hieronymos
Regular
Early Game Guide for Floris Expanded v2.5
As others before have said, the Early Game is all about:
1) Making money to build enterprises and buy land to create tons of residual income to pay for your huge late-game war machine. The easiest way to do this is by:
1a) Capturing bandits, looters, sea raiders and deserters; and selling them to ransom brokers. To do this you need the Prisoner Management skill--1 level lets you grab 5 prisoners--so build it up quickly. And get a blunt weapon to knock them out with, like the military hammer, empire hammer, etc. Being mounted is really useful, too, as you've got more mobility to close on and chase banditos using ranged weapons. Being mounted also allows you to do drive-by hammer strikes, which are roughly 200% more powerful--useful in early game when you're weakest. Supplementing your party with 15 or more Manhunters will not only boost your Prisoner Management skill, but net you more captives, as manhunters are all mounted with blunt weapons. Other hammer and maul equipped troops are: Vaegir I3 Grid-->I4 Mladshiy Druzhinnik line, which can eventually upgrade into the mounted C5 Druzhinnik --->C6 Elitniy Druzhinnik. Also check out the Sarranid I3 Cemaat--->C4 Kapikulu Suveri--->C5 Beylik--->C6 Sekban. These are the two premier mounted troop-capturing lines in the game, and should form the core of your army, until you are filthy, stinking rich. In Floris v2.5 there is a new Sword Sisters cavalry line that ain't bad either: I3 Hospitaller--->C4 Beritten Jungfrau--->C5 Schildjungfur--->C6 Walkure. To actually capture a bandit party in combat, I prefer my party to be 100% mounted, then approach bandit party at a trot [use commands F1,F2]. If enemy party is too strong for you, stop [F1,F1] and thin them out with arrow fire. Then charge [F1,F3]. Using command to 'use blunt weapons only' [F3,F3] is also useful here. Against mounted desert and steppe bandits, avoid their lethal lances by veering off to right as you approach them, hopefully pulling them all off to an angle in pursuit (they will charge you en masse), then [F1,F3] to have your riders charge their now exposed flank. Experiment until you get the timing right, as it will allow your boys to het the enemy in the flank and not get couched. Use your bow to shoot the horses of those bandits that aren't taken out in the initial scrum. Once on foot, you or your boys bash 'em on the head.
1b) Soloing Sea Bandit Parties for Loot: in v2.4 Sea Bandits were arguably the toughest, baddest banditos around, and had pretty pricey loot. Starting out with noble background & squire gave you a starting horse + lance, which you could use to inflict couched damage (means one-hit-one-kill). You'd go out, ride around those mangy vikings, waiting for them to fire all their axes; then start taking them out with your lance. Soloing a party of 25 could net good loot, a few prisoners, and 30 or so renown. Personally I preferred to go the horsearcher route, killing some (their archers and 2H axemen) until my arrows ran out. Then doing rapid drive-by strikes with a military hammer to thump the rest. Either way, in v2.5 Sea Raiders have more bows, which makes them more dangerous to a lightly armored horseman. And they have less loot. It's a different world...
1c) Winning Tournements: if you've got smokin' hot fighting skills, then following the tournement circuit is the best way to make tons of $$$ in the early game. With the new tournement system in v2.5 you can make around 8,000 per; or disable it and use the older native version to bag the winner-take-all pot of 26,000. Either system can be daunting until your fighting skills are good, but you can make it much easier by selecting 1/4 damage, poor combat AI, slowest combat speed in game options tab. Winning tourneys is a great way to win $$$, gain 20 renown per, and impress the ladies--as you can dedicate your success to 1 single or married lady in the castle after the match.
1d) Freelancer: in v2.5 you can now join a lord's army as a ranker. Many players find it a great way to build up the gear, xp, etc. of a new character to lvl9 or so.
1e) Trading: in v2.4 this was an excellent money maker at all stages of the game. Now, with the new trading system, I see it as a waste of time. But go form you own conclusions. There are several guides out there for the old system that still largely apply. After about day 7 when commodity prices and volumes stabilize, try Iron from Curaw (to Reyyavadin or most other cities).
1f) Looting Villages and Raiding Caravans: Looting villages can net a lot of money. A lot. But it will increase your controversey score (which makes getting awarded fiefs later on more difficult), cause great reductions in honor, greatly lower relations with the village, its owning lord, its owning faction. If you've no desire--ever--for a particular factions' units, then possibly consider it. Otherwise, it's a zero sum game.
