Day 75 - Native Warband

[Fatty_McButterpants]

Bought the whole series on Steam when it was on sale.  Best deal ever, such value and great fun!  Started out playing NW multi-player with a bit of F&S mixed in, but soon realized that M&B might be worth a shot.  It sure was, although at day 750+ certain game features became somewhat irritating and I decided to see what improvements Warband offered.

It does seem (so far) that some of those irritating features were addressed, although I'm not so sure I like the new map yet.  I find lancing to be harder in Warband, which is unfortunate as it was my favorite method of fighting.  So, it's day 75 and I'm leveling a small party of 4 heroes and 8 troops.  I've yet to swear fealty to any king.

My main issue is that I can't find Firentis anywhere.  I believe his tavern spawn is random, but restricted to Swadia.  I have searched over and over for him including other faction towns without luck.  Is there some trigger to get him to show up, is one of my party heroes somehow keeping him from spawning in?

My current hero party includes - Marnid, Matheld, Borcha, and Jeremus.  The first 3 were in my Mount and Blade party (as was Firentis).  Jeremus is the only one of this bunch that I plan to get rid of.

As to leveling and equipping my heroes, I've found good luck with sea raiders.  They are good money when sold off and drop pretty decent loot for equipping heroes or selling at market.

Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[fragonard]

Firentis is definitely not restricted to Swadian lands; like the others, he could be anywhere. Luck is all in this situation. It may take many levels to find all possible companions.

 

[Fatty_McButterpants]

Thanks for the response.  I shall have to keep searching far and wide for him then.  Plenty of bandits to hunt in the meanwhile and lots of loot to be had.

 

[Ivan Khan]

Thanks for the response.  I shall have to keep searching far and wide for him then.  Plenty of bandits to hunt in the meanwhile and lots of loot to be had.

I normally start out to gather all the companions. Trick is to move fast, so you can hit them all within a week.

As for when I delayed. I Remember not find Fire until day 200+. Longest it ever took me to find the last companion was over a year. Then I only found her because I got frustrated think the game had lost her that I used a cheat.

 

[Fatty_McButterpants]

I just rode to each city again and yet I still can't find him.  Jeremus started to act the ass after Artimenner was recruited, so I stripped him of all his gear and tossed him out (the option to tie him between two horses and pull him apart apparently is not in the game - too bad).  I only recruited him for his medical skills, but I've decided he's not worth the bother.  So after tossing him in the snow, I rode all the way across the map; remember he's in his undies with no items, I get back to Sumo looking for Firentis and there is Jeremus in his briefs asking to rejoin the party.  Funny, yes; and yet to me it is not the first instance of this.  All the other heroes (who I don't want) follow me around as well.  I may have to go with Lezalit as a substitute if Firentis doesn't appear soon.

 

[Filou]

Have a look here for your choice of companions.
http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mount%26Blade/Companions

You can have 8 that don't quarrel if you choose correctly, and you'll save yourself the trouble of improving someone for nothing.
Oh yeah, check upstairs in taverns, sometimes they stay out of sight.

 

[fragonard]

...
Oh yeah, check upstairs in taverns, sometimes they stay out of sight.

Good point, forgot to mention that.
If the tavern spawns more characters than places on main floor, the extras will spawn upstairs. If you walk in and there are only one or two npcs, normally there will be no one upstairs.

 

[Ivan Khan]

Good point, forgot to mention that.
If the tavern spawns more characters than places on main floor, the extras will spawn upstairs. If you walk in and there are only one or two npcs, normally there will be no one upstairs.

I have actually found they sometimes spawn upstairs when it was not 'full' downstairs. If you are looking for them best to climb the stairs every time.

 

[Fatty_McButterpants]

Good tip, thanks.

[Edit - day 99] I finally found Firentis in the first floor of the Tavern at Rivacheg. Which is where I'd been poaching sea raiders from a known cave hideout for many days.  Now my band of heroes is complete and since I've been gathering up a good armor kit for him as I searched the world many times over, he is fully decked out and ready to level up.

Me - Lvl 16.
Firentis - Lvl 6.
Borcha - Lvl 7.
Matheld - Lvl 11.
Marnid - Lvl 7.
Artimenner - Lvl 8.

4 Swadia Knights, 3 Vaegir Knights, 4 Slaver Chiefs, 3 man hunters and 1 slave crusher.  Time to start looking for a kingdom.

 

[Fatty_McButterpants]

Would anyone care to see how things progress, sort of a diary; say every 25 days of game time?

 

[Alfredthegreat]

You should play mods, they make the game much better.

