Desicion time/Midgame advice

My character and assets:

Name: Ragna Råhard
Lvl: 29
32 int
14 surgery
6 Lea
1.7 K renown
~100 honor
0 RtR
270 000 monies

~150 Troops
Some 40 Rav Rangers, ~40 cavalry including companions, mainly Rogue Knights and Heretic Magni
Infantry is some Huscarls/Bladesmasters (Maybe 20 total), 20 Immortals, 30 Mortals and the rest is Bladesmen

I just finished the Elcarai quest, so I got that going for me, and am almost GM of the Immortals.

The question is, do I go for vassal play first, or try to go straight for the crown.

The Crown option:
I need more gems to get higher Leadership before I do it. Maybe some more renown as well. If I get 200 honor on the way, that will be nice too.
30 + RtR is also a must. From there, either Laria or Ethos. Probably Laria, as I'm friends with the Poiny Eared Devils. Getting married first is probably also a Good Idea. Especially if the spouse doesn't bring his fief (fallback position and troop storage device). Poinsbruk is probably also a valid option, as I can probably rely on Wolfbode to loot it.
It is still a bit early for the Crown option, I think, but I could probably do it. 


The Vassalage option:
I'm thinking either the Ravs or the D'shar. As they are the weakest factions, map balance would be improved. The D'shar is in the ****, the Orcs have taken all their stuff, Singal, Ishkoman, a couple of castles, etc. The advantage of this approach is more time (to gather RTR, Honor, Gems and Rogue Knights). I wouldn't know what fiefs to go for though. Maybe Ishkoman or Singal? I'd hate to have to siege Windholm though.

General advice and comments on my plan would be appriciated!

Going for vassal is easier, you can built high relations with Lords who you can recruit later on for your Kingdom.

Is Laria still under Sarleon control? You should join then a faction that goes to war frequently vs them (Ravenstern?), so that you can get it awarded to you at some point.

Whitestag Castle is also good as a starting fief, it is deep into Noldor territory so more free patrols and a Noldor Lord will scare off most enemy marshal forces.

Ideally you want to revolt as a vassal once you have 2 good walled fiefs under your control with 300-400 garrisons. Once you capture a 3rd one and you know that it will not be awarded it to you, start your Kingdom and proceed with your plans for world domination.

Starting your Kingdom from scratch with 150 units is not doable, even if unique spawns help you by sacking Poinsbruk or Laria and then you go and capture them. You can't defend those fiefs with 150 units and hiring a merc company to idle inside for an increased garrison is a bit expensive.

mainly Rogue Knights and Heretic Magni

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Important advice: Burn the heretics and get some proper troops!

Apart from that, I'd say make friends with all the villages of Ethos, then take it. The quartermaster can get you a couple hundred recruits per run, which is very helpful in the beginning, when you need numbers to counter siege forces and their battle advantage.

There are only 5 magni left, and I'm waitng for them to die honorably. They've been with me from the start, and have killed many a Twit of the Dawn.

@Shoshuro If I was gonna go for the crown, right away, I'd marry to have a sizeable garrison nearby. Then I'd start with probably 500 high tier troops, and weather the storm.
I don't need to keep them around for ever, and can pay for it in the short run.

I think I'm going for vassal though. Do you have any advice for getting the Fiefs i want (whitestag + Laria)? Also, suitable bachelors (I've never bothered with the whole marriage busniess before), any advice there?

I also want to weaken the Green Horde, but the Ravs are always at war with them, so I can stomp some Jarls at my leisure.

Oh you play a female character didn't notice, i recently married a Fierd Lord in my current game. He accepted at 17 relations.

To find who likes you, every time you talk them check what they say at the end of the conversation. The line you are looking for is "Farewell, my lady, I shall remain your most ardent admirer".

I proposed to him once he was awarded Seven Cross Keep and i regularly take from the garrison the high tier troops and also sell the prisoners

I usually take fiefs i like once i become popular as a Lord within my faction and the King offers me the Marshal position. From there if you field a good force you can pretty much take any fief you like and get it awarded it to you.

ps: heretic magni rule, i prefer them even from faction knights because they look badass.

