A Mount&Blade thread

[Rehab]

Been playing Warband for a good bit, been more absorbing to grind than most games, I think it's safe to say. Since I know at least a couple of you have a good deal more experience playing than I do, I figured I'd ask you guys some questions.

I've got my army to a little over 100 strong and mostly fully trained, roughly half heavy cavalry with a little more Mamluke than Knight, 20%ish Huscarl, about 15% and growing ranged (of that, mostly Sarranid, like 3 Vaegir and a few growing Rhodok Crossbows on Integrity's suggestion), and about 10% Khergit lancers and horse archers. Been kinda stealing this "build," albeit with little shield focus and more horse archery, having started out with no idea what I was doing.

Been playing a lady with her eyes set on the Empress achievement the Golden Throne, and having heard they get kind of a hard time getting adequate respect ingame, I've seen fit to have her grind money and renown on bandits, tournaments and lord rescuing, perhaps a bit longer than strictly necessary. Currently up to 1061 renown, 24 right to rule and 60 honor. I'm still independent of any nation, mostly because I want to RP it up and create my own faction so I can have my character marry Bunduk. her dad was a guardsman and she hates bandits and nobles, long story

The problem is that after having basically grinded to having at least a statistically sound character (I assume/hope), I've kinda gotten into a grey area, at least half in a diplomatic sense. Integ has suggested going for a relatively isolated Khergit place to start with, which makes sense to me as I hear they're not really great at sieges on offense or defense, and in other timelines I've been able to take their parties in straight fights relatively easily. Even if that bit works, though, I'm both inexperienced at siegecraft and unsure how the other nations will react. I've heard of them ganging up on people that struck out on their own who had more than twice my Right to Rule, and I think I've basically maxed out the amount of it I'm going to get from companions, assuming I can only send each hero out as emissary once.

So, actual question time:

-About how much right to rule is enough to not have everybody wanting me dead all at once after I rebel? In relation, roughly how much (more) should I butter up the nobles/factions beforehand? Also, can I get right to rule by completing a town's "make peace" quest, even if I'm not part of a faction?

-I assume/hope my army is big/effective enough to win most fights, as in other saves I've taken out friggin King Swad whatsisface with less, but am I correct on that? More importantly, is my army's "build" versatile enough to do everything well enough given the right strategy, and do I have a decent chance of enduring well enough to not have to go around the map building up my army again if I take some losses?

-I've seen some uncertainty about whether the Sarranids or the Swadians have the best heavy cav, and relatively a lot concerning whether the Vaegirs, the Rhodoks or the Sarranids have the best ranged, and having done relatively little comparison I'm not sure myself. From my cursory stat examinations, it seems like the Mamlukes would be a mite more mobile than the Knights but a mite less durable or heavy hitting, and like the Vaegirs would be the fastest/most accurate pure archers, but the Sarranids would fare better as the enemy closes the distance. I don't actually have much hands-on experience with crossbows, but I can at least be assured that the Rhodoks pack a punch and are pretty durable. Can any of you guys help me get how it all adds up ingame, and/or give me your thoughts on winning combinations?

-Sieges. In particular. How does this shit work? Right now I've got "keep my army back, kite their ranged and whittle down their numbers, retreating as necessary," which doesn't sound too bad, but I get the feeling my character and army buildup (got a sword of war, war bow, kite shield, champion hunter (which basically cost my soul don't think I've forgotten you big punk) and brigandine equipped, for the record) haven't exactly been geared towards siegin' as much as dominance of the open plains. Am I gonna need another army for that or something?

If it makes much of a difference, hell has kinda already broken loose between the nations, and the Rhodoks have managed to take all the Swadian territory except one last little castle (yet somehow have lost Yalen to the Nords from all the way across the map? fuck those guys are scary), and the Sarranids have taken Halmar and Narra from the Khergits, with a lot of other fighting having gone down to not much effect in the meantime between them all. The Khergit castle nearish the Bariyye area in the southeast is looking like an option to start with, but I'm having a hard time finding peace quests or relatives to free in the meantime.

Edited December 2, 2012 by Rehab

[Integrity]

I always cheese sieges with a pile of piles of bolts and a siege crossbow. :(

[Shin]

Yo, I used to play quite a bit of Warband. I'd recommend crossbows for sieges, and the Rhodok Crossbowmen for your archers, those guys are scary.

[Rehab]

I think I might be set for ranged myself, as I've spent way too much time grinding my archery up to like 300 something I don't even remember any more, and I can generally hit stuff, but I'll definitely keep that in mind, danke.

[Rehab]

Oh yeah, how does the whole multiplayer thing work? Do I get to put a bunch of points into a new MP character, transfer mine, or use a stock build?

[Kramy]

High five for playing Warband :D

Before continuing playing on your save, I would highly recommend you to download the Diplomacy mod. It adds a lot more features, well, diplomacy-wise and can be quite useful once you start your own kingdom.

As for your questions:

- I'm not sure how much right of rule you need but I do know that you need a lot in order to not be hated by the other factions. One easy way to gain right of rule is sending your companions on missions. Once you get enough, just attack a faction and take one of their castles/towns and you'll set up your faction. That's all I know about creating your own kingdom... never really explored it that much ^_^;

- Your army seems good enough, a little mixture of both. I usually role out for Vaegirs archers, Nords Infantry and Swadian knights as they are the best of the best troops in vanilla Warband and don't bother with the rest. Though Heavy cav is pretty broken in vanilla Warband...

- In general, Swadians have the best heavy cav, Vaegirs have the best archers, and Nords have best infantry. The Sarranids troops are more balanced than the other factions. Rhodoks are alright. They are much better at defending castles than on the field (unless it's against cav). Khergit's is meh for me. They have horse archers and are all mounted but once their horse is taken down, their dead meat. In addition, they are terrible in sieges.

