Advice for a young adventurer

[Rexferitus]

I am new to the whole M&B series, I got M&B:WFaS almost a week ago, patched it to 1.143 and played plenty of hours into it, read this forum for a few hours, experimented with a few stuff, got my character to level 11, pumped up firearms to 177 and one handed to 157, I tried polearms, but I didn't figure out playing with a lance, are they really worth it (1)? I seem to be better with the saber and carbine, I single-handedly defeated 18 bad-ass tatar raiders this way... One time I almost defeated 32 deserters alone, one of the last few shot me down like a duck, fun times... 

Anyhow, I made a save to experiment, got a bunch of mercenaries, swedish musketeers (gave them better horses and best guns that work on horseback) and some cavalry (upgraded them too) so my total company was about ~50 men and I just couldn't make any money that way since all the gray non faction encounters (looters, deserters, bandits) ran away because they are faster than me and my group of "merry men"... So then I tryed trading more seriously, but then I realized that they nerfed caravans, so no longer can I send a caravan of 20 or more goods anywhere if it isn't available in the marketplace, I understand that before the patch that nerfed this even if you saw 1 velvet in the marketplace you could still send a 20 velvet caravan...  The way I am trading it will take ages to gather them thalers, most I get from a run is 2-3k.

I am just dumbfounded, can't seem to figure out how to advance in this game, but I like it so much, I am really hooked. Can you give me some pointers and tips on how to amass a small fortune, how did you do it (2)? Is it smart to run around with an army of 50 men or should it just be me and some heroes (3)? I just cant figure out how to amass funds for a large enough army so I can do sieges and stuff like that, or what should my goals be at this stage, I am level 12 and have about 20k thalers (4)?

 

[Riddle]

Looting is the way to go, apparently. I have just been buying barrels of powder for about 250-300 thaler and selling it for 600+ (Usually 700+). I buy the powder from cities and sell them to fortresses (any place that requires requesting permission for entry). Occasionally, you can find cities that will sell beer cheap, and you can also find some fortresses that are in desperate need of beer. I remember Koenigsburg was selling beer for 11 thaler a barrel, but that seems to have been a one off.

 

[original]

Put your money in a bank and watch it increase from interest.

 

[Rexferitus]

One more question, to what point should I remain neutral, what counts as strong enough to pick a faction?

Looting is the way to go, apparently. I have just been buying barrels of powder for about 250-300 thaler and selling it for 600+ (Usually 700+). I buy the powder from cities and sell them to fortresses (any place that requires requesting permission for entry). Occasionally, you can find cities that will sell beer cheap, and you can also find some fortresses that are in desperate need of beer. I remember Koenigsburg was selling beer for 11 thaler a barrel, but that seems to have been a one off.

Hmmm, this powder thing seems to work quite well, I earned ~15000 talers in less then a hour.

Put your money in a bank and watch it increase from interest.

Will try that later, thanks for the tip.

 

[Thurak]

Other things that work well:

most village products to forts (sometimes beef bought for 10 sold for >200)
most town products in villages (if they can afford them). That even works for velvet and spice which you should now also trade manually with - when you fins a place to buy them cheap.

Don't neglect caravans of salted fish, salt, bread, pottery and so on. Everything where you can send a 20-item caravan. There is still profit in there, especially when you also want to travel in the general direction of the caravan and you can guard them all by yourself (and therefore save a lot of money for guards)

 

[Exeriti]

Well, i started by doing the first 2 village quests (bandit and tax), selling my rewards + 1 dried meat at the town. Then i went to Sewden and invested all my money in mercenary cavalery. Kept killing bandits untill i could afford 27 soldiers. I also looked for companions. Then i went to the corossak and looted and burned their village, retreating after each plunder. I chose them cause they were at war with the poles and the khans, which makes safe plases at both sides. I kept doing this to i had around 50,000 and 3 salt. Quite fast and easy. I then turned in the 3 salt in the 3# village quest and went to Sweden, I bought the Leather armour with curtias, a good pistol, board sword, bullets and the metal hat which is formed like a turned V. Starts on M something..

