A couple more questions, please.

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

Yeah that was the first topic and I been asking questions since lol and you been helping since

Okay I'll stick with fians for now as really I'm fighting 200 vs 100-200 battles so I don't really need to do any crazy tactics, I'd say the tactics you saying are with the huge battles. By the time the enemy reaches my infantry my archers done tore them up so the infantry never really needs messed with. Or I tell them to charge as they clash. I'll experiment later as I can see fit.

Keep in mind, I was playing on PS4 so those ARE huge battle sizes since the rendering limit is 350 lol. I suppose the tactical side is balanced differently with larger numbers, because I could never just shoot down enemies with impunity; I typically had to deal with raiders who'd try to strike at my archers before battle properly begins and hold my archers from shooting too freely or they'd run out of ammo before the enemy comes close. And once the battle becomes a scrum, the archers could help if the angle's favorable but, otherwise, it was generally best to tell them to stop shooting and enter melee until the enemy wave was defeated (and I must emphasize "wave" because most battles at that point became multi-wave affairs lol). If you ever feel like changing the pace a bit, then setting a lower max troop render limit might be fun since it seems like the game plays very differently when you do lol.

I'll check and see if it has a workshop if so I'll do as you suggested and just leave it alone, a lot of that is still confusing. I do have a question about calling armies, I tried to once and I couldn't figure it out. I went up to a lord and I could only join his army, not the other way around. I usually hate fighting with lords too since they don't listen to my commands and make the fight disjointed. I usually have to go quicker just to protect them and don't get my usually set up off.

Of course in seiges I'd think that matters very little. A clarification on that would be awesome

Thanks

To form an army, you have to click on the Kingdom Tab and then scroll over to the appropriate thingy. It should be pretty obvious from there, but a few pointers;

The amount of Influence you have to spend to pull retinues in is directly proportional to their clan's opinion of yours. Basically, if they love you, they'll help you for free; if they hate hate, you have to pay 50+ to pull them in. The average of Influence cost then becomes how much you have to spend to fill up the Cohesion bar, which is basically a timer since retinues will rapidly break away once it runs out. In order to minimize Influence expenditure (arguably more important as a monarch than a noble since you'll need all the Influence you can get if you want to be more a dictator and less of a congressional stamper), I'd recommend only gathering an army right before you intend to use it and then disbanding it while in transit (and also mainly pulling in friends, since the more bonded you are with like-minded lords, the less influence you need to convince them that war crimes are wrong lol or, alternatively, that the defeated have lost their human rights lol).

Unless I'm mistaken/forgetting/conflating with Warband, it's actually VERY important for sieges (and battles in general) because you can't give orders to troops that you're not recognized as the senior of. The marshal of an army (the guy who called it) has the top spot, so not being the marshal means not being able to determine, for example, if you should build Trebuchets, if you should "hold them in reserve" so you can launch 4 simultaneously to ruin the enemy city while minimizing risk, if you should simply came outside for a while to starve the city into submission, and you won't be able to order their troops around either. Furthermore, the leader of the army conducting the siege is the one that counts as the "conqueror" for the purposes of the "conqueror bonus," so being a part of someone else's army really is you doing them a favor more than not lol.

You're welcome!

 

[madnessario]

Just to add that, calling your companion parties to your army is free of influence - thus it is good to make them run parties on their own instead of leaving them somewhere as ambassador/governors - which multiplies your power immediately the moment you become a vassal to a kingdom!

 

[Krayze]

Keep in mind, I was playing on PS4 so those ARE huge battle sizes since the rendering limit is 350 lol. I suppose the tactical side is balanced differently with larger numbers, because I could never just shoot down enemies with impunity; I typically had to deal with raiders who'd try to strike at my archers before battle properly begins and hold my archers from shooting too freely or they'd run out of ammo before the enemy comes close. And once the battle becomes a scrum, the archers could help if the angle's favorable but, otherwise, it was generally best to tell them to stop shooting and enter melee until the enemy wave was defeated (and I must emphasize "wave" because most battles at that point became multi-wave affairs lol). If you ever feel like changing the pace a bit, then setting a lower max troop render limit might be fun since it seems like the game plays very differently when you do lol.


To form an army, you have to click on the Kingdom Tab and then scroll over to the appropriate thingy. It should be pretty obvious from there, but a few pointers;

The amount of Influence you have to spend to pull retinues in is directly proportional to their clan's opinion of yours. Basically, if they love you, they'll help you for free; if they hate hate, you have to pay 50+ to pull them in. The average of Influence cost then becomes how much you have to spend to fill up the Cohesion bar, which is basically a timer since retinues will rapidly break away once it runs out. In order to minimize Influence expenditure (arguably more important as a monarch than a noble since you'll need all the Influence you can get if you want to be more a dictator and less of a congressional stamper), I'd recommend only gathering an army right before you intend to use it and then disbanding it while in transit (and also mainly pulling in friends, since the more bonded you are with like-minded lords, the less influence you need to convince them that war crimes are wrong lol or, alternatively, that the defeated have lost their human rights lol).

Unless I'm mistaken/forgetting/conflating with Warband, it's actually VERY important for sieges (and battles in general) because you can't give orders to troops that you're not recognized as the senior of. The marshal of an army (the guy who called it) has the top spot, so not being the marshal means not being able to determine, for example, if you should build Trebuchets, if you should "hold them in reserve" so you can launch 4 simultaneously to ruin the enemy city while minimizing risk, if you should simply came outside for a while to starve the city into submission, and you won't be able to order their troops around either. Furthermore, the leader of the army conducting the siege is the one that counts as the "conqueror" for the purposes of the "conqueror bonus," so being a part of someone else's army really is you doing them a favor more than not lol.

You're welcome!

Ooh okay that makes sense, thanks for the quick reply I'm going to mess around with it and see how expensive it is and see if I can use it only one before it drains my influence or if I can do is more than once, that will tell me how my siege run can go. And that makes it less of a nuisance to fight with lords, it's kind of messed up but I hate helping lords if there in a big fight lol.

But yeah it's total different then because I set up my shieldwall and walk it down the battle with archers behind it, and I never tell them to hold fire. Even when like you said the calvary charges I just call my infantry to follow me and hunt them down and they continue to shoot. Kind of sounds more tactical on 350 I'll definitely have to check it out sometime.

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

Ooh okay that makes sense, thanks for the quick reply I'm going to mess around with it and see how expensive it is and see if I can use it only one before it drains my influence or if I can do is more than once, that will tell me how my siege run can go. And that makes it less of a nuisance to fight with lords, it's kind of messed up but I hate helping lords if there in a big fight lol.

Yeah, I can imagine lol, and I'm saying this as somebody who frequently uses their low tier troops to fight top tier enemy troops in the waves I mentioned. It's all right when you're in charge, but when you're trying to help, well, your allies kinda try to rush it and get themselves killed and are prone to dragging you with them if you don't, more or less, ignore them and try to ignore the morale penalty lol.

But yeah it's total different then because I set up my shieldwall and walk it down the battle with archers behind it, and I never tell them to hold fire. Even when like you said the calvary charges I just call my infantry to follow me and hunt them down and they continue to shoot. Kind of sounds more tactical on 350 I'll definitely have to check it out sometime.

Yeah, I rarely have battles that simple. Usually, I'm on crisis control because something typically gives; maybe my infantry lines aren't thick enough to stop their cavalry; maybe they engage enemy infantry but, due to being of lesser quality, get rolled over and now my archers are under direct assault with only the cavalry to save them; maybe the enemy cavalry successfully wastes all allied arrows because I thought we could take them, or maybe we fight one-on-one horse duels in the open space between us and them lol. Lots of stuff can happen but it's generally a controlled chaos at the best of times lol. Ammo in particular is way more important when it's the same, say 40, archers having to shoot up to several hundred enemies. I'm glad (from what I've read--hope it works when next I play) they fixed the way reinforcement units form because a serious issue was archers running out of ammo, becoming considered infantry, and then reinforcement archers getting mixed up with various infantry instead of either mixing in with the original archer brigades or forming a new one.

