Debts and disbandment of mercenaries
Let's gather here the material on the issue on the debts, warnings, disbandment of mercenaries, and what the players want.
Currently (v. 0.98, June 2023) the situation is as follows:
- the player is notified of the importance of keeping money in reserve and not falling into debt in at least two pop-out windows.
- once the treasury falls below 1000, he gets as warning.
- once he gets into debt (below 0, this may happen at the same time of falling below 1000), he gets a warning that the next turn the mercenaries will disband.
- if he stays in the debt, units with attribute mercenary_unit are deleted from his ranks.
Current problems:
- with the increase of budget, the money is swinging more (ie change of 1000 is more likely as it was before);
- the additional costs are not listed in the money calculations what makes the swings quite unpredictable;
- sudden significant events - a death of the FL with a new one being weak, or a spread of a plague closing trade, or a loss of a money-making city due to bribery - may push the player deep into the red, even if he kept surplus before. Disabandement of mercenaries makes it even more difficult to keep the owned settlements, prompting a chain-collapse of the kingdom.
The proposals:
(A) the system should stay as it is because this is a historical depiction of the dangers of any realm.
(B) introduce larger threshold for disbandment of the mercenaries (2000, 5000 or 10000).
(C) make the time the player can stay in red without his mercenaries desert longer (not 1 turn, but 5, 10?).