Help a novive: where's the money?

[Cornelius Constantine]

Hi all,

First post on this forum, go easy on me....

I already posted this on the Paradox forum, but it's said I'd get a better response here.

So, bought M&B: Warband yesterday, and I like the game, but it's quite a challenge.

Not only am I new to the game, but also a newbie at the genre. The last Computer RPG I played was Twilight 2000, almost decades ago. Especially trying to grasp the movement and fighting, with both mouse and keyboard at the same time (I'm left handed, and there only so much I can do with my right hand, but using the numpad I manage... barely).

So, my first question: I tried several ways of fighting. Currently I'm using the "strike relative to enemy position" setting, but what do you think is the most effective?


Then into the game. I made my character, met with the merchant, freed the brother, etc. All went well. On the way, I met with a Lord, and got the mission to apprehend a Criminal. So I went to that village, found a lot of villagers, bot no suspect. Then the Elder asked me to train some peasants against bandits, which I accepted.

I admit, this went horribly wrong the first time around: I got all the peasants and most of my own men killed. So I reloaded (yes, yes, I know... but I'm still learning), hired some Mercenaries and beat the crap out of the bad guys. Which got me the villages gratitude but nothing else.
Went back to the village: still no criminal there.

So here I am, a level 2 character with a party of 20, and no money, while these guys expect to be paid.
How can I find that criminal?
Did I do it all wrong and do I have to start over?
Where can I get some fast and easy money? Is it worth attacking a group of 6 SeaRaiders?

Any tips are welcome!

 

[Kleidophoros]

Control Attack Direction: By Mouse Movement is the best setting. You choose the direction of your attack most easily.

Criminal is the only one with a sword in the village. You can only find him during the day when there are other villagers around too. Look behind houses, barns; he won't be out in the open most of the times.

It never goes wrong in M&B; that's teh beauty of it. You can always stand back up and get into the fight.

Sea raiders are easy money but they are tough. With a level 2 character you need to be on horseback to be able to fight back and probably will need ranged weapons. If your army of 20 consists of low level soldiers then those Sea Raiders will rip them apart.

 

[Cornelius Constantine]

Control Attack Direction: By Mouse Movement is the best setting. You choose the direction of your attack most easily.

Why? I find this very difficult. If you want to attack from the left, you have to sweep from left to right: it ain't natural. Besides: I always find miself suddenly looking up or down, when I use this setting.

Criminal is the only one with a sword in the village. You can only find him during the day when there are other villagers around too. Look behind houses, barns; he won't be out in the open most of the times.

Guess I have to look for him again, then...

Sea raiders are easy money but they are tough. With a level 2 character you need to be on horseback to be able to fight back and probably will need ranged weapons. If your army of 20 consists of low level soldiers then those Sea Raiders will rip them apart.

Even when there's six of them?

 

[Kleidophoros]

Control Attack Direction: By Mouse Movement is the best setting. You choose the direction of your attack most easily.

Why? I find this very difficult. If you want to attack from the left, you have to sweep from left to right: it ain't natural. Besides: I always find miself suddenly looking up or down, when I use this setting.

It's the one I am most comfortable with and I suppose most of the other players I know.
Try By Reverse Mouse Movement then if it's better for you.

Sea raiders are easy money but they are tough. With a level 2 character you need to be on horseback to be able to fight back and probably will need ranged weapons. If your army of 20 consists of low level soldiers then those Sea Raiders will rip them apart.

Even when there's six of them?

Depends on your soldiers. If you have 20 recruits yes, they will rip them apart. They have good stats, strong armour, bows, throwing axes, javelins and generally big weapons.

 

[Cornelius Constantine]

Not 20 recruits. Got about 6 mercenaries (xbows), 2 experienced footsoldiers (1 leve up) 2 and 2 hunters (dito).

Might just try it...

 

[Kleidophoros]

Mercenary crossbowmen are crap, you will see that in time. Mercenaries also cost a lot of money; not recommended if you don't need men fast.

Tier 2 (sometiems 3) Rhodok infantry is also crap.