I highly suspect unit/formation/etc. balance is greatly altered by battlefield numbers since I'm of the impression that high quality infantry are the best troops because they can casually ignore enemy archers, stomp down enemy infantry, and gank would-be horsemen. Of course, it rarely works out that cleanly unless you organize for it, but infantry are always what make or break battles for me lol. Archers aren't that great once they run out of arrows and horsemen are useless against concentrated infantrymen that aren't blindsided or broken apart.

 

[Krayze]

Just to add that, calling your companion parties to your army is free of influence - thus it is good to make them run parties on their own instead of leaving them somewhere as ambassador/governors - which multiplies your power immediately the moment you become a vassal to a kingdom!

Sorry missed your post, and thank you I appreciate the info. I haven't made anyone parties yet because they still travel the map randomly. I'm hoping after giving them castles (if I do, not 100% on these mechanics yet) it gets better.

Yeah, I can imagine lol, and I'm saying this as somebody who frequently uses their low tier troops to fight top tier enemy troops in the waves I mentioned. It's all right when you're in charge, but when you're trying to help, well, your allies kinda try to rush it and get themselves killed and are prone to dragging you with them if you don't, more or less, ignore them and try to ignore the morale penalty lol.



Yeah, I rarely have battles that simple. Usually, I'm on crisis control because something typically gives; maybe my infantry lines aren't thick enough to stop their cavalry; maybe they engage enemy infantry but, due to being of lesser quality, get rolled over and now my archers are under direct assault with only the cavalry to save them; maybe the enemy cavalry successfully wastes all allied arrows because I thought we could take them, or maybe we fight one-on-one horse duels in the open space between us and them lol. Lots of stuff can happen but it's generally a controlled chaos at the best of times lol. Ammo in particular is way more important when it's the same, say 40, archers having to shoot up to several hundred enemies. I'm glad (from what I've read--hope it works when next I play) they fixed the way reinforcement units form because a serious issue was archers running out of ammo, becoming considered infantry, and then reinforcement archers getting mixed up with various infantry instead of either mixing in with the original archer brigades or forming a new one.

I highly suspect unit/formation/etc. balance is greatly altered by battlefield numbers since I'm of the impression that high quality infantry are the best troops because they can casually ignore enemy archers, stomp down enemy infantry, and gank would-be horsemen. Of course, it rarely works out that cleanly unless you organize for it, but infantry are always what make or break battles for me lol. Archers aren't that great once they run out of arrows and horsemen are useless against concentrated infantrymen that aren't blindsided or broken apart.

And yeah I usually just say screw it they want to charge they can fight lol. One time I charged with them and took a huge loss and said never again.

I usually have my troops upgraded a fair deal so I haven't really had them problems, but I only fight battles I know I can win so when I start having to fight bigger battles I'm sure I will have to expand my tactics and fix holes lol.

So my main city is Husn Fulq. I was at like 2.5k daily cost and just putting one full lower/mid tier troops on my castle to give it men it shot up to 3.5k. I can't add any more or I know I'll struggle soon, but I tried to counter this and it didn't really work. I bought 3 workshops on Husn Fulq (pottery, wood, and brewery) and left them as default but after 3 days the pottery is at +47 dennars and the other 2 are at 0.

I thought this would help a little but I'm not sure why it isn't adding money? Do I need to change them? Lastly, should I set up caravans? All my companions are in my party not sure if that will help with money, I know Aserai will go to war soon to take back the settlements so I don't think it would be too smart to build caravans right now.

Edit: it also says their lv 1, can I level them up?

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

Sorry missed your post, and thank you I appreciate the info. I haven't made anyone parties yet because they still travel the map randomly. I'm hoping after giving them castles (if I do, not 100% on these mechanics yet) it gets better.

Companion parties are very expensive as well--I don't recommend raising them until you're ready go independent and fight lots of consecutive battles to make up the cost. They're very good, but this is a long term tactic, not a short term one.

And yeah I usually just say screw it they want to charge they can fight lol. One time I charged with them and took a huge loss and said never again.

I usually have my troops upgraded a fair deal so I haven't really had them problems, but I only fight battles I know I can win so when I start having to fight bigger battles I'm sure I will have to expand my tactics and fix holes lol.

I generally do the same; avoid anybody that could beat me and try to target the weak lol. It's strategic common sense, and sometimes I lose despite that . My favorite defeat being against King Edurand of Vlandia (he took over for his father during the first year of my playthrough and remained king for around 30 years) who basically showed me why Banner Knights and Sharpshooters are forces to be feared; the former are great at shock attacks while the latter deadly at range and will form circles of DEATH to smite anybody who dares approach them lol. I may have won the rematch (as my daughter/next generation), but that initial defeat against an army I outnumbered by a couple hundred really marked him as my rival during my warlord days lol.

So my main city is Husn Fulq. I was at like 2.5k daily cost and just putting one full lower/mid tier troops on my castle to give it men it shot up to 3.5k. I can't add any more or I know I'll struggle soon, but I tried to counter this and it didn't really work. I bought 3 workshops on Husn Fulq (pottery, wood, and brewery) and left them as default but after 3 days the pottery is at +47 dennars and the other 2 are at 0.

I thought this would help a little but I'm not sure why it isn't adding money? Do I need to change them? Lastly, should I set up caravans? All my companions are in my party not sure if that will help with money, I know Aserai will go to war soon to take back the settlements so I don't think it would be too smart to build caravans right now.

Edit: it also says their lv 1, can I level them up?

Well, workshops are kinda like that; they often give nothing on some days and give a couple hundred on others. The best ones are generally near major trade centers, so Husn Fulq probably isn't the best, but you're experiencing my normal issue with them. Still, they pay for themselves in the long run, but you can't count on them in the short term.

You can't level them up to my knowledge; that may or may not be an unfinished mechanic. Workshops (and the economy in general) is in continuous development, so Workshops actually used to be more profitable a long time ago (from what I've read--I'm a newbie who started last December, y'know) before being massively nerfed (profits capped at 100 per day per workshop) and then buffed again before some economic restructuring since there was a time where price indexes were ridiculously low after a while. Now? Well, price indexes tend to increase over time--basically simualted inflation, which is good for counteracting troop wages since they're stagnant despite inflation--but workshops are very iffy.

Caravans are much better, but there's only two safe times to use them; during the time before you're a noble/ruler, and when you rule over a safe corner that nobody wants to declare war on (which actually happened to me; I had several years of peace while ruling the Nahasa Desert since nobody wanted to fight me due to being busy with others. What wars we did eventually fight were ones I rubber-stamped lol).

Speaking of rubber-stamps and promoting companions; you need, if I recall correctly, some number of influence (50? 200?) plus 25 or 50,000 denars (I can't remember off-hand, but it's not THAT expensive by the time you can do it) so you're going to be alone until you grind up Influence as a corner king. My advice would be to hang around your territory and grind your former allies for Influence since you don't need democratic approval to pass laws as a faction of one; so, just enact every desirable policy you can and THEN set about buying the loyalty of imprisoned clan heads and donating castles to a handful of favorite companions (ideally companions with high Steward, Leadership, Scout, and the like). If you set up your territories to be hard to attack (and conveniently declare presence while the Southern Empire's at war with, say, everybody...) then it can be a pretty "chill" phase of play, but it can also be insanely hectic if you do it too soon or too recklessly. It's really the make or break for your kingdom as a whole though, which is why I encourage going slow and steady while you're in a relatively cushy phase as a nobleman (granted, your bills might make you sweat a little, but you should be in the black if you factor money gained from selling loot and well on your way to expanding your territory).

