Best use of companions

[hruza]

I would love to be able to set party size of the companions. When I want them to just do anti-bandit patrolling and questing, I don't want them to have large armies because they can't catch anything and they cost upkeep.

Also some functionality to control their behavior, like telling them to rebase themselves to different town for example. Right now they will be based on the city you spawn them near when you create their party and you can't change that. There should be dialog option "patrol around..." or something like that.

And last thing that annoys me is that you can't disband them directly to your party. Instead they will teleport to some town of their culture, which can be on the other side of the map and even hostile.

 

[TheShermanator]

I found the best way is to utilize them. first you always need to have a scout a doctor and an engineer in your party so that's 3. then maybe someone can also be your quartermaster with high steward skill if you don't want to spec into it yourself (although i highly recommand since it unlocks more companions later really really op).
I have my companions of the highest levels and stewardship skills (allows more troops in party) to lead parties, and i tell them all to follow me in my army. this has 2 advantages, 1 is that it costs 0 influence, but generates some per day to have clan member party in your army, you can literally farm influence passively this way. and 2 being you can micro manage their party via talking to party leader and inspecting their troops and avoid being called randomly into other armies.
this way they are like an extension of my party boosting total troops under my command, now i can do army stuff with my own personal army instead of needing other vessels help.
this way i find that your party income skyrockets because you can take on bigger fights and your companion parties are getting loot, kills, and prisoners, each won battle gives passive income for a few days rather than 1 big lump sum.

Also if you like the bandit camps (i really enjoyed them for a while), you can have a squad of only companions decked out in best gear and fight in there. feels pretty epic.

currently im at clan tier 5, have 8 companions and my wife. 2 of them are running caravans to boost the economy of my remote town and also helping my workshops in that town. 3 of them are leading other parties in my army, the rest are coming with me in my party. this way, when i go into battle, 3 of my groups have leaders which is awesome because in case i fall or tell sergeants to take over my high tactic commanders won't ruin my troops (this also works if you have allied lords enlisted in your army which have high tactic skills, they'll volunteer to take control of a squad in field battle)

This. Although the other caravan and party applications are good as outlined, I also try to have companions with high scouting, medicine, and engineering in my party in the appropriate clan roles so that I don’t need to put focus points in those areas (and thus can use the fp in other areas that are specific to player gameplay.) Really, this min maxing logic can extend to the Intelligence attribute in general - as long as you have enough to get a reasonable Stewardship score.

 

[Liffy]

I only have two companions with me at all times, scout and surgeon. I sometimes need to use my engineer in the early ish stages of the game as a governor to speed up town upgrade projects. They will do this better than your wife assuming you married. Once I'm more established tier 3 to 4, I can usually pick up a random wanderer engineer to work as governor until upgrades are completed.

When I start a playthrough I first check the wanders and reroll if unhappy. I look for a scout, engineer, surgeon at least 2 with tactics and one swift or spicevendor. I always use companion respec to help level up skills and respec again as needed.

Caravans can be great especially when you aren't at war but they be quite easily destroyed if you are unlucky and you have to wait for them to escape, pick them up and start over. I've never had more than one caravan working at any time. If you have a decent fief or 2 you really shouldn't need more than 1 caravan and a few businesses to keep you ticking over.

My ideal set up is scout, surgeon engineer.
Minimum 2 companions with tactics who can run their own parties.
Spicevendor or swift caravan leader
Spare engineer to act as interim governor for new fiefs.
Any additional pick ups would lead caravans or parties.

 

[KingEroc1st]

I also think you should have a couple of archer/crossbow/throwing companions there are a few high level perks that give boost to your army, which would be very useful (10% accuracy or attack rate). they also recently added some melee perks like that too so you might want a few front liner companions also.

 

[TechnoSarge]

Companions in your party are pretty useless. They are completely average soldiers, so having them with you isn't worth sacrificing the other things you can do with them.

Actually, if you like Bandit Hideouts, they're really useful - because they don't die! When I kept all my Companions with me and they filled the Hideout parties, my entertainment wasn't too threatened by loss. But now that I send them off to form warbands or caravans, I have to conscript regular troops, who get themselves killed. A lot. (OK, I confess a certain percentage of shooting in the back, but they should KNOW I'm sniping and not get in my fire line, right??)

It is one of the weaker part of the games i would love to put a archer companion in charge of the archers and for him to lead them well or even better make them the governor of a city and he would then be responsible for dealing with bandits in the local area as well. He could take out troop i left there and help level them and if no troops use militia (get those lazy cake eat guards to earn their pay)

anyways there are loads of improvements needed with companions and i'm sure TW are working on it

Dealing with the local bandits is a great idea! I wish TW would implement that... but I do not share your optimism that TW is working on ANYTHING fundamentally different from what we've got. They have SO much distance to cover, just getting this much to work right. Actual improvement in the ideas underlying the game will probably have to wait for M&B III.

 

[TechnoSarge]

When I start a playthrough I first check the wanders and reroll if unhappy. I look for a scout, engineer, surgeon at least 2 with tactics and one swift or spicevendor. I always use companion respec to help level up skills and respec again as needed.

Caravans can be great especially when you aren't at war but they be quite easily destroyed if you are unlucky and you have to wait for them to escape, pick them up and start over. I've never had more than one caravan working at any time. If you have a decent fief or 2 you really shouldn't need more than 1 caravan and a few businesses to keep you ticking over.

