A couple of newbie questions

[Tahadar]

Hello everyone.

It seems this game is one of the best I've played in 2 yrs, so naturally I become addicted.

I tried to discover the game by my own, ofc I had my arse kicked in no time. I come here, I've read the posts, I restarted the game. Then I was unhappy with stat allocation and wasted skills and I restarted again. Then I lost a battle and lost about 5 days captured... and I restarted again. And again. And again for various reasons. Then I read some more posts about kings, vasality and stuff... and I restarted again, after I saw I need a lot of time to build improvements in a village.

After you wipe those big similes you are having reading this, I want you to know that I'm on the point of restarting yet again, but this time I'd like to have some things clarified. So here are my questions:

1. I usually become vasal of one of the kings, most preffered being swadian one... that means I miss the chance to eventally become a king myself? How can you become king? I know about helping the claimants, but if I help one of them, he/she will become king/queen, not me, right? So I'm back to ground zero.

2. In one of the games I've played, after the oath, the king gave me one ****ty village. Near village was a castle with the same name... and ofc I had no rights over the castle. Is there any way - besides cheating - to get a specific castle already owned by a lord in your faction?

3. In other game I've played, the king disappeared after a fight. None of the lords had any clue about him, so I could not get more quests to improve my relation with him. About 10-15 days passed, no trace of king. I started over - heh - but I was wondering if I done wrong or not. Maybe the king would've appeared eventually?

4. What is the most efficient way to fight against cavalery? According to history, a line or two of pikemen would trash any cavalery charge but in game this tactic is useless. Especially the mongol troops - i think Khergit is faction name - are especially annoying, they are not even charging, the are harassing my troops on their fast horses, and my archery skills are klinda useless there... they are moving too fast to aim at them.

5. In a siege I have the option to wait 30 days to weaken the people in the castle. (they finish the food there, so I suppose their troops will start deserting/dieing) My problem there is that I allways finish my food faster than them... even with "inventory management 6" and all the inventory filled with food. There is no other option but attack? I hate to waste my people lifes in this way.

6. IF I manage to get a castle somehow, I will have the option to build improvements as well?

7. I build all the available improvements in a village (mill / school / watchtower / manor / etc). There are others that will become available when village becomes richer and/or improve its loyality? They are curently at 28 "somewhat cooperative" I think, village is "poor and neglected" and elder have no more quests for me.

8. Is there any way to move game camera? I've just aquired some helm with two horns (+55 head armor hehe), and when I fight those darn horns are blocking my view. And no, I dont like 1-st person view. I want my guy a bit fat.. let's say to see his back/legs too, not only the neck.

9. I don't seem to be able to fight properly when mounted. I can hit stationary targerts in training area, but when it comes to real combat, I allways miss the target no matter I'm using swords, maces or polearms. So I'm usually stick with my bow unmounted, and honestly I'm doing 90% from kills in a 30 vs 5 battle... the other 4 heroes are usually meatshields/bodyguards. But if the enemy manage to come closer... I'm toasted. What I'm doing wrong?

10. Bottom line I wish I get all the villages and castles and towns and become absolute king of the lands. Is that even possible?

There are other questions but I think those are more than enough for a 1-st post.

 

[SPD_Phoenix]

A couple of questions? 

1- Not possible to become a King. You can be independent (rebel) and own all the land, but you still can not be a king and can not have vassal.

2- You always get the poorest village. You can capture enemy castle/town then ask your King to give it to you. For castle, you will get the village attach to it. For town, you just get the town.

3- He probably got captured. In at least one older version, there was a known issue where heroes (kings, lords) may disappear.

4- Pike/spear in the game is not as effective as IRL against cavalry. There are many way to win against heavy cavalry. Deny their advantage by choosing mountainous/hilly or river terrain. Dense forrest also great, but range troops (both side) will have trouble hitting their targets. Have good number of highend infantry, dismount all of your cavalry then put all into a tigh formation (order them to stand closer 2 - F. On hilly terrain, put your range troops in high ground. On flat, order your foot troops to hold ground, and keep you cavalry together (if you are mount, order them to follow you to regroup). You can find many other good tactics around.

5- If you fill your inventroy with only 1-2 type of food, then you will last longer. However, your party morale may suffer. Before cattle meat get rotten, you can bring a herd of cattles and last for months, but that is not as effective now. IMO, it is not worth to starve out the defenders. To me, the best part of the siege is fight my way in.

6- Only 2 improvements for town/castle: prison and messenger post.

7- The windmill only give the 5% bonus once. Search for TheMageLord tweaks to make that 5% every month. IIRC, grain/cattle quest do increase village prosperity by 4% each quest. Buying goods from the village will help a little. Keep the peasants safe when they do trade with near by town.

