Mount & Blade questions

I bought Mount & Blade about 3 weeks ago, its quite addicting =D I just have a few general questions about the game.
(I am playing native, no mods)

1. I have read threads about how to get a castle, and they all say to have high renown and good relationship with the king. I am a vassal of Rhodocks, and have 100 relationship with King Graveth, and about 1200 renown. However I NEVER get a castle or city, even when I siege it entirely on my own.

2. I have thick plate armor, but I would like to have lordly plate armor. However, I have never seen anything above thick plate armor in any shop, where (if) can I find it? Also, a lordly winged great helm would be nice =D (plate armor + winged great helm looks awesome)

3. I once was in a vote to become marshal, however lost 9 to 10 =( However since then I have increased my renown and King relationship (900 and ~65 before, respectively), and got on everyones good side, even if only slightly (1 relationship or higher). However, since then, there has not been another vote for 3 game weeks. Is it normal for it to take this long?

4. The king previously gave be Fedner and another villiage (forgot the name, I don't give it much attention). I have heard this can affect your chance of being rewarded a castle or city. Is it possible to give a villiage to another lord?

5. What's the easiest way of making money? Currently I am raiding enemy villages, until I get a full inventory of 200+ denar items, and selling them to cities. Is this a good route to take? I have -100 relationship with all the Nord villages XD

6. My parties morale gets pretty low, unless I'm CONSTANTLY doing something interesting, fighting, raiding etc. This is hard on me, because I would like to do missions for other lords to increase my relationship with them, and I can't. On my party morale report, my party has -108 morale because of party size, and I can't change this, because I don't have a castle to garrison them.

7. I have a party of 112, which has about 75 mercenary calvary, 30 mercenary horsemen, and a few caravan guards. Does this make a good party? I know it's expensive (about 4000/week upkeep), but with raiding villages I can still keep them up and make a profit.

Zach1188 said:

1. I have read threads about how to get a castle, and they all say to have high renown and good relationship with the king. I am a vassal of Rhodocks, and have 100 relationship with King Graveth, and about 1200 renown. However I NEVER get a castle or city, even when I siege it entirely on my own.

Click to expand...

It's still fairly random, but you should have quite a good chance of getting one  with that stats you quote.

Zach1188 said:

2. I have thick plate armor, but I would like to have lordly plate armor. However, I have never seen anything above thick plate armor in any shop, where (if) can I find it? Also, a lordly winged great helm would be nice =D (plate armor + winged great helm looks awesome)

Click to expand...

Seems to be based on random chance and the cities prosperity. Lordly Plate does exist however.

Zach1188 said:

3. I once was in a vote to become marshal, however lost 9 to 10 =( However since then I have increased my renown and King relationship (900 and ~65 before, respectively), and got on everyones good side, even if only slightly (1 relationship or higher). However, since then, there has not been another vote for 3 game weeks. Is it normal for it to take this long?

Click to expand...

A vote takes place when the previous Marshal was defeated in battle.

Zach1188 said:

4. The king previously gave be Fedner and another villiage (forgot the name, I don't give it much attention). I have heard this can affect your chance of being rewarded a castle or city. Is it possible to give a villiage to another lord?

Click to expand...

It's not possible to give your village away once you've accepted it.

Zach1188 said:

5. What's the easiest way of making money? Currently I am raiding enemy villages, until I get a full inventory of 200+ denar items, and selling them to cities. Is this a good route to take? I have -100 relationship with all the Nord villages XD

Click to expand...

This is a fairly good way if you don't have complaining companions and you don't want to recruit Nord troops. But usually battles with enemy lords yield much better loot (though no food) as well as attacking Sea Raiders and other undesirables.

Zach1188 said:

6. My parties morale gets pretty low, unless I'm CONSTANTLY doing something interesting, fighting, raiding etc. This is hard on me, because I would like to do missions for other lords to increase my relationship with them, and I can't. On my party morale report, my party has -108 morale because of party size, and I can't change this, because I don't have a castle to garrison them.

Click to expand...

The only thing to do then is really to make sure your food is varied, not just one food type, but lots. Butter, honey, bread, apples, pork, dried meat, sausages. The variation adds more moral. Maybe cutting your men back would be an idea, as long as you're winning battles fiarly easily.