I suspect Husn Fulq will be quite a nice place to set up shop; I'd definitely shoot west for Razih, but the castles near the Duzeg Steppe would be good for vassals as well, not to mention nice forward operating bases and decoys during your inevitable war of secession.

 

[Krayze]

Companion parties are very expensive as well--I don't recommend raising them until you're ready go independent and fight lots of consecutive battles to make up the cost. They're very good, but this is a long term tactic, not a short term one.


I generally do the same; avoid anybody that could beat me and try to target the weak lol. It's strategic common sense, and sometimes I lose despite that . My favorite defeat being against King Edurand of Vlandia (he took over for his father during the first year of my playthrough and remained king for around 30 years) who basically showed me why Banner Knights and Sharpshooters are forces to be feared; the former are great at shock attacks while the latter deadly at range and will form circles of DEATH to smite anybody who dares approach them lol. I may have won the rematch (as my daughter/next generation), but that initial defeat against an army I outnumbered by a couple hundred really marked him as my rival during my warlord days lol.


Well, workshops are kinda like that; they often give nothing on some days and give a couple hundred on others. The best ones are generally near major trade centers, so Husn Fulq probably isn't the best, but you're experiencing my normal issue with them. Still, they pay for themselves in the long run, but you can't count on them in the short term.

You can't level them up to my knowledge; that may or may not be an unfinished mechanic. Workshops (and the economy in general) is in continuous development, so Workshops actually used to be more profitable a long time ago (from what I've read--I'm a newbie who started last December, y'know) before being massively nerfed (profits capped at 100 per day per workshop) and then buffed again before some economic restructuring since there was a time where price indexes were ridiculously low after a while. Now? Well, price indexes tend to increase over time--basically simualted inflation, which is good for counteracting troop wages since they're stagnant despite inflation--but workshops are very iffy.

Caravans are much better, but there's only two safe times to use them; during the time before you're a noble/ruler, and when you rule over a safe corner that nobody wants to declare war on (which actually happened to me; I had several years of peace while ruling the Nahasa Desert since nobody wanted to fight me due to being busy with others. What wars we did eventually fight were ones I rubber-stamped lol).

Speaking of rubber-stamps and promoting companions; you need, if I recall correctly, some number of influence (50? 200?) plus 25 or 50,000 denars (I can't remember off-hand, but it's not THAT expensive by the time you can do it) so you're going to be alone until you grind up Influence as a corner king. My advice would be to hang around your territory and grind your former allies for Influence since you don't need democratic approval to pass laws as a faction of one; so, just enact every desirable policy you can and THEN set about buying the loyalty of imprisoned clan heads and donating castles to a handful of favorite companions (ideally companions with high Steward, Leadership, Scout, and the like). If you set up your territories to be hard to attack (and conveniently declare presence while the Southern Empire's at war with, say, everybody...) then it can be a pretty "chill" phase of play, but it can also be insanely hectic if you do it too soon or too recklessly. It's really the make or break for your kingdom as a whole though, which is why I encourage going slow and steady while you're in a relatively cushy phase as a nobleman (granted, your bills might make you sweat a little, but you should be in the black if you factor money gained from selling loot and well on your way to expanding your territory).

I suspect Husn Fulq will be quite a nice place to set up shop; I'd definitely shoot west for Razih, but the castles near the Duzeg Steppe would be good for vassals as well, not to mention nice forward operating bases and decoys during your inevitable war of secession.

Awesome thank you yeah I want to do caravans but I probably waited too late, I might try one if I find myself at peace just to see what it's like but I'll probably wait until I get my own kingdom going a bit. Not really sure on that yet, I was hoping the workshop would offset some cost but it sounds like it won't make a big difference. As long as it pays for itself in the long run that's all that matters though.

Could you clarify this for me ? :

Speaking of rubber-stamps and promoting companions; you need, if I recall correctly, some number of influence (50? 200?) plus 25 or 50,000 denars (I can't remember off-hand, but it's not THAT expensive by the time you can do it) so you're going to be alone until you grind up Influence as a corner king. My advice would be to hang around your territory and grind your former allies for Influence since you don't need democratic approval to pass laws as a faction of one; so, just enact every desirable policy you can and THEN set about buying the loyalty of imprisoned clan heads and donating castles to a handful of favorite companions (ideally companions with high Steward, Leadership, Scout, and the like)

You mean after I become my own kingdom right? I really only do quests that are easy/profitable to raise relation with the village/city and I release every lord I fight when I defeat them to raise influence with them. As you said companions can be expensive I'll probably wait til I get situated before going down that route as Im currently not fighting a lot right now because we're not at war with anyone big.

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

Awesome thank you yeah I want to do caravans but I probably waited too late, I might try one if I find myself at peace just to see what it's like but I'll probably wait until I get my own kingdom going a bit. Not really sure on that yet, I was hoping the workshop would offset some cost but it sounds like it won't make a big difference. As long as it pays for itself in the long run that's all that matters though.

It ought to, but keep an eye on updates because you never know they'll readjust the economy since it's basically in ongoing development. For the time being, it's not worthless but it's really just a little something on top. At best, you'll probably average 100 denars per day per workshop.

Could you clarify this for me ? :

Speaking of rubber-stamps and promoting companions; you need, if I recall correctly, some number of influence (50? 200?) plus 25 or 50,000 denars (I can't remember off-hand, but it's not THAT expensive by the time you can do it) so you're going to be alone until you grind up Influence as a corner king. My advice would be to hang around your territory and grind your former allies for Influence since you don't need democratic approval to pass laws as a faction of one; so, just enact every desirable policy you can and THEN set about buying the loyalty of imprisoned clan heads and donating castles to a handful of favorite companions (ideally companions with high Steward, Leadership, Scout, and the like)

You mean after I become my own kingdom right? I really only do quests that are easy/profitable to raise relation with the village/city and I release every lord I fight when I defeat them to raise influence with them. As you said companions can be expensive I'll probably wait til I get situated before going down that route as Im currently not fighting a lot right now because we're not at war with anyone big.

Yes--that's advice for when you declare independence, since all the Influence you have evaporates whenever you leave/change factions. Note that your relations, as you might expect, will tank with fellow nobles in the same country but if they were already capped then they'll still be very high despite the penalty. Of course, guys you've been catching/releasing from other countries will love you enough to be relatively easy to purchase the loyalty of.

In terms of costs, elevating companions to nobility is much cheaper (money-wise) than buying noble clans' loyalties since clan heads will usually expect ~200,000 denars if they like you and as much as ~500,000 if they hate you. As far as I can tell, their actual holdings don't much affect the price of their loyalty (especially since they typically consider defection unless they're homeless, but sometimes you get lucky and find a guy willing to defect despite owning half a dozen fiefs), but the amount of money you possess seems to since I believe they're a little cheaper when you have less (but enough) money to buy them and a little more expensive when you're a millionaire. However, buying nobles does not cost Influence--only money--whereas companions turned nobles cost much less money, but does cost you some Influence and one fief (any fief you directly own).

It you want a rough estimate on when you might consider yourself "ready" to declare independence, I'd say you're ready if the following conditions are met (listed in numbers for easy referencing):

1): Your total military strength is at least 1/3rd of your current country's national strength.

2): Your territories are either roughly 1/3 of the country you're breaking away from, or in a secure location that is difficult to attack for long (Husn Fulq, Razih, and arguably the entire Aserai region counts as inherently secure). Location is a huge factor; better to be small in a tight corner than vast in an open area, although most of Calradia has exploitable geographic features to grant some level of security, especially around the corners and waters.

3): Your new neighbors are either no more than twice your military might or they've got enough neighbors that they're unlikely to do much against you without getting mobbed by their other neighbors.

