1. As a merc you cannot have fiefs(that is, own a village, castle or town, even if you capture a castle or town by yourself - it will be given to one of the lords); but you get paid every week depending on the number and quality of soldiers you have. And you serve the king, not the lord who hired you, so you have to go to the king every week to receive your payment. Your contract is for three months, you can renew it, revoke it after the three months are up, or ask your king to become a vassal.
2. What I do is go around fighting whomever I want, and by the time I have a company strong enough to actually participate in faction warfare, I have enough renown to have a king asking me to join him. It`s going to be mostly a king on whose territory you have been fighting most of the time. Which means that if, for example, you keep exterminating the hordes of steppe bandits in the Khergit Khanate, then Sanjar Khan is sure to ask you to become his vassal at some point.
3. You have to search the outskirts of the village during daytime. The person you`re looking for is the only one not moving in the village except the elder, and the only person in the whole village who is armed. That person is called Nervous Man when you mouse over him. But I do not suggest that you take up such quests - killing him will deteriorate your relations with the village. And you want to have good relations with the villages of your kingdom if you want soldiers. One little known trick is that when you have good enough relations with a village, when you recruit from it you will sometimes get trained troops instead of recruits
Definitely worth it!
4.Unfortunately, formations are not available in Native. However, that doesn`t stop me from obliterating the fierce Nords who everybody thinks they`re so cool with my archers
So here`s my advice:
don`t use Nord archers. They suck. Everyone will agree on that. It`s supposed to balance the fact that Nord infantry is (allegedly) so powerful.
if you prefer crossbowmen, Rhodok ones are better.
I personally use Vaegir archers - they have a preference for two-handed axes, which is definitely useful in close combat.
What I do with my archers is that I use skirmishing tactics:
First thing, I always fight on terrain favorable to them - that is, always have a line of sight at a long distance to the enemy. That allows them to shoot for as long as possible before the enemy infantry reaches them. If there is any high ground to put them on top, all the better.
Next, I order them to spread out. Thus they form a skirmishing line, which has several purposes. One is that a loose formation suffers less casualties from other missile troops(as they are harder to hit). Next is that they cover more ground this way, thus they often have a line of sight to the flanks of shield walls, which allows them to simply give hell even to shieldmen; additionally, as they are more spread out, the A.I. spreads its own troops out too when charging. This way enemy soldiers are uncovered to arrows on pretty much all sides and fight by themselves in melee, which makes them easy targets for everyone around.
Once I`ve picked an appropriate position, I have my archers hold it and wait for the enemy. Once the latter shows up, they start getting pelted with arrows(I like to call that the `rain of arrows`, even my banner as a lord of the Vaegirs is specially picked to reflect that
) all the time till they reach your line. When they`re close to my line(15 to 20 feet) I order my archers to fall back several times(F7, press it several times quickly to have them fall back a good distance, as the order is `Fall back ten paces`), for which to be possible I`ve advanced at a good distance from the edge of the map at the beginning of the battle. This has the purpose of them not being reached by the enemy infantry and to keep shooting. Additionally, infantry that attacks this skirmishing line is in great danger - I`ve seen numerous times Nord shieldmen who, at the very moment they lower their shield and raise their weapons to attack one of my archers, receive at least three arrows from three different directions, often the back, and often in the head. At such small distances it`s hard to miss
Now, there is one detail that makes a very serious difference in that kind of tactical approach - me. I myself am an archer(so I contribute to the rain of arrows), but also am a good fighter. In very light armor I`m very mobile(have also high Athletics), so when the enemy closes in and I order my archers to fall back, I pull out my sidearm and go the other way. Basically, enemy soldiers are put in a dilemma - they either have to face me, and turn their backs to the archers(absolutely not a good idea!
) or attack my archers and risk receiving the business end of my great sword in their backs. In any case they`re doomed. Additionally, the more people are chasing me while I dance around, the less are trying to butcher my archers in melee(thus the more of my archers can shoot with impunity) and the more have their backs turned to the archers. But I`ve gotten good at dancing with a blade. So often I`m being chased by over a dozen of people, but that`s not really a problem for me, since those folks(at least the ones that I don`t kill first) are wiped out by the archers.
Now, there are some very important things about an archer company on the world map. First of all, it needs to be able to move quickly(as it`s a foot company). For that you need a companion dedicated to scouting, with high path-finding and spotting skills. This way you move faster and see your enemies from a greater distance, thus being able to pick your fights. And you definitely need to be able to pick your fights with an archer company. I suggest to never fight in very hilly and forested terrain(Senuzgda pass in Swadia is to be usually avoided unless you scare off the forest bandits or have better archers than them). Archers need their line of sight and great distance. So if you fight somebody and the terrain of the combat map is unfavorable, simply quit the battle and then charge again, and repeat until you have good terrain. Although you can only do that if your enemy doesn`t outnumber you - if they do, you lose people every time you withdraw. This is where path-finding and spotting come into play, as they allow you to pick your fights. And always attack a foe who has the same number of troops or less than you, and the same quality of troops or less than you. Do not attack companies that contain Swadian or Vaegir cavalry in significant number - they`re the bane of missile troops.
I hope this is helpful, anything else you will learn from your own experience. Me, I had to learn all of this the hard way
