The new "Mercenaries" mod is available here:http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=12425 and http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=15143&searchtext=

For those who haven't seen it, I hope you will check it out. It allows you to hire an unlimited amount of Mercenaries that are randomly generated and skilled based on price. The Question is, if they are to require payment every day, say 50g per, to remain in your employ... would it be annoying to have the game auto-deduct that cost directly each day?

Or more/less annoying to have to engage in dialogue every day to issue payment?

I hope I will get some opinions on here, thanks in advance!

Will copy and paste what I said on Steam Workshop:
I would do the following with the prices and daily wage:
450g to hire - 20g per day to keep it.
900g to hire - 30g per day to keep it.
1350g to hire - 40g per day to keep it.
1800g to hire - 50g per day to keep it.
All this charged at the first hour of the day.
This way you would value them more while in game, wouldn't want them to die. Even though looting two chests you'll able to pay them that day.
Could add variation too. Like, you pay some extra amount of gold, lets say like 30% of the original value, and they come with better equipment.
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Let's also remember that Skyrim's at war, so Mercs would be charging a lot of money to follow you in these troubled days. The values I said in the last post would match within the gameplay and scenario, I think.
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I don't know if everyone would like it. Probably not, impossible to cheer everyone. But it depends on the focus of the mod.
I liked it because it matches with my way of playing, a hard costly life in Skyrim, playing at Master with Wars in Skyrim and anything that can make the game more challenging. The way it is and the way it can be (with the daily cost and adding other stuff that I said and other that you might think of) are both matching with my kind of game.
There might be some players that simply like to hire a lot of them and just salvage all around Skyrim with something that looks like an army. These ones might not like the daily cost and other stuff.
As a modder, I think it's up to you to decide the focus of the mod, for what kind of player it's made.
Or, if you want to make it more customized, you can put plugins and use Skyrim Nexus to upload the mod in case anyone wants something different.


There's so much that this mod can turn into that more opinions would be very welcome to the modder. One of my fav mods so far.

I'd definitely prefer an auto-deduction, as long as there is an option to talk to them and fire them, if you no longer need them.

I'd like it if they came and asked for their wage. Also, make sure they actually carry their gold in case I want to murder them and take it back.

@Thiago_Toste,

Thanks for taking the time to re-post that here. I hope others will give their input as well. I do think I should raise the prices on the initial purchase. I think I will display the daily cost in their stats, as well as in the Group-Command-Menu... to Help the player calculate their budget better. Then, yes, as you suggest... auto-deduct each day.

What's your opinion on this?: What happens if you don't have enough cash to cover them... should they just leave? Maybe they need to hang out in a tavern or something until you want hire them back (cheaper than hiring new),

Cool thanks. And yeah, right now you can talk to them and dismiss them permanently through dialogue.

Ok.. keeping both suggestions in mind. As far as them keeping their pay so you can murder them later... this is a good idea because life is about options. But there should be some long term consequence for killing off Mercs. Maybe there has to be no witnesses as to not lose your Merc buying privileges.

The options so far:
Dialogue - They come and ask for their payment. If you select something like "I won't pay you" they will say "So I won't fight" and go away. You could persuade them, saying "Today I'll find the money to pay you, but you'll need to stay with me for a while". If you succeed, they'll wait, and ask you the next day (charging two days).
Auto-deduction - I think it's better. If you don't have the money, they'll go away. Reasons I think that auto-deduction is better: if you get like 10 mercs, imagine all of them coming to you midnight and saying "hey dude, I want my payment". Would be really annoying (but kind of more realistic if you add the persuade thing).
They actually carrying their payment is a very nice idea too. To take it outta their inventory you would have to steal it.
If you murder them, someone might connect the dots and came to the conclusion that you were his killer. Could work like that: next time you see Saad, he'll ask you about his dead employees. If you're not successful to lie, he might discover and report you to the guards. After you get outta prison, he'll not let you hire anyone unless you pay the price of the Merc you killed, plus a bonus for his trouble. That would be complex to add, I think (as I don't understand anything about modding or creation kit, the only thing I ever done was a radio station to Fallout: NV, sorry if the opinions are too nonsense in therms of developing).

