Mercenary

**In-game description:**
*"When a mercenary crosses your path, there's only one thing that can save your life: offer him more money than he can get by killing you. If you gain the favor of the mercenaries, you will be able to combine the power of all races at once."*
## The Mercenary Faction

The Mercenaries were implemented in the After Life expansion (v1.3), and differ from the other factions: Unlocked at R3, they are available in all alignments, and can combine the power of all the other unlocked factions by letting you choose 2 spells and 3x4 faction upgrades. This enables you to create powerful cross-faction mercenary builds. However, this comes with the downside of high Faction Coin requirements, and initial gem requirement to reach E55 coins with unbonused alignment buildings only.

* **Alignment**: **Any**
* **Faction Spell**: **Custom** (depending on alignment)
* **Spell Upgrade**: see below
* **Heritage**: Increase the production of all buildings based on the highest amount of coins you gained in a single game.
*Formula:

f
l
o
o
r
(
5
∗
l
o
g
(
1
x
)
)

{\displaystyle floor(5 \* log(1 + x))}

  where x is your Coins Gained (Max) stat.*
* **Bloodline**: None - See Bloodstream
* **Challenge**: None
* **Unique Buildings**: *Good:* Mercenary Camp (from Knights Jousts)
*Evil:* Tyrant Garrison - (from Evil Fortresses)
*Neutral:* Freemason's Hall - (from Alchemist Labs)
* **Research**: R75
* **Faction Unlock Requirements**: R3+ see below

## Mercenary Tier Upgrades

The Tier upgrades enable to choose from the all the existing faction upgrades. These cost coins and Faction Coins. The FC type necessary depends on your selection: For a Fairy upgrade, it will cost Fairy coins; for Elven upgrade, it will cost Elven coins; and so forth.

### Tier 2 Upgrades

*Formula:

f
l
o
o
r
(
(

(
1
0.8
∗
x
)

−
1
)

/

2
)

{\displaystyle floor((\sqrt{(1 + 0.8 \* x)} - 1) / 2)}

*Formula: **Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "http://mathoid-facade/v1/":): {\displaystyle round(1.15 \* x^{0.85})%}**

f
l
o
o
r
(
10
∗
l
o
g
(
1

x

1.5

)
)

/

10

{\displaystyle floor(10 \* log(1 + x^{1.5})) / 10}

## Unlock Requirements

Unlocking the Mercenaries requires the third reincarnation, the following can be unlocked in different abdications.

* 1 Nod (1E60) Coins
* 100,000 of each Faction Coin

(Price increases with time, but is reset at Abdications.)

**Unlocking The Mercenaries:**

The cost of the "*Mercenary Tribute"* rises very quickly and gets reset at abdications. Aim for a run where you can quickly gain enough FCs to buy it before it gets too expensive. Do it when you have enough gems to afford ~100 or more excavations. Suggested faction to do this is Titans with at least 1 No (1E30) gems - *and make save files before in case you want to start over and get your excavations back.*

> *Coin* *Formula:
>
>
>
> 1
> e
> 60
> ∗
> (
> c
> e
> i
> l
> (
> 1
> +
> x
> )
>
> /
>
> 60
> )
>
> )
>
> 3.5
>
>
>
>
> {\displaystyle 1e60 \* (ceil (1+x)/60))^{3.5}}
>
>   where x is your playtime stat in seconds.*
>
> *FC* *Formula:
>
>
>
> 100000
> ∗
> (
> c
> e
> i
> l
> (
> (
> 1
> +
> x
> )
>
> /
>
> 60
> )
>
> )
>
> 0.5
>
>
>
>
> {\displaystyle 100000 \* (ceil((1 + x)/60))^{0.5}}
>
>   where x is your playtime stat in seconds.*
>
>

Once it is purchased, you have unlocked the mercenaries and their trade treaty, the "*Mercenary First Contact"*, will show up in all your future games, alongside other Faction Trade Treaties of the same alignment.

See also "Unlocking Mercenaries" in why\_amihere's guide.

Joining the Mercenaries for the first time will grant the *Mercenary Oath* Secret Trophy. (You will need at least 1 No (1E30) gems to do this, and to not join any other faction!)

## Unique Buildings

At R75, the buildings can be upgraded to a Unique Building depending on your chosen alignment, which are required for some research quests and upgrades.

* **Good:** Mercenary Camp - Upgraded from Knights Jousts
* **Evil:** Tyrant Garrison - Upgraded from Evil Fortresses
* **Neutral:** Freemason's Hall - Upgraded from Inns

## Mercenary Research

Upon reaching R75, the game advisor tells us that the Mercenary Lord himself has come to speak with you.

*"He is a man of uncomparable strength and influence... From what I heard, he wishes to task you with the retrieval of an Obsidian Shard, the legendary material of which Mercenary Blades are made."*

To gain access to Mercenary research, you will need the *Secrets of the Warriors* upgrade. This upgrade will appear once you have bought a unique Mercenary building and found the *Obsidian Shard* artifact.

## Other Upgrades

*Formula:

20

(
0.25
∗
x
)

{\displaystyle 20 ^{(0.25 \* x)}}

 (FC chance multiplier)*}*Formula:

(
(

2.20
x

)
−
1
)
∗
100

{\displaystyle ((2.20 ^x) - 1) \* 100}

 multiplicative (production multiplier)**where x is tier.*
*Formula:

y

(
1
0.2
∗

log

10

⁡
(
1
x
)
)

{\displaystyle y ^{(1 + 0.2 \* \log\_{10}(1 + x))}}

  where y is TC original power and x is amount of TC casts.*(Extra time from reap interests does apply to S50. S50 tax collections do increase reap interests.)
*Formula:

(
2.5
∗

x

2.5

)

{\displaystyle (2.5 \* x^{2.5})}

  where x is original Faction Coin chance.*

## See Also

* Faction Upgrades
* Faction Upgrades by Effect
* Merc Builds: tested combinations of spells and faction upgrades.
* Bloodstream

## Notes

* Divine Games had planned a kind of Mercenary Tax, payable at regular intervals in mana or gold. This was visible in the game code but wasn't implemented - *and hopefully, never will be!*

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The *Hellfire Blast* and *Lighting Strike* spells are based on aligned buildings. As such, they are only available when you have those buildings. Same goes for upgrades based on aligned items.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Every tier may only have one Dragon upgrade and no more.