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So, in short, I need 3 horses since I only use 1 of every food type... I shouldn't bother with town relations... and trade is a great skill to have if you like money.

Awesome legwork!  I appreciate the heads-up on the numbers.  I wonder about these things, but never have the follow through to do the math.

If you're going to do that, why not just export your character, modify your stats, and import it?

Okay ... I guess I didn't look around long enough before my post.

The Khergit tournaments are 'the best' for me, since I'm an old hand at archery from horseback now.  I had been doing Nord tournaments and was confused and performing terribly with axes and swords on foot, something I've never ever been good at.

So thanks for redirecting me!

I was a hair from giving up on them.

I joined up with the Nords, but had my own 4 fiefs and a city from being a rebel.  I conquered several cities but kept getting a message similar to "I appreciate what you've done here, but you've already got too much land" ... with the King at 100 friendship and a renown of 1000+ ... I couldn't seem to get any of them, they just kept being handed out to other lords.  That's the reason I forged my own little empire before joining them anyways I guess.  I wanted to have my own slice before handing the rest of the pie to a King.

Bear in mind that your actual standing with the faction seems to matter.  If you're a notorious villain to the Swadians, you'll probably never successfully enter a city without a fight... At least that's the way it was for me.  I had -100 reputation but needed to restock my army in the field.  I opted to try and save/load quite a few times, and each time I was caught.  I even tried other cities and was still always caught.  I'd be willing to bet that your chance to sneak in is probably directly related to your relation.  -40 would be 60% chance to enter, -80 would be 20% chance to enter.  It just seemed to get harder and harder the more they hated me.

I've only knocked a foe down with a two-handed sword, to the best of my recollection.  I've never used blunt weapons on my main character.

For a good time, ride a Charger through a line of crossbowmen, it's like bowling pins, and they all take 8-16 damage.  Just gotta be careful about your approach and retreat.

I've never seen arrows or crossbows knock anyone down, but it does stagger them, forcing archers to reset their draws and crossbowmen to try to reload crossbows again if they were in the middle of it.

When I started, I bumped everything to "Normal" with maxed battle size.  My difficulty rating is 73% now, and I'm OK with that.

When your main character can die in 1 good hit or 2 moderate hits, it makes you very cautious.  The tactic I keep falling back on is horse archery - I've learned to be a crack shot from horseback - Ride circles around enemy archers, while weaving in and out, and they have a heckuva hard time hitting you.  You'll need to lead your shots slightly, aiming just to the right of most enemies given that you can only fire from the left of your horse.

Keeping your troops alive is another matter all together.  I find that Forest bandits are solid at range, but suck in melee.  Mountain bandits aren't all that harsh in either.  Keeping your troops hidden behind an obstacle, such as a hill, keeps them from being targetted and then you can order a charge once the enemy is close.

Levels of your troops matter more, too.  If you have 30 Recruits vs. 30 Knights, you'll likely loose 25 recruits were you might have 2 knights get knocked unconscious.

I've been sieging with Nords and having a lot of luck.  My last victory was against 300+ defenders with 78 Nords, with 56 Huscarls mixed in.  I suffered maybe 10-15 deaths through the whole thing, thanks to my surgery and medic skills.  A hundred archers can kill the wall defenders with ease, but only by virtue of the rain of arrows they produce.  Once the archers are done, they're typically terrible at melee.

What irks me about Nords is that they'll mill around at the bottom of the ladder with their bows drawn but nobody to shoot at.  Given that the game crashes when I press F11 to switch weapons and try to force them to close range, I have alternately attempted a "Follow me" order and tried to walk them up the ladder.  It's iffy at best, but it gets more of them up there once a hole has been made.

My role in these sieges is to pick off as many archers/crossbowmen as possible without dying.  I'll try to clear the area around the ladder, then the walls to the left and right.  Once there's a clear space up, I'll work my way up, looking for targets.  At the very top, I'll use whatever cover I can and duck out, shoot, and hide before return fire comes in.