So the way to go is accept pissant village, build relations and get marshaled?

ericmyrs said:

So the way to go is accept pissant village, build relations and get marshaled?

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Hehe, a village you have no relation with is pissant.

A 100 relation village is your best friend in pendor.
Even more so when you click the recruit option and this appears...15 Empire armored crossbowmen volunteer.....**** YEAH get in my army ya fools, time to shoot **** up.

Also consider trying to nab valorshield castle. It has almost as many Noldor nearby as Whitestag and if you befriend the jatu their 700+ size armies like to walk around it as well.

Start as vassal of Empire or Ravenstern. Then wait until war with Sarleon and take Valorshield/Whitestag Castle with request. King should accept. Then wait for the war to end and improve relations with Rav/Empire lords as a whole (king will not allow you to take more than one city/castle per war for yourself). In next war your target is Laria. And in the next Whitestag Castle. Let other lords to take all villages connected to your city and castles, you don't need them, and you will get them anyway when you rebel. King Gregory gave me (or rather, accepted my demands) these 3 fiefs while I was still his vassal. And then came war that is not happening too often - war between Ravenstern and Empire As Ravenstern take Ethos, as Empire take Poinsbruk. King most likely won't allow you to have so much cities and this is the time you should rebel. You will be at war with faction you rebelled against, while the other will leave you alone.

This works best as Ravenstern, because you build your safehouse on the other side of Jatu steppes and it will make things harder for Ravenstern to attack you.

Ah, I didn't mention one thing - be friend with Noldor Laria is not accidental place to start your own kingdom - friendly Noldors are patrolling whole area hunting everyone... but not us. If you have enemy that is too strong - just lure them into the forest searching for Noldor lords. Ithilandir saved my cities from sieges few times

This way I rebelled having 2 cities, 2 castles and in war with kingdom on the other side of the Jatu steppes (who knows how many lords were beaten by jatu warbands when they tried to get me  ). Noldors covered my back from the sieges, and time spent as vassal allowed me to upgrade these fiefs and be finacially independent.

Also - build enterprieses EVERYWHERE. It will always pay off in longer run, and will allow you to carry bigger army.

@ Khaine
Well, frankly that was my plan. Exactly that. Except befriending the Jatu. That is something I will never do.

Enterprises are already Check. I also got lucky, His Majesty awarded me Walden, which is fairly centrally located, and shouldn't be bothered by the Fierds too much.
I guess it is time to grind relations!

I also gotta act fast, as Some random count just got a 1k army from fighting Maltise. He was joined by all of Ravenstern after a feast. It was a massacre. We even had Oswald de Fleur and Gregory IV. There was 1.5 K prisoners to spread around. Sarleon better crack open the vaseline.

ericmyrs said:

@ Khaine
Well, frankly that was my plan. Exactly that. Except befriending the Jatu. That is something I will never do.

Enterprises are already Check. I also got lucky, His Majesty awarded me Walden, which is fairly centrally located, and shouldn't be bothered by the Fierds too much.
I guess it is time to grind relations!

I also gotta act fast, as Some random count just got a 1k army from fighting Maltise. He was joined by all of Ravenstern after a feast. It was a massacre. We even had Oswald de Fleur and Gregory IV. There was 1.5 K prisoners to spread around. Sarleon better crack open the vaseline.

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Befriending Jatu? I was talking about Noldor Jatu will attack anybody crossing through steppes, and that's what we want them to do. Also you REALLY want cities and castles near noldor forest to be yours. You know why? Because lords whom the villages will be given will constantly fight the Noldors... and bring prisoners to your castles I made about 250 honor this way (now I have around 500 at day 800).

Never start your kingdom in a castle; they just don't have enough income to provide the men you need to weather the first storm. Even castles like Almerra that are brutal to take just don't work. Always have at least one Town, and a decent garrison in that (It'll be tempting as **** when you've got those 200 men, but they aren't enough!)