I then bought out the mercenary camp's infantery and musketers and equiped them wit the same armour.
The infantry i equiped wit hboard swords, and the musketers pistols. These will be my main defenders. They start in level 5, but with my uppgrades, they are quite thought.
I then waited for the poles to take over a swedish town or fort, and in the mean while, i did quests for the swedes. Then the poles finaly captured one, i threatned to attack the lord and backed away. Then the lord finaly left, i assaulted the poorly defended fort with my (noob)elite army and joined the swedes. Ofcourse, you can do this to others aswell or just keep it, but i wanted to have the swedes backing me up.

All in 40 ingame days. I find this quite sucsess full
Then its of to either loot the corossaks, or swedens enemies' villages..

If your town/fort have a merchant guild, invest your money there.. If not, build one.

 

[Rexferitus]

Well, i started by doing the first 2 village quests (bandit and tax), selling my rewards + 1 dried meat at the town. Then i went to Sewden and invested all my money in mercenary cavalery. Kept killing bandits untill i could afford 27 soldiers. I also looked for companions. Then i went to the corossak and looted and burned their village, retreating after each plunder. I chose them cause they were at war with the poles and the khans, which makes safe plases at both sides. I kept doing this to i had around 50,000 and 3 salt. Quite fast and easy. I then turned in the 3 salt in the 3# village quest and went to Sweden, I bought the Leather armour with curtias, a good pistol, board sword, bullets and the metal hat which is formed like a turned V. Starts on M something..

I then bought out the mercenary camp's infantery and musketers and equiped them wit the same armour.
The infantry i equiped wit hboard swords, and the musketers pistols. These will be my main defenders. They start in level 5, but with my uppgrades, they are quite thought.
I then waited for the poles to take over a swedish town or fort, and in the mean while, i did quests for the swedes. Then the poles finaly captured one, i threatned to attack the lord and backed away. Then the lord finaly left, i assaulted the poorly defended fort with my (noob)elite army and joined the swedes. Ofcourse, you can do this to others aswell or just keep it, but i wanted to have the swedes backing me up.

All in 40 ingame days. I find this quite sucsess full
Then its of to either loot the corossaks, or swedens enemies' villages..

If your town/fort have a merchant guild, invest your money there.. If not, build one.

Well bravo, that's quite impressive! Gonna try something similar.

Quick question should I give horses to musketeers?
What company ratio is ideal? (Like for example 60% musketeer / 20% cavalry / 20% infantry)

 

[Vermillion_Hawk]

In Mount & Blade, it's always good to have a large number of cavalry units at your disposal. I personally prefer my musketeers to be on foot, however, since the most powerful and accurate muskets are only available on foot, and can carry you to a swift victory at times. Your company composition really depends on your play style. If you like rushing down your opponents quickly and effectively, you should use mainly cavalry. If you prefer a protracted yet successful battle, you should use musketeers with infantry support.

 

[Ageofchaos]

Well, I was fortunate enough to be playing before the Caravan nerfs, so I have around 1.5mil growing steadily in the bank. In my opinion, though, if you wanted to get a sizable sum of money fast and easy, just loot villages. Make sure you save before in case you get caught, of course. At least, that's what I did in the original Warband, dunno if it's still as profitable. Once you have a decent amount, I would personally recommend either pursuing a storyline, or starting a rebellion with one of the wannabe kings. It's surprisingly easy to get nobles on your side (remember, save is your friend!), and once you have a couple of em you can begin taking over castles and cities. In the case of a rebellion, you are able to appoint any castles and cities taken to whomever you want. Give yourself a city and a few villages, maybe a castle as well, and you'll be raking in gold from taxes, and you'll gain a fair amount of renown to boot.

