Strategies & gameplay tips

Post your favorite fighting strategies and gameplay tips regarding this mod here.

Divided we march, together we fight!

Having troubles handling large armies? Divide your army among your companions and let them follow you! They will engage in the fights and take their army with them. But beware: Make sure to have enough food for each army. So you can handle morale issues more accurately and be much faster on the map as well.

How to do it? Go to party menu. Select the companion in charge, select talk, select "divide and follow me" (don't remember the exact phrase). The companion will leave the party and appears on the map. Run to him, select "Exchange troops" and give him the desired amount of troops. Then talk to him again and select "Show inventory". Give him a good amount of food. Then you're set. 

Village Quests - Do them!

It's always good, to have a good relationship to villages. Apart from getting their stuff cheaper you will also be able to recruit 2nd tier troops, which saves on training efforts. Don't raid every enemy village you come across. Save some to replenish your troops fast when the need arises.

Reports - Use them

Use the extended report function frequently. It's almost priceless in managing multiple armies and fiefs.

Minimap

The minimap is a useful tool to locate enemy and friendly forces with a blink of an eye. Make use of it!

This is SantasHelper's Tips.

SantasHelper said:

I can give you tips on how to control your troops using Armagan's controls

charge of the rohirim (will charge but not stop, killing enemies on the side you attack as you make a pass)
hit cavalry
hit follow
hit clser 3 times as you charge
verry tricky: aim for the "corner" of the enemies you you "glance it"
in other words do not aim for the pack. keep going.
your cavalry will hit the enemy as they pass

Last stance (will defeat an army 2-3x stronger)
hit cavalry/hold/spreadx3 + infantry/hold/advance 10 paces/closerx3 + ranged/hold/advancex2/spreadx1
wait
hold fire
wait...
fire at will when they get in range
infantry caharge + cavalry charge when they get too close


forced march (excellent with nords/huskarl; good with infantry vs infantry)
infantryL hold/closer 3x/march them 10 paces at a time
works wonders on khergits
used to work better when huscarls had bows

rhodock march
infantry: hold/closserx3
ranged holded, spread, advance 10 paces (placed in front)
everyone: either stand and wait, or advance 10 paces at a time
hitL infantry+charge when enmy is to close,
hit: infantry+hold to call them back

siege tactics:
ranged: hold+spread
infantry: follow+ closer 3x
run to the wall (not the ladder) hit hold
run back to archers
when the garison is weak enought send the infantry charging up the ladders
(not before, because they block the view, and all enemy will pack there in front of them...)
(archers will roll their thumbs/do nothing)

there are many more, but those techniques surpass any formation kit so far.

in version .903/or .960 you used to be able to get 3-4 rank deep of formation by hitting the closer button again. it doesn't work as well for now.. or if I recall you need tactics levels to get those better results. that might explains it since I got tactics zero right now.

Click to expand...

101: Building your empire:

Valid for both strategies: Be prepared. Have a solid army of high tiers (my assault force consists of 40 vaegir marksmen and 30 nord huskarl the least) and a good amount of money (100000 denarii as a bare minimum), before even thinking of starting your own empire.

1. Do it yourself - aka the lonesome raider.

Piss a faction off (vaegirs preferred *lol*) and besiege a castle of that faction. Win and you have your first foothold. Beware, though, the attacked kingdom will try to retake it sooner than later, so have a solid garrison ready. And watch your step.

Pros:
- Get your own piece of land fast - get an army and off you go
- Choose your enemies to YOUR likeing.
- Choose the foothold by yourself (edge of the map preferred)
Cons:
- Besieging castles without help might become, well , hard.

2. Do it yourself, with a little help from your friends.

Become a vassal. Become a marshall of the faction. Attack a castle and win. Get the castle awarded by your king. If not, just take it as your just due. Task accomplished. If the king really likes you and awards you regularly, wait as long as you can before rebelling, so you will start with a solid base of several castles and/or towns. Build them up before turning on your king.

Pros:
- Attacking castles and even towns will be way easier.
- Get a good relation with lords almost automatically. Which means recruiting lords will be easier later.
- You can get a solid start with little efforts

Cons:
- You will have many enemies after rebellion. Read: Everybody hates you. Forget about "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".
- You can only attack castles your faction is at war with (peace has it's downsides ya know) - will be obsolete once you rebel
- Takes much longer (make some friends and winning the vote for becoming a marshal can take a loooooong time)

Divided we March. I totally do that one. So far only Baheshtur as the other party. With the high Leadership levels of NPCS in the mod, and their non-fickleness about following you and following orders exactly this is a very effective strategy.

Will have to try those keystroke battle tactics you posted Rucchi.

Generally I try to hog as many XPs from battles as I can all by myself though. I like to win tournaments, and being level 25 seemed to be adequate to sweep almost every tournament when I used to play Hun Year War on 64% difficulty. Now that I'm playing Fire Arrow on 93% difficulty I think I might need to wait to level 30 to start hitting the tourney scene. Also upping the max bet to 650 (1000 was just TOO much!  ) should allow me to become riches non-landed "Lord" in Calradia! Once I have a really high renown, and lots of cash, I should be able to back the Rhodok Claimant and take control of all Rhodockia.

