Re: Merc Guild

----- Original Message -----
From: Laserlight <laserlight@quixnet.net>
To: <gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 12:44 AM
Subject: Re: Merc Guild

> > >It is assumed that you get what you pay for, and if you are paying
> a
> > >premium for mercenary services, then I would assume that they are
> covering
> > >basics like ammo, fuel and their own equipment.
> >
> > That supports my first point - you're paying a PREMIUM (your
> ords)  --
> > which means if you're too poor to buy a tank, you're probably too
> poor to
> > rent a merc tank and it's crew.
>
> This isn't necessarily the case, because:
> a) the labor may not be that expensive compared to what your citizens
> produce (a doctor making $100/hr will do better to pay the plumber
> $75/hr to install the sink)
> b) you may be able to buy/rent the tank, but not the assembly line and
> tooling to produce it etc
> c) the political situation may go sour quickly and you need those
> troops next month, not next year (I can learn to install a sink, but
> not tonight).
> d) there may be non-economic reasons (your religion forbids you to
> bear arms but you need self-defense forces, for example)

George Gush's old book on renaissance warfare says the French considered
1
merc to be worth 3 Frenchmen- 1 more for France, 1 less for the enemy
and a
Frenchman freed for other work. sounds like pretty much the Atkinsonian
view
of the French...

Rob Paul