Mercenary Contracts

The payment from mercenary contracts have been raised quite a bit to scale with the current upkeep of your army. In effect, your payment is no longer a set value, but based upon the current number of men you are supporting your benefactor with at the time that wages are calculated.


 * You will receive 75% of your army's upkeep as a base payment.
 * +3% extra payment per point of Persuasion your character has. (Limit +30%)
 * +1% extra payment for every 20 renown your character has. (Limit +40%)
 * +15 denars per level for each hero in the party above level 4.


 * At the end of every 30 day period you will have a menu pop up asking if you wish to renew your contract with a specific lord or not. Simply let your contract end.
 * You can speak directly to the leader of the faction you have a contract with to break it.

Being a mercenary can be considerably profitable. The weekly pay you receive should not be relied on for making money- at best, it can provide most of your troop wages. To make money, you'll have to rethink your role as a professional soldier and consider yourself more of a privateer. It is best to sign up as a mercenary for a faction frequently at war and one you don't plan to join. Take note that you shouldn't plan to join their enemies later on in the game.
 * Complete lord quests that require you to raid neutral caravans, destroy neutral farmer parties, and loot neutral villages. These quests can sometimes lead to war, allowing you to loot more villages. Be warned, though: completing these quests will give a relation penalty with most lords.
 * When fighting a war, your main focus should be making money- raid enemy villages and haul back the loot to a friendly town to make high profit with practically no financial input required on your part.
 * Try to preserve the lives of your men. When fighting large faction battles, try to keep your men alive, even if it means keeping them out of the thick of action- you get paid for more men in your party. In addition, unless you're trying to gain more renown or experience, try to engage in extremely one-sided battles- you won't get much loot, but your main source of loot should be from villages.
 * If you loot a village that contains goods you use for an enterprise you run, pick the goods with negative modifiers (i.e cheap, rusty, ragged etc.) and give them to the master of your enterprise. On the other hand, sell goods with positive modifiers (i.e exquisite, sturdy, fine, etc.) to merchants.