yes, plus AI should actually pay their mercs.
The payment should have various factors though, or at least one.
For example:
If the Village is lost, no defender is paid (no one left to pay). If the Village win, they're rewarded well based on either one or more factors.
However, given the economy in Strategus at the moment I really don't think people should earn
more than ~300 gold for a win.It would be weird if everyone is paid the same for a defense though, some might just have been wasting tickets.
A solution would be the old gold earning system, where kills in range = gold, just scale it depending on the amount of troops so no one is earning tons of golds with a 20k troops attacking. Others have already suggested that though, and it is not the best solution.
I personally like Plazek's idea best, the
Communist XP route. It should also ensure that people actually Vote-Ban those who waste tickets. It is a team effort to take a village or defend it, sharing everything would be the right way to go, at least for neutral villages.
Edit: Typo