Zach1188 said:

7. I have a party of 112, which has about 75 mercenary calvary, 30 mercenary horsemen, and a few caravan guards. Does this make a good party? I know it's expensive (about 4000/week upkeep), but with raiding villages I can still keep them up and make a profit.

Click to expand...

As above, if you're winning battles you may want to cut back on them. If you plan to do lots of sieges it may be worthwhile adding in more archers.

there is a morale tweak available so you don't have to constantly fight when you reac 80+ army. I realyl hated that part. Because as soon as i wated a bit(i am talking about a day or two)  down goes the morale. and food didn't help much with that.

Zach1188 said:

7. I have a party of 112, which has about 75 mercenary calvary, 30 mercenary horsemen, and a few caravan guards. Does this make a good party? I know it's expensive (about 4000/week upkeep), but with raiding villages I can still keep them up and make a profit.

Click to expand...

You might want to gradually replace those Mercenary troops with regular faction troops, especially if you think it's starting to get expensive. Merc troops are always much more expensive than faction troops - after all, they are only in it for the money, not for the glory of their kingdom.

Well that was cool. There was another vote for marshal, and I won like 10 to 4 XD not sure what changed. So I collected about 6 lords, all swadian cities, and all but two swadian castles. I asked for Uxhal as a reward, and he FINALLY gave it to me Swadia was then practically destroyed, with only 3 armies and 2 castles, so I guess they decided to make peace with us (rhodocks) for whatever reason. Which, brings me to my next question;

Should I train an army of swadian knights instead of buying mercenary calvary? I chose mercenaries because they were level 25, as opposed to swadian knights which are level 24. But it appears that swadian knights have better equipment, and a far better (armor-wise) horse. And price isn't an issue for me, I made 30k in about 2 days (stealing cattle and selling fresh beef 500 denar each).

Also, can I, the kind, or the lords ever die of old age?

I'd say that Swadian Knights would have better equipment, but they'd take longer to train.

No, none of the lords (or you) can die in Native.

Orj said:

I'd say that Swadian Knights would have better equipment, but they'd take longer to train.

No, none of the lords (or you) can die in Native.

Click to expand...

Yeah, but I would imagine men at arms would be comparable to mercenary calvary? Even if slower. And then the upgrade to knights would be a bonus.

I just need to get about 80 relationship with a swadian village, the one that likes me the most has -6 XD

Zach1188 said:

Orj said:

I'd say that Swadian Knights would have better equipment, but they'd take longer to train.

No, none of the lords (or you) can die in Native.

Click to expand...

Yeah, but I would imagine men at arms would be comparable to mercenary calvary? Even if slower. And then the upgrade to knights would be a bonus.

I just need to get about 80 relationship with a swadian village, the one that likes me the most has -6 XD

Click to expand...

Ouch. Just get a positive relationship with some and start drafting recruits. And in the future, be a little more careful about sacking villages if you might end up wanting their help later.

1. I have read threads about how to get a castle, and they all say to have high renown and good relationship with the king. I am a vassal of Rhodocks, and have 100 relationship with King Graveth, and about 1200 renown. However I NEVER get a castle or city, even when I siege it entirely on my own.

Click to expand...

it depends on how many village, town or castles u already have
p.s. villages have 1 pt, castles have 2pts, towns have 3 or 4 pts i dont remember

any ways thing is that the ruler tries to balance these points amongst all the vassals if some vassal has less pts then u then the fief will go to him........................there is nothing u can do for this.

5. What's the easiest way of making money? Currently I am raiding enemy villages, until I get a full inventory of 200+ denar items, and selling them to cities. Is this a good route to take? I have -100 relationship with all the Nord villages XD

7. I have a party of 112, which has about 75 mercenary calvary, 30 mercenary horsemen, and a few caravan guards. Does this make a good party? I know it's expensive (about 4000/week upkeep), but with raiding villages I can still keep them up and make a profit.