The best thing about Mercenaries IRL is promising to pay them after a job and not doing it. Of course, they might kill the [censored] out of you for that.

The tavern wait thing: it's a nice idea too. But I would say only if they stay with you for a while. Like, if you get the same Merc to stay with you for, lets say 15 days, he'll start liking you, so his daily cost might be lowed, and if you dismiss him he'll wait somewhere and could go back with the price he was charging last time you saw him.

The pay for the job thing: cool. Add a option like "Hire for X days". You get a discount when you hire them like that, and they'll go away in X days, so you'll have to pay only in the end of the Xth day. 'Cause if you're hiring him to do like a five day job, this very job might involve his payment ("lets steal that ship, I need help, will hire you and pay you with some of the loot"), so paying him only at the end is very accurate.

Yeah. Furthermore they should probably automatically spend some of their money when you visit town. Could also have a random encounter where a bunch of mercs attack you because of a bounty on your head (with the option to pay them to work for you instead.)

These are great ideas. Although some aspects may be complex, I think it would be worth it.

@Daggerfallftw
Pay for the job is a cool concept, and make a lot of sense. But then, if they die on the way they don't get paid... but they were useful for at least a little while. Maybe half pay up-front? (you can still loot his corpse though) neat to think about different types of contracts that can be purchased.

@Thiago_Toste:
I was also thinking of the "Loyalty Over Time" concept. Where ultimately they would join you just for the glory and plunder of it all, because of a trusted battlefield repertoire. I like your suggestion of reduction in daily wage based on loyalty over time.

Also, I love the concepts of using persuasion to keep them on hand another day with only the promise of pay later, and lying to Saad regarding the mysterious disappearance of so many Mercenaries lately. Very creative stuff and it would bring more quality to the mod overall.

Thanks for these ideas, I'm always open to more!

Yeah, I thought it would be cool if they visited shops and taverns while you conduct your own business in town. Perhaps "Dismissed" would allow them to hang out in that town until called upon again. Who knows, maybe they'd return with some better armor?

What a cool idea. Seriously

In terms of paying for a job, perhaps there could be a link to a quest you need to do, or just simply pay them for a weeks work.

Also, it would be really awesome if there were just certain things a mercenary would be like "F that! I didn't sign up for this!" Not all the time, and not every time said scenario is approached, but a % chance for each mercenary to run like a sissy, hide, or flat out leave your service and run home when fighting a crazy mob is involved.

I'm not even suggesting what I just suggested, just that there should at least be some sort of unpredictability when dealing with mercenaries. I've always thought that to be their defining trait.

Do your mercenaries die easily like a guard, or do they have that follower type of near invulnerability where they typically don't just die, but are left there to recover on the ground? I would prefer if they died like a guard. I haven't had time to try out your release yet.

The half-pay upfront: You could add more options. Like, I want to hire you to do a job of 5 days. It'll cost me 2500g. But I'll also need to select the job risk of serious injuries: No Risk, Possible Risk, Risk, Deadly Risk. Depending on which you select, they'll want 10% (possible risk), 30% (risk) or 60% (deadly risk) of the payment upfront.
When you select No Risk, they won't allow their health to drop less than 40%. If it happens, they might say something like "I'm outta here!" and run away even if the job's not finished.
You select Possible Risk, they won't allow it to drop less than 25%.
Risk it's up to 10% and Deadly Risk they won't ever run away.
But that's just an idea. I myself don't know if it would be playable. But I think maybe yes. The player would need to be very careful to select the risk of the job, 'cause he'll be left alone if he lies to the merc and make him face some serious treat.

The concept of they running away can be placed elsewhere in the mod too. They might not be that brave when they're cheap, for example, and often run if you try to face a dragon.

http://www.gamesas.com/user/700508-daggerfallftw/ said one of the things I said after: the chance of them being pussies sometimes. That would be awesome.

