Well i thought about it again and i hope now its more fleshed out:
You have your regular Stock Infantry Regiments which you can hire as noble/landowner from the populace. Like before they cost 1 Ducat to raise and 1 Manpower as well as 1 d/y Upkeep. They still have their 2 Slots for upgrades.
But for Experience the following applies:
They start out as Rank: Green units (-1 on own maneuvers per Green Regiment used in that Tactic, and +1 chance on fleeing on success of enemy Tactic Maneuver)
After 1 Battle survived : Bloodied units (no Bonus, no Mali)
After 3 Battles survived: Battle-hardened (+1 Strength)
After 4 Battles survived: Veterans (+1 Strength, Inspiring Perk (prevents Green regiments from Running and negates Effects on Maneuvers)
After 6 Battles survived: Elite (+1 Strength, Inspiring Perk, Loyality (cannot Flee), Last Stand (Cannot be Captured, instead Roll whether enemy Regiment gets destroyed too), Fear Inspiring (upon contact with enemy Forces below the Rank of Veteran-> Morale Roll)
Morale:
In Crucial Situations you roll for the Morale of Regiments which are involved in these for example:
an enemy achieves a successfull Maneuver (you roll for the Regiments who are influenced by it)
The Personal Guard of your General Falls ( roll for every Regiment in the vicinity)
Veterans and or Elites are killed (roll for surrounding Regiments)
your troops encounter fear inspiring Regiments (Roll for Regiments of Battle-Hardened and below)
it Rains (used as a modifier in this case (at the Battle of Avaricum the Celtic Warriors left their walls because it rained...and thus los tthe city))
Magic,Divine Intervention
use of Blackpoder Weapons
etc.
I hope with this i'm not making battles too complicated (although i fear i already do) but i think we need a Morale System and a Experience System. As far as i have seen we usually have about 100% Kill rate on the losing side...thats not only pretty much but ridiculous. If we take the Battle of Agincourt we have 25000 French soldiers and only 8000 Dead after the Battle, with 2200 Prisoners. That makes still a whopping 15000 deciding to flee the field. I think a Morale and Experience System allows even players with smaller armies and not the Ducats to raise 15 Regiments every season to stand agaisnt larger armies. At least in the first game i found it laughable that at several points some freshly raised green regimetns just took out the Personal guard who survived since the beginning of the Game...
now to my Mercenary Idea:
Northlander Mercenaries:
+1 Strength
This makes them Strength 2 Units (with Heavy and berserker that would bring them up to a whopping Strength 4 in attack)
Weylander Raiders Mercenaries:
+1 Strength
Raiding Specialists ( instead of a +4 undetected raid, on a +3 or +2)
Weylander Berserker Mercenaries:
Loyality/Last Stand
Fear Inspiring
Hatcuri Beast-Cavalry:
Fear Inspiring
Cavalry
Steppe Raiders:
Archers
Cavalry
And this is before they use up their Upgrade Slots, which is maing them quite powerful. However and here lies the interesting point also making them horribly expensive. This allows smaller Trading Kingdoms (which lack the Manpower to raise many troops) instead to raise few but effective Mercs. And traders wouldn't be confined only to trade but could also take part in power struggles and taking care of Competition ( I'm thinking here A Dance with Dragons ,Tyroshi and Slaver Cities). However on the other hand i would also confine the Mercs basically turning them into a guild. You could stay a roving Mercenary captain, raiding manpower as you go but without these special troopers or you could decide to be a Guild Company.
A Guild Company has a fixed base somewhere, which regulates the Size of your Mercenary Army. Following Example:
The Theocracy of Suul decides to buy the Lost Son Company. They Hire the player who is in control of them. He now can establish
similiar to a Trading Guild a Guild House from which to hire his Mercs and sell them out to the THeocracy for money...
i haven't fleshed that part really out but i guess those trader guys who like juggling with numbers know what i mean...