Need advice for a new player.

[callahan9119]

I'm new to bannerlord, but played tons of warband. I've spent a little time kinda getting familiar with the beginning, just learning some basics.

I'm gonna start a proper sandbox playthrough, and I think I'm joining the Aserai. I get pretty overwhelmed being in the middle of the map, and they seem like a relatively chill faction/area.

Should I choose their culture when creating a character? What are some things I should try and do in the beginning? Throwing seems cool, but should I focus on archery instead?

I planned on just massing archers and cavalry like I did on my Sarranid games. Don't know if that'll work here.

 

[Lucius Confucius]

Focus on what you enjoy the most, and the gameplay will be more fun. You don't need to optimize or go for the best. Just enjoy the game the way you want to play it.

Massing archers and cav might work for some battles, but in my opinion, having a varied army almost always wins the day.

 

[callahan9119]

Focus on what you enjoy the most, and the gameplay will be more fun. You don't need to optimize or go for the best. Just enjoy the game the way you want to play it.

Massing archers and cav might work for some battles, but in my opinion, having a varied army almost always wins the day.

My problem is I use a controller, so I don't know if I can control a bunch of different groups with how controller support is (not) optimized atm.

 

[Apocal]

Should I choose their culture when creating a character? What are some things I should try and do in the beginning? Throwing seems cool, but should I focus on archery instead?

I planned on just massing archers and cavalry like I did on my Sarranid games. Don't know if that'll work here.

Choose whatever culture you'd like. The map doesn't take very long to cross at all and you have enough food to do it like two or three times over at game start.

Throwing is inferior to archery because you can kill a lot more dudes with archery. Both because you get a lot more arrows than throwing weapons and because it is far, far easier to use a bow. HOWEVER, it will never not be hilarious to yeet a mother****er off his horse with a javelin.

Massing archers and cavalry will work, especially Aserai cav. They have javelins that will basically one-shot almost anything on the battlefield short of an armored horse but they are best used with a bit of micro (hold fire, personally leading their charge) to get maximum effect out of their volleys.

 

[callahan9119]

Choose whatever culture you'd like. The map doesn't take very long to cross at all and you have enough food to do it like two or three times over at game start.

Throwing is inferior to archery because you can kill a lot more dudes with archery. Both because you get a lot more arrows than throwing weapons and because it is far, far easier to use a bow. HOWEVER, it will never not be hilarious to yeet a mother****er off his horse with a javelin.

Massing archers and cavalry will work, especially Aserai cav. They have javelins that will basically one-shot almost anything on the battlefield short of an armored horse but they are best used with a bit of micro (hold fire, personally leading their charge) to get maximum effect out of their volleys.

Someone on reddit said you get negative something for being the wrong culture.

 

[MostBlunted]

Negative loyalty in settlements/castles but that doesn´t really matter overall.

Just play as you want, that´s the good thing about sandbox games and Bannerlord is not that demanding, so every playstyle should lead to "success" later or sooner.

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

Someone on reddit said you get negative something for being the wrong culture.

If you join the Aserai they are likely not going to give you aserai fiefs, but give you fiefs they conquer from other factions, so this -loyalty on fiefs isn't important for this. You should look over the culture perks at the games start. I like the Battanian one very much and think the rest are garbage. If you plan on being in the desert a lot though, the Aserai one might be useful. However likely most of you warfare will be in foreign faction's areas taking their stuff and chasing them around there.

Throwing seems cool, but should I focus on archery instead?

Bow is really useful, throwing is..... not as useful.... you can always just carry some throwing weapons for fun anyways though. When push comes to shove being able to use a good bow can get a lot of work done.

I planned on just massing archers and cavalry like I did on my Sarranid games. Don't know if that'll work here.

It will work. Lots of ranged in a good position is the most important part of battles in Bannerlord. The Horse archers in this game are also very useful (unlike warband) and serranid's Aserai's got them too. Even sieges are much easier with more ranged units in a good position.

My problem is I use a controller, so I don't know if I can control a bunch of different groups with how controller support is (not) optimized atm.

I haven't tried a controller so I don't know what problems there might be, but I think it's fine to use 2 groups. I think of Bannerlord tactics as you have the bait and the gun, 1 thing is engaging or attracting the AI's attention while another thing does ranged damage on them. Even with 5 or 6 groups this is still what's going on, just with more intricate firing positions.

 

[callahan9119]

If you join the Aserai they are likely not going to give you aserai fiefs, but give you fiefs they conquer from other factions, so this -loyalty on fiefs isn't important for this. You should look over the culture perks at the games start. I like the Battanian one very much and think the rest are garbage. If you plan on being in the desert a lot though, the Aserai one might be useful. However likely most of you warfare will be in foreign faction's areas taking their stuff and chasing them around there.

Bow is really useful, throwing is..... not as useful.... you can always just carry some throwing weapons for fun anyways though. When push comes to shove being able to use a good bow can get a lot of work done.

It will work. Lots of ranged in a good position is the most important part of battles in Bannerlord. The Horse archers in this game are also very useful (unlike warband) and serranid's Aserai's got them too. Even sieges are much easier with more ranged units in a good position.

I haven't tried a controller so I don't know what problems there might be, but I think it's fine to use 2 groups. I think of Bannerlord tactics as you have the bait and the gun, 1 thing is engaging or attracting the AI's attention while another thing does ranged damage on them. Even with 5 or 6 groups this is still what's going on, just with more intricate firing positions.

Thanks for this. I ended up taking the Empire culture because people said take the culture of the people you plan to fight. Hopefully it wasn't a blunder.

 

[Wheem]

I planned on just massing archers and cavalry like I did on my Sarranid games. Don't know if that'll work here.

Melee cavalry isn't very good in Bannerlord. They've had trouble with the accuracy of their melee attacks pretty much since early access started if I remember correctly, though they seem to perform a little better when ordered into a loose formation. Still, heavy cavalry units will tend to do drastically better when dismounted than they will with a lance/spear charge - even into the rear of enemy lines. So treating them like Dragoons can work fairly well, but feels "wrong" when it's done with lance-armed Knights, Cataphracts, etc...

Skirmisher cavalry can be pretty solid, and horse archers are probably a bit too good right now (on the upside, their AI is a whole lot better than it was in Warband), but melee cavalry doesn't even do a good job chasing down routed footmen.

 

[Earth Dragon]

Someone on reddit said you get negative something for being the wrong culture.

Just to add a little if you haven’t started yet, it’s often better to join a faction with a different culture then yours at the start. But choose someone boarding them.

When then Aserai get into a war with Vlandia, for instance, if they take territory, that’s the main stuff that would be granted to you. So you would now be the proper culture with the fief you control.

So my suggestion is to pick Vlandia, Empire, or Khuzait if wanting to start in Aserai lands.

And if they grant you someone else’s fiefs not where you want them (like if you pick Khuzait but give you a castle in the Western Empire) you can relinquish control right as your faction is taking territory closer to where you want it.

 

[Earth Dragon]

Thanks for this. I ended up taking the Empire culture because people said take the culture of the people you plan to fight. Hopefully it wasn't a blunder.

The only major advise I would give is probably spend most of your time roaming between Razih and Husn Falk.

Those aren’t buried in the desert, have two castle in between then to recruit lots of Tribal Warriors, and you can dip into the Southern Empire lands and do missions for the locals, improving relations before you even take any castles and towns.

That “Not Anatolia” region from Daunastica to Vorum is actually a nice stretch anyway, and would be a terrific seat of power