4): You have 1 million denars in savings (not just to buy loyalty, but as a security on financial hemorrhaging since maintaining an overly large army in just a couple cities and a few castles is extremely expensive, like minus 5,000-10,000 denars expensive while having every Steward perk to counteract expenses).

5): You have a back-up army and finances to afford companion parties (whose main purpose is to act as bait to draw in enemies for you to gank, or form armies so you can overwhelm isolated enemy retinues), which tend to be something like -4,000 denars per day per 100 random mixed-quality troops per party/retinue (in other words, SUPER expensive without a lot of land to afford it).

Optionally, I recommend pushing for bad laws like Debasement of the Currency, wars with everybody you can imagine, and more before breaking away so that your former country is in as bad a shape as possible lol.

EDIT: I believe you asked if your companions-turned-nobles will be able to handle themselves economically, or something like that, and I forgot to answer? The short answer is "yes-ish," and the long answer is: NPCs immediately get cash money when they win battles since they auto-sell all loot immediately, and while they do have to pay for troops (and will set budgets according to their means) they can generally be expected to field consistently large units (with multiple parties per clan, with the maximum being dependent on Clan Tier just like with the human player) you can be reasonably sure that more lands = more troops and roving bands.

 

[Krayze]

It ought to, but keep an eye on updates because you never know they'll readjust the economy since it's basically in ongoing development. For the time being, it's not worthless but it's really just a little something on top. At best, you'll probably average 100 denars per day per workshop.



Yes--that's advice for when you declare independence, since all the Influence you have evaporates whenever you leave/change factions. Note that your relations, as you might expect, will tank with fellow nobles in the same country but if they were already capped then they'll still be very high despite the penalty. Of course, guys you've been catching/releasing from other countries will love you enough to be relatively easy to purchase the loyalty of.

In terms of costs, elevating companions to nobility is much cheaper (money-wise) than buying noble clans' loyalties since clan heads will usually expect ~200,000 denars if they like you and as much as ~500,000 if they hate you. As far as I can tell, their actual holdings don't much affect the price of their loyalty (especially since they typically consider defection unless they're homeless, but sometimes you get lucky and find a guy willing to defect despite owning half a dozen fiefs), but the amount of money you possess seems to since I believe they're a little cheaper when you have less (but enough) money to buy them and a little more expensive when you're a millionaire. However, buying nobles does not cost Influence--only money--whereas companions turned nobles cost much less money, but does cost you some Influence and one fief (any fief you directly own).

It you want a rough estimate on when you might consider yourself "ready" to declare independence, I'd say you're ready if the following conditions are met (listed in numbers for easy referencing):

1): Your total military strength is at least 1/3rd of your current country's national strength.

2): Your territories are either roughly 1/3 of the country you're breaking away from, or in a secure location that is difficult to attack for long (Husn Fulq, Razih, and arguably the entire Aserai region counts as inherently secure). Location is a huge factor; better to be small in a tight corner than vast in an open area, although most of Calradia has exploitable geographic features to grant some level of security, especially around the corners and waters.

3): Your new neighbors are either no more than twice your military might or they've got enough neighbors that they're unlikely to do much against you without getting mobbed by their other neighbors.

4): You have 1 million denars in savings (not just to buy loyalty, but as a security on financial hemorrhaging since maintaining an overly large army in just a couple cities and a few castles is extremely expensive, like minus 5,000-10,000 denars expensive while having every Steward perk to counteract expenses).

5): You have a back-up army and finances to afford companion parties (whose main purpose is to act as bait to draw in enemies for you to gank, or form armies so you can overwhelm isolated enemy retinues), which tend to be something like -4,000 denars per day per 100 random mixed-quality troops per party/retinue (in other words, SUPER expensive without a lot of land to afford it).

Optionally, I recommend pushing for bad laws like Debasement of the Currency, wars with everybody you can imagine, and more before breaking away so that your former country is in as bad a shape as possible lol.

EDIT: I believe you asked if your companions-turned-nobles will be able to handle themselves economically, or something like that, and I forgot to answer? The short answer is "yes-ish," and the long answer is: NPCs immediately get cash money when they win battles since they auto-sell all loot immediately, and while they do have to pay for troops (and will set budgets according to their means) they can generally be expected to field consistently large units (with multiple parties per clan, with the maximum being dependent on Clan Tier just like with the human player) you can be reasonably sure that more lands = more troops and roving bands.

Oh wow awesome thank you, that cleared a lot up I'm still a pretty good point away from breaking away on my own lol as I'm pretty small and the southern Empire is currently the largest. I will definitely take your advice into consideration and try to meet the goals before going, really appreciate it!

I'm still kind of iffy on pushing for bad laws because I want to do it in like a noble way, but really if I keep going and help them dominate then when I go to break off it will be impossible as they will be a powerhouse. So I definitely have to put some thought into that and decide the path I want to take.

So I been just stacking influence I didn't know it vanished when you went away, I have over 1k saved up. There's votes that come up but I been ignoring them because while it boosts one person's relationship value, it decreases 2 others. Should I still be voting on even the outcomes I don't want, or just ignore them unless I care about the outcome??

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

Oh wow awesome thank you, that cleared a lot up I'm still a pretty good point away from breaking away on my own lol as I'm pretty small and the southern Empire is currently the largest. I will definitely take your advice into consideration and try to meet the goals before going, really appreciate it!

I'm still kind of iffy on pushing for bad laws because I want to do it in like a noble way, but really if I keep going and help them dominate then when I go to break off it will be impossible as they will be a powerhouse. So I definitely have to put some thought into that and decide the path I want to take.

Don't worry about the Southern Empire becoming "too strong;" a severe penalty that occurs when a country is sufficiently large (like, ~3 factions worth of fiefs or ~25% of Calradia) is that they become so feared and dreaded every other country declares war on them and they basically can't have peace without shelling out loads of cash ever again (and, even then, the peace tends to last just long enough for the bought-out opposition to rebuild their forces and counter-invade). Basically, this problem will sort itself out eventually. Furthermore, clan count tends to be a better measure of real power than raw size since more clans equals more retinues which means more guys that can fight. Size does impact wealth and likely military strength by extension, but it has diminishing returns so don't worry about Empress Rhagaea becoming too big to beat. Especially since, once you rebel, the Southern Empire will likely be at war with all their neighbors sooner or later just because they'll smell blood and, if the Southern Empire is sufficiently big, they'll be too scared of them NOT to take the chance to knock them down a peg.

You don't have to be a false friend if you don't want to be lol, I actually didn't take advantage of what I'm suggesting since I didn't even think to do it at the time, but it would cripple the Empire semi-permanently and make things easier for you. For reference, how big is the Southern Empire these days? Is it big enough that we should probably just call it "THE Empire" or even "Calradia?" That actually happened with the Western Empire in my first/complete playthrough; Emperor Garios, though unable to conquer anything from Vlandia, halved Battania and Emperor Nemos then took over ALL the Empire Culture fiefs lol, with the Western Empire effectively migrating into the Khuzait lands (the Khuzaits themselves were reduced to just like one city and a few castles for a long time) and the Northern Empire barely held on in Diathma before migrating to Chaikand as their one and only fief. The Aserai even fled to the Duzeg Steppe once I united the Nahasa Desert lol--it basically became THE place for destroyed factions to rebuild while Vlandia, the Western Empire, Sturgia, and later me in the desert, became the "real" factions of Calradia for ~20-30 years.

So I been just stacking influence I didn't know it vanished when you went away, I have over 1k saved up. There's votes that come up but I been ignoring them because while it boosts one person's relationship value, it decreases 2 others. Should I still be voting on even the outcomes I don't want, or just ignore them unless I care about the outcome??

Don't bother hoarding Influence as a vassal--it's not a bad idea if death was enabled since you could then possibly be elected emperor after Rhagaea's death, but it's really just for summoning armies and voting for the time being.