 

[Fatty_McButterpants]

I'll do some more in Native first, then I can better appreciate what a mod added.

 

[TheGME]

The original M&B late-game feature? You mean permanent injuries?

It's in Warband too.

 

[Fatty_McButterpants]

Day 429 now, we (I essentially) wiped out the Nords.  Oddly, even after wiping them out there are 3-4 Nord Lords running around my castles being a nuisance.  each has less than 10 troops and is rather fast 6.0.  Rhodoks are the next in line to fall, I've been taking their border castles easily and letting the marshall take the cities.  Swadia has been typically pathetic during the entire game. 

I own 2 castles and no towns:
- Asugan Castle
- Sharwa Castle

Both have all upgrades and 130 High grade defenders each. 
Both are sandwiched between SS and KK, making life for me a bit tough.

Love interest (bit of a PITA to be honest):
- Lady Iarina (22) Daughter of Boyar Vlan, our Marshall.  She wants the ring, but daddy only likes me 14.
- Lady Drina (14) Daughter of Boyar Naldera.  She's on a quest to put wrinkles in sheets.  Daddy likes me 49.

Not sure which to go with.  Vlan has more power and more hookups, but Naldera isn't exactly weak.  Could use some input on this selection.

My party firmed out with:
- Firentis Lvl 20, focus is trainer (4) and being my tank.
- Rolf Lvl 20, focus is tactics (4) and being my tank.
- Matheld Lvl 21, focus is Trainer (4) and Inventory mgr (4).
- Marnid Lvl 20, focus is Inventory mgr (4) and First aid (4).
- Borcha Lvl 18, focus is Tracking (5) and Path finding (5).
- Artimenner Lvl 19, focus is engineering (6), First aid (5), and Surgery (5).

With 230 troops tied up in my castles, and another 104 in the field with me, my monthly bill is a monster.

 

[Asulador]

I would suggest choosing the daughter with the larger family tree.

 

[Fatty_McButterpants]

Day 558 and I just wiped out Swadia.  Have been at war with the Rhodoks forever and also at war with the Kergits.  I now own Suno, Uxkhal, Haringoth Castle, Sharwa Castle, and Asugan Castle.

The AI Marshall routine is without rhyme or reason.  The random racing around the map is a total waste of time and almost nothing gets accomplished.  I've stopped responding to Marshall requests to join up, although it's pissing off my companions.  To what effect, I'm not sure as their morale is excellent.

Married to Lady Drina and also rescued her father from a Rhodok Castle that I sieged.  I've kept my honor high (35) and my right to rule is now 24. 

After playing for a while, there are some things I wish we could do with City and Castle management.  I wish we could assign troops to patrol areas.  Say I have 88 defenders in a castle, I'd like 20 of them to patrol the towns around the area and keep away those pile of filth Lords who like to raid.  They could fight bandits and even gain skill to upgrade.  I also wish that companions could be assigned to castle garrisons without me having to rebel. 

 

[sandoval]

Don't put points into inventory management of companions! These do nothing and are completely wasted.


Also I usually follow the marshal because it results in lots of experience points.

 

[Fatty_McButterpants]

I didn't know that.  Is adding points to any companion leader skills worthwhile?

Following the Marshall - So now after a very long war, we are at truce with KK for 36 days.  Meanwhile the war with Rhodoks drags on into eternity.  I've been battling 5 counts who stage out of Valucia; their main goal seems to be to raid villages and cause mischief.  I've beaten them many times and each time they escape back to Valucia where, in a flash they have another 30 troops and are back out doing it again.  One would think the Marshall would ride on Valucia and take it.  It's a key city and would push the Rhodoks over the mountain.  No, not a chance.  He's riding around as far from Rhodok territory as possible, chasing bandits and what not.  So not much experience gained there,  and my troops moral is dropping from excellent to average.

 

[Ivan Khan]

I didn't know that.  Is adding points to any companion leader skills worthwhile?

Yes, with two caveats. One, if you make them vassals, they can use the leadership. And two, with some mods that assign it bonuses. Inventory Management and Prisoner Management are the most useless, as they are not even used by your companions if you make them vassals in native. Persuasion is another that is practically useless, only useable by a companion to use as an emissary after becoming your own king.

 

[Fatty_McButterpants]

I finally convinced the Marshall to attack Valucia.  I had to build up a better rep with him in order for him to accept my advice.  He and the 15 other lords with him sat there for 4 days before attacking.  Anyway, the city fell with very few casualties. The Marshall put 110 troops in the garrison and the King gave the city to a Lord that I'm on friendly terms with.  I quickly moved up the mountain and captured the castle guarding the pass.  I then requested to be given that castle.