Yes, just try it; you can always find other men for your party.

 

[Captain_Octavius]

Why? I find this very difficult. If you want to attack from the left, you have to sweep from left to right: it ain't natural.

Uh, no. If you want to attack from the left you just move your mouse one pixel (or more) to the left just before you press the left mouse button. No mouse swiping is involved.

 

[JosieJ]

Dump your mercs: they're way too expensive for you to maintain at your level.  You should probably cut back to about 10 or so troops, especially if you're going to recruit companions (explained below).

I recommend keeping your party small and mobile--mostly mounted.  For early game, I recommend using Khergit troops: they're cheap, all get horses at tier 2, and Khergit Lancers, while not as strong as Swadian Knights, are cheaper to train and maintain and make excellent guards for a trader.  Which is my next recommendation:

Trade awhile.  This will get you a lot of money, and in your travels, you can take on any bandit types you find, starting with looters and working your way up to Sea Raiders, which are the toughest, but also drop the best loot.  Once you have enough money, start some enterprises in towns (speak to the Guild Master about buying land).  I think dyeworks are still the most profitable (and also the most expensive), but an ironworks is very cheap to start, and very profitable if you build one in Curaw.

Recruit companions--you'll find them in taverns.  You might want to consult a guide because they don't all get along with each other and this can drag down their morale; you'll need to find a good combination.  They can become very strong if you train them adequately.  Give each a few points in the Training skill--down the road, this will help you train armies up much faster.

Once you've leveled yourself and your companions up enough, and you've got enough income coming in from your enterprises, you can dump your Khergit troops and recruit a more mixed siege army.  Or keep the Lancers--they're not bad troops!--and just mix in more infantry and missile troops.  Then you could join a faction, if you wish, or besiege a castle, take it, and then join a faction.  Or stay independent (this is more difficult!), or tour all the tournaments, or whatever.

 

[Cornelius Constantine]

Thanks JosieJ,

Thats's advice I can do something with!

I'll see if my current game will lead to something, otherwise I'll start over and focus a bit more on traiding (have to figure out how that works, though...).

@ Captain_O: thanks, I'll try that out.

 

[JosieJ]

I should add: don't start off in Khergit or Sarranid territory.  The Steppe and Desert Bandits, while generally weak, are very fast because they're all mounted.  They will beat you up repeatedly and you won't be able to avoid them with a low level party so you'll very quickly end up naked and alone in the steppes or desert!

Reyvadin, Sargoth and Praven are good places to start off.  Just avoid the coast between Rivacheg and Wercheg (Sea Raider territory), the area around Khudan (Tundra Bandit territory), and the forests near Uxkhal (Forest Bandit territory).

 

[warot22]

Trading us quite simple: Find a place with a lot of a certain good, something like 10+. Then buy almost everything of that good. Then go and find a place with almost nothing or nothing of that good. Sell all your goods there, and buy new ones. Repeat. Repeat... Or you may check the local prices (takes 3-10 in-game hours) After a certain time, it will come a text, some thing like this: Buying (item) here and sell it at (city) will make a profit of (value) per unit. Buy the item sell it at the city, and make a profit. (the higher your trading skill is, the better deals you get)

 

[Cornelius Constantine]

Thanks.

I'm slowly getting the hang of it. I was a bit afraid of traiding, as I thought it would get me away from "adventuring", but this clearly isn't the case.

Earning me a bit of money now, but I also found out that a jail bust for 5000 gold is a bit to much for me at the moment...

 

[Chaingun]

Trading us quite simple: Find a place with a lot of a certain good, something like 10+. Then buy almost everything of that good. Then go and find a place with almost nothing or nothing of that good. Sell all your goods there, and buy new ones. Repeat. Repeat... Or you may check the local prices (takes 3-10 in-game hours) After a certain time, it will come a text, some thing like this: Buying (item) here and sell it at (city) will make a profit of (value) per unit. Buy the item sell it at the city, and make a profit. (the higher your trading skill is, the better deals you get)

Actually, you'll make more money if you're careful about where you sell, because the prices start dropping for the good you sell quantities of. So it's more effective try buy mixed goods (where you happen to come across reasonable prices) and sell off different kinds of goods at a time so that you don't get massive price decreases from selling a single kind. Or to put it in another way: Keep every item around until you come across a city where its selling price is acceptable to you, and sell off items whose prices remain acceptable (after selling more of same kind).