Don't worry about alienating yourself either--the relationship penalty is usually minor and very easily patched over with a timely rescue or joint battle. I recommend voting for whatever you prefer IF you can sway the outcome and just voting with the majority IF you can't simply because you'll likely want to prevent the nobles from voting for anything that'd harm your interests and you get free relations benefits with the many clans you end up parroting.

 

[Krayze]

Don't worry about the Southern Empire becoming "too strong;" a severe penalty that occurs when a country is sufficiently large (like, ~3 factions worth of fiefs or ~25% of Calradia) is that they become so feared and dreaded every other country declares war on them and they basically can't have peace without shelling out loads of cash ever again (and, even then, the peace tends to last just long enough for the bought-out opposition to rebuild their forces and counter-invade). Basically, this problem will sort itself out eventually. Furthermore, clan count tends to be a better measure of real power than raw size since more clans equals more retinues which means more guys that can fight. Size does impact wealth and likely military strength by extension, but it has diminishing returns so don't worry about Empress Rhagaea becoming too big to beat. Especially since, once you rebel, the Southern Empire will likely be at war with all their neighbors sooner or later just because they'll smell blood and, if the Southern Empire is sufficiently big, they'll be too scared of them NOT to take the chance to knock them down a peg.

You don't have to be a false friend if you don't want to be lol, I actually didn't take advantage of what I'm suggesting since I didn't even think to do it at the time, but it would cripple the Empire semi-permanently and make things easier for you. For reference, how big is the Southern Empire these days? Is it big enough that we should probably just call it "THE Empire" or even "Calradia?" That actually happened with the Western Empire in my first/complete playthrough; Emperor Garios, though unable to conquer anything from Vlandia, halved Battania and Emperor Nemos then took over ALL the Empire Culture fiefs lol, with the Western Empire effectively migrating into the Khuzait lands (the Khuzaits themselves were reduced to just like one city and a few castles for a long time) and the Northern Empire barely held on in Diathma before migrating to Chaikand as their one and only fief. The Aserai even fled to the Duzeg Steppe once I united the Nahasa Desert lol--it basically became THE place for destroyed factions to rebuild while Vlandia, the Western Empire, Sturgia, and later me in the desert, became the "real" factions of Calradia for ~20-30 years.



Don't bother hoarding Influence as a vassal--it's not a bad idea if death was enabled since you could then possibly be elected emperor after Rhagaea's death, but it's really just for summoning armies and voting for the time being.

Don't worry about alienating yourself either--the relationship penalty is usually minor and very easily patched over with a timely rescue or joint battle. I recommend voting for whatever you prefer IF you can sway the outcome and just voting with the majority IF you can't simply because you'll likely want to prevent the nobles from voting for anything that'd harm your interests and you get free relations benefits with the many clans you end up parroting.

Awesome you rock there really not THAT big yet but there bigger than anyone other empire, 12 cities compared to 9 is the next biggest then the others have 6/7. The northern empire is gone with southern taking over that, and we also started south and got the Aserai backed into a corner. We're at war with western right now though so soon we will control the entire middle of the map.

Like you said though this will be a good thing for me as everyone will be attacking them when I go for my independence so it should be okay even without all the trickery. And that makes sense with the influence I'm going to start just spending it to raise relations on votes I don't care about, the more lords that like me the better.

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

Awesome you rock there really not THAT big yet but there bigger than anyone other empire, 12 cities compared to 9 is the next biggest then the others have 6/7. The northern empire is gone with southern taking over that, and we also started south and got the Aserai backed into a corner. We're at war with western right now though so soon we will control the entire middle of the map.

Like you said though this will be a good thing for me as everyone will be attacking them when I go for my independence so it should be okay even without all the trickery. And that makes sense with the influence I'm going to start just spending it to raise relations on votes I don't care about, the more lords that like me the better.

I made a typo above; I meant the SOUTHERN Empire "migrated" into Khuzait lands, with old lady Rhagaea and her boy-toy successor basically becoming khans in the process lol. Like, they were mostly Khuzait troops and heavily mixed with their culture as well while the Western Empire basically became the Calradic Empire proper.

And thank you! I appreciate knowing I've been helpful lol.

So, basically, don't worry too much; if the Southern Empire expands "too quickly," an unofficial coalition will check them from further growth and your secession will likely cause them to recede greatly. 12 cities versus 9 and then 6-7 for the rest really isn't THAT big of an advantage. You don't really snowball until you own ~33% of Calradia, and that's the human player, I suspect A.I. won't snowball unless they manage to get over half the continent with the remaining half comprised of tiny, divided states. You can take advantage of the long term opportunity to take over the Nahasa Desert and build a nest egg while you're at it.

 

[Krayze]

I made a typo above; I meant the SOUTHERN Empire "migrated" into Khuzait lands, with old lady Rhagaea and her boy-toy successor basically becoming khans in the process lol. Like, they were mostly Khuzait troops and heavily mixed with their culture as well while the Western Empire basically became the Calradic Empire proper.

And thank you! I appreciate knowing I've been helpful lol.

So, basically, don't worry too much; if the Southern Empire expands "too quickly," an unofficial coalition will check them from further growth and your secession will likely cause them to recede greatly. 12 cities versus 9 and then 6-7 for the rest really isn't THAT big of an advantage. You don't really snowball until you own ~33% of Calradia, and that's the human player, I suspect A.I. won't snowball unless they manage to get over half the continent with the remaining half comprised of tiny, divided states. You can take advantage of the long term opportunity to take over the Nahasa Desert and build a nest egg while you're at it.

I think it's awesome of the little stories that each playthrough creates, and where they migrate has a pretty big impact on how it plays out. I didn't really get involved in the war away from Aserai land I decided to try and get my trade up while they were at war and do quests and tournaments, I really wanted the trade fiefs perk but I can't get it with this character I'd say you have to dedicate a trading character for that one.

A vote was put into place to go to war with Aserai so now it gets interesting, both my fiefs are nearly maxed out I'm losing like 5.5k a day so I really needed this war lol. This is going to tell me if I can take control of the Aserai land, I feel pretty confident with the use of Influence to call armies to my aid if things get dicey.

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

I think it's awesome of the little stories that each playthrough creates, and where they migrate has a pretty big impact on how it plays out. I didn't really get involved in the war away from Aserai land I decided to try and get my trade up while they were at war and do quests and tournaments, I really wanted the trade fiefs perk but I can't get it with this character I'd say you have to dedicate a trading character for that one.

Indeed--it's a big part of Warband that I loved as well. Speaking of evolving cultures, when i took over the Aserai (effectively speaking), they had intermixed with the Battanians hugely (no doubt partly due to having been conquered by a Battanian-cultured me plus fellow nobles before I seceded from them) so I regularly saw them in kilts with claymores lol. Heck, one of my vassal clans was headed by a daughter of King Raganvad Gundaroving while her brother Ymir, who succeeded Raganvad as head of the Gundaroving, was content to be King of Gundaroving only and remained 100% loyal to the other clan who became Great King (or "Grand Prince," but I know they really mean Velikiy Knyaz, which means "Great King" in Russian lol) despite me eventually rendering him homeless and trying on three separate occasions to poach him. Mad respects to the Sturgian clan heads of that playthrough since most of them remained loyal to the end; only one of them joined me when I pressed them. The rest stayed faithful and collectively followed their king into homeless terrorism lol.

I believe the amount of XP needed was reduced with the latest patch, so it's more obtainable than ever, but if you had death enabled I'd recommend shooting for it as your heir since they'd EASILY max it out. My daughter, who succeeded me after my death at age 48 (roughly the halfway mark of the playthrough), went from 0 trade to nearly maxed out by the end and I wasn't even trying to grind Trade and it was prior to the latest patch lowering the XP amount required, so she could reasonably buy out Calradia if I loaded up the save and had a little fun with it post-patch lol.

