Dark, grab about 500 bandits, and just keep them around. Yes you may spend 10k gold a turn on troops but you should hopefully make 3 or 4 times that back from bandits pillaging gold.
For instance on one of my saves (oh that was another thing, it crashed for me a few versions ago when loading saves) I got 500 bandits hanging around.
Minor bandits pillage 94 gold
Bandits pillage all 254350 gold from the rebels this season.
^ THAT is why I like bandits hehe, that and I use them as cannon fodder. I just free the slaves and use the bandits in their place Works for me, I get a public opinion boost, and get to have my little pet army to get a nice stream of income.
Yeah the custom game thing was something I thought of for a while but didn't know how to put into words. I mean, obviously you've got the main game a the moment but I would love to see the custom game idea we're on about come into effect, of course it'd pull from those races troop trees. Plus, I'm always down for playing as golems or elves or...in one memorable instance, chickens. I'm telling you, I ran across a chicken independent nation and was so annoyed I couldn't ally with them. It'd solve my kingdom's food populations forever right...?
I just hire mercenaries based on how good they are...and I really....REALLY hate Old Kroll, he's kind of useless honestly, I usually ditch him as soon as I got a bit of gold stored up, and hire the best.
I ran into a volunteer last night when starting a save after I lost all my lands, he cost 0 to recruit and had 285 skill. Is that just the luck of who gets sent to me, or is that just the fact he's always meant to be a loyal subject?
Lastly....for those of you who watch GoT, I go full Jauffre. I.e. kill anyne I don't like, invade lands for the hell of it....actually, if anyone would ever doa GoT mod, I'll happily playtest it
Warning: Grumpy post above
Also on Linux natively
Jace's EA PGA Tour guide for blind golfers