 

[foxmoor]

Well rexferitus,

i wouldn't recommend u to plunder villages cuz this way your honor rating drops down.
Do some trading or even better do many quests from which u can gain a lot of experience.
Advance ur level hire more soldiers become a vassal of a king and as ur renown advance u will get fiefs.
As soon as u get fiefs ur thalers will rise asap. At this point deposit ur thalers to a bank and u will never again need thalers

*your renown rises according the enemy armies u kill.
Before every battle at the bottom left corner u get information about how many renown points u will get.
the more the enemy numbers the more renown u get

 

[Helmuth]

Well rexferitus,

i wouldn't recommend u to plunder villages cuz this way your honor rating drops down.
Do some trading or even better do many quests from which u can gain a lot of experience.
Advance ur level hire more soldiers become a vassal of a king and as ur renown advance u will get fiefs.
As soon as u get fiefs ur thalers will rise asap. At this point deposit ur thalers to a bank and u will never again need thalers

*your renown rises according the enemy armies u kill.
Before every battle at the bottom left corner u get information about how many renown points u will get.
the more the enemy numbers the more renown u get

You dont lose Honor for looting villages. You lose nation relation and lord relation. The first can be fixed by speaking with the king and signing a peace treaty. It will costs you money, around 33% of what you got for looting, thus you still win some cash.
The second, lord relation, can be returned to normal by completing the "Lady" quests a a cost of 1000 denars per relation point.

 

[Rexferitus]

Thank you guys for all those useful tips, they helped me alot!

When looting after a battle do I get less stuff the larger my army and do I get the loot from my heroes share?
Since my share is 10, heroes share is 3 and regular army member share is 1, at least that was in Warband.

 

[foxmoor]

ye loot is the same as warband..

and ye u lose honor when u loot villages as u should...

 

[Rexferitus]

ye loot is the same as warband..

and ye u lose honor when u loot villages as u should...

I didn't ask that. My question simply is:

When looting after a battle do I get less stuff the larger my army and do I get the loot from my heroes share?

 

[stroggy]

No you only get less money if your army is larger. The loot amounts is dependant on your looting ability.

 

[Helmuth]

The looting skill works the same as warband:

In general all regular soldiers will get one share, your hero companions will get three shares each, and as the leader you will get ten shares of the loot.

Increasing looting skill doesn't gives you more loot, instead increases the QUALITY of it. At 0 skill you get mostly cracked items, at 2-3  bent , at 4-5 normal ones, 6-7 reinforced, etc. Thus is OK to have a companion with loot as a skill (like priest spasokutotsky), he will reduce the amount of loot you get but will give you better and more expensive items.
When raiding villages the looting skill doesn't affect affect how much items you get but how many cattle instead, and also allows to raid faster.

 

[stroggy]

The looting skill works the same as warband:

In general all regular soldiers will get one share, your hero companions will get three shares each, and as the leader you will get ten shares of the loot.

Increasing looting skill doesn't gives you more loot, instead increases the QUALITY of it. At 0 skill you get mostly cracked items, at 2-3  bent , at 4-5 normal ones, 6-7 reinforced, etc. Thus is OK to have a companion with loot as a skill (like priest spasokutotsky), he will reduce the amount of loot you get but will give you better and more expensive items.
When raiding villages the looting skill doesn't affect affect how much items you get but how many cattle instead, and also allows to raid faster.

I see

 

[Rexferitus]

OK, then for example:

I have an army of 10 men (me, 2 heroes and 7 cavalry), I defeat 20 enemies that had chainmail armor, my looting is 4 (20% right?), that means I get 4 chainmail armors? 

 

[Toasterman21]

well, if you're not one of the people that freak out at the word cheat. then cheat. i've never played this game without them, and personally, i dont care what people think. I play games for the experience not the challenge. ctr+x and BAM 1000 thalers.

 

[Knight of will]

OK, then for example:

I have an army of 10 men (me, 2 heroes and 7 cavalry), I defeat 20 enemies that had chainmail armor, my looting is 4 (20% right?), that means I get 4 chainmail armors? 

nope, it means you have a random chance of getting a medium quality item while looting them. You could get a bunch of tattered shoes if your really unlucky