If you're up to it, I recommend enabling death next time around since it adds some fun surprises (painful, but fun I think lol). Nothing quite as historically epic as being surprised by your own mortality and being forced to abort a major campaign because sorting out your succession takes priority, and then being grateful Vlandia doesn't take advantage of your daughter's momentary weakness while she's husband hunting to make babies ASAP lol.

A vote was put into place to go to war with Aserai so now it gets interesting, both my fiefs are nearly maxed out I'm losing like 5.5k a day so I really needed this war lol. This is going to tell me if I can take control of the Aserai land, I feel pretty confident with the use of Influence to call armies to my aid if things get dicey.

Feel free to make a habit of it; you'll gain more Influence than you spend from winning numerous battles with overwhelming amounts of troops via armies. Make a habit out of using other people's soldiers to advance your causes lol. Especially for sieges, since the optimal strategy is overwhelming force in order to deter rescues and make victory for the defenders impossible, and also to staff the city afterwards with THEIR troops since they'll donate if you repeatedly exit and enter the city. Note: they're MUCH stingier with the human player than they are NPCs, but newly conquered lands are briefly considered the ruler's and since Rhagaea's an NPC, you can use this to your advantage to staff conquered lands (you expect to own) for free.

At any rate--have fun campaigning in the desert! I have a lot of fond memories going toe-to-toe with the Aserai with my mixed band of Battanian and Aserai culture soldiers. We then got beaten badly by the Khuzaits the first time I tried to tangle with them (really harsh learning experience lol) and the Vlandians wagged their fingers at us as well, but the memories of pain are fond ones to look back on.

 

[Krayze]

Indeed--it's a big part of Warband that I loved as well. Speaking of evolving cultures, when i took over the Aserai (effectively speaking), they had intermixed with the Battanians hugely (no doubt partly due to having been conquered by a Battanian-cultured me plus fellow nobles before I seceded from them) so I regularly saw them in kilts with claymores lol. Heck, one of my vassal clans was headed by a daughter of King Raganvad Gundaroving while her brother Ymir, who succeeded Raganvad as head of the Gundaroving, was content to be King of Gundaroving only and remained 100% loyal to the other clan who became Great King (or "Grand Prince," but I know they really mean Velikiy Knyaz, which means "Great King" in Russian lol) despite me eventually rendering him homeless and trying on three separate occasions to poach him. Mad respects to the Sturgian clan heads of that playthrough since most of them remained loyal to the end; only one of them joined me when I pressed them. The rest stayed faithful and collectively followed their king into homeless terrorism lol.

I believe the amount of XP needed was reduced with the latest patch, so it's more obtainable than ever, but if you had death enabled I'd recommend shooting for it as your heir since they'd EASILY max it out. My daughter, who succeeded me after my death at age 48 (roughly the halfway mark of the playthrough), went from 0 trade to nearly maxed out by the end and I wasn't even trying to grind Trade and it was prior to the latest patch lowering the XP amount required, so she could reasonably buy out Calradia if I loaded up the save and had a little fun with it post-patch lol.

If you're up to it, I recommend enabling death next time around since it adds some fun surprises (painful, but fun I think lol). Nothing quite as historically epic as being surprised by your own mortality and being forced to abort a major campaign because sorting out your succession takes priority, and then being grateful Vlandia doesn't take advantage of your daughter's momentary weakness while she's husband hunting to make babies ASAP lol.


Feel free to make a habit of it; you'll gain more Influence than you spend from winning numerous battles with overwhelming amounts of troops via armies. Make a habit out of using other people's soldiers to advance your causes lol. Especially for sieges, since the optimal strategy is overwhelming force in order to deter rescues and make victory for the defenders impossible, and also to staff the city afterwards with THEIR troops since they'll donate if you repeatedly exit and enter the city. Note: they're MUCH stingier with the human player than they are NPCs, but newly conquered lands are briefly considered the ruler's and since Rhagaea's an NPC, you can use this to your advantage to staff conquered lands (you expect to own) for free.

At any rate--have fun campaigning in the desert! I have a lot of fond memories going toe-to-toe with the Aserai with my mixed band of Battanian and Aserai culture soldiers. We then got beaten badly by the Khuzaits the first time I tried to tangle with them (really harsh learning experience lol) and the Vlandians wagged their fingers at us as well, but the memories of pain are fond ones to look back on.

Lmao that's awesome, you have some great stories. I thinks that's the main reason I love this game so much, it's a sandbox you really can have a great time with and the possibilities are endless. I kind of wish I had death enabled I don't think I do, but my babies are growing up so I might not really sure.

And yeah my trade really went pretty high and I was just buying the cheap items I seen then the next town I'd hit Id see if I can sell anything or buy something dirt cheap. The trade info they give doesn't seem to be too accurate or the stock would be low and they would only buy a couple at the price they said I could sell for. Still was fun though you can make good money this way.

Again thanks for all the advice I'm going to try to put them to use

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

Lmao that's awesome, you have some great stories. I thinks that's the main reason I love this game so much, it's a sandbox you really can have a great time with and the possibilities are endless. I kind of wish I had death enabled I don't think I do, but my babies are growing up so I might not really sure.

Thank you! I wrote a chronicle of my (IRL 6 week) playthrough and shared it with a couple friends over the holiday season, so my memory's still fresh and there's a lot of individual characters I remember as either rivals (King Erdurand of Vlandia, who died exactly 2 seasons after I did while being the guy I never really beat while alive), friends (Atis of Atis's Clan, the guy who declared the independence of Senala and submitted to the Battanians, inviting us highlander boyos into the Nahasa as a result and later submitting to me when I took his city from him and assigned him to my own Iyakis, which I gave up since it was super expensive and I wanted to compensate him for his loss as I intended to move into Senala from Askar), and rivals turned friends (Suruq Banu Qaraz, whose son and other relatives I executed during a brief time where I considered purging the Aserai nobility to pacify the land before i decided it was best not to, joined me and outlived me by 30+ years, living to see all Calradia united by my 43 year old daughter ~25 years after my own death and played a very active role as an army marshal who mostly fought the Western Empire).

The three clans of the three homies I raised into nobility also have their own histories, some becoming far more than others and not always remaining totally loyal, and one man in particular living a stupidly long time despite being in his late 40's when I elevated him the first place lol. Sorgard Barrelchest of the Sorgaroving, a guy I had as a company leader before making a noble out of him and he continues living into his 80's as ruler of Ain Baliq Castle and Baltakand (or whichever Khuzait city is in the middle of the Duzeg Steppe). He was by no means a steller commander, but he was long-lived, on the docket to succeed me in the post-mortem elections, and totally faithful despite ingratiating himself with the former Aserai nobility (and thus becoming a successor candidate despite being, at the time, the lowest tiered clan head lol).

And yeah my trade really went pretty high and I was just buying the cheap items I seen then the next town I'd hit Id see if I can sell anything or buy something dirt cheap. The trade info they give doesn't seem to be too accurate or the stock would be low and they would only buy a couple at the price they said I could sell for. Still was fun though you can make good money this way.

Again thanks for all the advice I'm going to try to put them to use

The value of goods is always in flux, so always take predictions of value with a grain of salt. Luxury goods fluctuate most dramatically whereas food and common trade goods are far more consistent. Therefore, I like to buy loads of Fish, Grain, and other foods and sell them in bulk since they're more consistently profitable than Velvet and the like (although I do buy them cheap as well since you never know when you'll get a good deal on them). You gain XP based on the difference between what you spent to purchase the goods and what you sold them for. Remember that the value of the good increases as it becomes scarce and decreases as it becomes saturated, so selling in-bulk at one place will often be less effective than selling in smaller piece at multiple locations (or the same place but over time). Inflation helps you gain XP more quickly as well.