@Daggerfallftw

Love the "unpredictability", "F That!" concept. Perhaps % chance is reduced based on the loyalty concept discussed earlier.

Currently they die (only if you're the killer will they go into bleedout instead, kind-of and anti-fratricide. There is a global var you can set so they will always re-spawn if you like.

They will regen health slowly in combat, and faster when not in combat, much like the player. So you don't have to heal them after battle, but you may need to during battle.

Perhaps I need some sort of indicator that they are getting low on health, so you have a chance to save them with a heal-spell.

*Imagines wacky inflatable flailing arm tube man animation when that procs*

lol

Make risk a factor in contract agreements, then refer to their health for how much "Risk" they have taken.. and perhaps bail out. I really like the idea. I wonder if that would be playable. It appears there is much that can be done to improve this mod.

A potentially essential mod indeed for me. Playing with PISE and Wars on master can use another element like this.

Love reading stuff like this. Thanks for that!

I will "special thanks" you guys if I can implement these great ideas!

There's also the reverse--if you score a lot of great loot, they might decide to try to kill you and take the loot for themselves. Or maybe you could persuade them to take a percentage of the loot, or intimidate them to back down. It'd be up to the OP: are all these mercenaries honorable, or could there be a random chance that a mercenary would be dishonorable?

It feels like you could make this mod as complex as you wanted to.

I can imagine that each time a mercenary dies, the prices of the others could go up--because of scarcity, and because the player is clearly involved in dangerous business that requires more compensation.

The timing aspects could become complex as well. In some cases it can take a day just to travel to a location, so I'd think there would need to be a way to pre-pay for more than a day in advance. The other aspect is, these people don't have watches, so while the game can tell exact time, I'm not sure they should just demand more money the instant 24 hours is reached. Especially if you're exploring underground, how would the merc know what time it is? So maybe they'd stick it out with you, until you reach an exterior cell. Or maybe, when you get close to the time they're due to quit, you generate a random number, and have them ask for payment after that many number of extra minutes...maybe a little before the exact time, and maybe a little after, to add more of that element of unpredictability.

Mercenaries could also be a faction, within which you would have a reputation based on how responsible you are with paying them, and/or how many of your mercs come back alive. (How well you treat them.) Instead of being unlimited, I think there should at least be a limited source, replenished over time in regions. There could also be a 'put it on my tab' feature for the highest reputation possible, where you could pay off some of the bill over time. Lowest rep gets you increased prices all up front. Mid range would be half now half afterwards sort of thing, with the worst possible reputation causing the whole faction to be hostile towards you, even seeking you out at certain times.

Just some more brainstorming~

The risk thing: Thinking again about it, I bet yes, it would be playable. Linking the "contract for the job" thing with the quests would be cool, but hardly ever I do a quest without interruption, so I think that would make a way for players to contract mercs forever paying a fix price. Like, I could hire a merc with Deadly Risk involved (so he wouldn't run away unless he's not honorable) and don't do the quest, he'd keep following me until the quest was done and I already payed him. Programming them to think "oh, it's been a long time, I should be home already, this guy is making a fool outta me, I'll go now" would be difficult I think, and unnecessary since the "contract for the job" linked with "X days" could work just as great and without much trouble for the modder.


I gave an idea close to that on Steam Workshop. To make a Mercenaries Guild, placed all around Skyrim. With specifics skills for each Merc type (according to their location). A Mage Merc office in Winterhold, for example. An Argonian Merc officer, with well armored argonian dudes (since they're known for their accounting, they would have the coin to purchase nice armor, and they would be much more expansive). Making it like they would chase you depending on your rep with them is nice too.



I liked the timing idea on their demanding. But let's be more clear here: I was thinking about two kinds of contracts.
1. Contract for the Job - you get to choose X days and the risk of the job (here you could do the "hey guy, stay around X more days" with a persuade dialogue when their time to quit is close, like said in the quote), the price would be made from that, and would not have a daily cost, since it's already arranged to be X days.
2. Normal contract - pretty much like it is now. you pay the price, but would add the daily cost.