Developing lower level companions

[joeman]

I wonder if you guys have any luck developing someone like Ansen into a fighting machine?  I haven't.  I think he is forever cursed as someone who solely provides skills into the party.  His problem is that he starts so bad that other people make kills and he rarely gets any thing.

I think realistically by the time you finish the game, he is level 30 with weapon proficiency of 270-280.  And that's if you focus on one weaon.  I think they their weapon proficiency improve the fastest if you have them use a bow or crossbow and put them on foot.  That way he can finish the game with 350 in bow.  But he gets owned whenever he needs to melee.

I hope other people here have more luck developing level companions.  I like them though because they provide flexibility.  But they suck at fighting for the rest of the game it seems.

 

[Fawzia dokhtar-i-Sanjar]

You would be wiser to develop Ansen as medic and perhaps engineer and just keep him at the very bottom of your troop stack.  You can, over the course of getting him up to lvl 30 or so, develop both fighting and medic OR fighting and engineering skills.  But it takes awhile and he gets wounded a lot until you get him pretty well up there in terms of level.  You have to choose whether you want him to be an intellectual or a fighter.  Since there are quite a lot of good fighter companions, why waste the points on making Ansen one, too, when you can boost his medic and engineering skills instead?  Just keep him out of the fights when possible.

We get complaints about companions both ways.  Some complain that the companions start out too developed and they cannot level them to suit how they want them to be.  Others say they don't like the fact that a lot of them need levelling.  So, some like to customize them and some don't.  Our companions are a mix of highly levelled - like Lethaldiran, Sir Roland, Sir Alistair, Siggy, Fred - and lower level like Ansen, Julia, Kaverra, Adonja.  Others are middling in starting stats.  We have yet to please every player with our companion mix and, frankly, are not too worried about it, as the Dev Team thinks the mix is good.  There are enough companions at different levels that most people should be able to be satisified with what they can do with them.

 

[Nameless Warrior]

In my first game in 2.5 I turned Ansen into a good fighter who I could trust in the battlefield. He died so much in the early to mid game but from then he could look after himself and was my most valuable companion. When I did that though I made sure that another companion had some surgery and wound treatment for when Ansen was out of action.

In my second game I wanted to put all his points into his medic skills so I turtled him and made him super slow. I gave him the strongest, heaviest plate armour he could wear and two super tough shields for back and front. I never gave him any athletics points so he was crazy slow and alot of the fight had finished by the time he arrived and I hoped his shield and armour would protect him when he did arrive in Melee.
I also gave him a noldor rune sword with super weapon speed to make up for his lack of speed through agility and proficiency which also gave him a fighting chance. This turtle tactic kept him alive alot better than when I built him into a fighter.

 

[munkibowl]

I'm not using Ansen right now, but I have Leslie, who also starts at level 1. I got her up to 12 str and 12 agi so she can ride a warhorse and has decent power strike, and kitted her out with a fine D'shar saber which does good damage and she does quite well on the open field. Thanks to this she levels fairly quickly these days and I can pump her party skills. I think that 12 str/agi is a minimum, maybe even 12/15 if you want a weakling to level at a decent rate.

 

[joeman]

how high do their weapon proficiency go?  There is a huge difference between 200 and 300.  They swing faster and do more damage.  Even 300 is barely okay.  I prefer 400.  In my curent game, I am about done but Ansen only 250 in his one hander. 

 

[noosers]

I´m usually developing all and every compansie to 15 STR/AGI and the connected fighting skills to 6 as well as trainer before I even consider raising INT. Usually I bring up the compansies to at least 18 STR/AGI and as much INT as possible.

And it depends on your playing style. I´m nowhere near finishing the game in my current 3.01 El Loco game, haven´t even conquered a nation and all my 10 or 11 companions are over level 25 and do damage.

Up until level 20 they are good for nothing but after they achieved 200 weapon proficiency they´ll turn into serious business. Crucial is to sit them on a sturdy but not overly fast horse. Speed around 40ish is best. Preferable Hunters till you get the nicer and heavier warhorses. If you give them fast horses they´ll be knocked out often.

 

[LLJK_Qhorin]

Ansen is the best companion - but not for fighting.  I've never invested a single point of strength into Ansen and he still gets kills riding a courser wearing a byrnie armor.  He's best as a full medic that occasionally picks up a few kills.  Ansen benefits greatly from the trainer skills of higher leveled companions (everyone except Leslie).

 

[noosers]

As I said, each to his own. I develop my companisies just the way I like it and I like them to stand their ground. I don´t need a full medic, I´ve got plenty of training skills for that. In fact, I´m often seeking bloody battle in mid game to get rid of a few k´s wage expenses. 

Giving fast horses to companions is bad. Really. They´re fast enough to overspeed the bulk of your cavalry, bog up the following cav charge by getting slaughtered and knocked out. No XP, bad hair day for your cav.

 

[joeman]

Okay, after playing a bit, my guys are doing quite well. 

Ansen is level 25 and is poking things quite well with his spear.  I almost gave up on Kassim and start a new game, but he is level 26 and is a very good horse archer.  Ansen has polearm proficiency at 250, and Kassim's 1 hander and archery are both 220. 

