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mercenary market
Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2014 12:41 pm
by donais
So in times of war there just are not enough mercs to go around, and the persons who get them are the quickest computers at the turn change or time the change right. then you are left with stuff like
Attacking Mercenaries 3,000 Naquadah -514
Defending Mercenaries 3,000 Naquadah -4,870,586
awesome
The game has changed 5mil mercs per turn is not enough to go around
so I suggest increasing the amounts of mercs available per turn, maybe raising the price of them, or maybe someone else has some other sort of idea.
A mercenary lottery, but when I just want a few mercs to bolster my defense and attack and cant get them, it kinda sucks
*edit, no one else agrees or disagrees?
Re: mercenary market
Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2014 11:46 pm
by Dubby_CompGamerGeek2
indeed.
Years ago I suggested an individual / personal merc market for each player in part to make it fairer for giant and tiny armies to get mercs.
Only thing i ever saw was a reply in a different thread by someone posting a claim that admin jason wanted even less mercs and how we should be grateful for the mercs we got.
I still think my idea rocks... For both the giant and the tiny.
Re: mercenary market
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 3:28 am
by Heisenberg
I kind of agree.
I believe there should be mass amounts of untrained merc, they should be easy to come by, and you do not have the ability to train them. Only the universe knows how to train them.
However trained mercenaries should be hard to come by, they are specially trained and I believe that 250 mil special trained troops are more than enough for one day.
If there are more, the price would drop on the market as supply is greater and are less of a unique trait for a mercenary to have.
Re: mercenary market
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 5:49 am
by harchester
a mercenary in the world is hard to find. so it seems logical that mercenaries on the market are hard to get

Re: mercenary market
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 8:24 am
by JasonJay
Base Merc supply on the previous days killings. Mercs thrive on war, so it makes sense that more arrive when more death happens.
Use a function like [(Previous days kills)/200=Merc rate per turn], with a limit of 5mil a turn min and 50 mil a turn max
edit: Then also tie a daily price where price increases as the merc rate increases. Let's call it danger pay or insurance costs for fighting in war time.
Re: mercenary market
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 8:32 am
by Heisenberg
JasonJay wrote:Base Merc supply on the previous days killings. Mercs thrive on war, so it makes sense that more arrive when more death happens.
Use a function like [(Previous days kills)/200=Merc rate per turn], with a limit of 5mil a turn min and 50 mil a turn max
edit: Then also tie a daily price where price increases as the merc rate increases. Let's call it danger pay or insurance costs for fighting in war time.
Good idea, however mercs cannot just appear like that in my eye. They are specially trained, and supply should be limited. Supply could be linked to war, however, mercs always want war, weather it is happening today or 5 months from now. They will patiently wait so long as they are paid for.
Re: mercenary market
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 8:51 am
by Master Rahl
even when there is not a war going on its very hard to get them. I think the 5m is a old value and it should be updated.
Re: mercenary market
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:07 am
by ~Dä Vinci~
i think it should be an amount per acc, stops merc trading aswell.
Re: mercenary market
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:09 am
by Duderanch
^This.
Re: mercenary market
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 12:27 pm
by donais
I agree stop trading, I hate the people who sit there all day and amass mercs to sell in times of war, just let me get my million mercs thats all I want
Re: mercenary market
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 12:30 pm
by Heisenberg
Or...
Have more mercs, say 10, 15 or 20 mil a turn split into groups of 5 mil each.
Over the period of a turn bids are made to pay for the services of these mercenaries.
Noone sees other player's bids and the one who pays the most gains the services of these 5 mil merc.
These mercs are highly trained and will go to who will pay the most to have them?
Re: mercenary market
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 12:41 pm
by donais
it appears something has been done there were upwards of 23mil of each attacking and defending mercs this past turn change, that appeared in intervals within 2 minutes of the change
something like that
Re: mercenary market
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 1:47 pm
by Heisenberg
donais wrote:it appears something has been done there were upwards of 23mil of each attacking and defending mercs this past turn change, that appeared in intervals within 2 minutes of the change
something like that
someone sold
Re: mercenary market
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 2:13 pm
by Support
donais wrote:it appears something has been done there were upwards of 23mil of each attacking and defending mercs this past turn change, that appeared in intervals within 2 minutes of the change
something like that
That must have been someone dumping their mercs. If you caught them, you might have caught a sale mid-flight.
The number has not changed.
There is a limited number of mercenaries in the universe; everyone has to fight to get them.
While we are thinking about slight increases though:
- What could work is that Plague 'deaths' contribute to the total Mercenary number, it wouldn't go up *that* much, but it would increase as army sizes increase.
It could be "5M + Plague Death" as 'new' generation. Last turn that would be a total of 6.5M, so not that much change. Would grow over time though as people reach and pass the Plague cap.
- Alternatively, "5M plus half of the mercenaries that died x turns ago". Would also create an extra dynamic, because if more attack mercs die, more attack mercs re-appear, same with defence. (Or a twist on the paintball dynamic; attackers killed become defenders, and vice versa.)
Making the Mercenary Marketplace personal (a single-player affair) is definitely not going to happen.
There could be a more 'auction'-like acquisition method, for instance, 50M att/def for sale in a daily auction, where instead of just the flat fee and speed (buy at the right time) you would be able to bid on them during the day and claim them later - if you win the auction. Similar to Ascended's Demi auctions.
Re: mercenary market
Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 9:04 pm
by Dubby_CompGamerGeek2
I see now why a personal merc market / allowance would not work...
people would schedule their ppts / massings / mercenary acquisition around the market reset to build things like giant defenses,
that would be exceedingly difficult to take down without using ultra-expensive all-super armies
and covert/ac levels of 45 and greater.
My suggestion is respectfully withdrawn.
I do like the auction idea...
I'd rather pay extra to the merc market,
and tell the merc hoarders to go jump in the lake.
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