- Location
- Washington
Yeah, that part I realize other people have said, just trying to add the thought of actively working toward making that mission exist into the conversation.
Mercenary Mage Quest: Asur Dogs of War in Warhammer Fantasy
- Thread starter Blackout
- Start date
- Fantasy
Blackout
Fed By Comments
- Location
- Who knows?
Too much variance to give a clear answer on. Depends on how much of the troll is ruined in the process of killing it, depends on how well you roll in preserving the materials, depends on the buyer, etc.
As long as you'd like. As mentioned in the update the Bullskeep is oversized for the Knights' current needs, so housing you is not really costing them much.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Interesting. I like the idea of proposing the authorities a Jaarpen-style raid, with more than one military force involved.
"Huh, seems complicated and expensive, the expedition may get eaten by the trolls. Would it be a good idea?"
"Of course. Uprooting a vast troll infestation from the region needs more forces than any single company, or Boyar, can muster. I was at Jaarpen, where an entire Norscan tribe with Chaos shamans and champions got turned into ashes; it is time the same happens to the trolls, too".
(oh, if only we had Flaming Sword of Rhuin. Too bad, we have Ghur and Fire elementals. And the next spells in line are Greater Fire Elemental and Earthblood)
We will see what else is going on, including the mysterious murders.
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So when I first mentioned byproducts, I was referring to contracts with outside forces.
Wouldn't it be a lot less of a problem if you could negotiate with people or human businesses or groups of people to harvest the byproducts that you consider valuable and then hire an outside harvesting team to follow you or set up a camp of sorts and slaughter and smoke them on site?
If the down payment is contingent on a share of the by-product revenue or selling it at a slightly lower price than the market price, you could hire them cheaply.
Alternatively, you could get other mercenary groups or hunter organizations to invest in and set up a camp near the hunting grounds where you process and slaughter the byproducts yourself.
Wouldn't it be a lot less of a problem if you could negotiate with people or human businesses or groups of people to harvest the byproducts that you consider valuable and then hire an outside harvesting team to follow you or set up a camp of sorts and slaughter and smoke them on site?
If the down payment is contingent on a share of the by-product revenue or selling it at a slightly lower price than the market price, you could hire them cheaply.
Alternatively, you could get other mercenary groups or hunter organizations to invest in and set up a camp near the hunting grounds where you process and slaughter the byproducts yourself.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The big issue here, and one reason this whole plan seems bad to me economically, is that there are no specific hunting grounds. The trolls are dispersed all over the place from what we heard, not really bunched up. Which makes hunting them...logistically problematic.
The point is that we don't do the slaughtering and smoking ourselves, but we do it as a kind of partnership or outsourcing to them, so I think we can address some of the concerns that other people have.
Of course, there would be issues with this, such as elven pride and possible price gouging due to lack of local knowledge, and the QM would have to roll the dice.
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Wouldn't it be possible to make it a mobile gig, rather than a permanent building or fixed item, and hire or organize a group of Sutlers, though not on a large scale?
Of course, there would be issues with this, such as elven pride and possible price gouging due to lack of local knowledge, and the QM would have to roll the dice.
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Wouldn't it be possible to make it a mobile gig, rather than a permanent building or fixed item, and hire or organize a group of Sutlers, though not on a large scale?
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I mean...you sort of need to butcher trolls right where you kill them, since part of the butchering is making sure they don't regenerate and get up and kill you. So...they'd need to travel right with us, which has big logistical issues.
But also, my main point is (and has basically always been) more that with them all over we need to travel a sizeable distance for every troll we kill, which makes the money we are paid per troll look a lot worse.
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Maybe, but the reason I bring this up is not just because the bounty for trolls is 5gc, but because I think there are other tangible and intangible benefits that can be earned apart from the bounty.
I can think of two off the top of my head
1.Selling the byproducts themselves
A normal human can't even kill 1 or 2 trolls in a group without being an expert, and that naturally means that the supply of byproducts is low, which means that the price of byproducts can be high, so the price of byproducts can be higher than the bounty for trolls.
2. tangible and intangible favors from hunting
I think the increased bounty means that either the situation has worsened or there are fewer or no groups willing to do the mission. This means that we can gain favor or goodwill from various groups or people if we do it, which will help us in the future gameplay.
For example, if we can outfit the Unblooded with Troll Leather Armor or Leather Brigandine Armor using Troll hides, will there be a bonus in the negotiation process or trade with tanneries and armorers?
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
The Unbloodied all already have steel mail, though just shirts. I'm not sure how much they need troll hide.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I am deeply unconvinced those benefits are worth enough to make up for the really large investment of time involved. It's not impossible, but it strikes me as really unlikely given what Blackout said about there being almost no market for troll-based goods (maybe Ogres for the meat and that's it), and I suspect we can get a lot more goodwill by actually solving problems than by acting as a band-aid by bounty hunting.
