Wages

Wages are automatically paid to your troops every 168 hours (seven days) in every game up until Bannerlord, which pays wages daily. If you do not have enough money to pay, you will incur a debt and your party will lose morale. You will attempt to pay off any debt the next time you pay your troops, if you still don't have enough, your debt may increase and your party will lose morale again.

Mount&Blade/Warband wages

Base wages are paid by each troop's level, it is then further calculated depending on several factors.

1. Mercenaries are paid 150% of base wages
2. Mounted troops are paid 166% of base wages
3. Companions are paid 200% of base wages
4. Wages for troops in a garrison or resting are cut by 50%
5. Every level of Leadership reduces wages by 5%

Note that mounted mercenaries receive both mounted wages and mercenary wages, making them even more expensive than a companion of the same level. Giving a companion a horse does not change their wages.

The following is a table of base wages up to level 60. Note that the Nord Huscarl and Swadian Knight are the highest-leveled normal troops in the game at level 28. This means only companion can reach the higher numbers. Theoretically, there is no level cap, but an overflow glitch occurs after level 62 and the experience required per level increases at an abnormally rapid rate after 59.

Base wages by troop level

Level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Base	0*	1	1	1	2	3	4	4	5	6
Level	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Base	7	9	10	11	12	14	16	17	19	21
Level	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Base	23	25	27	29	31	33	36	38	40	43
Level	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40
Base	46	49	51	54	57	60	64	67	70	73
Level	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50
Base	77	81	84	88	92	96	100	104	108	112
Level	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60
Base	116	121	125	129	134	139	144	148	153	158

* Wages cannot be 0, so all troops at level 1 would receive the minimum wage of 1.

Examples

The following tables are some examples of different troops at various levels comparing the factor of your Leadership skill.

Examples - click Expand to view

Troop Level Base Normal Troop Mercenary Mounted Mounted Merc Heroes Leadership Level 0 5 2 2 3 3 4 4 10 6 6 9 10 15 12 15 12 12 18 20 30 24 20 21 21 31 35 53 42 25 31 31 46 51 77 62 Troop Level Base Normal Troop Mercenary Mounted Mounted Merc Heroes Leadership Level 5 5 2 1 2 2 3 3 10 6 4 6 7 11 9 15 12 9 13 15 18 22 20 21 15 23 26 39 32 25 31 23 34 38 57 46 Troop Level Base Normal Troop Mercenary Mounted Mounted Merc Heroes Leadership Level 10 5 2 1 1 1 2 2 10 6 3 4 5 7 6 15 12 6 9 10 15 12 20 21 10 15 17 26 21 25 31 15 23 25 38 31

With Fire & Sword wages

In Mount&Blade: With Fire & Sword the weekly wage of each troop is calculated, with integer truncation in each step, in the following way:

1. Base wage:
   • for pretenders to the throne and the kidnapped girl: wage = 0
   • for Mercenary Camp troops: wage = max(1, troop_level + 4)
   • for other troops: wage = max(1, (troop_level + 3) * (troop_level + 3) / 20)
2. if the troop is mounted, adjust based on the faction:
   • Crimean Khanate: wage = wage * 5 / 4
   • another faction: wage = wage * 6 / 4
3. if it's a hero: wage = wage * 3
4. reduced by the player's Leadership skill: wage = wage * (100 - (2 * player_leadership)) / 100
5. if not the kidnapped girl, ensure minimum wage: wage = max(1, wage)
6. if the troop is in the player's party, adjust based on the game's difficulty:
   • Easy: wage = wage * 70 / 100
   • Moderate: wage = wage * 85 / 100
   • Hard: wage = wage

The weekly pay also depends on the following factors:

• 50% reduction for garrisoned troops (after adding up all the garrisoned troop wages)
• 50% reduction for periods you were resting in a Manor, in Towns or in Fortresses (checked every 6 hours)

You should note that Mercenary Camp troops only become cheaper than normal troops from level 18, which means that only mercenaries upgraded to elite are cheaper than regular troops.