My ideal set up is scout, surgeon engineer.
Minimum 2 companions with tactics who can run their own parties.
Spicevendor or swift caravan leader
Spare engineer to act as interim governor for new fiefs.
Any additional pick ups would lead caravans or parties.

You're modding, right? I don't think the game itself lets you peer into available companion NPCs or respec them.

And what is a spicevendor? I see NPC caravans led by such, but aside from being a merchant, how are they any different from, say, Himil the Clothier (who I see a lot, on my map)?

 

[Lord Irontoe]

You're modding, right? I don't think the game itself lets you peer into available companion NPCs or respec them.

And what is a spicevendor? I see NPC caravans led by such, but aside from being a merchant, how are they any different from, say, Himil the Clothier (who I see a lot, on my map)?

You can see what skills a wanderer has in the encyclopedia. It only shows their highest skills and you can't see attributes or focus points, but it gives you an idea of their strengths.

Spicevendor is the last name of merchant template wanderers. Anyone with a name like "Mary the Spicevendor" will always have good trade and steward skills.

 

[grunwalder01]

When they have parties we can't even tell them what to do. Warband has many options to order your vassals like patrol this area, follow me, defend that castle etc.

 

[Apocal]

When they have parties we can't even tell them what to do. Warband has many options to order your vassals like patrol this area, follow me, defend that castle etc.

On the other hand, we also have the army system, which is fantastic for just giving you an absolute super-party composed of your clan members for free.

 

[Liffy]

You're modding, right? I don't think the game itself lets you peer into available companion NPCs or respec them.

And what is a spicevendor? I see NPC caravans led by such, but aside from being a merchant, how are they any different from, say, Himil the Clothier (who I see a lot, on my map)?

Companion respec which works with command console (both on nexus) it allows you respec your in party companions. This in turn allows you to move around focus points to accelerate skill gains to acceptable levels. Spice Venodor and Swift are the only wanderers that come with trade skill and steward

 

[Bannerman Man]

Within a few in game months, they've been captured and are staying at some town across the map.

Yeah you can do that from the clan screen but then their party starts with no troops, often on the other side of enemy territory.

The way it seems to work when a companion escapes from captivity, is that they get transported to a non-enemy town in your general vicinity. They won't appear in the town closest to you, but they will usually be within 2-3 towns of your location (which includes neutral settlements).

The only reason they may have ended up across the map from you is that you missed the notification that they escaped and continued on travelling, leaving them behind, only to notice they are free when you are no longer anywhere close to them. The game also doesn't say where they've escaped to, but as soon as you see a companion has escaped, check their location and go collect them.

There should be dialog option "patrol around..." or something like that.

When they have parties we can't even tell them what to do. Warband has many options to order your vassals like patrol this area, follow me, defend that castle etc.

These options will be added in due time (see here).

They just get wrecked trying to return to friendly territory in my experience. Just let them spawn at a friendly city
[...]
The only thing i hate is having to rescue them from taverns when they get beaten. Why can't they just respawn like other lords?

@Everyone. I'll let you guys in on a few secrets. If you go to your fief and click "Manage Town" you can assign governors to the settlement. You can choose any companions that are not already assigned to some other role, and if you assign a companion staying in a tavern across the world they will automatically teleport to your fief, giving you instant access to them without having to travel to go get them.

You can also assign governors remotely in the Fiefs tab of the Clan menu. This allows you to shuffle companions around to your various fiefs without having to go collect them. If a companion is already serving as a governor in another fief you must first unassign them before you can move them to a new fief. As others have already mentioned, you can create new parties remotely using the Parties tab in the Clan menu. This means if you want a companion to start a party from friendly territory after being captured and released, you can teleport them to your fief then create a new party with them.

Also, if you guys didn't already know, you can use your companions as makeshift recruiters by creating a party with them, then once they've recruited more than 40% of their party size, you can call them to your army. Once there, you can talk to them and ask to "Inspect their troops," then pull out as many or as few troops as you would like and send them on their way again. If you run into them on the road you can take their troops without having to call them to your army first. Also, after you've taken their troops, you can keep them in your army as you travel and they will continue recruiting every time you stop in a village or town. Because of a cheat with NPCs that allows them to recruit from higher slots than the player, you can use your companions to grab troops from slots that you yourself are not able to recruit from. You only need one companion in your army to accomplish this.

These tricks all feel a bit exploitative, so don't be surprised if they get patched out or changed at some point.

 

[hruza]

These options will be added in due time (see here).

Great. Thanks for posting that link.

 

[William7667]

The only thing i hate is having to rescue them from taverns when they get beaten. Why can't they just respawn like other lords?

Go to a town you own and make them the governer they'll make their own way there instantly I think unless they patched it.

 

[Old-Bull]

I usually make governors from engineers, if they have a 3 or above intelligence.

I start by making the engineer my quartermaster for the early game until their Steward skill is 100+.

With an 80 in engineering and a 100 in steward the governor is already very good.

In my current play through my governor also had a 3 in social so his charm, leadership and trade advance quickly when appointed as governor.

Find an engineer with a high intelligence score and make him your early game quartermaster to build super governors.

 

[KingEroc1st]

one time i hired Pelisor the Horsethief and even though i was NOT using any mods. the game let me respec his attribute and focus points. it only happened once to that one companion though and never before or again.