Using Barracks structures with armor and weapon racks normal Guards will be automatically generated and replenished by the villages spare population. Useful for people who often forget to check on their nearby villages (like me). Additionally workstations for Medics and Metalworkers could be added to potentially reduce the chances of mod conflicts.
Meanwhile using emeralds and paper lets you make Unsigned Mercenary Contracts, which can be used on Nitwits to turn them into Mercenaries that automatically trust you. Possibly giving back unique Signed Contracts (with randomly generated names) that can be used to pick up or summon your Mercs, or stored in a Mercenary Standard item (soulbound enchantable) or a Guildhall block to specify if they always follow you or protect a location.
Additional ideas for a Standard are allowing you to change the appearance of assigned Mercs with banners, or slot in specially crafted items (with configurable decay) to give you and your Mercs buffs when held in your main or offhand (or both for two different squads!).
Additional idea for a Guildhall are making them a rare village structure with existing Mercs and contracts you can yoink. Maybe even have a slot for a Standard that always spawns (And could be a Unique Standard with a permanent rare effect!), and can be replaced with a special Standard to buff garrisoned Mercs.
Unsure how to handle dead Mercs or lost contracts with unique contracts enabled. Maybe Mercs send a death signal that causes their contract to expire on update? Or maybe you can revive dead Mercs with their contract somehow. And if a contract despawns or burns the Merc will turn to banditry on update (amusing idea of doing that on purpose to make gladiatorial brawls). If you just lose the contract in your storage system that's kinda on you (the player) to deal with, while they wander around doing practically nothing at your expense, perhaps requiring you use a new Unsigned Contract that makes the old one expire on update if you just can't find it.
I kinda got inspired and lost track of things a bit.
Edit: Totally reasonable to just cut out the whole Mercenaries part too, maybe a bit too much.
Using Barracks structures with armor and weapon racks normal Guards will be automatically generated and replenished by the villages spare population. Useful for people who often forget to check on their nearby villages (like me). Additionally workstations for Medics and Metalworkers could be added to potentially reduce the chances of mod conflicts.
Meanwhile using emeralds and paper lets you make Unsigned Mercenary Contracts, which can be used on Nitwits to turn them into Mercenaries that automatically trust you. Possibly giving back unique Signed Contracts (with randomly generated names) that can be used to pick up or summon your Mercs, or stored in a Mercenary Standard item (soulbound enchantable) or a Guildhall block to specify if they always follow you or protect a location.
Additional ideas for a Standard are allowing you to change the appearance of assigned Mercs with banners, or slot in specially crafted items (with configurable decay) to give you and your Mercs buffs when held in your main or offhand (or both for two different squads!).
Additional idea for a Guildhall are making them a rare village structure with existing Mercs and contracts you can yoink. Maybe even have a slot for a Standard that always spawns (And could be a Unique Standard with a permanent rare effect!), and can be replaced with a special Standard to buff garrisoned Mercs.
Unsure how to handle dead Mercs or lost contracts with unique contracts enabled. Maybe Mercs send a death signal that causes their contract to expire on update? Or maybe you can revive dead Mercs with their contract somehow. And if a contract despawns or burns the Merc will turn to banditry on update (amusing idea of doing that on purpose to make gladiatorial brawls). If you just lose the contract in your storage system that's kinda on you (the player) to deal with, while they wander around doing practically nothing at your expense, perhaps requiring you use a new Unsigned Contract that makes the old one expire on update if you just can't find it.
I kinda got inspired and lost track of things a bit. Edit: Totally reasonable to just cut out the whole Mercenaries part too, maybe a bit too much.