Are Bandits too powerful? (Aserai playthrough feedback)

[John the Roleplayer]

Are Bandits too powerful? By which I don't mean the individual miscreant as an opponent in combat but their overall numbers and effect on the campaign.

I'm playing as a noble among the Aserai. We are hard pressed by the southern empire and have lost two cities and three castles to them. All the Aserai have no chance of fighting back, because no lord can gather a party with numbers higher than 20-30.

At the same time the entire land is overrun with desert bandits and looters. I suspect that they are the cause of our woes, either because their impact on the economy is so terrible that no lord can afford an army, or because they defeat the lords as soon as they have a few men again. I'm doing my best of clearing them out, but things have not improved so far.

Meanwhile I have also seen messages such as "Raganvad of the Sturgians has been captured by looters". This has happened to him no less than three (3!) times. I've also seen Derthert and Caladog defeated by bandits, and a number of smaller lords besides. Which makes me think that the bandits up north might be as much of a plague as they are in the desert.

Am I just unlucky, or has anyone had a similar, or completely contrary, experience? If so, please share and discuss it here, I'm eager to learn how my fellow Calradians are faring.

Spoiler: An image of our desperate forces for added flavour

#

Edit:
So I discovered another thing about my Aserai playthrough. The minor faction of the Beni Zilal, at war with the Aserai, might also be a big part of why the kingdom is falling apart so rapidly.

I just captured this guy:

Spoiler

Look at his timeline. He keeps not only defeating the Aserai lords, but capturing them too (from Winter 6 to 16 the same guy thrice (3!) in ten days).

If his compatriots do similarly, we need no further enemies.

 

[Diavolo]

Haha, yes I guess the bandits help with keeping losing factions weak. Lords should probably be coded to stay in their castle until they have 50 troops or more, and no bandit party should be more than 40 troops.

 

[Captain Obvious]

Yeh there are some big parties sometimes roaming around and lords don't seem to properly rebuild before going back out which is a problem.

 

[Bramborough]

Lords should probably be coded to stay in their castle until they have 50 troops or more, and no bandit party should be more than 40 troops.

I suspect this is the real issue. I'm surprised by how small many of the lords' parties are. In Warband and its mods I'm familiar with (VC, PoP), a defeated lord does indeed stay behind walls until party size has recovered somewhat. Doesn't appear to be happening in Bannerlord. And yeah, I'm seeing the same thing in message feed: lords getting captured by bandits....pretty often. Never saw that before.

Also seems an appropriate place to mention Forest Bandits seem rather out of whack. Looters are the pushovers they're supposed to be. Mountain Bandits & Sea Raiders are tougher, but also generally about where they "should" be, at least in the ballpark. Haven't fought Desert Bandits. But Forest Bandits...dang, I'm scared of those guys. It goes beyond "these are the new Sea Raiders"....it really feels like they're genuinely OP (a very rare term for me because it's easily one of the most overused/abused words in gaming...but here it seems appropriate). My 50-ish strong Vlandian party of mostly Tier 2 troops with about 30% Tier 3/4/5 gets decimated by any Forest opponent larger than maybe 15, and outright loses against 30+. Their ranged fire seems disproportionately deadly and accurate. Even if intentional, the difficulty gap between Forest and other bandit types still seems way too large.

 

[John the Roleplayer]

... an appropriate place to mention Forest Bandits seem rather out of whack. Looters are the pushovers they're supposed to be. Mountain Bandits & Sea Raiders are tougher, but also generally about where they "should" be, at least in the ballpark. Haven't fought Desert Bandits. [...]

From my experience, desert bandits are okay. They do pose somewhat of a challenge by having a high ratio of cavalry, which is fine. Steppe Bandits though are a pain because of their horse archers, especially since NPC often seem to kill your horse first on purpose. Maybe they're also in an okay range, but certainly seem more difficult to fight.

 

[Johanno]

From my experience, desert bandits are okay. They do pose somewhat of a challenge by having a high ratio of cavalry, which is fine. Steppe Bandits though are a pain because of their horse archers, especially since NPC often seem to kill your horse first on purpose. Maybe they're also in an okay range, but certainly seem more difficult to fight.

Have you attacked a Steppe Bandit Hideout? They are at least as OP as the Forest Bandits. Almost everyone has a bow and the most of them are pretty heavy armoured.

 

[John the Roleplayer]

So I discovered another thing about my Aserai playthrough. The minor faction of the Beni Zilal, at war with the Aserai, might also be a big part of why the kingdom is falling apart so rapidly.

I just captured this guy:

Look at his timeline. He keeps not only defeating the Aserai lords, but capturing them too (from Winter 6 to 16 the same guy thrice (3!) in ten days).

If his compatriots do similarly, we need no further enemies.

I'll add this part to the OP.

---

Have you attacked a Steppe Bandit Hideout? They are at least as OP as the Forest Bandits. Almost everyone has a bow and the most of them are pretty heavy armoured.

Good lord, no. I'd never dare. Seriously, you're probably right, but I didn't want to conclude that they are too strong from my limited encounters with them.

 

[MainSilent]

The Forest Bandits, man, these guys are my worst nightmare. When I tried to do the mission with the Dragon Banner (which bugs out and I can't do it at all) I had to clear out a forest bandit camp. Good lord. It's literally impossible to clear it out since there are about 30 of them in the hideout all the time. I will never forget how fast my tier 5 shield melt down and how fast my Imperial infantry tier 5 just melt down. Every time I tried I failed either because I got the worst troops I could've out of my party or they just used their out of galaxy bows with laser aim. Even if I fight them in normal type battles when my party has like 70 people and there are like 15 of them before the fight, they are still a great threat to your men.

 

[DatBandit]

Ugh having the same issue, the Lords just stay in their holdings or get captured and the Southern Empire just sweeps through the Aserai lands

 

[DatBandit]

Are Bandits too powerful? By which I don't mean the individual miscreant as an opponent in combat but their overall numbers and effect on the campaign.

I'm playing as a noble among the Aserai. We are hard pressed by the southern empire and have lost two cities and three castles to them. All the Aserai have no chance of fighting back, because no lord can gather a party with numbers higher than 20-30.

At the same time the entire land is overrun with desert bandits and looters. I suspect that they are the cause of our woes, either because their impact on the economy is so terrible that no lord can afford an army, or because they defeat the lords as soon as they have a few men again. I'm doing my best of clearing them out, but things have not improved so far.

Meanwhile I have also seen messages such as "Raganvad of the Sturgians has been captured by looters". This has happened to him no less than three (3!) times. I've also seen Derthert and Caladog defeated by bandits, and a number of smaller lords besides. Which makes me think that the bandits up north might be as much of a plague as they are in the desert.

Am I just unlucky, or has anyone had a similar, or completely contrary, experience? If so, please share and discuss it here, I'm eager to learn how my fellow Calradians are faring.

Spoiler: An image of our desperate forces for added flavour

#

Edit:
So I discovered another thing about my Aserai playthrough. The minor faction of the Beni Zilal, at war with the Aserai, might also be a big part of why the kingdom is falling apart so rapidly.

I just captured this guy:

Spoiler

Look at his timeline. He keeps not only defeating the Aserai lords, but capturing them too (from Winter 6 to 16 the same guy thrice (3!) in ten days).

If his compatriots do similarly, we need no further enemies.

What it is as well is that minor faction has all horse archers which is pretty hard to counter so i avoid them since i can only recruit low level troops right now