Team Mercenary FAQ and Pricing Thread

[UnOrthOdOx]

Greetings to everyone.

The purpose of this thread is to provide a format for Team Mercenary to relay information to all teams that they know when we meet we are dealing with them as fairly as we do all teams. There is no information going to be posted here from in-game sources.

It is also a place for teams to provide input on the concept itself, and to ask questions on how things work. It is not the place to be complaining about a specific in game scenario.

I will also build a FAQ in this first post to address many of the questions that keep recurring.

PLEASE, we want your feedback.

Specific pricing will ALWAYS be subject to change, but I will post when it does

Pricing is ALWAYS subject to negotiation as well.

[UnOrthOdOx]

FAQ
Q When can we trade X?

A Before any contract for the use of our units can be signed, the following must occur:

Alphabet must be known for any deal involving an exchange of tech.

Currency must be known for any deal involving the exchange of gold.

Paper must be known for any deal involving the exchange of maps.

Additionally, if a deal involves the sale of units, an OPEN BORDER (Req. Writing) agreement must first be signed with the Mercenary Team.

There are no tech or border requirements for any deals involving the exchange of information/intelligence.

Team Mercenary Defense Statement

Team Mercenary reserves the right to seek whatever payment we deem adequate for acts of war against Team Mercenary.

Acts of War include entering of Mercenary Territory without permission, attacking Team Mercenary Units not on contract, failure to make payment within a reasonable time, failure to make a reasonable attempt to return rented units that for game mechanics purposes needed to be gifted, or Hiring of Team Merc units for the express purpose of placing them in a position to be killed by your own units. There may be things I am forgetting, so this may get editted.

Team Mercenary Unit Naming Policy

Team Mercenary agrees to rename all rented units thus:

Unit Name (Team Hiring units name or abbreviation)

Examples:
Infantry (AC)
Cannon (Vox)

In the event a team wished to remain anonymous, naming will be thus:

Unit Name (Hired)

Example:
Infantry (Hired)

This will clearly identify to teams which units of Team Merc have been hired, and thus will not count as an act of war if attacked. It also provides a clear indication of who is hiring. Unless, of course, the team pays for anonymity.

Team Mercenary Standard Pricing

H = Hammers
G = Gold
B = Beakers

Rented units can be asked to do anything they would normally be allowed to.

Units will be rented in 10 turn intervals. Cost of renting a unit will be:

G = H/2

Price is due on the turn unit arrives at predetermined square, and the 10 turns begins also on this turn.

A refund will be given for any units that are returned safely to Team Mercenary at the following rate:

G = H/4

In the event of a tech for rental trade, Techs will be valued by the following format:

1B = 1G

Price for outright purchase of a unit will be:

G = 2*H

This will be due when unit is gifted to purchasing team.

At this time this is a rough draft and we are seeking input. Too expensive? Cheap? You got a better format?

Contract Options

Contract options can be agreed to prior to delivery, and will be negotiated on a case by case basis.

Some examples of contract options include:

Experience Refund Clause
Specific Upgrade Clause
Confidentiality Clause

This will allow more flexibility to allow each contract to suit clients needs, while maintaining the base contract structure.

Keep in mind we are alway open to negotiation and will consider alternative forms of payment.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Ok, open to input for now.

[Krill]

what about buying workers and settlers form you? I take it that it costs 120 gold for a worker and 200 gold for the settler?

[UnOrthOdOx]

That would be right.

That does not mean we would agree to it just because you have 200 gold and we have a settler, however. Team Merc comes first. Same with all units.

[Krill]

Good good. I look forward to doing business with you

[Addled Platypus]

and if the unit is returned with a promotion?

[E_T]

Now, say that you wanted to rent a worker, but the tasks that you wanted him to do takes 12 turns to complete before the Worker Unit Control was returned to Team Merc. Would you prorate the 2 turns or would you charge the full 10 additional turns??

Another question, does the rental of Mil Units allow for some possible picking and chosing of promotions that that unit might have? If a Rented Mil Unit has experiance added, while under contract, what is the proceedure for promoting?? Will you have a list of preferences that you would rather have the unit promoted with, but will allow other promotion types. Maybe at a cost or discount when returned, depending on type and amount of promotion??

E_T

[UnOrthOdOx]

Originally posted by Platypus Rex
and if the unit is returned with a promotion?

The whole refund on return is based on that possibility. We do not charge more for promotions, nor will we pay more.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Originally posted by E_T
Now, say that you wanted to rent a worker, but the tasks that you wanted him to do takes 12 turns to complete before the Worker Unit Control was returned to Team Merc. Would you prorate the 2 turns or would you charge the full 10 additional turns??

We would be open to the possibility of prorated work on all units.

Another question, does the rental of Mil Units allow for some possible picking and chosing of promotions that that unit might have?

To a limited extent. We will be able to provide you a list of possibilities on a case by case basis.

If a Rented Mil Unit has experiance added, while under contract, what is the proceedure for promoting?? Will you have a list of preferences that you would rather have the unit promoted with, but will allow other promotion types. Maybe at a cost or discount when returned, depending on type and amount of promotion??

Promotions will be at the discression of Team Mercenary except on those rare instances where a Merc unit needs to be gifted to get around game mechanics. We would be open to suggestions on what promotions you feel are most needed, but it will be Team Mercenaries decision in the end.

No discount will be given for our units obtaining promotions while on contract to you.

[fed1943]

Hi, UnO.

Speaking just as an individual:

I really think the rental of workers, work boats or

missionaries is against the mercenary philosophie.

Mercenaries are military, not a man power organization.

About settlers, all the above aplies and rental of settlers

is just an euphemism, out of true; no client of yours will

want to rent a settler, but to buy it.

So, IMHO, only military units should be rent.

Best regards,

[Kloreep]

I think workers could certainly be rented out. Need some extra manpower after creating a new city, conquering some new land, or discovering an improvement-enabling tech? Hire some temps.

It is true, though, that due to their nature, settlers and missionaries will likely be buy-only.

[UnOrthOdOx]

FYI. In reference to the promotion questions:

Team Mercenary is now discussing the possibility of additional refunds for gained XP.

Of course, this also would include an additional fee for hiring experienced units as well.

[Mudhut]

My personal opinion is that it'd be worth factoring in experience (and promotions) into the pricing mechanisam. After all, a City Raider 3 swordsman is 75% more effective than a base swordsman. But you've left yourself plenty of room to negotiate anyway, so I'm sure you can handle that on a case by case basis.

If you wanted some consistency, what about an additional two gold per xp point bought, and a refund of one gold per each xp added?

So if a normal swordsman cost 30 gold (ie 60 hammers) one with 5 xp (and two promotions) would be 40 gold. This to me looks to be about right - I look at those differentials and think "yeah, that's pretty even -> getting a green swordsman at 30 or a twice-promoted one at 40 is a hard decision to make".

If said unit came back to you at end of hire period, it would bring back 15 gold (with no additional experience) up to a maximum of say 20 gold (if it had been promoted from 0 to 10 xp). That too looks about right - obviously Mercs have gained a lot of experience for their unit, but they had a lot of risk too. Or something like that.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Right. That's along the lines of what we're discussing.

It's more a question of who on the team wants to manage all that paperwork at this point.