Too difficult

[Timst]

Sorry, but this is almost unplayable, and certainly unenjoyable. I understand the need for a stronger mid- and end-game, but there is no need to start ramping up the difficulty right at the beginning. Dark Knights, stronger kings etc. are all find and well, but that doesn't mean you have to remove Looters, and infest the countryside with group of 30 high-level mercenaries. I guess the game start to become interesting once you have a sizable army and some estates, but as I just spend half an hour in the arena to get enough money to buy some arrows (since there's no other way to make money once you have sold your gold bar and played the tutorial), I'm not going to wait around to see if it's the case.

It's sad because I was thrilled when reading the mod description. There is a lot of good ideas in this project, but I don't think a lot of people will see them, since that would mean that they somehow have to survive long enough during the beginning.

[RageYourSoul]

I agree with the post above, I think it's great to have tough enemies but having ONLy those enemies is what pisses me off. We need some smaller less powerfull armies to fight and rank up before taking these stronger enemies on. Thanks anyway great mod.

[Canuck148]

I don't have any problems at all starting out, even with brutality mode turned on.

[Sseatris]

I have to agree with Canuck and crew, I've had no problem starting off in this mod. Granted I've been playing Mount and Blade since Zendar (6, 7 years?) so maybe that's some of it, but there are lots of options to help get started.

1. Take quests from local villages and cities, decline the ones that ask you to kill a dozen mercs. at once.

2. Use the training fields. Doesn't take much time at all to get 8-10 local recruits to the next grade up.

• And yeah, 10 or so fodder at second tier and a 200 gold sword/spear do just fine to take mercs.

3. If these are too tough you can (for now at least) hire a small band of your own mercs. some starting options (bandit, poacher?) start you with furs and a gold bar to sell. More than enough to get a group of Lady Knights, which are more than enough for almost anything.

4. Starting in Rhodok, Khergit, or Vaeger territory gives you some great trading opportunities.

• Velvets, Spices/Salt and Iron respectively. A starting handful of denar go a long long way

Yes it's a little tougher, but I like not just steamrolling groups of 30+ men to start. It seems to make the game much more immersive and engaging. I have to plan my beginning and struggle through the ranks. And I'm sure that the four methods I've listed (and played through) are just a fraction of the ways you can make it through the opening hours. Besides, after you kill your first group of mercs., even with low plunder skill, you should be just about set from their pieces of EQ.

And.. I've never had trouble evading groups, I think the starting character+horse is faster on worldmap than anything but the Khergit/Sarranid bandits, even with a modest contingent.

Don't start in those areas? Or, as a previous player suggested, avoid Ctrl+space for a little.

At any rate, I hope you can find a way to enjoy this awesome mod! Surprisingly, this is one of my favorite mods recently, over Pendor and Damocles (how'd that happen!?). Maybe some of the other oldies can put in some tips for getting started? But the difficulty seems perfect to me.

Good luck!

[shadow_archmagi]

And yeah, 10 or so fodder at second tier and a 200 gold sword/spear do just fine to take mercs.[/li][/list]

What?

By second tier, I'm assuming you mean that they've been upgraded exactly once, which is ridiculous. 10 Nord Drengrs are not capable of taking on Sea Bandits. I doubt 40 Nord Drengrs could do it. Not to mention that bandit groups tend to be numerous as hell, so even once you get enough men together to take on 30 bandits, suddenly your screen fills with "Bandits have joined the party on the enemy side!" and you're up against 120 instead.

[HunterAlpha1]

you just have to take things one at a time in this mod.  first, get yourself a fast horse and a lance.  then go hunting looters, and, yes, there are looters in this mod but you do have to go hunting them.  once you have some gold and better armour than what you started with hire some mercs.  i know some of you don't like playing with mercs, but it's pretty much a must-do.  you may have to swallow your pride and do tournaments until you've got investments in every town so you can afford to pay your mercs every week. 

(click to show/hide)

check the chest in Rivacheg, it's in the same place as in native.  no armour, but it has something else that will make the game infinitely easier.

[Caesarcomeback]

So in the begining,you have to do a lot of missions,not directly to kill...But still,it is too hard if you dont cheat.....

[Sseatris]

By second tier, I'm assuming you mean that they've been upgraded exactly once, which is ridiculous. 10 Nord Drengrs are not capable of taking on Sea Bandits.

Was actually referring to the parties of Mercenaries rather than sea raiders, and honestly the Mercenaries seem alot tougher to me. That said, maybe I should have elaborated a bit.. Since second tier troops are generally foot soldiers and most definitely won't be performing wholesale slaughter of the raiders/mercs, their job is to follow you into battle, late, after you've already killed a few of the Mercenaries (mounted ones preferably) and act as literal fodder, soaking up the damage as they die and distracting the other mercs while you swoop in for kills.. it's worked for me generally, though sometimes are tougher than others, it has a really good success rate.

As for sea raiders.. those should be infinitely easier. Clop around the group in circles until they've exhausted their limited throwing weapon supply, only swoop in long enough to kill archers on the outskirts during that time, or ride around alot longer until they've used their missiles too. After that killing them is simple if you have a cheap spear. Even using a sword shouldn't be a problem if you manage to stay out of groups to protect your horse. If anything the sea raiders in this mod seem easier than the ones from native to me since they have in general worse equipment, excepting their increased ammo.

