Mercenary Alliance

DeletedUser

Guest
Ive been discussing this idea a bit in the Delta World Forum and i wanted to see what people thought. the following is quoted from what i wrote.

I know this has been debated in the past and would be tough to do but what do you guys think of an alliance that exists as a mercenary hub.

Need help with that conquest?
Having trouble with an enemy alliance and need some more muscle?

Hire some mercenaries

Some rules would have to be set, and credentials established where a contract is law with no double crossing. but upon completion of a contract a new one can be set up. a contract could be based on someone's capture or a time limit

payment could be like a 200/200/200 donation from several players or something like it

of course the most obvious problem would be a concentrated effort to destroy them if they weren't large enough to completely defend themselves

but maybe a few alliances could be set up with some other stronger alliances and the mercenaries never accept contracts on these "partner" alliances

ill write some sort of mercenary code of ethics soon, but what do you guys think?

Ok here goes:

A comprehensive guide as to what id like the mercenary alliance to be like
- note this is only a rough idea open to ideas and constructive criticism

Hierarchy:
Leader
Ocean Commander
Ocean Lieutenant
Squad Leader
Mercenary

Obviously the Leader does all the basic managerial stuff that an alliance leader does. coordinating the oceans, making sure everyone is defended and contracts are completed. etc

Ocean Commanders take care of their individual ocean, specifically negotiating contracts and assigning Mercenary squads and their commanders. as well as helping with the common defense and ensuring contracts are taken care of.

Ocean Lieutenants help the commander in whichever way necessary, they can help coordinate attacks, defense, and negotiate contracts if asked to by the Commander

Squad Leaders are assigned to make sure a contract is completed, iron out the details with the "client", and make sure the mercenaries know what theyre doing.

Finally we have the mercenary. he completes the contract and gets paid for what he/she does

Every contract would be completely binding, have attached rules, and be tailored to the needs of the client. Payment would be flexible and based on what the client offers and what the ocean commander accepts i.e

Alliance "A" wants to buy a squad of mercenaries to attack a member of Alliance "B" (perhaps in an effort to split his forces) they offer payment in that one member of the squad can conquest and keep the town and the others would receive 15 200/200/200 resources donations from members of the alliance that want to buy the mercenaries. Perhaps the request comes with spy reports ( a form of payment) the ocean commanders would then be able to decide the number of mercenaries needed lets say for this attack 3 would be needed to be reasonably assured that the contract would be completed. so the commander messages back the client from alliance "A" that the contract was accepted and that player x will be conquering so player y and z will need to be paid, and upon receiving half the money would start the contract. upon completion they would then receive the other half of payment.

an honor system would need to be set up to make sure that both the mercenary completes the contract no matter what once he/she has been paid and that upon completion the client alliance pays the outstanding balance.

this would require support from the top alliances on world delta and i will send some pms out to the leading alliance diplomats/leaders to see what they think. there would have to be consequences to people who did not honor their side of the contract.

also if a mercenary is given information to help with his/her contract he can not disclose it to anyone outside of his squad. i.e a spy report and sensitive time based information for a conquest are give to player x (the squad leader of the mercenaries) by the client of alliance "A" he is allowed to tell player y and z so that they can fulfill their part of the contract but no one else is allowed to know. this way sensitive information is safeguarded from Alliance "B" who may have hired other mercenaries who might otherwise see the information.

Contracts could conflict. perhaps a squad is hired by alliance "A" to help siege a village and another squad is hired by alliance "B" to defend that village both squads would be required to do their best to fulfill their contract. though in cases like this the price to hire the mercenary would likely be per unit used, and as long as the alliances keep paying efforts will be made by both sides even if it lasts for ever.

if an ocean commanders and squad were foolish enough to be hired on a job like this for a one time price or on a job that is harder than they believed. they are required to keep trying until the contract is fulfilled or the hiring alliance decided to be nice and release the mercenaries from their obligations. this would encourage careful bargaining and a constant need to watch each contract.
essentially the mercenary alliance becomes a network of small squad sized temporary alliances for some sort of compensation.

