Game progression stalled

[BrillBill]

I’m happily enjoying MB:WB but for the past few days play I haven't seemed to achieve anything.  That is to say I haven't gained any more fiefs, my chosen kingdom hasn't held onto any land and, apart from improving my character a bit, nothing much has changed.

I’m a vassal, have a city and two castles my character is around level 30 and I’ve played for 2 game years.  My properties are well garrisoned with ~400 men a piece but the costs mean I have to spend a fair amount of time earning cash and they still get attacked meaning I have to baby-sit. (I tried the old fill ‘em up with dross tactic but I still got attacked?  I can’t believe there wasn’t another castle with less than 400 men in our kingdom?)

If I try take more castles either as Marshall or on my own I lose top end troops (which then takes time to replace) and I don’t get them given to me by the king which means they inevitably get taken back.  My renown is about 1000 and my relationship with the king is about 70.  The King’s strategy of declaring wars seems cyclic so you can never really hammer home an advantage before peace is declared and you have a fresh foe to face.

What tactics/strategy am I missing? 

How do you help hold territory when not defending your own property?

One problem I did have when trying to rescue a keep from the enemy zerg, as Marshall, was my useless army refused to advance towards them and didn’t join me when I attacked, how do you face the >1400 man enemy zerg?

Am I supposed to renounce my king and go it alone?  I have to say the game isn’t really prompting me to do that, my king and all my lordly mates love me, but is that the only way to break the status quo?

Maybe my wife needs get it on like Lady Macbeth, but she hasn’t said anything….

 

[Velax]

Wait until the siege battle actually starts, then join, Hopefully the allied lords will join in then. If not, wait and see if they move toward the battle on their own before you join.

Not sure where else you're going wrong. When I was Sarranid marshal, wars lasted ages, so we could easily take a bunch of fiefs before it ended. Which kingdom are you with?

 

[iffy]

If 1400 men come at you all you can do is try to separate them into groups of about 300-400 and take them out individually.  1400 is usually too much to handle.  You have to let them take whatever they go after and beat them up when they head home.

Try to get your trainer skill and the trainer skill of your companions up.  Once you and your companions are level 28+ or so you'll be able to train troops at breakneck speeds.  Try to develop your relationships with a lot of villages by killing bandit infestations.  (make sure you talk to farmers at taverns).  That way you'll be able to recruit troops really fast.  If you don't have a capital venture in every city, make an effort to do so.  I'm getting 8-10K dinars/week as I have a silk factory in almost every city.

Once you can train an army quick, start attacking castles and cities on your own.

 

[iffy]

Wait until the siege battle actually starts, then join, Hopefully the allied lords will join in then. If not, wait and see if they move toward the battle on their own before you join.

Not sure where else you're going wrong. When I was Sarranid marshal, wars lasted ages, so we could easily take a bunch of fiefs before it ended. Which kingdom are you with?

Joining a battle against 1400 is dangerous (in a castle or city).  Make sure that if you do this you stay alive during the first wave.  If things are going poorly get out of there!  (Once you kill about 400 guys you'll get an opportunity)  If you lose a battle while in a castle city and you're out of men you'll be captured and that's just ugly.