Click to expand...

i guess u r doin good on money, however u can try trading too.
and mercenary are expensive then usual soldiers also they are weaker, so try to recruit from villages and then train them  to be greatest warriors

i guess i have full trained non mercenary soldiers of 112 ur total exp should be around 2200 + u will have better soldiers
also hero companions are very cheap ofcourse not as good as trained soldiers but they are good

Ya, i'm a khergit user and I prety much keep my army pure khergit lancers, but recently I drafted in some mercenaries to fill gaps do to Sanjar Khan. The prick asked me to follow him around, he kept getting into fight after fight and he carries around 200 troops. He kept picking big fights to, 150+enemies. My forces went from 50 to 32, most losses being lancers, annoying to train up ya know. They're almost as strong as swadian knights, but are cheaper and carry around archery gear. So as quick replacements I got mercenaries, they arent nearly as good man, replace them squick.

If you wanted mounted archers go to Khergit terrictory and raise recruits. Everything is mounted.

Also my first village had -30 on me. I had helped to take ismirala castle, but just before then I had looted/burned ismirala village. Then Sanjar gives me the village. GIANT kick in the balls to me lol.The village was still smoking when I got back to it.

you shouldve held your troops back while sanjar khans larger army did most of the work, that way your men could be used as reinforcements

Mat said:

you shouldve held your troops back while sanjar khans larger army did most of the work, that way your men could be used as reinforcements

Click to expand...

Thats what I do. Wait out of a big battle till theres about 30 enemies left then go in and finish them off.

http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mount%26Blade/Swadians

Knights are better than Merc Cavalry and they cost less. 

If you give yourself and your companions high trainer skill you can go from recruits to Knights in a week.  I have such good relations with some of my villages that they will give me 25 recruits at a time...

I never attack villages, never take lords prisoner, never attack caravans (although I charge them a safe passage fee).  I was at war with the Vaegirs for a long time and I have relationships with most of the lords of +50 or more.  When you let them go instead of taking them prisoner it helps a lot...

(and your honor rating goes up)

Na i capture them whenever I can so I can make more cash =]

argentfan said:

...lancers, annoying to train up ya know...

Click to expand...

I just got my first city, and I'm a Khergit loyalist. I don't find lancers at all annoying to train up. My city is Jelkala, and I have *lots* of "Trainer" in my companions. Everyone should keep it maxed out, because it's cumulative. If I recruit some "Tribesmen" they all get a promotion for XP on the first midnight they're in my party. If I take a circuit round the mountains, recruiting as I go, passing by my fief of Uhhun and pouncing on any bandit or deserter groups or Rhodockian lords' war parties I can catch, I have a dozen lancers in my party by the time I return to Jelkala a couple of days later. Lancers are easy to get hold of, and I'm a newbie at this.

For your castle problem I have noticed that I usually get the castle after I seige it if I stay near the castle as if defending it. My relation with the king isn't near as good as yours and when I stay with the castle I almost always get it and don't worry you usually get a reply about 1-2 game days after asking for the castle so just camp out around it until then.

P.S. Have you tried helping a claimant take one of the thrones. It basically makes you marshal and you recruit generals in the nation then you rebel against the king and his supporters. I suggest you make a save renounce your lordship then find the claimant to the Rhondok throne since most of the lords in it probably already like you to some degree so they will follow you. If you don't like it load the save.

Also quick question are you on regular Mount and Blade or Warband.

Yo doodes, where can I find that mod that increases the amount of troops on the battlefield? battle size charger it was called, I think. Search is being a *****.

7. I have a party of 112, which has about 75 mercenary calvary, 30 mercenary horsemen, and a few caravan guards. Does this make a good party? I know it's expensive (about 4000/week upkeep), but with raiding villages I can still keep them up and make a profit.
[/quote]

I suggest u replace the mercenary cavalry and mercenary horsemen with swadian troops and then train them to swadian knights.Saves u alot of money that way.

gig472 said:

For your castle problem I have noticed that I usually get the castle after I seige it if I stay near the castle as if defending it. My relation with the king isn't near as good as yours and when I stay with the castle I almost always get it and don't worry you usually get a reply about 1-2 game days after asking for the castle so just camp out around it until then.

Click to expand...

Does the game give you an opportunity to ask for the town or do you need to speak to the king personally?

The game asks you right when you finish conquering something, so you won't need to go see him or anything.