Side thought, ok, so, what if we make the professional Mercs, the ones you buy (not the loner ones in the outlands) only accessable for the NWC. I know I was pretty accepting of letting them be accessed by both sides but here is my thinking:
1. I'll make hella more sense in the story line... I mean, yes, mercks fight for pay and all, but you dont see Al-Quieda paying off Blackwater (now "Xe" Inc.) employees to fight for them... I guess that is the model in my mind for these guys. Also, Executive Outcomes in Africa only fought for one side. I mean, thse guys are hired, but they stick to one side, this isnt going to become, at least I don't plan on it becoming, some sort of double crossing conspireicy deal.
2. It'll make the sinister aspect of the NWC more apparent from a story stand-point; they withdrawl forces only to save their own asses and then hire willing foreigners to fight for them on North American (I am referring to the continent
) soil (Oh, by the way, can we just call the formerly US military "Federal troops" or "The Federals" and the former US Gov. "Federalist". Just a thought... I am still tying other names). It'll also make tension and disagreement with NWC practices more apparent on the (former US) military side as well, as they could get into fights with the mercs, swap insults, try to "out-do" them in battle, or whatever.
The only way that I see mercks working on both sides is if we introduce 2 companies that the player/faction can utilize (one for NWC and one for Rebel). One would be a company inside some NWC country and the other will be base in a non NWC controlled country; both offering their assistance for pay, but sticking to that side. If yall wanna go that route too, that'd be cool too.
**Adding to this, I think that the use of Merc's will be a conflicted issue on both sides:
1) For the Rebels, some commanders may favor the use of Merc's to do the fighting. I imagine that these would be the commanders in the Southwest and Northeast Regions (the ones with racial tension in them) because they would be less cohesive, more black-sheep/outcast type groups of people who have sided with the Rebels only to save their own asses.They will use Merc's in combat for their skill and experience. These will be the groups who are less forgiving in their treatment of NWC/Federal troops. The commanders and fighters in Central and Southeast regions would be more cohesive and cooperative between themselves and be more effective at combating the NWC by working together (with out Merc's). They would be the groups more representing the "true" cause of the Rebellion, fighting for the freedom and sovereignty of themselves and combating the oppressive NWC regime. I imagine that though it may seem that the use of Merc's would be favored by the Northwest Rebels, because they are most reluctant on combating the NWC, I feel that them favoring the use of Merc's would betray the ...almost, but not quite, impartial attitude and indifference that they would show towards the NWC. Like, Merc's wouldn't be worth their time/money to pay to fight; they can hold their own but yet, they don't aggressively attack the NWC.
2) On the Federal (former US) side, some military commanders wouldn't care, being "the end justifies the means" types who just want the Rebels dead. There also would be others who hold more faith in their own troops and who would rather be done done with the NWC, but want the war to be over as soon as possible, so they side with the power of the NWC. There can be a mix match of both in each region as many military persons are from varying backgrounds and have different opinions of the matter (I mention this to emphasize the fact that I think many rebel fighters would be from the areas that they are fighting in, "stick close to their roots" types of people)
Mercenaries
OFFLINE
) soil (Oh, by the way, can we just call the formerly US military "Federal troops" or "The Federals" and the former US Gov. "Federalist". Just a thought... I am still tying other names). It'll also make tension and disagreement with NWC practices more apparent on the (former US) military side as well, as they could get into fights with the mercs, swap insults, try to "out-do" them in battle, or whatever.