My advice is to take Poinsbruk and start there, Rav lords have those brutal archers that are wicked to camp outside a castle in a siege (because you'll be stealing them all from King Gregalicious  ), and their towns can be held against just about anything with a decent garrison and you actually playing the battles (autocalc is a snub-nosed whore when you're against 3000 Orcs)

If you're playing a female just make sure to order your husband to join you and you can store a free garrison as large as you want.  It will give you one guaranteed to survive fief, though you can't run a CKO out of it since you're not the owner.

Edit: I've never actually survived without doing this.. I need to do a male play through and tough it out soon I guess.  I'm way to reliant on having my hundreds of hero adventures/honor troops stored for free until I need them.

oldark said:

If you're playing a female just make sure to order your husband to join you and you can store a free garrison as large as you want.  It will give you one guaranteed to survive fief, though you can't run a CKO out of it since you're not the owner.

Edit: I've never actually survived without doing this.. I need to do a male play through and tough it out soon I guess.  I'm way to reliant on having my hundreds of hero adventures/honor troops stored for free until I need them.

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It's tough. They say being a woman in Pendor is tough, but having some douchebag to store all your troops with doesn't seem that bad 

Something went wrong with my save. I had to fight Maltise again. I had better luck with the prisoners this time though.
I also had more luck, and found me a free Wolfbode. He only had 250 trooops, and at least 150 of them were low tier.
Thank you Wolfie for the elixir! This bumped me past 15 str, which opens up some options on the weapons and armor front!
My party is now maxed. To the max. 163/163 dudes and dudettes. I got me some Ravenstern Knights (I know they suck, but they just look so damn good),
and a refill of infantry.

Now I just need a spouse, and I'm set for Lording it up! Is there a list of Suitable Bachelors?
I couldn't find one.

ericmyrs said:

Something went wrong with my save. I had to fight Maltise again. I had better luck with the prisoners this time though.
I also had more luck, and found me a free Wolfbode. He only had 250 trooops, and at least 150 of them were low tier.
Thank you Wolfie for the elixir! This bumped me past 15 str, which opens up some options on the weapons and armor front!
My party is now maxed. To the max. 163/163 dudes and dudettes. I got me some Ravenstern Knights (I know they suck, but they just look so damn good),
and a refill of infantry.

Now I just need a spouse, and I'm set for Lording it up! Is there a list of Suitable Bachelors?
I couldn't find one.

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I suggest the Fierdsvain Jarl that gets the Vanskerry Jarls; those things are badass, and you get them for free from this bloke.

I don't think he likes me very much. I sort of targeted him in an earlier war.
In fact I think the Fierds pretty much all hate me, except the honorable ones.
I've been regularly wiping the floor with their faces, and have defeated them all, except Valdis.

ericmyrs said:

I don't think he likes me very much. I sort of targeted him in an earlier war.
In fact I think the Fierds pretty much all hate me, except the honorable ones.
I've been regularly wiping the floor with their faces, and have defeated them all, except Valdis.

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In that case, go through the list of Lords in the "notes" section of the game and look for ones without a wife (and preferably with a castle or town, but I know all of the starting lords that have towns are already taken. Sneaky-ass Devs)

So, I'm about to enter a game phase I've never actually made it into.
Are there any epic pittfalls and or irreversible stupid **** I can do so that I have to reroll?
I'd really like to avoid that. Having done so at least 3 times already (Rest in peace, Sir Arn, Sir Birger and Rakbjørg Hardaball).

ericmyrs said:

So, I'm about to enter a game phase I've never actually made it into.
Are there any epic pittfalls and or irreversible stupid **** I can do so that I have to reroll?
I'd really like to avoid that. Having done so at least 3 times already (Rest in peace, Sir Arn, Sir Birger and Rakbjørg Hardaball).

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Don't be impatient before you go it alone.

If you're playing as a freeload-off-my-husband type of person, it'll take longer because you can't send out the steward, but have a lot of troops in your starting town (I usually have 1000 mid-tier troops). This'll give you some troops to take out and fight with, as well as letting you weather the first ****-storm of lords that are pissed at you.

Of course, if you have a husband it's also easier, as not much will take a town off of 4000 Hero Adventurers

It's also a good move to make a break for it in a time of war, that way your faction will hopefully already be on a killing spree, or half-destroyed (If you're with a really poor faction)