Caravans are another story. You can shake them down for a "toll", which is 1,500d--or 2,755d if they've just emerged from a city. Or just wipe them out for ransom potential. If you're not at war with their faction, a shake-down is equivalent of a declaration of war by you. After doing so, you'll either need to pay their faction money to reset relations, or join/contract with another faction to reset relations (for free).
Once you've started earning dough, quickly invest it in Silk Manufacturies, which in most cities net ~550/week. Make placing factories in all/most cities your first economic goal. After you've done this, start buying land, the rents for which you can collect every 2 weeks. Having a ton of residual income is essential to training up and maintaining your high-tier units later in the game; especially during times of peace when there's only low-value bandits around to capture for ransom.
2) Accumulating renown and honor. These are essential commodities on your rise to becoming ruler of Calradia.
Renown determines many things, especially the max size of your army, and how much 'respect' you get from other nobles. Get it >500, or even >1,000 before getting really political. Fight battles--the steeper the odds against you, the more renown; win tournements; duel for ladies; and rescue villagers from bandits to win renown.
Honor is what you get from doing, well, honorable things, like releasing enemy lords you capture in battle or not accepting the quest reward from a lord after killing an outlaw. Raiding villages, refusing ransom offers for captured lords, etc. loses you honor. Honor is very, very useful when you get it >300. Then watch every single 'honorable' personality-type lord in Calradia (it's about 30% of them) develop a huge liking for you. Even if they've never met you.
3) Sucking up to nobles--preferably entirely of the faction you wish to eventually join, so that they will let you marry their daughters, and more importantly support your being awarded the cities you capture. To actually have the king of the faction you join award you the city or castle you so painstakingly captured, you will need to get the support of 5 or more lords of your faction. Usually only lords with whom you have a rating of 20 or above will support you. Other tan being a goody-two-shoes with super high honor, such good relations must be earned the hard way, by doing quests for them, or more easily, by rescuing them if they're prisoners, or capturing then releasing them after battle.
Rescue a faction lord who's getting his butt kicked by an enemy party, and get a relations boost proportional to how outnumbered he was. You also get a relations boost with his faction.
A great strategy I often use is to scan castles and cities of a faction you're not a war with to check for captured lords. When present, go to the castle dungeon and take out the jailer and all nearby soldiers. Then enter dungeon, speak to captive, have him 'stay behind' you. Exit dungeon, kill remaining sentries. Then captive lord goes free, netting you a personal and faction relations bonus. The I'll become a merc for faction whose dungeons I just emptied, so I can have chance to meet and beat very same lords I recently freed. Capture and release, for more relations boost.
Also: every time you defeat an enemy lord, go speak with your faction king for +1 relations. Every time you go to a feast, speak to the hosting lord fo +2 relations. Once you have a castle or city, you can host feasts, and speak with every guest for a +1 (or is it +2?) bonus.
Giving away quality troops was a great way in v2.4 to gain massive amounts of relations. Seems to be diabled for v2.5
4) Details:
4a) Gathering, Sorting, Training Companions: the early game is also about collecting up all of your companions, from the taverns of Calradia. There is a method for how you create a stable group of companions who aren't at each others throats. There are plenty of good guides out there for native; but Floris 2.5 has several new ones. The quick and dirty way is to a) recruit every companion you find (you can always dismiss him/her, then ask a Traveller in a tavern their location); b) fight a battle ASAP--even against 3 looters (this will trigger an 'I like so-and-so scripted event by 1 companion for the 1 other companion they have an affinity for). Usually I retain them in pairs, waiting until each of a pair expresses their liking for the other, creating a "stable pair" before starting on another pair. Any companion who likes 1 companion will put up with another he/she dislikes. If you carefully assemble your team pair by pair, you can have 17 no problem (unless you raid villages and walk the dark side). Don't know if this approach works for v2.5, where there are 5 new companions added.
Regarding training, I prefer all my companions as Heavy Horsearchers, and train up their skills accordingly. All will have high to maximal Trainer skill--essential to rapidly train up peasants into elites in the mid-/late-game. Most of them will also have a 'specialty', like Jeremus for surgery other medical skills. Rolf, Baheshtur, Mattheld, Alayen are nobles, and I usually groom some or all of them to be future vassals (with good Trainer + Leadership + Tactics levels). Ymira & Katrin I'll make my backup medical speciallists. Then I'll have 1 primary, 1 backup for Spotting, Foraging, Looting, Engineer, Trading, Persuasion.