this raises the question of what does an alliance do if it is attacked by a squad of mercenaries?

does it declare war on the alliance? which in my opinion would be short sighted an ruin the fun of the idea.

or does it do something else? such as hire another squad to defend against the extra enemies or to organize a surprise attack on the clients of the first squad.

this would add in my opinion a level of political intrigue. who hired these mercenaries, and when will they reveal themselves?

now im not saying there should be no retaliation against a mercenary, as i said before this inst the diplomatic immunity alliance. the mercenary realizes the risk when he takes the contract.

but... should an alliance strike back at the mercenaries and use their resources in a all out war or should they use less resources to hire mercenaries to counter the enemy mercenaries and concentrate on the people who originally hired the mercenaries and make it so they no longer have the financial ability to hire mercenaries.

mercenaries could essentially be smoke screens to start a war and then suddenly the hiring alliance strikes as well

a big question i bet im gonna hear is

"why buy a mercenary when i can just make the unit myself?"

my answer to thats is:

-mercenaries are faster rather than wait to build more troops and risk the possibility of a spy discovering your plans just hire a mercenary

-mercenaries are cheaper they are not going to demand full price for every unit they lose, they will want only some compensation especially if keeping the town is thrown into the contract

essentially you are paying roughly half the cost of the units needed to capture a city so that a mercenary will clear or capture a city for you and spread out your enemy forces while increasing the size of your forces.
 

DeletedUser2795

Guest
Just put a little time into formatting it, because although you did out a lot of effort into this, just throw that entire text under the details and put like one sentence under everything else.
 

DeletedUser

Guest
I really like this idea! It will take time more than anything else.
 

DeletedUser

Guest
this would be an awesome idea if it could be inforced.

Its almost like it would need to be a specific alliance type.

Or maybe CPU mercenaries
 

DeletedUser

Guest
Well if anyone is interested in BEING a mercenary right now, message me ingame on Epsilon. There is a jerkface just waiting to get pwned.
 

DeletedUser

Guest
the problem is it is unfair to be able to call in many players to attack one player. it should be a contract to attack a certain alliance not a certain player
 

DeletedUser

Guest
Wouldn't it be easier to just have the option in the cave to hire mercenaries the same way as hiring a spy?

Example:

10k Silver from the cave for 400 city defenders.
- They stay for 120 hours.
- They do not leave your town.
- They are listed as 400 mercenaries and their stats are defensive and are equally effective against any attacking unit (their defense against horses is the same as defense against slingers and hoplites and chariots.
- After 120 hours they disappear and they can not be purchased again for another 120 hours.

13k Silver from the cave for 400 attacking mercenaries.
- They come with Merc Transports enough to carry them all.
- They have attacking stats that can act as normal attacking units.
- After 120 hours they disappear and they can not be purchased again for another 120 hours.

Though this is just thrown out as an alternative measure to what yours suggests, the same can be done for ships and so on. Other details could be worked on.

I think this would be far easier to implement than the idea suggested in the starting thread. Personally.
 

DeletedUser2795

Guest
I agree that that would be easier to implement, but I do not like it because:
-Mercenaries can not be at your door 24/7, but nor would they complain about helping you again if you gave them money
-Mercenaries would haggle for a contract, not accept a set amount
-Human mercenaries provide a larger sense of reality, because humans are fickle.

But I do have another suggestion for how this could work. In addition to the way that was suggested in the original post, I would suggest maybe a person can have a building similar to the market (or you could use the market) in which you can post offers to have a mercenary (you would fill out some form with like what you needed them for, what info you would provide, etc.), or a mercenary can post an offer. Of course, you could still form a contract with person outside of the market.
 

DeletedUser

Guest
I am not sure this would work at all in Grepolis, but I like discussing it all the same.

I don't really get how this is different to getting support from a friend though.
 