Interestingly, if I can scoot over the defenders (get to the top of the ladder and jump over them), and pick off any chasers, I can plug away at the melee forces clumping around the top of the ladder.  This has only worked once - other times I've died trying to find a cubby hole to hide in and defend from.

I've found their quests to be either too harmful to Lord relations or uncompleteable.

- "Defend my honor" - +12 relation with the Lady, -19 relation with the offending Lord, +honor
- "Deliver this letter to my captured husband" - I found him in jail, but he wouldn't talk to me (not even a dialog option).

Once a Lady likes you, she can repair negative reputation with a Lord of her faction, for 1000 denars per point.  That's 10,000 to go from -10 to 0.  If you've already got a positive relation, she doesn't include that lord as an option.  I guess you can't buy love.

Overall, I'm not sure how much I want to bother with them, since it seems that all that matters in the long run is if the King likes you.

Army Tactics - Close vs. Ranged.

Ranged units are solid choices against Bandit units but fall a little short against organized infantry with heavier armor and shields.  Their range is typically countered by lighter armor and possibly no shield.  Ranged units also can't do much against fast moving calvary.
Infantry units can be fodder for ranged units if not placed and moved correctly.  I find that 'hiding' infantry behind a hill, and forcing enemy archers to close to short range works wonders.  Using a "close" grouping (F also helps keep your infantry alive as they're close together and can assist each other.
Calvary works VERY well against range, but can fall victim to pike/spear wielding foes.  They also tend to run into a group of enemies and stay there, negating their mobility bonuses.  Calvary are good when used in waves.  "Charge!" (F3) will make them run out to engage, after they've gotten a few licks in, but before they get surrounded, order them to "Hold!" (F1) and return to where you are.  This keeps them from being swarmed and dropped.  Ranged Calvary is great, but sometimes runs in too close to a fight and gets mauled.

Arrows...

In sieges, you can try an scavenge arrows from fallen foes and friends.  In regular combat, you have a footlocker at your starting point that you can open to swap around your inventory.  Keep a few extra bags of arrows in there, and you'll never run dry.  You can run around, fire at will, return and refill, then go back out for more.

Tactical Map...

A tactical map must might make medieval times too easy.  You have to scout where the enemies are.  One thing you can do, though, is watch where your troops are trying to charge to.  Odds are, that's where the enemy is coming from.

Money...

Slavery is a great way to make cash.  IMO, there ought to be some sort of renown penalty for it, though.  Go from positive renown to negative and become infamous.  It was pretty common practice back then, so I guess that's just today's standards.  Another good way to make some solid coin is to enter tournaments at cities and bet on yourself.  You've got to make it through 6 rounds of combat, sometimes solo, sometimes with an AI team, but you can get upwards of $4000.  After you've won once in a city, the odds on you become less favorable, and you can walk away with less than $2000.  Selling equipment also nets some good money, especially if you've got a good Trade skill.  Sea Raiders and higher-end Deserters have the best neutral equipment that can be sold.

Troop Behavior...

Horse archers do tend to ride around, staying safe... but it's also harder to hit a target from horseback, so they might miss more often - I'd say it's a toss up, based mostly on what you want to do.  Units will switch equipment based on the situation.  Not every type of archer comes with a sword and shield.  Some might just try to hit with their fists.

Heroes...

Heroes are great - They can learn skills you yourself might not want to spend points on (Check to see "Leader" vs. "Party" skills - Skills like Leadership only work for you, not them).  Heroes also can't be killed; they can be knocked out, but not killed.  Also, you can equip them however you want.  The downside of heroes is that each has his/her own likes and dislikes - Some might have working with another hero or unit type, or they might detest certain activities.  At any rate, based on your personal build, heroes can be a huge blessing - If you're a "lover, not a fighter" you could have superior fighting heroes that train your units.  If you're a fighter first and foremost, your heroes could fill in gaps for Trade, Engineer, medical skills, Pathfinding, etc.

Allegiance...