4b Yourself: Regarding how to train up your own character, there are plenty of good guides available, and all address different playstyles. Floris v2.5 is a huge sandbox and Calradia your oyster. Personally, I ensure that by late-game I'm close to maxed out in Leadership, Persuasion, Tactics, Pwerstrike, Powerdraw (I like bows), and Athletics (didn't use to like it; but now find it gives huge benefit when fighting on foot in battles, siege assaults, & tournements). Riding & Horsearchery: 4-6 is enough. Ironskin & Shield: used to max out; now 2-4 is enough. All others are not needed, as long as you have companions with them.
4c Village Relations: every thirty days or so you can do village elder quests Train Against Bandits and Bring Cattle. Do them. Every month. Extremely important, as a high village relation will let you recruit more and better recruits--even if at war with village owning faction. Getting good troops late in game is crucial; so lay groundwork in early game by ensuring that every game-month you take these missions. For example, in my current game at day 129, after doing both mission types back to back on a Vaegir village, got to recruit 27 H5 Posadnik! For 270d. At that point in game, the time + money (around 13,000) to train up such a force from scratch would've been huge. What a deal! Whenever possible take the 'Rescue Villagers from Bandits' mission from farmers in taverns. Even having a few points positive relations will allow you to recruit from that village during wartime if it belongs to an enemy faction.
Conclusion: So now you're ready for the mid-game, which usually means fighting as a mercenary, and painstakingly building up an army of elite troops that will form the backbone of the army you will use to conquer Calradia. My personal preference is to start with a 100% mounted force: 70% Hammer-armed cav, 30% H.Horsearchers; then as I grow towards the 200+ mark to end up with a force that can win sieges: 35% hammer-armed cavalry, 40% elite archers, 15% H.Horsearchers, 10% infantry. As a mercenary leader, remember to keep doing village elder quests every month. Make a ton of money on troop ransoms as you perfect your tactical formation command skills to win battle after battle, gaining renown, honor and lord relations. The mid-game is also about shaping the map, and setting the stage for which heavily weakened faction you will eventually join. If you wish to be Swadian, for example, and they are strong, then it must be you who humbles them by fighting for one of their enemies. Defeat their armies, earn the friendship and respect of their nobles, take their strongholds...until they're down to 2-3 castles. Then join them as a vassal. And start winning their cities back, making sure it is you who are awarded these as fiefs. Once you've got 2-3 cities, 1,000 good troops, and a fine looking Nord wife..you're ready to become a king in your own right. Your majesty, Calradia awaits!
As others before have said, the Early Game is all about:
1) Making money to build enterprises and buy land to create tons of residual income to pay for your huge late-game war machine. The easiest way to do this is by:
1a) Capturing bandits, looters, sea raiders and deserters; and selling them to ransom brokers. To do this you need the Prisoner Management skill--1 level lets you grab 5 prisoners--so build it up quickly. And get a blunt weapon to knock them out with, like the military hammer, empire hammer, etc. Being mounted is really useful, too, as you've got more mobility to close on and chase banditos using ranged weapons. Being mounted also allows you to do drive-by hammer strikes, which are roughly 200% more powerful--useful in early game when you're weakest. Supplementing your party with 15 or more Manhunters will not only boost your Prisoner Management skill, but net you more captives, as manhunters are all mounted with blunt weapons. Other hammer and maul equipped troops are: Vaegir I3 Grid-->I4 Mladshiy Druzhinnik line, which can eventually upgrade into the mounted C5 Druzhinnik --->C6 Elitniy Druzhinnik. Also check out the Sarranid I3 Cemaat--->C4 Kapikulu Suveri--->C5 Beylik--->C6 Sekban. These are the two premier mounted troop-capturing lines in the game, and should form the core of your army, until you are filthy, stinking rich. In Floris v2.5 there is a new Sword Sisters cavalry line that ain't bad either: I3 Hospitaller--->C4 Beritten Jungfrau--->C5 Schildjungfur--->C6 Walkure. To actually capture a bandit party in combat, I prefer my party to be 100% mounted, then approach bandit party at a trot [use commands F1,F2]. If enemy party is too strong for you, stop [F1,F1] and thin them out with arrow fire. Then charge [F1,F3]. Using command to 'use blunt weapons only' [F3,F3] is also useful here. Against mounted desert and steppe bandits, avoid their lethal lances by veering off to right as you approach them, hopefully pulling them all off to an angle in pursuit (they will charge you en masse), then [F1,F3] to have your riders charge their now exposed flank. Experiment until you get the timing right, as it will allow your boys to het the enemy in the flank and not get couched. Use your bow to shoot the horses of those bandits that aren't taken out in the initial scrum. Once on foot, you or your boys bash 'em on the head.