And you're welcome! I had a lot of fun playing Bannerlord so I was happy to share--I intend to get back to Bannerlord myself eventually. Probably during the Summer or so, whenever the patches fix up the banner issues and when my gaming plate is clear to get back to eating some more Bannerlord lol. I intend to focus far more on building a merchant empire and try my hand at going independent without first serving a ruler--it may be rather interesting. I like to play it by ear at any rate--it's fun to make loose plans and adapt them to circumstances.

 

[Krayze]

Thank you! I wrote a chronicle of my (IRL 6 week) playthrough and shared it with a couple friends over the holiday season, so my memory's still fresh and there's a lot of individual characters I remember as either rivals (King Erdurand of Vlandia, who died exactly 2 seasons after I did while being the guy I never really beat while alive), friends (Atis of Atis's Clan, the guy who declared the independence of Senala and submitted to the Battanians, inviting us highlander boyos into the Nahasa as a result and later submitting to me when I took his city from him and assigned him to my own Iyakis, which I gave up since it was super expensive and I wanted to compensate him for his loss as I intended to move into Senala from Askar), and rivals turned friends (Suruq Banu Qaraz, whose son and other relatives I executed during a brief time where I considered purging the Aserai nobility to pacify the land before i decided it was best not to, joined me and outlived me by 30+ years, living to see all Calradia united by my 43 year old daughter ~25 years after my own death and played a very active role as an army marshal who mostly fought the Western Empire).

The three clans of the three homies I raised into nobility also have their own histories, some becoming far more than others and not always remaining totally loyal, and one man in particular living a stupidly long time despite being in his late 40's when I elevated him the first place lol. Sorgard Barrelchest of the Sorgaroving, a guy I had as a company leader before making a noble out of him and he continues living into his 80's as ruler of Ain Baliq Castle and Baltakand (or whichever Khuzait city is in the middle of the Duzeg Steppe). He was by no means a steller commander, but he was long-lived, on the docket to succeed me in the post-mortem elections, and totally faithful despite ingratiating himself with the former Aserai nobility (and thus becoming a successor candidate despite being, at the time, the lowest tiered clan head lol).


The value of goods is always in flux, so always take predictions of value with a grain of salt. Luxury goods fluctuate most dramatically whereas food and common trade goods are far more consistent. Therefore, I like to buy loads of Fish, Grain, and other foods and sell them in bulk since they're more consistently profitable than Velvet and the like (although I do buy them cheap as well since you never know when you'll get a good deal on them). You gain XP based on the difference between what you spent to purchase the goods and what you sold them for. Remember that the value of the good increases as it becomes scarce and decreases as it becomes saturated, so selling in-bulk at one place will often be less effective than selling in smaller piece at multiple locations (or the same place but over time). Inflation helps you gain XP more quickly as well.

And you're welcome! I had a lot of fun playing Bannerlord so I was happy to share--I intend to get back to Bannerlord myself eventually. Probably during the Summer or so, whenever the patches fix up the banner issues and when my gaming plate is clear to get back to eating some more Bannerlord lol. I intend to focus far more on building a merchant empire and try my hand at going independent without first serving a ruler--it may be rather interesting. I like to play it by ear at any rate--it's fun to make loose plans and adapt them to circumstances.

Haha that's awesome, it's amazing when it becomes that immersive. You know a game is good when you remember so much of it well past the events, it stays with you.

And yeah I'm slowly learning that about the trading it's actually pretty fun. I can see creating a trader and travelling the lands trying to make a million denar without a battle, I might actually do that after I'm done with the clash of swords and axes. It's definitely fun to adapt as you can go too though!

So the first foray into the second war with the Aserai was a success. I used influence to call the banners and they came and I decided to try and take the city closest to mine and having a party of 1,000 troops we stormed the castle pretty easy. Almost too easy lol I was new creating this compain so the settings isn't that high, without tactics I probably shouldn't of made it to the gate. I might try to watch some videos and create a strategy and turn the settings to max and try to take the next one.

There's one castle between the two cities I own that's still Aserai so that's the next step and I own a good portion of land

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

Haha that's awesome, it's amazing when it becomes that immersive. You know a game is good when you remember so much of it well past the events, it stays with you.

Yes!

I still remember the amusing routine of when my first generation character married his wife, Adalindis dey Folcun (a pre-made character so she's not a later generation randomly created one), and how I broke my rule on "no save-scumming" with the justification of "three strikes" to pass the final date and get married lol, and then I paid a buck fifty to her dad to officiate the wedding lol. It's thanks to her all my kids counted as Vlandian culture rather than Battanian lol, which is probably a good thing since their typical styles are more my thing than Battanian since I'd rather BE the barbarian than raise my kids to be barbarians lol. And then there's the bit where I declared independence in Askar City after reading about King Luichan (an EXTREMELY generous ruler by the way--mad respects to him as both my former ruler and later enemy) stamping Debasement of the Currency since it threatened the security of my city. From there, I flipped to the Aserai since I feared I wasn't ready but I ultimately broke away from the Aserai and established an independent country for real, fighting a hot war with them while nominally at war with the Battanians (in reality I never fought a single Battanian during my break for independence despite them own Senala nearby lol, I like to think it's because they liked me on top of my territory being mostly disconnected and distant from their heartlands lol).

And yeah I'm slowly learning that about the trading it's actually pretty fun. I can see creating a trader and travelling the lands trying to make a million denar without a battle, I might actually do that after I'm done with the clash of swords and axes. It's definitely fun to adapt as you can go too though!

Indeed, I usually play these kinds of games with a general strategy and cautious approach but I don't stick to any hard plan since it's usually best to adapt to circumstances while also learning by doing. As for trading--yep, I'm quite a fan of the "side game" so to speak and fully intend to be like Halcylion (YouTuber) who did a semi-Let's Play where he basically established a corporation that bought the world lol.

So the first foray into the second war with the Aserai was a success. I used influence to call the banners and they came and I decided to try and take the city closest to mine and having a party of 1,000 troops we stormed the castle pretty easy. Almost too easy lol I was new creating this compain so the settings isn't that high, without tactics I probably shouldn't of made it to the gate. I might try to watch some videos and create a strategy and turn the settings to max and try to take the next one.

There's one castle between the two cities I own that's still Aserai so that's the next step and I own a good portion of land

I believe I am obligated to stick my tongue out at you and call you a newb for not playing on True Normal (Bannerlord preset difficulty)

I actually recommend ignoring that castle simply to avoid having fellow Empire guys too close to the prizes so that you're the one with the most proximity to gains in the Nahasa. After all, while proximity is huge, you will eventually be walled from getting more lands due to super high total Prosperity so it's best to be efficient and take a little risk by tolerating castles like that remaining in hostile hands. While you can eventually get more lands once the other nobles have too much total prosperity overriding their proximity bonuses, it'll be disconnected and forever from now so not ideal for break-aways (but ideal for for me, since my nobles gifted me Pen Cannoc and, from there, the northwestern chunk of Calradia so I was able to move my capital to Ostican by the time I united Western Calradia, which is a pretty big deal not only financially but because I always wanted to have my base be there during my original character's time so it's kinda poetic my daughter not only gets to have it when I couldn't but is also moving into the very place I met her mother lol, while also taking over her mother's family's former castle on the border between Vlandia and Battania).

Sieges shouldn't be too hard if you use one of my tactics, but with lowered difficulty settings I suspect it might be a bit of a joke lol. Be prepared for a difficulty spike if you decide to "go hardcore" from now on. The real threat is probably the Sultan or one of his homies marshaling an army to deal with you--that's the time where you'll either have an epic huge field battle, city defense battle, or be clever and try to exhaust them on a wild goose chase before defeating them in detail lol.

 

[Krayze]

Yes!

