I'm glad Freelancer was discussed here, because I'm really enjoying it. Signed up with King Yaroglek who pretty much only fought with 2-1 odds or better, and just practiced my archery on live targets. None of the hassle of raising troops or finding enemies, just pay and loot and killing. I even kept a little diary of my character's thoughts on the trail (lots of inaccurate speculation about the state of the campaign, and some rationalization about burning villages). The kingdom's entirely at peace now, but the paycheck isn't good enough to sit around stomping bandits. It does feel cool to be an elite trooper, though. Even if the Vaegir Marksman equipment isn't particularly amazing (though it's a lot better than what I had).
Only problem is that I don't think *any* of that gave me renown. Several points of relation with a lot of lords, especially the King, but no renown. So now I'm slaughtering bandits with my companions for renown while doing village quests. Low point: getting captured by 2 archers after a very close battle. At least I escaped later the same day.
All the hazard-pay and loot for winning battles let me easily set up industries in three cities, which is nice steady income. Safer than carrying it around with me, since I'm not reloading on losses.