Update: Just completed Europe Huge on 5.15 in 15h, without using any powers (could’ve been a bit faster depending on the timing of my crafts for specified techs). Ran out of money to buy mercs at first, but the resource and money caches were sufficient for me to deplete all mercs except the Kirovsky merc camp (barely touched it). Got away with upgrading all hospitals twice (except for one, where the second upgrade cost W160+B, so I passed that up). Overall, really happy with the level :)

Just completed back to back runs on Hardend Far Land to check differences on 5.14 vs 5.15.

For reference, I have maxed out all useful AP advancements. Relevant Artifacts include Legendary Alloy Values, Epic Hospital Boost, Epic Merc Discount, Rare Army Cache Boost.

- Markets increased from 4 to 5.
- My profit from the first market was relatively similar in both 5.14 & 5.15. Didn't track it exactly. Overall I had plenty of money to work with, especially since a new market was added.
- Mercs accounted for 39.4% of the armies required to complete the level for both 5.14 & 5.15.
- Merc cost increased, but I still had way more than I needed to buy all of the Mercs. With the tech tree maxed and no artifact equipped, here are the 7 most expensive merc camps:
5.14 (5.03, 6.28, 6.81, 11, 15, 16, 17)
5.15 (6.86, 7.67, 9.90, 11, 16, 16, 19)
- Hospitals improved slightly from 34.3% to 35.0% of Armies required to finish the level.
- Hospital upgrade costs are mostly unchanged.
- Caches improved from 19.9 to 20.9% of required armies. My run on 5.14 was much cleaner since I was more familiar with it. I definitely used more army caches before getting the 50% tech boost on 5.15 for that boost.

TL;DR - Market profitability appears about the same, mercs are a bit more expensive but not enough to change gameplay from a late stage 4 perspective.

Edited 11/20/2021 21:24:06