DeletedUser2795

Guest
Cool, then this will be used when InnoGames wants to add to the group of TW, Grepo, and The West :)

This is when you do not have a friend or do not have enough friends ;)
 

DeletedUser

Guest
It's a good idea, but before anything is done with the idea, you would need to make an official contract that is accepted by the whole world. That contract protects the mercenary bands from attacks and would have to be globally agreed upon, or else the entire diplomatic thing would fall through.

The contract would be something like this:

(P)Diplomatic Ordinance of Mercenaries, World ...(P)

Preamble:
This document hereby protects the villages and powers of Mercenary bands within this world. It also gives limitations and ordinances to keep those bands registered as Mercenaries. This document has been drafted and ratified by a global council of world leaders and every new alliance to reach over the rank of 20 should be presented with this document, along with any other alliance that wishes to hire mercenaries that has not already signed. Failure to sign onto it will mean that no member of that alliance is able to call upon any mercenary tribe for assistance in any way, shape, or form until this document is ratified.

1 Defining a Mercenary Band

1.1 Membership

No mercenary band shall be larger than 75 members nor smaller than 2. These members must have at least 3 villages in total and no more than 350. Failure to comply with the minimum will result in the band being removed from the registry and failure to comply with the maximum will result in the band being changed to a standard alliance or being asked to split into two.

1.2 Leadership

Each mercenary band must adopt a Feudal-based system as described in Reg. 3; Government. Failure to adopt this government system or to modify it to fit the needs of the band will result in the band being changed to a standard alliance.

1.3 Diplomatic Ties

No mercenary band shall be at war with any alliance at the time of induction. After induction, that band may not sign any diplomatic agreements. Any agreement signed before AND after that event shall be null-and-void and the rank of 'Diplomat' shall be replaced with 'Foreign Relations Officer', who may only contact other alliances about requests for mercenaries and business of the mercenary band. Failure to remove ties or a dire need to create a tie will establish that alliance as a regular alliance.

1.4 Global Dependence

The mercenary band may not depend upon any foreign power for help. They must act independently and may not be converted into a vassal, a family tribe, or an ally. They may only depend on their business for any global trade or tribute.

2 Conduct of Business

2.1 Conduct of the Hired

Members of a Mercenary band are, by this document, obligated to follow the orders of those who hire them. Each part of the Mercenary alliance is a separate squad that officially gains the rank of 'Citizen' of the alliance they are hired by, without having to transfer. Diplomatically, they are official members of that alliance for the duration of their hire. However, unlike normal members, they observe diplomatic distinction. Unless they attack, they are treated as members of the Mercenary band and thus neutral. Once the mercenary player attacks, he officially joins the side he was hired by. Defensive support is not considered an attack.

Once a contract is signed by the two parties, it is binding. A certain system shall be assigned, such as the sample one in Reg. 2, 2.3; Contracts. This system will observe the payment and deployment operations including assign who attacks and defends.

2.2 Conduct of those who Hire and are attacked by the Hired

By ordering a contract, an alliance is given official responsibility over the actions of the hired. The documents signers shall time-stamp it with the date and time and then the GMT time equivalent. The alliance that hired the mercenaries is obliged, by this document, to pay their mercenaries on a per contract basis. Failure to pay mercenaries as required shall null-and-void the contract after a period of 24 hours after a failed payment.

Those attacked by mercenaries, whether they have signed this document or not, shall be presented with the document either before the attacks are sent or before they hit. Failure to do so will result in the entire squad assigned through the contract to be open to attacks by the attacked. All alliances are obliged to follow this, regardless of their signatory status in this document.

2.3 Contracts

When a contract is created, it is binding to all parties involved, as described in the above points. Each contract must explain the number of mercenaries being contracted, which squads specifically are being contracted, who will attack and defend from each squad, against whom the squad will be used, the oceans the squad will fight in, how much the squad will be paid (including to whom and either lump sum or tributed). The contract must be signed (agreed to) by the side hiring and side hired and must be authorized by the Mercenary Commander of the Mercenary Band.