Since it seems you like to start in the Nord area, why don't you check the first town's shop for an ornamental axe? It's a cheap, and really effective starting weapon due to its reach and ability to smash shields quicker.

[kard]

It depends on what type of character you have in mind. If you want the heavy cavalry or sword and board type of character, your going to have a tough go at it early on. You will have no choice but to avoid many battles until you get enough levels under your belt or proper troops to sort them out.

However if you build a horse archer character, you can butcher elite troops with the exception of ivory archers early on. Fight a few battles against scarred bandits, with nothing but bow and arrows. Invest your skills into Horse Archery, Power Draw, Looting and Riding. 4 or 5 is the sweet spot; this is very easy to accomplish hunting bandits near Suno and Uxhaul.

Kill bandits with arrows all by your lonesome until you've amassed a respectable amount of wealth to purchase a good horse, bow and arrows (5k-8k) Leave off from buying armor and melee weapons for now. Once you've got a good charger and bow, go hunt down Holy Crusaders and make sure you face them on rather even, open terrain. Ride circles around them and shoot their horses out from under them until they're all unmounted. Do not get in a flat our race with them chasing you, just circle strafe so they won't catch you. Pot shot any in the face who open up to swing, otherwise just shoot horses.

Once they're on the ground, trot your horse while they get near to attack you, and shoot them in the head. Once they're dead, you get your big fat renown boost, a nice loot to boot plus 422 exp per kill. You'll be inundated with swadian full plate armor, gauntlets, iron boots, great helms, knight helms, knight maces, and knightly chargers. Rinse and repeat as necessary. By day 30 I think I was level 27 with a posse of 10 swadian paladins and kitted out in sturdy swadian full plate.  Once your strong enough to can alternate to using those nice knight maces they carry to knocking them out, and taking them prisoner to recruit to your ever growing elite posse.

Basically any unit without a ranged attack is a sitting duck, use it to your advantage. Granted I've played this game a while, and have it down to a science, but once you learn how, its really very easy.

[Sseatris]

Great idea for starting kard! I liked playing a foot archer company for a long while, but one of the weird things I've noticed in this mod is that it seems all the bows are horse/foot with the exception of crossbows. Makes the horse archer route alot more appealing. I imagine its a bit more difficult to pick out headshots from behind shields these days with the way bow accuracy has been lowered though. I'll start aiming for feet I guess.

[Crosby 4HyG]

I honestly haven't found this to be much of an issue. The Mercenary War Bands are very powerful when you start out, this is true, but if you've played M&B Native to any extent you should know the limits of your troop numbers and their abilities. You can't engage 50 bandits when you have 20 basic recruits... If they start chasing you just post up in a villiage until they move on.

[Xprez]

I honestly haven't found this to be much of an issue. The Mercenary War Bands are very powerful when you start out, this is true, but if you've played M&B Native to any extent you should know the limits of your troop numbers and their abilities. You can't engage 50 bandits when you have 20 basic recruits... If they start chasing you just post up in a villiage until they move on.

well you can actually, just care from there bows and crossbows, take out theyr cav out first and just keep running in circles hitting all the time,takes a while but its better than losing a battle

[Crosby 4HyG]

I honestly haven't found this to be much of an issue. The Mercenary War Bands are very powerful when you start out, this is true, but if you've played M&B Native to any extent you should know the limits of your troop numbers and their abilities. You can't engage 50 bandits when you have 20 basic recruits... If they start chasing you just post up in a villiage until they move on.

well you can actually, just care from there bows and crossbows, take out theyr cav out first and just keep running in circles hitting all the time,takes a while but its better than losing a battle

I've tried that approach a few times, but if you play on max dmg to yourself and your troops, and combat/campaign AI on good, AND with the realistic save feature like I do it's not logical to take on an entire army basically by yourself. I'm damn good at combat in this game, but on maximum difficulty it's better to save some of your troops and take on a group of 20-30 looters to level up a few times before moving onto really negative battle advantages.

[Xprez]

I honestly haven't found this to be much of an issue. The Mercenary War Bands are very powerful when you start out, this is true, but if you've played M&B Native to any extent you should know the limits of your troop numbers and their abilities. You can't engage 50 bandits when you have 20 basic recruits... If they start chasing you just post up in a villiage until they move on.

well you can actually, just care from there bows and crossbows, take out theyr cav out first and just keep running in circles hitting all the time,takes a while but its better than losing a battle

I've tried that approach a few times, but if you play on max dmg to yourself and your troops, and combat/campaign AI on good, AND with the realistic save feature like I do it's not logical to take on an entire army basically by yourself. I'm damn good at combat in this game, but on maximum difficulty it's better to save some of your troops and take on a group of 20-30 looters to level up a few times before moving onto really negative battle advantages.

i agree with that i know its a risk cuz im always thinking like should i do this or not??
but its possible

[original]

It can be too difficult at the start. I would like the option to take on looters at the beginning and then slowly level. But that option is taken out.

The start can be made smoother and easier. You can make the mid and late game stages difficult.