I still remember the amusing routine of when my first generation character married his wife, Adalindis dey Folcun (a pre-made character so she's not a later generation randomly created one), and how I broke my rule on "no save-scumming" with the justification of "three strikes" to pass the final date and get married lol, and then I paid a buck fifty to her dad to officiate the wedding lol. It's thanks to her all my kids counted as Vlandian culture rather than Battanian lol, which is probably a good thing since their typical styles are more my thing than Battanian since I'd rather BE the barbarian than raise my kids to be barbarians lol. And then there's the bit where I declared independence in Askar City after reading about King Luichan (an EXTREMELY generous ruler by the way--mad respects to him as both my former ruler and later enemy) stamping Debasement of the Currency since it threatened the security of my city. From there, I flipped to the Aserai since I feared I wasn't ready but I ultimately broke away from the Aserai and established an independent country for real, fighting a hot war with them while nominally at war with the Battanians (in reality I never fought a single Battanian during my break for independence despite them own Senala nearby lol, I like to think it's because they liked me on top of my territory being mostly disconnected and distant from their heartlands lol).



Indeed, I usually play these kinds of games with a general strategy and cautious approach but I don't stick to any hard plan since it's usually best to adapt to circumstances while also learning by doing. As for trading--yep, I'm quite a fan of the "side game" so to speak and fully intend to be like Halcylion (YouTuber) who did a semi-Let's Play where he basically established a corporation that bought the world lol.

I believe I am obligated to stick my tongue out at you and call you a newb for not playing on True Normal (Bannerlord preset difficulty)

I actually recommend ignoring that castle simply to avoid having fellow Empire guys too close to the prizes so that you're the one with the most proximity to gains in the Nahasa. After all, while proximity is huge, you will eventually be walled from getting more lands due to super high total Prosperity so it's best to be efficient and take a little risk by tolerating castles like that remaining in hostile hands. While you can eventually get more lands once the other nobles have too much total prosperity overriding their proximity bonuses, it'll be disconnected and forever from now so not ideal for break-aways (but ideal for for me, since my nobles gifted me Pen Cannoc and, from there, the northwestern chunk of Calradia so I was able to move my capital to Ostican by the time I united Western Calradia, which is a pretty big deal not only financially but because I always wanted to have my base be there during my original character's time so it's kinda poetic my daughter not only gets to have it when I couldn't but is also moving into the very place I met her mother lol, while also taking over her mother's family's former castle on the border between Vlandia and Battania).

Sieges shouldn't be too hard if you use one of my tactics, but with lowered difficulty settings I suspect it might be a bit of a joke lol. Be prepared for a difficulty spike if you decide to "go hardcore" from now on. The real threat is probably the Sultan or one of his homies marshaling an army to deal with you--that's the time where you'll either have an epic huge field battle, city defense battle, or be clever and try to exhaust them on a wild goose chase before defeating them in detail lol.

Honestly it never even occured to me because I just been playing I forget about all the settings, I just remembered everyone said start out on easy settings so I basically picked everything medium and AI at max. This means me and my troops only receive partial damage so yeah I been noobing it 😂

I'm going to def turn it up as I want the real experience, hearing your stories makes me want to start a new playthrough with death enabled so I can have lineage too lol but I'll be content with learning the game first then putting it all together in the next one with a real challenge.

So what would you suggest, just go for cities or just skip a few castles in-between what I take? Not sure on what my limit would be, I have 2 cities and 1 castle now plus the villages associated with them.

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

Honestly it never even occured to me because I just been playing I forget about all the settings, I just remembered everyone said start out on easy settings so I basically picked everything medium and AI at max. This means me and my troops only receive partial damage so yeah I been noobing it 😂

I'm going to def turn it up as I want the real experience, hearing your stories makes me want to start a new playthrough with death enabled so I can have lineage too lol but I'll be content with learning the game first then putting it all together in the next one with a real challenge.

I look forward to hearing all about that down the line lol. The clock was a big pressure for me in the beginning since, obviously, I don't want to die without a child to continue on as and that meant, theoretically, I had until the age of 32 to begot/birth my first child so that (at what I assumed was the minimum natural death age) I could be secure. In reality, I died 2 years sooner than I anticipated (and I didn't really expect to drop dead at 50 either) but I had a 25 year old daughter to take after me and I was worried about her fertility (thankfully, it appears age doesn't matter below 50 for fertility so much as number of kids made already per marriage, meaning she'd be as quick to get pregnant at 45 as she was at 25 and as slow with child number 5 at 50 as she would be with child number 5 at 24) so dying young did alleviate that concern since I knew for sure she wouldn't be a childless old woman by the time she could marry without leaving my clan. From there... it was a bit of humor, husband hunting, before I caved in and BOUGHT an 18 year old husband (and renamed him by giving him a part of my own name as a form of "possession" since he's part of MY clan now, not his original) who grew a magnificent beard at 21 and actually looked good though perpetually frowny (in humorous contrast to my smirking daughter). I also had two younger sons but wasn't concenred about them although I did discover I needed them to "spend time with their wives" to impregnate them in much the same way the player does so I kept them tagged along for a while. My younger son quickly begot multiple sons so I let him loose while my older son begot two daughters (took forever with it) via his second wife (his first wife died in battle before I realized I needed them together to make babies) and I kept waiting for him to begot a son before I'd let him loose lol. He never had a son by the time of unification, so his bloodline remains insecure...

But yeah, this stuff is all organic lol, which is why I love it so much, and having things like death enabled really spices it up since you never know when the Grim Reaper will give you the boney touch or if the emperor of the Western Empire will die while SUCCESSFULLY taking the city of Vostrum from me (and, ironically, Vostrum ended up being the Empire's final fief and THE last battle before total unification as well lol). Furthermore, there's the obvious time pressure to get busy making babies and trying not to be too daring in the process lol. Oh, and the final Calradic Emperor? The clan head of Neretzes who was the grandson of the Emperor Neretzes that kick-started the plot of the Campaign game (note: I was playing Sandbox mode the entire time) so the Empire's short-lived dynastic cycle went full circle lol.

So what would you suggest, just go for cities or just skip a few castles in-between what I take? Not sure on what my limit would be, I have 2 cities and 1 castle now plus the villages associated with them.

I suggest neglecting the castle closest to the Southern Empire so you're always the closest to Aserai territory, and then take over everything from then on. Cities are worth more than castles (generally speaking), but having castles is great since they're obvious things to give away to companion clans when the time's right and they secure the logistic line as well. Plus, castle villages are where noble troops come from, so actually owning them means skipping several tiers (often enough) and being able to recruit far more at once as well. Farises are very distinct for their dramatic shock damage if you hold back their jareed tossing until the right moment. Not to mention, all castles have 2 villages while most cities in the Nahasa have only 2-3 villages (Senala is the special one with 4) so the tax money you make is not much less than the cities in the region.

Once you're no longer on the docket (probably when you own more lands than anybody else, roughly speaking, or more than a fifth of the country as a monarch-player, or I'll guesstimate ~8 fiefs), I recommend you stop your conquering and prepare to secede while ignoring any pleas for help lands bordering the Aserai not owned by you might have. You ought to own, at least, Razih, Hubyar, Qasira and Iyakis but, if you can, the castles in between, Askar, and Senala would be absolutely fantastic and ought to make secession and nation building VERY easy. But, well, I seceded with Askar, Iyakis, Ain Baliq Castle, and the two castles along the road from Ain Baliq to Askar so you don't need to be huge and perfect to make it--but it helped my only enemy during my painful phase was Aserai in the eastern half of the country since the Southern Empire seized Razih and Husn Fulq, Senala belonged to Battania, and Quyaz shifted frequently between Vlandia and the West lol (not to mention the Nahasa Desert is a safe corner/isolated region so it's easy to be left alone by the A.I.).