Day 380, own 13 Castles, 4 Major Cities, need help from experienced player plz=)

[TyRod]

I currently control 13 Castles and 4 Cities, which over look (approx) 21 small towns.  I'm a 'rebel', as in, I don't belong to any faction.  I'm currently at war with everyone except Khergits, not by choice...  I'm on day 380, char level 41 with an army of 179, consisting almost entirely of heroes, 100+ Knights and 40 or so Marksmen.  I'm not using any mods or script changes. 

Basically, I'm in a rut and could use some advice!  Please help =)

First Q: I've completely wiped the Rhodoks.  They don't own any property at all, and I have 8 of their lords prisoner.  Is there any way at all to fully defeat them or will they always be trying to siege some of my lesser garrisoned castles??  They just won't freaking die lol.

Second: As you can imagine, with no faction and all this property, and three kingdoms with solid armies campaigning against me all the time, it's very hard to protect my borders.  I'm considering allying with the Khergits, who own the most land other than me, and are the only faction I'm not at war with.  Is this in my best interest?  Do I lose all my castles in doing so, or do they stay "gray" and continue to be mine?  I thought allying with someone would help relieve some battle pressure as I'm stuck thwarting campaign after campaign and doing very little attacking of my own.  (Luckily, my renown keeps going through the roof as my small band defends against sieges containing 400-1,000 men time and time again)

Third: What's the max level?  Does this game really "end"?  I'm loving it so far so it really doesn't matter to me lol.  I don't do any quests any more, just defend defend defend.  My army has thousands of soldiers garrisons amongst all my cities and castles and I hold around 85,000 (money) currently. 

I guess I'm just not sure what else to do, or even what else I CAN do.  What do you guys do for fun?  Are you all rebels too or do you commonly ally with someone??

Any input on any or all of these questions would be great help! THANKS for reading.  -TyRod

 

[Kleidophoros]

1. You need to defeat all Rhodok parties on the map to wipe their faction out. When their Kingdom is gone teir lords will join other factions.
2. You get to keep your fiefs if you join the Khergits. Is joining them to your best interest? only you can decide but it will surely take pressure off you.
3. 63 or something. There is no end to the game.

Talk to guildmasters in cities they will give you peace quests randomly.

I am a rebel myself too. Its the most challenging way in native.

 

[last_apoc]

Wow, that actually sounds cool. I heard when your a rebel faction and you are down to the last town/village/castle to take over you have to fight EVERY SINGLE LORD IN THE GAME!!! That sounds like the most epic battle ever .

 

[killer-blead]

I currently control 13 Castles and 4 Cities, which over look (approx) 21 small towns.  I'm a 'rebel', as in, I don't belong to any faction.  I'm currently at war with everyone except Khergits, not by choice...  I'm on day 380, char level 41 with an army of 179, consisting almost entirely of heroes, 100+ Knights and 40 or so Marksmen.  I'm not using any mods or script changes. 

Basically, I'm in a rut and could use some advice!  Please help =)

First Q: I've completely wiped the Rhodoks.  They don't own any property at all, and I have 8 of their lords prisoner.  Is there any way at all to fully defeat them or will they always be trying to siege some of my lesser garrisoned castles??  They just won't freaking die lol.
you need to kill all there lords. its a long search but when you killed them all they will never bother you again.

Second: As you can imagine, with no faction and all this property, and three kingdoms with solid armies campaigning against me all the time, it's very hard to protect my borders.  I'm considering allying with the Khergits, who own the most land other than me, and are the only faction I'm not at war with.  Is this in my best interest?  Do I lose all my castles in doing so, or do they stay "gray" and continue to be mine?  I thought allying with someone would help relieve some battle pressure as I'm stuck thwarting campaign after campaign and doing very little attacking of my own.  (Luckily, my renown keeps going through the roof as my small band defends against sieges containing 400-1,000 men time and time again)
as a rebel you can't actually ally with a diffrent faction, you can only join that faction. your fiefs will remain yours but will turn to the colour of the faction. it might be in your best interest but you might not be able to keep the towns/castles that you capture they might be given to diffrent lords. so if your thinking of defeating the khergits too i would reconsider.

Third: What's the max level?  Does this game really "end"?  I'm loving it so far so it really doesn't matter to me lol.  I don't do any quests any more, just defend defend defend.  My army has thousands of soldiers garrisons amongst all my cities and castles and I hold around 85,000 (money) currently.
the max level is 63, not only for your character level but also your skill levels (AGI, STR, CHA) the max profiencies you will be able to get is 699. this game will not end after 666days

I guess I'm just not sure what else to do, or even what else I CAN do.  What do you guys do for fun?  Are you all rebels too or do you commonly ally with someone??
i ally with the swadians, after that im looking for the clainment and again after that i rebel.

Any input on any or all of these questions would be great help! THANKS for reading.  -TyRod

Sincerly, Killer-Blead

 

[ddrake]

...
you need to kill all there lords. its a long search but when you killed them all they will never bother you again.

Actually this is inaccurate. If you totally wipe out a faction then the lords will join the other factions making them stronger.
A better strategy would be to let them keep just one castle where they would gather. With only one fief they will rebuild their armies much slower giving you the time to conquer your other enemies as well.
Best thing is to choose a castle which is easy to take (ramp + breach) so the number of lords and unts inside wont be a problem.
Just watch out for the message system bug that gets triggered by defeating too many lords at the same time. Bait out some of them and capture them before attacking the castle.