8- No AFAIK.

9- Practice. To hit foot troops, you must aim a little lower or you just swing over their head. For a long weapon like the sword of war, you still need to be fairly close to score a good hit, especially when you aim for a foot troop.

10- No. Not yet (I hope).

 

[Durandal]

Regarding question 10:

Yes, you can get control of everything, but it's freakishly hard. If you start picking on one faction (attacking their lords, caravans, etc) and lower your relations enough to siege out a castle and take it, you will gain control of it. You will become an independent lord in this case. The problem is that no other lords will ever join you, so it's your party and whatever garrisons you create versus the world.

If you're going to do this, you better have a heck of a lot of mobility, because as your empire grows larger, people will attack you from all sides and you will have to dash around, constantly repulsing sieges on your territory.

Also note that as an independent lord, factions may decide to declare war on you, and only very rarely ask for peace. So you may be in a situation where it's you against three other factions and their entire armies bearing down on your head.

 

[Untitled.]

Q: 9 and 10

9: you can practice with the ctrl+F9 cheat (slows time) and at the training ground.

10: You should start with Tihr. It has the best defense and is positioned in a good place therefore it makes a good base.

 

[macethump]

Another way to get control of lots - start as vassal, get as much as you can that way.  Then take a likely town.  When you are denied lordship of it, go rebel.  You will get teh town AND all associated villages.  Just make sure you have LARGE garrisons in you current properties, so you can transfer troops to new conquests.  No one likes an upstart lord with no noble lineage, so expect to make enemies.

 

[Tahadar]

Let's see if I get the picture...

About cavalery
Figured out myself that I should get the higher ground. Unfortunatelly I learned that in the hard way...
Also it seems that 90% from the fights I get vs mounted enemies are on flat ground.

Best tactic so far (for me) is to kill the horses (3, maybe 4 shots) then the unmounted slow moving idiot is mine.

But not the heavy cavalery is what annoy me the most... is the light one. They move way too fast imo.. and I also discovered that the game cheats lol. I love headshots (double damage) so I take my time trying to aim properly. I recently find out that in the moment my crosshair becomes smaller - aka in the moment when I should release the arrow - the target suddenly change the movement direction. It moves in that random direction for like a quarter of a second, maybe less, then is continuing the former path. Is barely perceptible but is enough to make me miss the headshot and hit a shoulder or an arm instead. Frustrating.

About sieges/towns
I need to lower my standing with a faction to -40 if I want to siege.
If I siege and capture a castle, I become rebel.
If I siege and capture a town (eg Tihr)... what I become? Do the town become mine? Or simply become "without owner" and I lose the chance to get it?
If I own a town, can I become vassal of a king eventually?

@UnholyNightmare: thanks for ctrl+F9 hint, even I dislike cheating I might use it, I have a high end computer and battles are really fast. I'm almost happy when I get forests/rivers, those are eating quite a bit from CPU so the drop in framerate allows me the luxury of thinking not just reacting.

I'm looking forward for more hints, answers.
Thank you.

PS Heh, you hit me there matey Dad was hunter, I was poacher, etc. (All the options that gives a good archer start)

No one likes an upstart lord with no noble lineage, so expect to make enemies.

 

[Untitled.]

Let's see if I get the picture...

About cavalery
Figured out myself that I should get the higher ground. Unfortunatelly I learned that in the hard way...
Also it seems that 90% from the fights I get vs mounted enemies are on flat ground.

You must have noticed that before a confontation the enemy runs away from you or towards you (depending on numbers of troops). Make it your advantage. Lead them to a forest or mountains/hills. Rivers work also. If you don't find that it'll become a lot easier if you put your troops in the corner of the battle ground. Their cavalry will charge and crash against the invisible wall close to your troops, after that,  surround them and kill them. Should give you enough time to meet their wave of archers and infantry.

However if Khergits are the problem there's special treatment for them.

They use only cavalry, this can be the difference between defeat and victory. Dismount your cavalry, lead them between trees, on hills, to rivers, or to corners.
Personally I prefer rivers because they give you the best defence opportunity (this is generally if the enemy has few horse archers). Usually people put their infantry in the middle of the river in a tight formation while having archers on the shore/ whatever you want to call it. Archers will pepper the enemy and the water will slow the horses enough to not break through your line. After heavy cavalry defeated you can mount your troops again and go for the archer chase. Infantry should be in tight ranks defended by archers.
Note: Give shields to your heroes, NPCs will use them.

Hope this helped you on your quest for M&B.

