Great ideas! Adding mercenaries like Sekban or Gallowglass would definitely diversify the gameplay. I’d love to see some of these units in action. Another interesting addition might be unique abilities or bonuses tied to their historical roles. Looking forward to seeing what the DLC brings!
I’d love for new merc additions to be a way to shoe-horn in the early modern era Euro units that would absolutely have been used during the games earliest ages.
Condottiere - A mounted Italian Merc captain. Similar to a Daimyo*, he can train certain mercs (mainly archaic, Renaissance-era ones such as Elmetto and Swiss Pikes) and would boost nearby mercs but would be horribly expensive and pop-heavy. * Disclaimer - Daimyo-style but has to be near friendly buildings to train.
European Arquebusiers - 16th century, renaissance-era styled Arquebusier (. A better version than the Chinese counterpart (which incidently would get renamed to a native language unit title). Addresses the popular wish for Euros to get Arquebusiers without changing up the default rosters
Border Reiver - a 16th century light (hand) cav unit from the British Isles. Despite operating as outlaw chiefdoms, they were very commonly hired as light cavalry due to their skill. Armed with a border lance and very lightly armoured, they rely on speed. What makes them unique is their passive ability to Raid when seiging buildings, giving tiny trickles of resources as they siege Economic buildings. Border Reivers could also have lesser Treasure Guardian / Outlaw variants (Border Raiders).
Organok - Controversial but hear me out. We make the Organ Gun, the infamously not-particulary Portuguese Unique Unit into a Mercenary artillerty unit. Around the time of AOE3, the use of them waned very quickly in Western Europe, however they lingered longer in Central/East Europe, particular Cossacks, Poles and Russians. In-game they could have Ukrainian VOs and the only other change could be that they have a passive which makes them more powerful when near friendly structures (reenforcing their defensive-only role). What happens to the Ports? They get a Berco (swivel gun) unit or a Berco crew unit (two Bercos with crew operating as a single in-game unit).
Siege Engineer
Specialist European unit who can build Stockades (Campaign Art) which function as weaker forts that can garrison ranged infantry to boost firepower. Can also construct Observation Towers (Fort Tower models) which offer great sight and Gabions (which could have a similar damage absorption passive as Hospitallers). Armed with an axe which deals melee-siege damage.
I think the mercenary pool is already very bloated.
So unless the devs organize them into groups or draw them based on unit types, I think many such ideas should go into natives not mercenaries. Some regions still have very poor native coverage.
Some changes could be made with the highlander, for example the normal highlander could have a rework using a sword and shield transforming into a shock unit which in turn would make it a new mercenary unit, as for the Highlander (Black Watch Guard ) introduced in the previous August 2023 patch could continue to maintain its original appearance and would continue to be a musket unit, this way we could differentiate one unit from the other and each one would have a different use
I love these ideas for new mercenaries! Each of them adds so much flavor and variety to the game. The Sekban/Levend as a Turkish musketeer/skirmisher is a fantastic idea, especially for the Ottomans, and the idea of a Szekely Uhlan is an awesome addition to the Hungarian roster. The Gallowglass as a Gaelic-speaking shock infantry could be a great way to bring in more versatile, heavy-hitting units for the European factions. The Bashkir as a Qizilbash also sounds like a unique and interesting concept. It would be cool to see how these units could complement existing strategies in the game. Great suggestions overall, hope we get something like this in a future DLC!
[i like the Russian ideas, especially a mercenary explorer, though it’d have to be limited or balanced in some way.
However wouldn’t the Fedayee be a bit early for this games time limit? It was a medieval sect that ceased to exist far before the games start period.
If we wanted an Iranian mercenary, perhaps a Baloch Arqubusier of some kind, as they were known to work as mercenaries for Indian powers and even Oman.
The amount of features Promyshlennik gets makes it look like native settlement/card unit
Yamshchik is just a trek wagon
Dunno how to feel about Fedayee, from what you say it’s just a spy. It could have been usefull to Native American civs but they don’t have access to mercenary units in the first place & giving them shipment of Persian unit is just weird.
PLC mercenary units were the Registered Cossacks and the Lisowczyk’s. Although I think Lisowczyk’s could be a Royal Guard for PLC civ (Cavalry Archer).
