Gaining positive relationship with notables is often impossible.

[paladinx333]

You need positive relationship with notables in order to recruit more troops. The problem lies in the limited interactions that you have with them. Most of them never have a quest for you. You can't bribe them or give them gifts. When you talk to them they have nothing useful to say and there are no dialog options that would improve relations.

I have only unlocked the full troop allotment for two notables in the game. Just two after 40+ hours of effort. There simply aren't enough options for gaining positive reputation to make the whole notables concept actually work. As it stands right now, the troops that are still locked with always be locked as I have no way of influencing the notables who control them.

 

[Kortze26]

One thing that is supposed to work is dealing with the bandit hideouts in the area. Not sure what the effective radius is, though.

 

[Pseudo-Gerber]

There are a couple of things you can do

• Join a faction, this will open up 1 slot in their villages/towns
• Park your party in a town, this will increase relations with notables with 1 per day. I don't know if you need to create an army for this to work or if you need to be in their faction.
• Help out villagers fighting bandits
• Lower recruitment difficulty

This helped me out a bit but frankly when you're in faction you have 2 recruitment slots at 0 relations so this isn't much of a problem

 

[Pseudo-Gerber]

One thing that is supposed to work is dealing with the bandit hideouts in the area. Not sure what the effective radius is, though.

I'm guessing from what I can remember here, but this will increase relations with the notable that give you the quest for it by 2 (instead of 10) if you haven't got the quest.

 

[paladinx333]

One thing that is supposed to work is dealing with the bandit hideouts in the area. Not sure what the effective radius is, though.

I might be more inclined to do that if I could choose the men than entered the hideout with me.

 

[paladinx333]

There are a couple of things you can do

• Join a faction, this will open up 1 slot in their villages/towns
• Park your party in a town, this will increase relations with notables with 1 per day. I don't know if you need to create an army for this to work or if you need to be in their faction.
• Help out villagers fighting bandits
• Lower recruitment difficulty

This helped me out a bit but frankly when you're in faction you have 2 recruitment slots at 0 relations so this isn't much of a problem

I did not know about the faction bonus or parking in towns. That is good information.

 

[MKLVN]

Since when can you not give them gifts? If you choose "I have a proposal that will benefit both our parties" can't you gift them anything in your inventory- even fiefs if you own any?

Don't think I've used this yet but I'd figure a successful transaction with them leads to relation points.

 

[iimstevo]

You need positive relationship with notables in order to recruit more troops. The problem lies in the limited interactions that you have with them. Most of them never have a quest for you. You can't bribe them or give them gifts. When you talk to them they have nothing useful to say and there are no dialog options that would improve relations.

I have only unlocked the full troop allotment for two notables in the game. Just two after 40+ hours of effort. There simply aren't enough options for gaining positive reputation to make the whole notables concept actually work. As it stands right now, the troops that are still locked with always be locked as I have no way of influencing the notables who control them.

1. Fight looters and bandits nearby the towns at all times.
2. Clear out hideouts all the time
3. Buy their products, as well as recruit from them frequently.
4. Be allied to their faction (whether it’s yours or someone else’s, you need to be allied)
5. If you own the town, simply sitting in the town that the villages service will improve your rating over time.
6. Protect villagers and caravans passing through the territory.
   

I started a new campaign today playing solely as an archer, with only recruiting Archers for 75% of my army capacity. It’s pretty tricky, but in order to be able to effectively combat cavalry based armies, I’ve got to level those archers up to tier 4 minimum... and I’ve been farming bandits and looters all day to achieve that. As a result, I’ve got several villages where at least one of the recruiters allows me to purchase either all, or all but one, of their slots.

 

[SerMittens]

I've been gaining passive relations by purchasing caravans, hope that helps.

 

[Taemerlein]

Since when can you not give them gifts? If you choose "I have a proposal that will benefit both our parties" can't you gift them anything in your inventory- even fiefs if you own any?

Don't think I've used this yet but I'd figure a successful transaction with them leads to relation points.

You can't give them anything without something in return, and any transactions I've had with lords (mostly to buy their horses) are usually overpriced and never give you relationship points.

 

[Kortze26]

I might be more inclined to do that if I could choose the men than entered the hideout with me.

If you are tier 2 or higher or down a castle or settlement, you can always make a second party and put the men you don't want to lose in there or in a garrison. Companions you can leave in any city. I try to only take 10 men with shields with me to do bandit camps.

 

[sirgzu]

I have never noticed an increased in relation from either clearing hideouts (except quest giver, despite the nearby notable relation increase message) or clearing bandit parties. Is this working at all? I think it would help a lot to have some kind of log for relation change events to understand what is going on.