 

[LordMutaz]

Another way to get control of lots - start as vassal, get as much as you can that way.  Then take a likely town.  When you are denied lordship of it, go rebel.  You will get teh town AND all associated villages.  Just make sure you have LARGE garrisons in you current properties, so you can transfer troops to new conquests.  No one likes an upstart lord with no noble lineage, so expect to make enemies.

I am going to try that, since now i'm building up like 2 towns now and a castle but so many garrisoned troops. I have forced nords and vaegars into peace but now khergits are now only enemy, their horses are annoying BUT I SHALL PROSPER!!!!

yeah dude, start with towns so you can make cash and choose them wisely so they can pay for their garrisoned troops. like a very rich town can probably sustain 200-350 troops just from taxes you can collect, I wouldn't stick with castles if cash is an issue, they need around 150-200 men to protect minumum or else chances are they'll take it with like those wussy parties with 400+ men and yeah, DO THAT AND FREAKING ENJOY!

 

[Durandal]

Let's see if I get the picture...

About sieges/towns
I need to lower my standing with a faction to -40 if I want to siege.
If I siege and capture a castle, I become rebel.
If I siege and capture a town (eg Tihr)... what I become? Do the town become mine? Or simply become "without owner" and I lose the chance to get it?
If I own a town, can I become vassal of a king eventually?

@UnholyNightmare: thanks for ctrl+F9 hint, even I dislike cheating I might use it, I have a high end computer and battles are really fast. I'm almost happy when I get forests/rivers, those are eating quite a bit from CPU so the drop in framerate allows me the luxury of thinking not just reacting.

I'm looking forward for more hints, answers.
Thank you.

PS Heh, you hit me there matey Dad was hunter, I was poacher, etc. (All the options that gives a good archer start)

No one likes an upstart lord with no noble lineage, so expect to make enemies.

I'm pretty sure it's not as low as -40 to siege... last time I checked, at least. I thought it was more like -10 unless they changed it with the new patch. I haven't downloaded it yet. But yes, if you take the castle or town, you become a rebel group, and the town or castle becomes yours, guaranteed. You can become a vassal once you have territory already, though you may not be allowed to keep it all. Haven't tried that.

 

[Tahadar]

Ctrl+F9 does not seem to have any effect.
Am I supposed to activate cheat mode for this to work?



Heh, naturally, I restarted again after I operated a couple of tweaks (more bandits, cattle behaviour, reduced time on quests, etc). I suppose I've tweaked too much... now I find near Tihr sea raider parties with 90+ members, and I'm only level 18. I don't want to think what will happen at 30... A good thing is the fact I dont have to grind for renown... I'm already at 1000+.

Anothe thing that never happened to me before... I received an offer for a king to become his vassal. I guess is because of my renown; til now I had to trace one of the kings, do quests for him then at 25+ relationship to offer my sword.

So far, so good, I'm wtfpwning everything that's grey and under 100 with my trusty 25 people party (4 heroes, 10 vaegir marksmen, 5 knights and 5 nord swordsmen - forgot the name) with a really simple tactic. Everybody hold ground, archers 10 steps forward, infantery 10 steps forward... me in front of all to draw fire.. and we are happily snipe the enemy. When they are about to reach me, cavalery charge. I move behind the lines, cavalery hold ground... rince & repeat. I wonder if this will work against lords as well. I even forgot when I lost a men in a fight (wounded, not killed).

Thanks for the input, was really helpfull. I'm pretty much pleased of my hero development and hopefully I will finish the game with this one... no more starting over

 

[Ironhat2]

One tactic that will work against fast calvary is to use a jousting lance or long war spear and charge them. Using crouched charges with the lance is devestating. To do so DON't hold down the left mouse button. As your horse picks up speed your guy will lower the lance, use the camera to aim the lance point at the place you want to hit. You can easily take their horses out with a little practice and when you get good at it you can take the riders out. Use the camera to look around as what you want to do is NOT chase them from behind but meet them head on or at least attack them from the side.

 

[Tahadar]

@ironhat: like I stated in a previous post, I suck at close combat, mounted or not. Maybe I miss something, maybe I do something wrong... I can deliver up to 90 damage with an arrow if is a headshot -> aka instant kill, but when I fight with sword (balanced bastard sword + shield btw) and see "you deliver 0 damage" I feel the urge to grab the keyboard and smash it on the wall.

I will try to review the trainer again and see if I do something wrong.



Another question: what kind of arrows vaegir marksmen are using?
(I tweaked the quivers a bit to have 50 arrows instead of 30, but only one type. Would be nice to know what kind of arrows my guys are using... they tend to waste them very fast... If I have a battle with 4-5 waves of enemies, I have the surprise to see only 5 arrows flying to enemy instead of 15.