Mopman43
Mountain-Hermit of Nitpeak
- Location
- Vermont
Well, to be accurate, he did say that quality troll products would be valuable... just that the processing to make and deliver those products is rather difficult.
This is just my opinion, but I think that in order for the Unbloods to grow into the Sea Guard that we want them to be, they need to survive, and in order to do that, we need to increase their armor, and we can't just give them heavy armor like plate or scale armor, and I think that trollskin armor, which is currently relatively available and would be considered light armor, would be a significant increase.
Also, if possible, I thought it would be stronger than any iron armor if the trollskin could be used to make the inner square armor as well as the outer surface of the Brigandine.
I think it's translated weirdly in the translator, but I'm not sure.... ㅠㅠ
Please forgive me if it's weird and point out the weird parts.
I don't doubt we can do it. Could be good team bonding exercise in crafting some good troll leather kit for future troops. But opportunity cost is the most important reason not to if this would involve more actions.
Experimenting with a magical contraption that can give us infinite troll meat does excite me but the research we have done so far really points us towards creating some elemental-animal hybrid, mounts or otherwise.
Experimenting with a magical contraption that can give us infinite troll meat does excite me but the research we have done so far really points us towards creating some elemental-animal hybrid, mounts or otherwise.
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K von Carstein
Likes to go for a walk
- Location
- Belgium
- Pronouns
- He
We can absolutely do it, but we should not. It's just not practical, because it's too costly in both money and AP for a result that's very far from guaranteed. Just take a contract with a set amount of money proportional to our worth and reputation, that's much straightforward and easier.
How good are the troll leather as crafting material anyway for the sake of upgrading sea guards. The seaguard only plan has practically won and there are no unbloodied to upgrade.
It's really the infinite regen of troll meat that interests me. What would it take to make it controlled and predictable? Does fire kill off permanently the regenerative ability of the troll meat/body?
It's really the infinite regen of troll meat that interests me. What would it take to make it controlled and predictable? Does fire kill off permanently the regenerative ability of the troll meat/body?
See Guard already have Ithilmar, which is about as good as a material as you can get for Elves without getting Gromril or the special enchanted armor.
Isn't more defense a good thing, as long as it's not too much? If you're wearing a gambeson or other lining armor underneath, wouldn't replacing it with trollskin armor or crafting reduce your death rate a lot?
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Not really. Troll-skin would be a replacement for leather armor...a gambeson is more padding to go under metal armor, and it's the padding element that's important, not the toughness of the material. Anything that would go through metal would also easily go through troll-hide, I'm pretty sure.
K von Carstein
Likes to go for a walk
- Location
- Belgium
- Pronouns
- He
It's likely they already have an elf-made gambison under their armor. Replacing it with troll leather is unlikely to be that much better that it would be worth the hassle of getting it.
Imperious
Without the sun of my life
Having a supply of troll leather could be useful for any future green recruits we could try to recruit in a later recruiting round. I mentioned buying them shields in such a case, but being able to also get them better armor via what we got from our troll kills could be nice.
@Mopman43 Can you add my The Flamebearers to your "Approved DoWs" list?
Edit: Thanks, I feared that you missed them
Edit: Thanks, I feared that you missed them
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[X] Plan Small and Elite
-[X] 20 Lothern Sea Guard (400 GC; 1000 GC)
I like this plan because it's less likely to strain our relationship with the Order of the Bull via dropping half a hundred raw recruits into their keep. Which is going to be a consideration as we expand-how far can we push this hospitality before it ruins the relationship.
I do gotta say though, I was hoping to find Cav mercs. Best bet for the future is a highly mobile skirmish force with maybe some Shock Cav. Even the sword masters could take some lessons from the Order of the Bull for horseback great weapon fighting!
-[X] 20 Lothern Sea Guard (400 GC; 1000 GC)
I like this plan because it's less likely to strain our relationship with the Order of the Bull via dropping half a hundred raw recruits into their keep. Which is going to be a consideration as we expand-how far can we push this hospitality before it ruins the relationship.
I do gotta say though, I was hoping to find Cav mercs. Best bet for the future is a highly mobile skirmish force with maybe some Shock Cav. Even the sword masters could take some lessons from the Order of the Bull for horseback great weapon fighting!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
For the record, this is not a concern. Our deal with the Order of the Bull applies only to ourselves and the Swordmasters. Other recruits will not stay there for free, and indeed are likely continuing to stay in Erengrad. If they did stay with the Order, it would be a separate deal that they'd be paying for.