I found out a few things are important to develop companions.  First of all, you have to specialize one weapon, just one, except for horse archers.  They can't avoid using two.  Second of all, the spear cannot be too long or too short.  Jatu spear is too long, and regular spear is too short.  third of all, you have to equip them with very good gears.  Their head armor should be around 60, body armor should be around 65, and leg armor doesn't matter as much but should be at least 50.  In the first phase of my game, I spent all my money on their equipment.  It is worth it.

What noosers said is true about fast horses.  If you give your companions fast horses, they become target of AI during calvary charge and usually get ganged up and poked by 5 spears or so.  But fast horses have advantages.  You need them to have fast horses to fight horse archers.  They drive up behind them and poke them with sticks.  My solution is to either avoid calvary charge or I lead them on my own.  I have them hold position first while I charge by myself and then I order them to charge and to spread out a little.

 

[Fawzia dokhtar-i-Sanjar]

What noosers advises about combat is invariably true.  Giving the companions fast horses is not the way to go.  Having them specialize in one type of weapon is fine for companions like Ansen, but for someone like Julia, I like to divide her points between 1-hand blade and crossbow, for example.  Same with Sir Rayne - both sword and polearms need points.  A lot of people overlook intelligence, but that's important, too, aside from the fact that each intel point gives you 2 instead of 1 extra point for skills, as do the others.

 

[noosers]

No matter how massively you abuse your companions, just don´t expect them to be of any significant battlefield value prior to level 20 and the magic 10 times their level weapon proficiency, which is, 200.

Level 20 and 200 weapon proficiency and the compansies will start to kill stuff, sole exception is archery which needs 250 proficiency to be of any use (based on MnB experience, may differ in WB).

 

[ManOfHonor]

Level 20 and 200 weapon proficiency and the compansies will start to kill stuff, sole exception is archery which needs 250 proficiency to be of any use (based on MnB experience, may differ in WB).

Or give them a noldor composite bow, those things have a ridiculous great base accuracy and power, and are ridiculous with the proper proficiency (and another level or 2 of power draw, I think they require PD

 

[burnbaby]

I'm rolling with foot crossbowman's killer squad ->Roland-Jocelyn-Diev-Sigismund-Leslie-Kaverra-Lethaldiran-Julia-Boadice-Sara-Freddy. Those on lower lvls need str up to 18 for fine siege crossbows and rest points into agi for weapon mastery, shoting crossbow make you spare lot of points to investe on other skills unlikely like making all companions horse archers or smth. And siege crosbows and steel bolts are cheap, you only need to buy thick mattenheim(?) glowes ->armors helms and stuff will be loted later so you can aquaire some $ without super investment. Roland-Jocelyn-Boadice are the best tanks if they engaded in mele with underworld or ancient evgraved shields and ruby swords, freddy-siggy 2h rape squad, Kaverra-Diev 2h polearms for horses rest as you wish. Just hit f1 on hill or f2 and roam on the battlefield and watch things dieing ;> Playing with that config for 200 days farming money and renown ( only super ,,on horse" spawns will roll trough you ) and its quite effective. On the main hero with looter stats you can go for 15/15 str/agi rest into mass int and exchange quallis gems into potions, make yourself semi fighter - healer mb sara for trade and you are set.

 

[prava]

each intel point gives you 2 instead of 1 extra point for skills, as do the others.

Huh? Am I playing a wrong mod? Each INT point gives only 1 skill point in my game. 
Are all other people getting 2 skill points per INT? I'm curious.

 

[Fawzia dokhtar-i-Sanjar]

For each level you get 1 point for STR/CHA/INT, etc. and another point to put into a skill like Ironflesh, leadership, prisoner management or whatever.  If you assign your level point to INT, you get another skill point added for looting, horse archery, persuasion or whatever.  It has always been that way in M&B/Warband and I never heard of anybody who failed to get those points that way.  You are just not noticing the extra point, most likely, since you only get it after you put your point into INT.

 

[prava]

Aha, thank you for the response.
I thought you were saying that you get 2 extra skill points from one point of INT.
OK, nothing wrong with my game then.

 

[bebebobo]

Well,since companions in PoP are relative weak, i suggest you just give them a crossbow and train them as a doc or something.They can never reach the level of any honor troops, and honor troops still dies in PoP, they won't do better.

 

[Marius_Imperator]

Well,since companions in PoP are relative weak, i suggest you just give them a crossbow and train them as a doc or something.They can never reach the level of any honor troops, and honor troops still dies in PoP, they won't do better.

I don't think you're playing the same PoP we are.  I can think of at least 3 you can hire at day 1 with better skills/stats than honour troops.

Using the stickied FAQ check companion section.

 

[Fawzia dokhtar-i-Sanjar]

Have you met Siggy, Frederick of Metteheim, Sir Jocelyn, Sir Roland?  WEAK?!!!  Read the FAQ about the companions, please!

 

[bebebobo]

I don't know what sound so surprising, i can't expect my companions win the battle for me in a world so filled with high level troops. No matter how much time and money (not gems,i havn't try it) i spent on them they will never do any better than a shadow legion centurion, no need to mention how easily i can spam those killing machings with help of "trainers" in my party.

I thought all honor units are as good as those centurions, sorry for that.