ADDIT: here is my strategy (so far, have not "won" with it yet) in a nutshell

Glory Hog:  DO NOT become a Merc Captain or Vassal until you are at least level 35. Develop your polearm skill and Riding first and foremost. DO NOT spend XP on anything except Strength and Agility related skills (though gaining Intelligence can be quite useful to gain skills faster). High Leadership is also unnecessary if you have a ridiculous Renown . . . continued in next post

Glory Hog continued: Your eventual goal is to have Riding skill 6 and a super-charer horse to match. Ideally all the strength and Agility based skills (except power thow, and/or draw) also at 5 or 6. Polearm at about 200 and also quite high on 1d and 2hd weapon. Archery and Throwing are kinda optional, but sometimes you get these weapons in tournaments so it is necesary to have reasonable prof in them.

Get a team of NPCs (Ymira, Deshavi, Katrin, Alayen, Bunduk and Artimeneer are a nice set for your personal party) and have a second party of NPCs who don't get along (Baheshtur, Nizar, Klethi, Marnid all get along together, but don't work with the former set). Have the second set follow you whereever you go. Save all the weapons and armor and horses that can later be used to quickly upgrade low level troops in your NPCs inventories. Build up Ymira's inventory full of cheap food (4 or 5 of every type). get your cach up in the 30K range. Now as long as you do not join a faction, you pretty much have no worries about low morale, or actually losing any battles. Just have party two follow you around and go pick fights with looters, bandits, raiders . . . I find it it good to have two weapon sets: one for entering communities (in case you get surprise attacked by bandits) comprising a Khergit strong bow (yeah I have my archer up quite high too) large bag of khergit arrows and a balanced bastard sword; and one for battles: the sword, spiked mace and a balanced war spear. Wearing +53 helm, and +54 armor with gauntlets, and riding a Heavy Charger.

At the start of every battle (even if it is 30 or 40 Sea Raiders) Immediately hold down W and hit 1+F1, then hit F7 about 4 or 5 times, and also hit F5. Charge forward and hog as much XP from killing enemies as possible. Have your guys charge in and help when if it is necessary. My record so far is to kill about 15 SeaRaiders in ione battle.

The name of the game is Mount and Blade: Fire arrow. How a simple mod that let you burn buildings and people with an arrow turned into this complete expansion for the game I have no idea but you are now going to have to learn to play the game ALL OVER AGAIN. So forget what you learned or how you play on other games. Its not going to fly here. This strategy is designed for the noobs coming over from vanilla who will not be cheating.

After char creation you need to go recruit about 10-20 troops. But you won't be able to because you will be dead ass broke with no intial troops at all. The game does not allow you to simply buy some low level trops for 10 bucks. The cheapest troops now cost around 24 denarii to purchase and you need to keep alot of food on hand, not just different types. There guys eat a **** ton. So with no money you will need to make some right away. You can't just run around and raid villages, these villagers won't stand for it. 1 man riding into the village with over 100 people isn't going to work anymore. So start by being a postman.

Go to castles and ask for quests from lords, grab up the deilvery quests and join some tournaments. Once you have about 2k-5k denarii Start recruiting till you hit your goal of 20 troops. Now the fun can begin. Run around any where but Khegit territory (those steppe bandits will mess you up) and attack looters, then sea raiders near the coastal areas. Sell all your prisoners. These guys may ditch you if you free them if your renown and charisma aren't high enough. SO in the begining just sell them. You need the money anyway.

Now take a look at your situation. You should have about 20-30 mid level toons now and a bank of 10k. If so you should figure out who you are going to join. Its a must that you join some one of the five factions at this point to start earning some great renown from there warring. Pick who and start increasing your rep. Make sure you follow them around and join battles you know you will win. Once you get about 100k denarii and 1k renown its time for the next phase. That should keep you busy. About this point you will also want to take advantage of your companions ability to sell **** for you.

While raiding enemy lands fill up on crap that you can sell. Form a second party with someone who has at least 3 trade. Give them about 20 guys some food and all the crap from the town you just raided and send them to a town to sell all there crap. Make sure you adjust there selling price when you want to unload other wise they will just sit around town looking for a good deal which we both know isn't coming. Then send them to the closest friendly city and then back to you to fill up again. By delagating this responsibility to your buddy you can mercilessly raid all your enemys towns before you have to stop and rest.

Now that you are not only a fearsome opponent, but a great general, you can start fielding multiple partys and send them to raid places while you scout around, or patrol near your village, if you have one by now. Alot of people say start your own kingdom now but if you have never taken a city then you might want to get prepared for that. In my opinion you are not ready for your very own kingdom until you can not only take a town, but still have a castle garrisoned and multiple patrols in your territory. Without a city you will be stuck running to one of the other factions citys to sell and it gets old preatty quick. Plus a town is a huge income source. It will not only supply you with money, but a place to sell that wonderful crap you got raiding and a safe place to buy food.

But the best advice I can give you is play the game and fail. You learn so much more from losing then by getting some lucky wins. And if you are the type that gets mad and gives up when you make a mistake, well then you really shouldn't be breathing my air anymore. You are nothing more then cattle I am personally allowed to slaughter whenever I feel the need for entertainment or an just that hungry.

Hope this helps. If not, learn like everyone else. This is one of, if not the, best mod for this game. But if you are looking for some new ways to chop things up and run around like an idiot looking for trouble it might not be the mod for you. This mod adds some serious micromanagment. Your troops WILL starve without food and leave your army if you are not on the ball. You will lose a battle and lose 100% of your troops, some money, some items, and be forced to rebuild again. It will happen. Don't get used to it. Get better at it. If this mod is to much for you I suggest you check out Prophecy of Pendor, Sword of Damoscales, or Lords and Realms. All of which are top notch mods. They are just not as in-depth and realistic as this Expansion. But are a hell of alot of fun to play and still surpass the vanilla game by far.

Great post there wakko151, surely  worth a read.
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