Contracts may only hire out ONE squad. Multiple contracts or parts of a contract must be required to hire out more than one squad.

2.4 Fair Price Agreement

Contracts are obliged to offer a price of AT LEAST 100 wood, 100 clay, and 100 iron for the purchase of each member per day, and for a lump sum value, at least 30 wood, 30 clay, and 30 iron for each soldier lost on the defending side when the conflict is over (50 wood, 50 clay, and 50 iron for each ship). If the quantity is not known at all, this number may be achieved by taking the number of conquers and multiplying it by 20 for units and 5 for ships. (so if 100 conquers occur, 2,000 units are estimated to have died and 500 ships are estimated to have been destroyed MINIMUM. So, 85,000 of each resource would end up getting sent. Equally, the war with 12 mercenaries (being paid minimum) in it would have to last 71 days, or about 2 months and a week to spend the same amount).

Thus, it is more effective to pay 12 members per-week than lump-sum at the end when they need to recover, but less effective if you hire 50 mercenaries and fight not too many battles.

These amounts are not solid. They are just minimum RECOMMENDED. A mercenary group may negotiate lower if they wish to (at their own expense), or they may ask higher if they feel they are worth a good amount.


3 Government

3.1 Leadership and Structure

The only acceptable form of government for a mercenary band is a modified Feudal system. This system gives high control but also micro-management of squadrons in order to 'rent out' small parts of the alliance. Here are explanations to the leadership.

(D)Mercenary Commander (MC)
He/She does the overall administrative tasks of running the band. This includes checking for corruption, checking activity, and preparing defenses and other things throughout the alliance.

(dip)Foreign Relations Officer (FRO)
The FRO is in charge of keeping contracts safe in a library of contracts, contacting clients over payment issues, and managing how the Mercenary band operates with other alliances.


(P)Ocean Commander (OC)
The OC is in charge of an ocean. His/Her task is to oversee all squads in that ocean, work out contracts, and lead his ocean if it is contracted.

(P)Lieutenant Commander (LC)
The LC is the assistant of the OC. His/Her task is to assist the OC in the day-to-day operation of the ocean.

(SW)Squad Leader (SL)
The SL takes the job of coordinating a single squad, or part, of the overall band and leading it in war. The SL is the lowest form of leadership. He takes the job of leading the mercenaries in bands of 3-10 players.

(pop)Mercenary
The Mercenary is the regular citizen of the alliance. He/She is under the direct command of his/her Squad leader.

The high leaders; or the MC and FRO; are in charge of the day-to-day operation, while the OC, LC, and SL are area commanders who are in charge of a certain group of players and contracts concerning them.

3.2 Squads/Companies

Each Squad (also called Company) can by led by only one SL, and may have between 2 and 12 members (including the SL). More than 12 is not recommended, and more than 20 is not allowed. At 12, the squad should think about splitting. At 18 it must split into two separate squads.

Each Squad shall be given a name or number. The standard form of this is by naming them Companies, such as Ocean 32- Alpha Company. This name is decided upon by either an OC, LC, or the SL him/herself.


4 Conclusion

This document shall, in its entirety, protect the rights and define the abilities of mercenary forces in our world.

So signed,

[leaders of the world and their flags...]
 
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DeletedUser2795

Guest
I like the gist of that, but you forgot one thing, in Paragraph 2, reg 2.2, whether is spelled as weather :S
 

DeletedUser

Guest
Thanks, I made the correction... sometimes I miss errors with homophones.
 

DeletedUser

Guest
Wouldn't it be easier to just have the option in the cave to hire mercenaries the same way as hiring a spy?

Example:

10k Silver from the cave for 400 city defenders.
- They stay for 120 hours.
- They do not leave your town.
- They are listed as 400 mercenaries and their stats are defensive and are equally effective against any attacking unit (their defense against horses is the same as defense against slingers and hoplites and chariots.
- After 120 hours they disappear and they can not be purchased again for another 120 hours.

Sounds alot like Militia to me.. Except they would probably suck less and cost more.
 
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