Being a marshal

[Socialistic Threat]

I have recently received a marshalhood. Without even asking for it, lol. It's not like i'm very happy... of course i have never expected to become a marshal so soon, but probably my kingdom is in a too harsh situation right now. It started like a month ago. For some stupid reason we started a war against Nords and Swadians almos at the same time... actually in one of these battles i lost my whole army, and a lot of boyars did. Our Kingdom was literally lain waste... burning villages, scattered lords... it looked pretty miserable. We lost like three castles! Also, this is exclusively ridiculous - our dear tzar (the King) was imprisoned by Nords.  Absolute fail. In a week or so, the situation changed. We signed the cease-fire with Nords and Swadians, but unfortunately Khergits decided to  take a slice from the cake as well.

Khergit cavalry is just a mockery, to say you the truth. But they are pretty numerous at the moment... and our lords are not able to gather a serious army at the moment. I'm the only exception - i have like 65 men, mostly well-trained horsemen and knights. So, i became a marshal. I tried to gather some forces but it appeared to be a very complicated task. I tried to start a campaign but nobody came - maybe it's a bug, or maybe nobody is able to fight anyway. Now i have an army of Khergits, approximately 500 units, on my borders, trying to loot some poor village. My King has an army of 115 units. I met some Lords but they are pretty weak at the moment... i feel myself being in a pretty complicated situation - should i face my enemy, try to gather some boyars and attack Khergits? I'm a marshal after all. I should save a kingdom, probably - i don't want us to lose any more castles... but it would be a pretty desperate move. But if i win, i'll improve relations with the lord and moreover - i'll be able to take a castle for myself! I already had one but it was captured by Nords, unfortunately. Or maybe - **** the kingdom, attack Khergits, rob some villages, make money... i'll make a lot of money, i'm pretty sure. But the kingdom can be absolutely ****ed.

I hope some of the fellow marshals can give me some advice, probably? I play with realistic settings so it would be pretty painful to lose my whole army again. And the situation by itself if very curious too... how possible is it to gather a decent army of allies? Or marshalhood is just a mockery?

 

[Velax]

How did you try to start the campaign? By speaking to another lord, or by speaking to one of your companions?

 

[Socialistic Threat]

I spoke to lord and to the king as well. Maybe i failed in this, because i did it in the plains, not in the castle?

 

[Velax]

No, shouldn't matter where you do it. Do all the other lords dislike you? Or was it just after another campaign, so they were all off recruiting troops?

Marshalhood can definitely work - it often lets you blitzkrieg a number of enemy fiefs in succession if you get a decent army together.

 

[Kmdr Mumm]

Hey there.

I'm playing for the Nords (although I cannot remember having battled against you ) and received marshalhhod about 200 days ago. Since then, I have managed to wipe out Rhodoks, Vaegirs and Swadians, whereas my predecessor(s) hadn't done anything worth the effort.
The AI just gathers an army and rides about the land, maybe sieging one castle and that's it (at least in my game).
But if YOU are to lead the noblemen with their soldiers, you can - as Velax said - lay siege to castles and cities one after the other. The enemy will of yourse recapture them behind you, but with only a few soldiers as garrison. So you can ride back at some time and siege the town/castle, speak to the leader and get the castle without fight. Because they are not stupid enough to fight 13 against 1000

To make a long story short - I experienced, the only way to win wars is if you are the marshal yourself. You take castles and towns fast one after the other and not only 1 per week. Until there's peace again, you should have conquered 4-5 castles.
After 4 or 5 wars against a specific faction, they should be vanished. Or 10 maybe if you dont play the Nords

And if one day you want to quit marshalship (hood?), you get paid by the king for each and every day of your service for the realm, hehe. And if you claim every conquered town and castle for yourself, you get 900 gold if the king gives it to someone else, but thats a matter of common knowledge, isn't it?

 

[Kilmar]

The only problem with being a marshal is I blitzkreig so many castles and towns that they don't fill the garrison in time and it stays at 0. I end up having to either leave them be or scrounge some recruits together. The good thing about being a marshal is having 1000+ troops protecting MY lands.

 

[Abelardo]

The only problem with being a marshal is I blitzkreig so many castles and towns that they don't fill the garrison in time and it stays at 0. I end up having to either leave them be or scrounge some recruits together. The good thing about being a marshal is having 1000+ troops protecting MY lands.

Yeah, that's something I wanted to know, I noticed that when the AI besiege a castle for example they will fill the garrison immediately after you win the battle, but when you start the siege (as the marshal) they wont.... I can't afford to fill out the garrison of every single thing we besiege, is there a way to make the AI fill the garrison after a Siege?

 

[vota dc]

AI have 30 troops free in garrison, then the garrison will be the same until the king will assign it at a vassal. Sometimes they get 100 troops but I think is some lord that give them. However a big disavantage is that AI is retarded at building ladders or siege towers or just to give the order to attack and you have to wait too much.

 

[Kmdr Mumm]

I can't afford to fill out the garrison of every single thing we besiege, is there a way to make the AI fill the garrison after a Siege?

I dont know if there is a way, but depending on your tactics, you dont have to care. As I wrote, I just get one castle/town after the other, not caring if the enemy takes one back. After I conquered 3 or 4, I ride back and reclaim the ones that were taken back by the former owner. Thats easy because the garrison they leave is only 30- and so you can persuade the leader of the castle to surrender. The castle is yours again. You can do so as long as you want. Sure, you dont keep ALL the castles you won during war, but the next war is coming soon and you should be able to win at least 4 castles / towns in each war.

 

[Abelardo]

I can't afford to fill out the garrison of every single thing we besiege, is there a way to make the AI fill the garrison after a Siege?

I dont know if there is a way, but depending on your tactics, you dont have to care. As I wrote, I just get one castle/town after the other, not caring if the enemy takes one back. After I conquered 3 or 4, I ride back and reclaim the ones that were taken back by the former owner. Thats easy because the garrison they leave is only 30- and so you can persuade the leader of the castle to surrender. The castle is yours again. You can do so as long as you want. Sure, you dont keep ALL the castles you won during war, but the next war is coming soon and you should be able to win at least 4 castles / towns in each war.

Yeah, I used your tactics and was able to wipe the sarranids out in under 4 hours , they took only 2 castles back in the mean time, but I quickly recaptured them, I'm playing on easy damage settings tough (yeah I'm a wuss), and also I changed the lords scape chance to 30% and made so when I deny ransom I don't lose honor (if you think about it it makes more sense, in the eyes of your army I think letting a enemy go for money is more dishonorable), so I just captured like 15 out of their 21 lords and kept refusing ransom, less enemy lords = less stress.

I just want to take the whole map and then I intend to start a new game with harder difficulty, this is my first playthrough.

edit: Also sorry for the thread hijack, I just didn't want to start a new one under the same subject.