Hello guys, I absolutely love the mod and I've invested several hours throughout the years on it. There is one thing I've always dreamed of being added though; the option of recruiting special troops outside of rescuing them as prisoners. I'm talking about troops like Standard Bearers, Captains of a faction, those kind of troops. One of the most fun playthroughs I've had was when I roleplayed as a Pelargir Marine and kept ambushing Umbar troops until we could siege the Corsair Camp, and the whole idea came to me after I managed to rescue a Captain of Pelargir from a raiding party. It was extremely fun following this captain around and making sure he stayed alive through the fights.
I understand the importance of keeping some troops really rare and restrictive (like the Guards of the Fountain for example), but I do wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to allow the recruitment of a handful of Captain troops once you meet certain conditions (ex: having a X number of elite faction troops and a high faction rank). The availability would still be greatly reduced, and maybee they could even cost renown, but the option would be there for those who wish to "complete" their troop set and roleplay a bit.
Cheers, hope I didn't bore you.