Because they are (intended to be) quite cheap and effective stat-wise at age 2, so the higher pop is (intended to be) one way to limit them.
But it turns out it didn’t work out.
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such a shame, all Outlaw units seem cool to me, but they are impossible to use 
Outlaws should cost a maximum of 4 pop, and only for the most advanced of them, like Comancheros.
Pirates, Renegados and other assorted Outlaws should be costed at 3 pop, so they can be reduced to 1 pop with Dance Hall, and we could have effective Colonial-Fortress Outlaw strategies.
As it is, we have Outlaws that cost 5 and 7 pop, which is way too much for the type of unit you get.
Double their Gold cost, and halve their pop cost, so they become more in line with regular Mercenaries, which would still be stronger anyway, but at least not with THAT much of a difference.
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Outlaws could be designed to work with high pop even in Age 2.
Giving them good stats in everything else including training time.
Than they could be very useful for defence.
You lost your army to the enemy, he is attacking your base, you have population free because your army is dead. Quickly build some Outlaws to fend of the attack.
But to do so a Saloon should have a reason to exist in Age 2 and it doesn’t right now.
Outlaws actually already have good stats, specially When compared o Colonial Age unist.
The issue is that you need to build a House for every 2 of them, and they can only be made from 1 buildings that cannot be made in multiples itself.
Compared to their pop cost, Outlaws are really bad, but compared to their resource cost, they are OP. The issue is that a Renegado cannot bring up the value of 3 Musketeers, but costs as much population space as 6 of them.
All of the Outlaw issues, are due to enormous pop costs. Wokou Ronin is the only good one, because you can reduce it to 1 with Dance Hall, and then it outshines Halberdiers, even though the WR cost 200 Gold each.
All the devs have to do with Outlaws, is literally halve their pop costs, and double their Gold costs.
For example:
If this unit costed 3 pop and 180 Gold, it would still be underpowered when compared to 3 Musk. But when paired with Dance Hall, it would become a pop-efficient, 40 damage Super Musk, for 180 Gold, which would be a great trade off for having sent a card that reduces their pop cost.
You would still have to be able to afford them, at 180 Gold each, but they would actually provide 180 Gold’s worth of value, and be worth having to send in a card (meaning you delay other shipments) just to get that pop-efficiency.
As it is right now, it only costs 90 Gold, but I almost have tio make a House for almost every one of them I want to train, and this unit is definitely not worth 90 Gold + 100 Wood.
Outlaw training time is actually OK, specially since they benefit from Training Time cards, like Fencing School, Riding School and Engineering School.
Russians with Fencing Schools and Dueling School + Standing Army (Church upgrade) produce a lot of Outlaws instantly, including Wokou Ronin.
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I believe some mercenaries can be used for new civs. In their place, new mercenary units could be created (for example, Morlachs - Venetian irregulars).
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