status meaning they are already outdated.

aren’t they native units rather than renegades? they are even called allies like other native shipments and get guard status with their age 4 shipment.

Renegades for Lakotas are quite strong, and European unit dispatches are quite useful, especially halberds, currasiers, and lancers. The native units leave much to be desired, although they do not cost population and are already upgraded to legendary.
I think that more than native mercenaries, these special units should be unlocked in the native embassy, similar to how the US and African civilizations do with their alliances, or without going any further, such as the “American Allies” shipment, which should be available. for all Native Americans.
Haudenosaunee: Huron, Cree and Cherokee.
Lakota: Comanche, Cheyenne, and Cree. (although I must admit that it would be broken)
Aztecs: Zapotecs, Maya and Apache.

3 Likes

lakota cannot ship renegades, only outlaws. those are already trainable at the native embassy.

as haud when would you ever take the halberds over the much superior musket riders? just ship musket riders and use that gold to train more, they are far more effective. they move faster than heavy cav, deal great damage from range, tank far more ranged damage and actually counter cannons.

you can also upgrade them later on.

I don’t see why specialized Native warrior mercenaries much like their Europeans, Asian and African counterparts couldn’t be added. then again that is what settlements are for.

…Didn’t think this one all the way through :slight_smile:

Sorry, when I said renegade I meant this guy

And on the 11 halberds for 500 gold, tell me to tell you that it is a very good shipment, they provide you with cheap siege and tanking. Lately I don’t like to depend a lot on the Musket Ryders, although it is an excellent unit, it is very expensive to lose it, sadly, if you want to kill 2 shipping falconets from any European civilization, you need at least 16 of these guys to kill a cannon and get out moderately unscathed, I despair of losing 1500 gold in seconds for two miserable cannons, that’s what I use Kanyas for it.

10 owlhoots for 500 gold isn’t bad, more useful than most renegade cards for sure. though at that point going 2 kettle for 14 wakinas and 20%hp may be better.

Is it historically correct? Because an infinite send of this unit would be very good for the treated mode.

As historically correct as Zapotecs of Mesoamerica and the Caribs of the Caribbean Sea allied with natives of the high peaks of Peru and Mapuches getting along with the Incas.

1 Like

Yes, they are native allies.

What if you send renegade european units they become trainable at the standard buildings (War Hut & Coral) But they can’t be upgraded past veteran, like pikeman and crossbowman and pre-DE longbows.

The accessible European units for native civs are also quite surprising.
For example the Aztecs. They can send a card with:

  • Zapotec Lightning Warriors
  • Maya Holcan Spearmen
  • Spanish Rodelero

I don’t see any reason to use Rodeleros for Aztec. They can upgrade Puma Spearman to have 6.0 speed as Rodelero. Champion and Legendary upgrades would be also possible for them.

Aztec suffers in late game because they lack of good cavalry unit (Coyotes are being shredded even by Skirmishers and Cannons). So why not to give them access to Spanish Lancer instead of Rodelero? Much more reasonable choice in my opinion.

1 Like

I’m all against it. The minor tribes are the “mercs” Native Civilizations should used. Obviously not all them are perfect but lore-wise that was the devs meant to do. It was not overlooked at all.

  • Mercenaries come in small quantity, they are stronger and take lots of pop space.
  • Native mercs come in big amounts, they are weaker than mercs and take no pop space.

What can be done is buffing those extra Native Merc shipments (i.e: ships 18 Mayan units that have 10% more damage, ships Cheyenne horsemen with greater speed, etc) so it can be more competitive, because there are already several cards that ships units and give you a small buff for a small sum of coin (but they are restricted to the units who belong to the main Native civ).

9 Likes

I think Natives should have and Ally Card type as Incas to use historical allies in general, since they didn’t use mercs as far as I know.

Correct me if I’m wrong.

Also yes Natives (Americans) mercs don’t stand out as the rest, nor they bring something “unique”. Not that I’m complaining, I think this is a thing related with design and what little is known.

I proposed that the coyote runners have a bonus against artillery and skirmishers in the final stages of the game.

1 Like