Suggestions for Merc Uses, changes, updates and Balance

[Arashi]

I would like to suggest that the cost of mercs be increased. There are way to many players out there building their entire strike out of mercs and getting 250 bil + strikes with it, then they attack people with armies made of 60% or more supers and the ones with supers loose more soldiers than the attacker.

1) Increase the cost of mercs.
People are building entire armies of mercs with 16 super soldiers to lead them. It costs them almost nothing to loose 50k mercs attacking a 100 bil + def made of super soldiers. This isn't right.

2) Maybe make it so that a certain percentage of the army (strike or def) has to be regular soldiers (super soldiers are worth 3 soldiers *or whatever*). This is on top of the merc limit. That way people can't put all their supers into def and all their mercs into strike... there needs to be a balance.
Clarification: I ment that a certain part of the strike would need to be UU based soldiers (regular or super) and a certain part of the def would need to be UU based soldiers. I was trying to compress my sentence and I guess it got missinterpreted by a friend reading it.

3) If 2 is not used then an army of mercs attacking an army of supers should loose a HUGE amount of mercs just on the fact that it's supposed to be SUPER soldiers.

I mean, mercs can be sold, regulars can be sold, but SUPERS can't because they are SUPER soldiers. loosing 3 (or more) super soldiers for every merc the enemy looses is just BS.

And I don't care if the players say: but I had 25 mercs for every one of your supers... Well it wouldn't matter if you have 100 per 1 super... you'll still loose a LOT of mercs to that super. It's like sending an army of cave men to attack a single man with a machinegun. Sure they'll kill that single man when they reach him, but he's going to kill, maim and wound a lot of them before they do.

EDIT: Additions:
I liked the following suggestions and would highly recommend a form of them being implemented:
1) Mercs would have an "initial" cost and then a continuing per "turn" cost.
2) Mercs "initial" cost would be based off of a market rate (mercs are mercenaries and they work for naq, so they won't be cheap all the time.)
3) So as not to ruin mercs for the smaller players, maybe have a modifier for merc costs, based on # of mercs you already have. The more you buy, the more mercs cost (logistics gets expensive).


MOD EDIT: From now on, this would be used as official merc suggestion topic for now. Also read a shorter topic: http://herebegames.com/StarGateWars/vie ... hp?t=73549

[Virgil]

Personally I would say that the Number of Mercs can only = a % of your Super Attackers. I have no issues with the mercs per say other than the initial concept of adding mercs were to be a suppliment to your army. Not your army. This ensures that Supers are always used in conflicts and ordeals and not just mercs. Max Tech = 200% of your total # of Super Attackers. Defense the same way. You can't say just supers as everyones defense is supers. It has to be specific to the Category in this case Attack.
So if you have 1 Million Super Attackers you can have an addition 2 million Mercs. Would make sense to me on that level since UU is what this game is about some of them should always be on the line when attacking or defending.

[Kikaz]

I think it's fun. Dont change it. lol

[Lord_Zeus]

I agree 100%... its ridiculous, I use millions of mercs when I'm attacking, virtually no supers and can hit someone with 100b defence who has 5 bil naq out profitably... I'm not sure about the implementation, I think a free market system woudl work better, rather than the clickfest at turn time it is now (how many times does the market go into minuses?)

Put a bid on, Highest bidders get the mercs till theres no mercs left, and allow them to be sent like uu... and possibly even remove the cap on how many mercs you can hold per men... but make it a free market. Or mabye introduce caps as well as this sstuff... I'm not sure but the current system just doesnt work.

[Zeratul]

http://herebegames.com/StarGateWars/vie ... hp?t=73549

*Clink*

[Bazsy]

Reopened

This topic has a pretty much wider merc suggestion list, and it could be the base of a whole merc update discussion, which would be in order soon.

Also added to the common suggestions list.

[Arashi]

Thanks Bazsy...

I've updated my initial post with some additions, these are ones I read from the linked forum or that others have suggested, or I read about while discussing it with others on MSN.

Please keep the good ideas coming... Hopefully Forum will see this and do something about mercs.

[The Oncoming Storm]

I agree with your point but will add that while the cost of mercs could be increased the cost of selling them should stay the same so that the people who have built huge armies of mercs dont get an unexpected windfall.

Maybe mercs could earn a % of a players income, as logically a merc who knows a player is making 1bn per turn would charge a higher rate than he would charge a noob earning 10m per turn.

[SG]

Meh.. alternative idea, will take some reworking but I suppose it's possible.

Make it like planets and mercs only go in to battle for every super or regular one that does.

Only have 10 supers and 10 mill attack mercs? Guess that means 20 guys go out and attack..

[Bazsy]

I say 1 merc goes with 1 normal trained, and 3 goes with 1 super trained.
I like the whole idea, and will think about finetuning it if I get some time:)

[~Phoenix~]

But I dont wana continue merc discussions here they aren being abused

[snoopey]

Why can't we for once just leave the things as they are? We all have to change everything, let the things rest for a while it isnt like they're hurting anybody. And i like this condition with mercs - as do most people - and new updates only hurt in my opinion.

[Zeratul]

changes only hurt those incapable of adapting...

[Arashi]

Zeratul and Snoopey:

You're both probably saying that cause you're both using mercs to farm everyone for minimal cost to replace lost mercs and repair costs.

The point is that the only ones that benefit from merc use they way it is now, are the ones that have x5 or x6 ascension or higher and have huge merc strike armies with little or nothing else in that army.

You don't see the little players getting by with mercs only? No because they have a very low percent of mercs to soldiers ratio.

[Zeratul]

as a matter of fact we do not farm people...

both our attack logs say 0 attacks in last 5 days... (both as in "Attacks on You" and "Attacks on Others")

anyways, back on topic...