1b) Soloing Sea Bandit Parties for Loot: in v2.4 Sea Bandits were arguably the toughest, baddest banditos around, and had pretty pricey loot. Starting out with noble background & squire gave you a starting horse + lance, which you could use to inflict couched damage (means one-hit-one-kill). You'd go out, ride around those mangy vikings, waiting for them to fire all their axes; then start taking them out with your lance. Soloing a party of 25 could net good loot, a few prisoners, and 30 or so renown. Personally I preferred to go the horsearcher route, killing some (their archers and 2H axemen) until my arrows ran out. Then doing rapid drive-by strikes with a military hammer to thump the rest. Either way, in v2.5 Sea Raiders have more bows, which makes them more dangerous to a lightly armored horseman. And they have less loot. It's a different world...
1c) Winning Tournements: if you've got smokin' hot fighting skills, then following the tournement circuit is the best way to make tons of $$$ in the early game. With the new tournement system in v2.5 you can make around 8,000 per; or disable it and use the older native version to bag the winner-take-all pot of 26,000. Either system can be daunting until your fighting skills are good, but you can make it much easier by selecting 1/4 damage, poor combat AI, slowest combat speed in game options tab. Winning tourneys is a great way to win $$$, gain 20 renown per, and impress the ladies--as you can dedicate your success to 1 single or married lady in the castle after the match.
1d) Freelancer: in v2.5 you can now join a lord's army as a ranker. Many players find it a great way to build up the gear, xp, etc. of a new character to lvl9 or so.
1e) Trading: in v2.4 this was an excellent money maker at all stages of the game. Now, with the new trading system, I see it as a waste of time. But go form you own conclusions. There are several guides out there for the old system that still largely apply. After about day 7 when commodity prices and volumes stabilize, try Iron from Curaw (to Reyyavadin or most other cities).
1f) Looting Villages and Raiding Caravans: Looting villages can net a lot of money. A lot. But it will increase your controversey score (which makes getting awarded fiefs later on more difficult), cause great reductions in honor, greatly lower relations with the village, its owning lord, its owning faction. If you've no desire--ever--for a particular factions' units, then possibly consider it. Otherwise, it's a zero sum game.
Caravans are another story. You can shake them down for a "toll", which is 1,500d--or 2,755d if they've just emerged from a city. Or just wipe them out for ransom potential. If you're not at war with their faction, a shake-down is equivalent of a declaration of war by you. After doing so, you'll either need to pay their faction money to reset relations, or join/contract with another faction to reset relations (for free).
Once you've started earning dough, quickly invest it in Silk Manufacturies, which in most cities net ~550/week. Make placing factories in all/most cities your first economic goal. After you've done this, start buying land, the rents for which you can collect every 2 weeks. Having a ton of residual income is essential to training up and maintaining your high-tier units later in the game; especially during times of peace when there's only low-value bandits around to capture for ransom.
2) Accumulating renown and honor. These are essential commodities on your rise to becoming ruler of Calradia.
Renown determines many things, especially the max size of your army, and how much 'respect' you get from other nobles. Get it >500, or even >1,000 before getting really political. Fight battles--the steeper the odds against you, the more renown; win tournements; duel for ladies; and rescue villagers from bandits to win renown.
Honor is what you get from doing, well, honorable things, like releasing enemy lords you capture in battle or not accepting the quest reward from a lord after killing an outlaw. Raiding villages, refusing ransom offers for captured lords, etc. loses you honor. Honor is very, very useful when you get it >300. Then watch every single 'honorable' personality-type lord in Calradia (it's about 30% of them) develop a huge liking for you. Even if they've never met you.
3) Sucking up to nobles--preferably entirely of the faction you wish to eventually join, so that they will let you marry their daughters, and more importantly support your being awarded the cities you capture. To actually have the king of the faction you join award you the city or castle you so painstakingly captured, you will need to get the support of 5 or more lords of your faction. Usually only lords with whom you have a rating of 20 or above will support you. Other tan being a goody-two-shoes with super high honor, such good relations must be earned the hard way, by doing quests for them, or more easily, by rescuing them if they're prisoners, or capturing then releasing them after battle.
Rescue a faction lord who's getting his butt kicked by an enemy party, and get a relations boost proportional to how outnumbered he was. You also get a relations boost with his faction.
A great strategy I often use is to scan castles and cities of a faction you're not a war with to check for captured lords. When present, go to the castle dungeon and take out the jailer and all nearby soldiers. Then enter dungeon, speak to captive, have him 'stay behind' you. Exit dungeon, kill remaining sentries. Then captive lord goes free, netting you a personal and faction relations bonus. The I'll become a merc for faction whose dungeons I just emptied, so I can have chance to meet and beat very same lords I recently freed. Capture and release, for more relations boost.
