This mod changes the equipment rosters for the new mercenary troops introduced with the game's release.

This is a save friendly mod, so feel free to install/uninstall at any time.

FYI if TaleWorlds does alter the mercenary troop trees in the future, this mod could potentially break. However from what I have gathered these new mercenary troop trees are final, so I do not anticipate this happening.

I leave it to your discretion to determine if it is compatible or not with other troop mods you may have. Again this only mods the currently existing mercenary units in the base game, no other troops.


Simply put the new mercenaries TaleWorlds has introduced with the game's release are quite poor. IMO they are so bad that you should actively make sure to keep them out of your parties. Not only are they expensive to hire and upkeep, they also have very poor equipment. Sword Sisters in particular lack any kind of helmet, which is pretty egregious in a game where the majority of hits are to the body and head. Consider that the Tier 5 Veteran Outrider has an upkeep equivalent to the Tier 6 Khan's Guard (18 gold a day), but is lucky if it can defeat a Tier 4 Horse Archer formation 1vs1.

That said despite my issues with these new troops, I do like the overall theme TaleWorlds was going with these new mercenaries. Even if I'm a bit remiss the old mercenary troops are gone as a result. To that end I have significantly overhauled their equipment with the following guidelines in mind:

• Mercenaries should be comparable, if not superior, to other troops at their tier. This being largely due to their high costs. But they should not be so strong they can beat units a tier above them.
  


For example Veteran Sword Sisters will generally defeat Imperial Sergeant Crossbowmen 1vs1, but not Fian Champions.

• Mercenaries should not be carbon copies of currently existing troops. Rather they should complement existing armies by being relatively unique troops in their own right.
  

Here are the most significant changes with this mod:

• Hired Crossbows gain an extra set of bolts for sustained missile fire, but forgo a shield
• Hired Pikes carry sword and shield for increased versatility
• The Outrider now requires a mount for upgrade
• The Veteran Outrider/Gallant Sword Sister now requires a war mount for upgrade
  

*Hired Spears and Pikes are great against cavalry, but do not fare very well as actual melee infantry.
**The Gallant Sword Sister is not an especially great "Horse Archer", namely due to how crossbows perform on horseback. But is still a competent cavalry unit nonetheless.This mod is meant to complement my pending Revised Troops mod, but is perfectly agreeable with base game.

To manually install simply extract the folder to your Bannerlord Modules folder (for most Steam users C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Mount & Blade II Bannerlord\Modules) and enable in the mod list when you launch the game.


v1.2 Changes

•     Only compatible with game versions 1.1+
•     A few armor tweaks
•     All Troops in their respective tree start with "Hired", "Mercenary", or "Sword Sister" for easier sorting in Party Screen
•     Due to the A.I.'s increased ability to block, Hired Pikes now carry two handed swords and forgo their shields, making them also effectively shock troops. I felt this better suits their anti-cavalry role, while further distinguishing them from Mercenary Macemen.
•     Sword Sister Gallant makes use of new armor pieces introduced to game
  

Art from Osprey Publishing The Normans by Angus McBride