- For sieges, I usually have my archers stay on the ground while both infantry and cavalry charge up the ladder/siege tower. I usually stay with the archers and snipe enemy archers with my bow. Once I take the ledge, I would be my archers up and have them continue to support my infantry and cavalry. On what troops to bring to sieges, I highly recommend taking either Rhodok Sergent or Nord Huskarls as your main infantry unit while you have a bunch of archers (preferably Vaegirs archers) backing them up. Seiges aren't all that hard in vanilla warband... *shrugs*

LOL, as usual, the Swadians are getting butt kicked hard by Rhodoks.

[Rehab]

Thanks for the advice, dude, sounds solid. Yeah, I've heard people say Diplomacy basically makes everything better. I'll download it soon, I hope.

[Shin]

Multiplayer is deathmatch or a siege, no campaign elements. You do however buy kit on each of your lives, the better you do, the more you can afford.

[Kramy]

In mutliplayer, the character you create is just a character. You don't gain stats or new weapons. As shin said, you buy gear in battle.

If you do want some campaign element in mutliplayer, get the CRPG mod.

[Rehab]

Right on, thanks again.

[Rehab]

Uh, have any of you guys ever broken a lord out of jail, only for him to take a swing at you as you got out of the dungeon? I've gotten this twice now, and the first time I just reloaded to the point before I got him out and camped for a while, and eventually when I tried again he was cool, but the second time now I haven't been so lucky, yet.

>not playing iron man yeah yeah I know

[Gone2Ground]

- Diplomacy is awesome and you should get it

- I prefer Swadian cavalry as the initial lance charge from their Knights normally defeats wave 1 of whatever you are fighting. At which point you give the follow me order, restructure your charge line and go again.

- You can only send out each companion once. However, you can get additional Right to Rule by joining a faction, getting territories and getting hitched. I'd reccomend joining a faction FAR AWAY from wherever you are going to be setting up your nation, as that way the animoisity won't be as catastrophic once you leave.

- Sieges...sieges. I like to have a back-up army of Rhodok Sharpshooters and Huscarls. To be honest, if you have 20-30 Huscarls with decent range support, you can take down any castle on the map, although towns will require more troops.

- I think it's possible if your relationship with the lord is shit

Edited December 5, 2012 by Gone2Ground

[Integrity]

Uh, have any of you guys ever broken a lord out of jail, only for him to take a swing at you as you got out of the dungeon? I've gotten this twice now, and the first time I just reloaded to the point before I got him out and camped for a while, and eventually when I tried again he was cool, but the second time now I haven't been so lucky, yet.

>not playing iron man yeah yeah I know

I play IRONMAN and I still rage alt-f4 and revert to an autosave when stuff like this happens. It lets me feel smug about playing IRONMAN without the nasty things like consequences :D

[Hystrix]

Napoleonic Wars is where the multiplayer is at, guys.

[Gone2Ground]

Yeah, NW is probably the best multiplayer in the series.

[Kramy]

I wish I can play multiplayer :( Each time I connect, I play for a few minutes but then my connection drops... You guys know anyway to fix this?

[Gone2Ground]

Um, find a server with better ping? Or with less assholes who boot you?

Either way, you lot should totally get the 1257 mod. It recreats Europe, East Asia, North Africa and the Middle East as they were in the year 1257. It also has new features, revamped units, an installed Diplomacy module, a formation command (Shield Wall, Wedge, etc.), a minimap for battles, improved sound, about twenty different kingdoms, leave your kingdom to go join a crusade for a few months, start-with-a-fief mode, a different way of recruiting, degrading weapons, etc.

Basically, it's everything that M&BII will probably turn out to be later. But in Warband. Be warned, the download is about a gig, gig-and-a-half. Small modthis ain't.

[Kramy]

Sounds nifty, will try

[Constable Reggie]

I've been playing vanilla Warband for quite a while now, and I have a bit of a problem here. I'm at a point where I seceded from Vaegirs (douchebag king wouldn't give me enough territories that I singlehandedly took over, the asshole), and I've got a sizable territory, pretty much equal to any kingdom. Khanate and Nords are all but wiped out, but every over nation constantly declares war on me. First was Vaegirs, which I eventually managed to break a truce with. Immediately after, Sarranid declares war, which I'm able to repel. Right after, both Swadia AND Rhodoks declare war, and the Vaegir's treaty expired, which I'm sure they'll eventually take advantage of. All this time I'm on the defensive, I'm unable to successfully conquer any other territories, and I've got no fucking clue what my lieutenants are really doing. I've been trying to make truces with other kingdoms, but they constantly decline. Any advice? I'm currently at an indefinite break from the damn game, so King Uther's, ruler of the Kingdom of Ostia, fate is unknown at the moment.

[Parrhesia]

If you have a castle in Rhodok lands, get to know the local villages. And by 'get to know' I mean 'train up about four hundred Rhodok Crossbowmen a couple ranks.' It works wonders. They're shit, but ultimately still Rhodok crossbowmen.

And Bunduk is objectively the best companion. Approval met.

[Constable Reggie]

Unfortunately, Rhodoks is the farthest from my kingdom (which basically replaced Khergit's location), and with the constant invasions that I personally have to fend off, cause I have no fucking clue what my subordinates exactly do (yipee go raid some small villages some more while they're invading our capital), so I'm not too sure I'd be able to do that safely. My current army and reserve is mostly filled with random shit from everywhere, with a majority probably being Vaegir horsemen/infantry and Swadian horsemen.

[Kramy]

I remeber once how I got absolutely decimated by those crossbowman when I tried to siege a Rhodok Castle...