Also: every time you defeat an enemy lord, go speak with your faction king for +1 relations. Every time you go to a feast, speak to the hosting lord fo +2 relations. Once you have a castle or city, you can host feasts, and speak with every guest for a +1 (or is it +2?) bonus.
Giving away quality troops was a great way in v2.4 to gain massive amounts of relations. Seems to be diabled for v2.5
4) Details:
4a) Gathering, Sorting, Training Companions: the early game is also about collecting up all of your companions, from the taverns of Calradia. There is a method for how you create a stable group of companions who aren't at each others throats. There are plenty of good guides out there for native; but Floris 2.5 has several new ones. The quick and dirty way is to a) recruit every companion you find (you can always dismiss him/her, then ask a Traveller in a tavern their location); b) fight a battle ASAP--even against 3 looters (this will trigger an 'I like so-and-so scripted event by 1 companion for the 1 other companion they have an affinity for). Usually I retain them in pairs, waiting until each of a pair expresses their liking for the other, creating a "stable pair" before starting on another pair. Any companion who likes 1 companion will put up with another he/she dislikes. If you carefully assemble your team pair by pair, you can have 17 no problem (unless you raid villages and walk the dark side). Don't know if this approach works for v2.5, where there are 5 new companions added.
Regarding training, I prefer all my companions as Heavy Horsearchers, and train up their skills accordingly. All will have high to maximal Trainer skill--essential to rapidly train up peasants into elites in the mid-/late-game. Most of them will also have a 'specialty', like Jeremus for surgery other medical skills. Rolf, Baheshtur, Mattheld, Alayen are nobles, and I usually groom some or all of them to be future vassals (with good Trainer + Leadership + Tactics levels). Ymira & Katrin I'll make my backup medical speciallists. Then I'll have 1 primary, 1 backup for Spotting, Foraging, Looting, Engineer, Trading, Persuasion.
4b Yourself: Regarding how to train up your own character, there are plenty of good guides available, and all address different playstyles. Floris v2.5 is a huge sandbox and Calradia your oyster. Personally, I ensure that by late-game I'm close to maxed out in Leadership, Persuasion, Tactics, Pwerstrike, Powerdraw (I like bows), and Athletics (didn't use to like it; but now find it gives huge benefit when fighting on foot in battles, siege assaults, & tournements). Riding & Horsearchery: 4-6 is enough. Ironskin & Shield: used to max out; now 2-4 is enough. All others are not needed, as long as you have companions with them.
4c Village Relations: every thirty days or so you can do village elder quests Train Against Bandits and Bring Cattle. Do them. Every month. Extremely important, as a high village relation will let you recruit more and better recruits--even if at war with village owning faction. Getting good troops late in game is crucial; so lay groundwork in early game by ensuring that every game-month you take these missions. For example, in my current game at day 129, after doing both mission types back to back on a Vaegir village, got to recruit 27 H5 Posadnik! For 270d. At that point in game, the time + money (around 13,000) to train up such a force from scratch would've been huge. What a deal! Whenever possible take the 'Rescue Villagers from Bandits' mission from farmers in taverns. Even having a few points positive relations will allow you to recruit from that village during wartime if it belongs to an enemy faction.
Conclusion: So now you're ready for the mid-game, which usually means fighting as a mercenary, and painstakingly building up an army of elite troops that will form the backbone of the army you will use to conquer Calradia. My personal preference is to start with a 100% mounted force: 70% Hammer-armed cav, 30% H.Horsearchers; then as I grow towards the 200+ mark to end up with a force that can win sieges: 35% hammer-armed cavalry, 40% elite archers, 15% H.Horsearchers, 10% infantry. As a mercenary leader, remember to keep doing village elder quests every month. Make a ton of money on troop ransoms as you perfect your tactical formation command skills to win battle after battle, gaining renown, honor and lord relations. The mid-game is also about shaping the map, and setting the stage for which heavily weakened faction you will eventually join. If you wish to be Swadian, for example, and they are strong, then it must be you who humbles them by fighting for one of their enemies. Defeat their armies, earn the friendship and respect of their nobles, take their strongholds...until they're down to 2-3 castles. Then join them as a vassal. And start winning their cities back, making sure it is you who are awarded these as fiefs. Once you've got 2-3 cities, 1,000 good troops, and a fine looking Nord wife..you're ready to become a king in your own right. Your majesty, Calradia awaits!