Thanks.

 

[Ironhat2]

@ironhat: like I stated in a previous post, I suck at close combat, mounted or not. Maybe I miss something, maybe I do something wrong... I can deliver up to 90 damage with an arrow if is a headshot -> aka instant kill, but when I fight with sword (balanced bastard sword + shield btw) and see "you deliver 0 damage" I feel the urge to grab the keyboard and smash it on the wall.

I will try to review the trainer again and see if I do something wrong.



Another question: what kind of arrows vaegir marksmen are using?
(I tweaked the quivers a bit to have 50 arrows instead of 30, but only one type. Would be nice to know what kind of arrows my guys are using... they tend to waste them very fast... If I have a battle with 4-5 waves of enemies, I have the surprise to see only 5 arrows flying to enemy instead of 15.

One way to improve your close combat is to save your present game and make a new char.. A practice char. so to speak. Also since this is a learning char. i would suggest you go to char. menu ingame and export him, then log out and go to the charexport folder in the M&B game file on your hard drive and tweak his stats so he doesnt die left and right. Give him  10 skill points in ironskin and any other skill you want.  About 200 in polearms and any other weapons you want to practice with. Give him about 20,000 denars so he can go buy some good armor and the best weapons. Go back in game to char. menu and import him and go to the nearest town, buy the armor and weapons. For a polearm buy a long lance if none are there a wood or iron staff will work the same as as lance.

Now go hunting small groups of looters, 4- 6. Practice using the lance on the horse. With good armor on a horse they can't hurt you. If you need practice with swords on horseback and foot you can do this as well. This should allow you to get used  to fighting close in.
When you feel ready go back to your main game.

As to arrows, i use +3 arrows. Make sure you put points in power draw, horse archery and archery as well.


Thanks.

 

[Tahadar]

I have 8 power draw / 6 horse archery / 4 riding and 450+ in archery... but I still like to dismount and snipe the enemy.

I guess that comes from the fact I remaped the movement keys from WASD to directional arrows (never been a big fan of WASD system).

I watched videos on youtube to see what I do wrong in close combat. It seems those guys are "preparing the hits" then move to enemies (they are moving holding LMB).

What annoys me  is the fact that I cannot raise my shield to block the blows and in the same time to charge the next hit. It also appears that large lateral swings are way more effective that direct thrusts.

I realise that I will be screwed later in game if I dont improve my combat style, that's why I'm bothering you, guys, on forums.

 

[Cilcain]

1. I usually become vasal of one of the kings, most preffered being swadian one... that means I miss the chance to eventally become a king myself? How can you become king? I know about helping the claimants, but if I help one of them, he/she will become king/queen, not me, right? So I'm back to ground zero.

--- You can't become king or queen in the feudal sense of the kings in the game, but you can become absolute ruler of your own 'country' simply by taking territory without signing up with any faction. You can even tweak the game so that the ownership of your towns, castles and villages is named for your character, rather than with the usual 'rebels' tag. This is not easy though because your faction will have no lords and no AI-funded garrisons. However there are also tweaks that will help with this, see the big tweaks thread in the main discussion forum for details.

2. In one of the games I've played, after the oath, the king gave me one ****ty village. Near village was a castle with the same name... and ofc I had no rights over the castle. Is there any way - besides cheating - to get a specific castle already owned by a lord in your faction?

--- No, if you really want a particular fief you either need to take it before you join a faction, or take on a claimant quest, which puts you in charge of how conquered territory is allocated.

3. In other game I've played, the king disappeared after a fight. None of the lords had any clue about him, so I could not get more quests to improve my relation with him. About 10-15 days passed, no trace of king. I started over - heh - but I was wondering if I done wrong or not. Maybe the king would've appeared eventually?

--- Probably he was a prisoner somewhere (and you missed the message). He would have been released or escaped eventually.

4. What is the most efficient way to fight against cavalery? According to history, a line or two of pikemen would trash any cavalery charge but in game this tactic is useless. Especially the mongol troops - i think Khergit is faction name - are especially annoying, they are not even charging, the are harassing my troops on their fast horses, and my archery skills are klinda useless there... they are moving too fast to aim at them.

---

Spoiler

Take position at the edge of the map, this defeats direct charges and horse-archers trying to ride around you.

--- If that's too much of a cheat, let them chase you into a mountainous area and position yourself at the top of a steep slope (preferably a cliff). Use 'charge' and 'hold position' carefully to mob nearby horsemen while keeping your men from scattering.

