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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Syrsuro" data-source="post: 4450005" data-attributes="member: 58162">Well, if that is the case the question really is: "How much would I have to pay a farmer to get him to stop working, let his family starve, and go let himself be impaled on the end of a professional soldier's spear." In which case the answer is: "You ain't got enough money." Any deal would have to either make them rich enough that they never have to work again or enough to provide for their famiilies if they die.  Of course, while you may find it difficult to hire the farmers out of the field, if you can convince them that your enemy is their enemy and that the risk of doing nothing outweighs the risk of fighting, perhaps you can inspire them to leave the fields and fight without paying them anything. But its probably going to have to be a personal appeal and simply tossing money at them isn't likely to work (imho). On the other hand, you might be able to hire some miners that way. Mining is miserable and, more importanly, dangerous work (why do you think so many countries used slaves or prisoners for the job). Miners know that they have a really good chance of dying in the mines anyway (although its still not as likely as dying on the battlefield), so an offer to make more money in a campaign than they would earn in the mines in a year might tempt some of them into risking their lives. Essentially, it would have to be a good enough offer to let them escape the mines. This is why promises of property in the conquered lands were so effective: Land ownership was beyond the reach of the average laborer and was the first step into self sufficiency. Carl</blockquote>

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