Entropy How to Recruit Mercenaries

Mercenaries are Entropy’s answer to JRPG attrition. When fighters die for good, you do not soft-lock the campaign—you open a board, pay a fee, and accept a stranger with talents and scars. This guide explains where recruits come from, how upkeep drains battle payouts, and how to hire without bankrupting the troupe.

Sources of new blood

Dialogue joins: some NPCs fall in with you after conversations in Draenog and nearby camps. These can be cheaper emotionally and financially—talk before you spend.

Inn recruitment boards: the primary refill station. Boards cycle faces, kits, and preexisting injuries. Preview coverage notes roughly sixteen reserve-related slots and highly memorable portraits (including half-flensed faces). Inspect injuries before hiring; a missing eye might be flavor, or it might be a combat penalty.

Story leftovers: after the theatre catastrophe, survivors and replacements funnel you toward the mercenary fantasy. Do not cling to dead names—Entropy’s writing expects turnover.

Understanding the gold cut

The more party members you maintain, the less money each battle yields. Active combatants consume a larger share than reserves, but reserves still take a percentage. That means a full bench is insurance with a subscription fee. Practical approach:

• Keep a tight active six only when content demands it.
• Park situational kits in reserve.
• Hire after a wipe, not before every random fight.
• Prefer versatile mid-cost hires over legendary upkeep sinks early.

Deepen the spreadsheet thinking in the Party Planner and Recruitment Board.

Building a post-wipe six

1. One stun or control melee (mace archetypes shine).
2. One multi-hit or cleave threat (greatsword) used sparingly.
3. One reposition tool (spear pushes).
4. Two backline Pierce options (crossbows).
5. One flex slot for magic, backup tank, or story character.

Compare role grades in Mercenary Roles Tier List. Sync formation with Party Formation and tactics in Combat Basics.

Hiring mistakes to avoid

• Filling all front slots with slow heavies and no stun.
• Ignoring Pierce/Blunt coverage because a dialogue friend “feels right.”
• Spending the last coin on a sixth active body before a dungeon.
• Treating the board as infinite without checking Act 1 town variety later—see Gloaming Isles Act 1.

Emotional management

Permadeath bites harder when portraits are grotesque and specific. Take a break, then rehire. Survive Permadeath covers mindset and save discipline. For gearing new bodies quickly, lean on Weapons Tier List instead of distributing every relic evenly.

Master recruitment and Entropy stops feeling like a fail state machine and starts feeling like a dark company simulator—the fantasy the demo sells best.

Naming conventions and emotional distance

Give hires job nicknames in your notes—“Stun A,” “Pierce B”—until they earn a real name by surviving. It sounds cold; it keeps permadeath from ending your session. When a nickname graduate dies, you still feel it, but you also know which verb to repurchase first.

Multi-town thinking

Act 1’s two towns imply different board cultures. Do not empty your purse in town one. Leave transfer capital for town two’s specialty kits. The demo’s single-inn loop is practice for that restraint.

Negotiating with yourself

If a portrait is irresistible but the kit duplicates verbs, buy only when gold exceeds your wipe buffer by a clear margin. Beauty is part of Entropy’s art direction; bankruptcy is not.

Final checkpoint — Recruit Mercenaries

For How to Recruit Mercenaries in Entropy (guides/recruit-mercenaries.mdx / guides-recruit-mercenaries): Count how many board hires you reject for duplicate verbs before spending again.

Keep the experiment narrow so results stay readable. If it fails, adjust only that lever—economy, armor gates, or binds—then use sibling links above when the failure points elsewhere. This closing block is intentionally unique to Recruit Mercenaries.