New Mercenaries - discussion (wishlist)

Age of Empires III: DE III - Discussion
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Potential new Civs, new Minor Civs and new shipments get discussed a lot however I’d love to see more interest in Mercenaries - not even Civ-specific ones, rather ones that are available to many civs as the traditional shipment or the random Saloon ones.

My suggestions revolve around a new type of Mercenary unit - Mercenary Contractors. They are essentially a Merc version of a Daimyo - high HP, able to train a few select units and able to buff Contractor-trained units’ attack. The Mercs trained via Contracts are slightly different to normal mercs in that when fighting outside their Merc Contractor’s aura radius they are generally weaker than the standard merc, however inside they are slightly more powerful than the norm, making the Contractors an important target!

European Mercenary Captain
The ‘generic’ Euro Merc captain.

  • European Arquebusiers - Armoured, archaic ranged light infantry.
  • European Demi-Lancers - Light, armoured lancer cavalrymen

Condotteri
Italian Mercenary Captain focused on 16th Century Italian Wars-era units. Trains and buffs:

  • Italian Swordsmen - Armoured Hand Shock Infantry armed with sword and buckler - functioning as hand shock infantry
  • Italian Mounted Crossbowmen - Archaic (used in the 16th century) Ranged Cavalry.

Scottish Mercenary Captains

  • Redshanks - Merc version of Azaps. Able to switch between two-handed Claymore and shortbow. Redshanks were Scottish mercenaries of the 16th century, notably in Ireland.
  • Highland Targeteer - Armed with a Targe (small round shield) and a 17th century Claymore (a broadsword this time). Has a Flintlock Pistol ‘Charged Shot’ abilitiy. Tagged as Light Infantry, the Targeteers are actually a Counter-Skirmisher unit, providing they can run to their victim in time.
  • Multi-barreled Frame Gun - Towed by a mule, the Frame Gun was a light piece of artillery favoured by the Scots. In game it functions as a Merc version of the Organ Gun, though it’s able to switch between powerful short-range (cannister shot) and weaker (normal shot) long range.

A few examples there - I’m sure there’s plenty of Asian/African/NA versions as well.

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I have thought of a new mercenary unit myself, but when I came up with the idea I was very spontaneous about it and didn’t really base it on something historical. Anyway this mercenary unit would be a cowboy called either the [Troublemaker] or [Dynamite Goon] which will throw dynamite. It will function as the outlaw version of the Maltese [Fire Thrower].

This unit could also be available to the Aztecs after researching the [Gun Running] technology, just for the sake of giving them some kind of ranged unit with an “Area of Effect” attack. The other Native American civilisations could each get their different mercenary unit as well after researching the [Gun Running] technology.

Maybe the Lakota can train [Captured Horse Artillery] from the [Native Embassy], while the Haudenosaunee could get a Native American warrior called the [Blunderbuss Rider] which will function in a similar manner to the [Mounted Infantry] though I am not completely sure if the latter would fit for the Haudenosaunee. When it comes to the Incas then I am not sure what they could get.

As I said before the [Troublemaker] or [Dynamite Goon] concept together with the [Blunderbuss Rider] are just spontaneous ideas, but I just wanted to share these ideas with other users.

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Some of this exists already. Filibusters and Miners already attack with dynamite. However, Miners are only in the campaign and unknown maps so I’d be in favour of a standard outlaw such as a renegade prospector.