| “ | Produces Mercenary units for Olive Oil after purchasing a Mercenary Contract. One contract can be purchased. Unlock another set of Mercenaries with +50% production speed by placing this building near a Trade Post. | ” |
| —Age of Empires IV description | ||
The Mercenary House is a unique military building available to the Byzantines in Age of Empires IV: The Sultans Ascend and can be built starting in the Feudal Age. It is used to train unique units of other civilizations.
Constructing a Mercenary House also generates 18 stone due to the Field Stones bonus.
Available technologies[]
- Mercenary contracts
Eastern Mercenary Contract- Western Mercenary Contract
- Silk Road Contract
- Veteran Contract - Upgrades Mercenaries to Veteran Mercenaries and unlocks new Mercenaries
- Elite Contract - Upgrades Veteran Mercenaries to Elite Mercenaries and unlocks new Mercenaries
Mercenary contracts[]
The Mercenary House gives the option to choose from a set of unique units. There are three unique units in each set, none of which belong to the same civilization. The mercenary units themselves cost Olive Oil to be trained.
Selecting the initial mercenary contract is free and takes 10 seconds to research, while the other ones can be researched for 100 olive oil and take 20 seconds. Veteran and Elite Contracts can also be researched at the Golden Horn Tower at 50% slower speed.
| Contract | Units unlocked | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 Feudal Age
|
 Veteran Contract
|
 Elite Contract
| |
 Eastern Mercenary Contract |
 Keshik →
|
 Veteran Keshik →
|
 Elite Keshik
|
 Ghulam →
|
 Elite Ghulam
| ||
 Tower Elephant
| |||
 Howdahs
| |||
 Western Mercenary Contract |
 Longbowman →
|
 Veteran Longbowman →
|
 Elite Longbowman
|
 Landsknecht →
|
 Elite Landsknecht
| ||
 Streltsy
| |||
 Silk Road Mercenary Contract |
 Javelin Thrower →
|
 Veteran Javelin Thrower →
|
 Elite Javelin Thrower
|
 Camel Rider →
|
 Elite Camel Rider
| ||
 Grenadier
| |||
Trade Posts[]
Building a Mercenary House near a Trade Post unlocks two more unique units. The Mercenaries always come in the same groups of two, with at least one available in the Feudal Age, and sometimes one that requires Veteran Contracts. The specific group of two available at each Trade Post on a map is determined randomly at the start of the match. Selecting the Trade Post will show what units it offers, and this can even be done through the Fog of War. Mercenaries unlocked from Trade Posts have -33% training time.
Each Trade Post can provide any of the following groups of mercenaries:
Mercenary units[]
Mercenary units have the same statistics as their standard counterparts, and can be upgraded to Veteran rank in the Castle Age and then to their Elite versions in the Imperial Age. Mercenary units are created in batches and are created much slower than their regular counterparts. They cost the same amount of Olive Oil to be trained as the sum total of their food, wood, and gold costs.
| Unit | Number |  Cost
|
Time | Cost/unit | Time/unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Royal Knight
|
2 | 460 | 80 | 230 | 40 |
 Camel Archer
|
2 | 440 | 80 | 220 | 40 |
 Camel Rider
|
2 | 480 | 73 | 240 | 36.5 |
 Ghulam
|
3 | 450 | 75 | 150 | 25 |
 Desert Raider
|
3 | 495 | 90 | 165 | 30 |
 Horse Archer
|
3 | 330 | 60 | 110 | 20 |
 Keshik
|
2 | 400 | 66 | 200 | 33 |
 Landsknecht
|
3 | 480 | 80 | 160 | 26.67 |
 Arbalétrier
|
4 | 440 | 80 | 110 | 20 |
| Grenadier
|
2 | 480 | 80 | 240 | 40 |
 Zhuge Nu
|
5 | 360 | 67 | 72 | 13.4 |
 Longbowman
|
5 | 520 | 75 | 104 | 15 |
 Mangudai
|
3 | 435 | 80 | 145 | 26.67 |
 Musofadi Warrior
|
5 | 360 | 68 | 72 | 13.6 |
 Sipahi
|
3 | 450 | 80 | 150 | 26.67 |
 Javelin Thrower
|
4 | 480 | 80 | 120 | 20 |
| Tower Elephant
|
1 | 1,000 | 130 | 1,000 | 130 |
 War Elephant
|
1 | 680 | 100 | 680 | 100 |
| Streltsy
|
3 | 720 | 90 | 240 | 30 |
Further statistics[]
| Technologies | |
|---|---|
 Hit points
|
 Court Architects (+30%)
|
| Aura and ability enhancements | |
|---|---|
| Damage resistance |   Praesidium (-5% per Cistern water level)
|
| Creation speed |  Conscriptio (+20% per Cistern water level)
|
| Research speed |  Dialecticus (+30% per Cistern water level)
|
Changelog[]
- Originally, selecting the initial mercenary contract cost 100 olive oil and took 20 seconds, just like the others. With update 10.0.576, it is now free and instant. With patch 10.1.48, it now takes 10 seconds.
- With update 13.0.4178, the cost of all neutral trade post mercenaries was reduced from between 8 to 20 Olive oil per unit depending on the mercenary (except for the War Elephant, which was reduced by 90).
Mercenary units[]
- Originally, Streltsy cost 540 olive oil. With patch 9.2.628, they cost 720 olive oil.
- Originally, Longbowmen cost 500 olive oil. With patch 12.1.2454, they cost 520 olive oil.
- Originally, Javelin Throwers cost 460 olive oil. With patch 12.1.2454, they cost 480 olive oil.
Trivia[]
- The Mercenary Keshik and Veteran/Elite Mercenary Zhuge Nu have slightly different models than their standard versions, with different helmets and different color stripes on the Keshik.
Gallery[]