 

[killer-blead]

...
you need to kill all there lords. its a long search but when you killed them all they will never bother you again.

Actually this is inaccurate. If you totally wipe out a faction then the lords will join the other factions making them stronger.
A better strategy would be to let them keep just one castle where they would gather. With only one fief they will rebuild their armies much slower giving you the time to conquer your other enemies as well.
Best thing is to choose a castle which is easy to take (ramp + breach) so the number of lords and unts inside wont be a problem.
Just watch out for the message system bug that gets triggered by defeating too many lords at the same time. Bait out some of them and capture them before attacking the castle.

there is always a sceptic with a 'better plan'.

 

[ddrake]

...
you need to kill all there lords. its a long search but when you killed them all they will never bother you again.

Actually this is inaccurate. If you totally wipe out a faction then the lords will join the other factions making them stronger.
A better strategy would be to let them keep just one castle where they would gather. With only one fief they will rebuild their armies much slower giving you the time to conquer your other enemies as well.
Best thing is to choose a castle which is easy to take (ramp + breach) so the number of lords and unts inside wont be a problem.
Just watch out for the message system bug that gets triggered by defeating too many lords at the same time. Bait out some of them and capture them before attacking the castle.

there is always a sceptic with a 'better plan'.

and he's often right! 

 

[TyRod]

Hey thanks everyone, that really helps.

I guess I'm not sure what to do from here other than keep taking castles and towns and saving money for better equipment/horses.

What are the mods like in this game?  Does anyone recommend anything fun that doesn't hinder or alter my current save files? 

 

[Kazdum]

Everything will alter I belive, even mods close to the Native version... What you need to do if you want to, is export your character and import on a brand new game.

Those are the mods I did already played, there is a several that I dint so please no one take offense for not suggesting their mods, but the mods that are closer to native version of the game are:
1) Native Extended (very good mod, loyal to native view, lots of troops to learn, the down side is that some troops are heavily unbalanced)
2) Lords and Realms, very good game play, not so many troop trees, simple, not so unbalanced like Native Extended.
3) Sword of Democles, this mod is a bit different from Native.

All these 3 mods have kingdom management so you can recruit lords and be a king.

 

[The Plague]

Maybe try Zand mod and then browse the 82 tweaks and fixes. Watch out for the Kerghits in Zand though, the lancers are some serious scary. Kerghits are still arse in a siege though... *shrug* I like super units so it's for me. Also, yea, talk to the guild guys and get the peace thing. Not sure if it would work as rebel though... Give it a try.

 

[Nahkuri]

1. You need to defeat all Rhodok parties on the map to wipe their faction out. When their Kingdom is gone teir lords will join other factions.

Also, be prepared for a long hunt. This one time it took me 20 something days to have the game realize the Rhodoks don't exist anymore, because there was one lord causing confusion by constantly attempting to besiege my castles and loot my villages completely all by himself. He didn't have a party, not one peasant accompanying him. As you might guess, one horseman moves quite fast on the travel map.

 

[Ghoura Agur]

You should garrison your lands with hundreds of peasants.  The large number of troops is what intimidates the enemy, not the quality.  Plus, they're cheap.

 

[Toru Yamatashi]

O.K go on a castle/city cpaturing streak, a shard and fast as you can on your inner territories take out all of your men to bolster your army cpature everything possible, INCLUDING the khergits after all the citys/castles whatever are taken ally your self with a faction preferably the on with the most armys still in one piece OR make peace with everyone and do the guilmasters quests


an alternitive would be to boot all your soldiers and try to defend all those castles/towns by yourself and take castles, by yourself

 

[imsorry]

when I have these kinda of problem, I just find a claimant and back her(him) up. 

 

[Lord Bryggan]

I did the claimant quest, then rebelled against him.  I used huscarls  for sieges (Hey, historically huscarls were mercs, so I'm still sticking to my Vaegir roots), parked them in the captured castle while I collected enough recruits to garrison the castle, then I took my pure Vaegir knight army (for speed) out of storage and chased down any threatening enemy lord army.  I too got tricked by the lone lord attempting to raid my villages.  You think my dumbass peasants would let me know how large of army was threatening them.  After several nasty battles (during which I'd have a few Vaegir knight wannabes), I'd let my enemies lick their wounds and quickly trade my knights for my huscarls and start all over again.  Rinse, repeat etc.  Every once in awhile I'd have to take a break to replenish my huscarls and knights.  Oh yeah, and keep all lords in your dungeon.  You don't need honour when you own everything.

Eventually I found the fighting to be a little monotonous and tried to talk my old liege- he said this:

That reinspired me and I kicked his ass.

Now I play Chronicles of Talera.  Sorta low fantasy, with five factions, each of which has special skills.  Personally I like the corpse combustion of the Blighted Plague (an undead faction).  All the corpses on the battle field burst into a very nasty inferno which can kill or at least severely singe friend and foe alike.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqHuzATtd5I Try the ferons too- they're green Nords (aka orcs) with bloodthirsty berzerkers and a very cool questline for that faction (provided you're nasty and bloodthirsty enough- I wasn't at first, but I am now).  It's a nice change from the realism of Native.

 

[AlienKnight]

Actually, it seems to me you need no help while having it all in your hands in just day 380.
Just a joke .