You can remain 'neutral' as long as you want.  Turning down offers to become a King's Vassal hurt your rep with the king, but not much else.  Build up some Charisma and Leadership to increase your army capacity, or increase your renown - every 25 gives you +1 unit cap.  Being a Merc or Vassal opens you up to unprovoked attack, but has benefits.  You'll earn favor with the kingdom you side with, and as a vassal, you'll get to manage castles or lands for the King (if he likes you enough, he'll likely offer you a chance to manage newly captured lands).  There's also the "Claimant" route, where you help a rejected King reclaim his 'rightful' throne, thus becoming his right-hand man.  You can also try to conquer the whole map as a renegade, with no allegiance, but you're also soloing vs. everyone then.

But if you don't let them go, they'll eventually slip you and you won't get paid for it.  I've had several lords 'vanish' from captivity with my army before.

I say "Sure, I'll sell you your Lord back.  Give him some troops and let me recapture him."

I'm not sure how "getting yourself killed" is stupid when there's a hail of crossbow bolts coming down at you.  You can't dodge them all, you can't block them all, and it only takes a couple good hits on "Normal" damage mode to drop to zero.  I could see being able to do anything in this game with 50 troops in some of the easier modes, but playing with Average AI, Normal Damages, & a 72 Troop limit, I'm positive that 50 hardcore Huscarls can to take a castle with 100 guards.  Taking on a defending force of 300?  I can't see it (and haven't had a chance to yet, it just seems inlikely).

I've defended against those odds, though - sort of.  I had 140 Swadian Recruits and my motly mix of Nord units (about 15-20 of each of the top three tiers) and only lost a handful of units.  The second the seige starts, I tell my units to move close and follow me.  I run down to about 20 paces back from the ladder entry, and tell them to hold.  As enemies come up, I surge forward with "Charge!" and then when most have died, I tell my units to hold where I am again.  This tidal effect if brutal, and almost completely negates the value of enemy archers or crossbowmen since they can't see my troops to shoot at them.  Eventually even the archers get fed up and try charging the ladder, which ends very very badly for them.

I've yet to see a city give up after 100 defenders have been killed in .960, though.  I dunno why.  I usually have to fight to the bitter last.

I've wondered why some Lords just started at -3 reaction to me before I ever did anything in their territory.  Honor might explain it.

Things that boost honor that I can recall...

- Defending a Lady's honor - Big bump, big negative with offending Lord
- Refusing payment for tracking and executing a murderer

For a while, I was using heavy plate, a War Bow, and 3 large bags of +3 Bodkin arrows on a Spirited Hunter.  I'd bob and weave around the fringes of combat and pick off 15-20 foes before they ever got to my troops.

This time around, I'm using a Heraldric armor, a War Bow, 1 Large bag of arrows, a Knightly shield (I keep upgrading as I find better/larger ones), and a Bastard Sword.  Since I'm leading Nords, I wanted to kinda fight like them.  I haven't managed to master the left hand swing from horseback ... seems like 75% of the time I think I've got it lined up right, but it whiffs harmlessly past them.

flavius brutus said:

thats wierd i have seen ppl talking about it though

Click to expand...

You can be your own "Rebel" faction - but it's you against the world then, with no other Lords to support you.  You'll have to break your oath to the king (I'm not sure if you get to keep your cities you received as his vassal), and then you can start your reign of terror.

It's not easy, though.  Five opponents with resources out the wazoo that can seige and capture any of your castles because you're tied up is a real pain.  I found that as soon as I started sieging an opponent's castle, they'd seige one of mine - forcing me to choose to either protect what I had or press onward and hope I succeeded and could rush back to defend my lands.  It's very slow going.

I do wish, though, that it let you pick a color for your properties, so you didn't have that "Bandit Grey" color for all your lands.

What would be super-duper spiffy is if they made the game so you could actually start your own faction, fight for recognition with the others (stop being grey and get to choose a color), recruit lords (convert or promote them from your heroes, better keep them happy or they might defect!), etc.  Then you'd be able to go from Merc to King with a nice even flow.  What to do when you've conquered all the lands?  Ending cutscene, with "Do you wish to keep playing?"

It's not even out, though, is it?  We're still on 0.960 according to the top of the forum.

I'm anxious to see what's in the release version, though.  I've been thouroughly enjoying the beta.