5. In a siege I have the option to wait 30 days to weaken the people in the castle. (they finish the food there, so I suppose their troops will start deserting/dieing) My problem there is that I allways finish my food faster than them... even with "inventory management 6" and all the inventory filled with food. There is no other option but attack? I hate to waste my people lifes in this way.

--- I believe you can briefly break the siege to re-supply without the defenders increasing their own supplies (but have never confirmed this for myself). Take fewer men to the siege, then the food will last longer. I've only won a siege that way once, it's tedious and morale becomes a problem unless you're constantly being attacked by outside forces. It's better to attack early IMO. High tactics & surgery skill plus high-quality infantry seems to do the trick for me, without too many fatalities.

6. IF I manage to get a castle somehow, I will have the option to build improvements as well?

--- Yes.

7. I build all the available improvements in a village (mill / school / watchtower / manor / etc). There are others that will become available when village becomes richer and/or improve its loyality? They are curently at 28 "somewhat cooperative" I think, village is "poor and neglected" and elder have no more quests for me.

--- No, but there's a tweak that makes elders keep giving you quests.

8. Is there any way to move game camera? I've just aquired some helm with two horns (+55 head armor hehe), and when I fight those darn horns are blocking my view. And no, I dont like 1-st person view. I want my guy a bit fat.. let's say to see his back/legs too, not only the neck.

--- I avoid that particular helmet for the same reason (it's a particular problem with archery), I guess you could use the item editor to make a less intrusive helmet have the same characteristics and prices? I haven't looked into the editor myself so I'm just speculating here.

9. I don't seem to be able to fight properly when mounted. I can hit stationary targerts in training area, but when it comes to real combat, I allways miss the target no matter I'm using swords, maces or polearms. So I'm usually stick with my bow unmounted, and honestly I'm doing 90% from kills in a 30 vs 5 battle... the other 4 heroes are usually meatshields/bodyguards. But if the enemy manage to come closer... I'm toasted. What I'm doing wrong?

--- two possibilities, are you timing your strokes properly (you need to release a bit before you reach the target) and are you looking down at the target (this aims the stroke, if you're looking straight ahead your blow might whistle above the target's head). You could always use a lance as a couched weapon, don't press the mouse button; once you're going fast enough it drops down by itself and all you have to do is steer the tip. Not ideal in hilly terrain though as it's hard to keep sufficient speed up, meaning the lance rises back up to vertical.

10. Bottom line I wish I get all the villages and castles and towns and become absolute king of the lands. Is that even possible?

--- yes, just don't sign up with any faction or claimant. I think you'll need to tweak things like troop costs and AI lord escape rates though, since you will basically be doing all the fighting yourself and paying all the wages of every garrison.

 

[Durandal]

@ironhat: like I stated in a previous post, I suck at close combat, mounted or not. Maybe I miss something, maybe I do something wrong... I can deliver up to 90 damage with an arrow if is a headshot -> aka instant kill, but when I fight with sword (balanced bastard sword + shield btw) and see "you deliver 0 damage" I feel the urge to grab the keyboard and smash it on the wall.

I will try to review the trainer again and see if I do something wrong.

What's your power strike? If you don't have any points in power strike, you could consider investing a few.

Otherwise, yes, couched lances are a nice way to get a lot of damage with relatively little difficulty. Personally, I think once you're high enough to swing a sword and slice an enemy in one hit, they're better than the lance since they're faster. But to get used to the swords, try the following:

1: It matters what part of the blade you hit them with. If you hit them at the max of your range, rather than up really close, you do more damage. It also matters where in your swing you hit. The more time you have to wind up, the better.

2: Make use of speed. If you're mounted, speed advantages are awesome. Much more effective than just standing still in a crowd of enemies and trying to hack away, even if you're on the horse. Even if not, hit an enemy when you're running at them or something. Generally helps out.

3: If unmounted, try to maneuver left and right while moving forward or backward to give yourself more time to wind up or a clearer shot.

4: You can also try switching to a different weapon type. Blunt weapons have the chance of knocking down an enemy to the ground (where you can whack him again if you look down) and axes mow through shields a lot faster than swords.

 

[Cilcain]

Further to the question about the great winged helmet, I downloaded the item editor which can be found here:

http://www.mbrepository.com/modules/PDdownloads/viewcat.php?cid=3

There's a set of black armour that's unused by default (set as non-merchandise, so it doesn't appear in shops). Having backed up my original items file, I just copied the stats from great winged helmet into the black helmet, and made all the black armour items purchasable; hopefully this will do the trick (provided the black helmet doesn't have horns too! I haven't seen one for sale yet, just the greaves).