Heavy trade goods that slow down your caravan a lot are an exception to the rule; you want to get rid of those ASAP because decreased map speed translates to less revenue per time unit.

 

[chargers1783]

My way is a little more boring and not really a quick fix to money problems but in the long run it always helps me. I try to get a mercenary contract as qickly as possible, this pretty much covers the cost of my party giving you more money, it can just ge boring after a while.

 

[Chaingun]

^ Mercenary contracts pay way too little to be worth it IMO, you can't afford much of an army on them. It's nice for role playing though, but that's about it.

 

[chargers1783]

I only do it with a party of like 20 guys, the contratc pays off all of them with a little to spare. So a contract IMO is just a way to exploit a kingdom so you can build up your gold without losing some every week and maybe gaining a little.

 

[Cornelius Constantine]

Chargers,

The mercenary path sounds nice to me, as I'm not a power gamer and I like the RPG part more then becoming the ruler of a large kingdom... for now, at least. So, what do I need to become a Mercenary?

Mind you, I'm 20 days into the game and only level 4, with just a little renown.

 

[chargers1783]

Get a party of about 15-20, higher renown (doesn't have to be really high), and if you just go around and talk to lords asking for tasks eventually you'll get an offer to become a mercenary, just know if you don't follow orders like joining a marshall on a campaign then relations may fall. So don't go and accept the first one or else your party will get massacred in the first battle if it is filled with low tier units.

 

[Noudelle]

try accessing the local prices of towns
the higher your trade skill is, the better the deals will be
when you see the deals, take notes, go to the goods merchant, buy what it told you to in the local prices and go sell them where it told you to.
just watch out for long trips.
exemple: buying oil from tihr and selling it in jelkala is... a bad deal

 

[user1324865215]

Also, Villagers give you vague hints on the best prices, but if you want a high quality trading map, use this link

http://www.thearcaneorder.com/images/pics/Floris_Trading_Map_(Tenser).jpg

and follow these instructions

1. Ruvar, a village near Wercheg: Buy: Salt 150
2. Wercheg: Buy: Salt 150, Hides 90 (although not too much of them)
3. Curaw: Buy: Iron 150, Tools 380, Sell: Salt 270
4. Ismarala, a village near Curaw: Buy: Iron 150
5. Fenada, a village near Sargoth: Buy: Flax 100
6. Sargoth: Sell: Salt 270
7. Tihr: Sell: Iron 300, Tools 450
8. Kwynn, a village near Sargoth: Buy: Flax 100
9. Sargoth: Buy: All of the Flax 100 and Linen 220, Wool 70
10. Uxkhal: Sell: Hides 100, Wool 120
11. Suno: Buy: Oil 320, Wine 200
12. Shariz: Buy: Date Fruits 70, Sell: Linen 350, Wine 300
13. Durquba: Sell: Flax 150
14. Ahmerrad: Buy: Iron 150, Wool 70, Sell: Wine 300
15. Bariyye: Buy: Date Fruit 70, Iron 150, Salt 150, Tools 380, Sell: Linen 350, Wine 300, Wool 120
16. Iqbal, a village near Bariyye: Buy: Salt 150, Date Fruit 70
17. Fishara, a village near Bariyye: Buy: Salt 150, Date Fruit 70
18. Uzgha, a village near Ahmerrad: Buy: Iron 150
19. Tulga: Buy: Spice 600, Salt 150, Sell: Iron 300, Date Fruits 120
20. Ahmerrad: Buy: Iron 150, Sell: Spice 800
21. Durquba: Sell: Spice 800
22. Jelkala: Buy: Velvet 700, Fish 30, Hides 90, Sell: Iron 300, Salt 270, Tools 450
23. Veluca: Buy: Grain 30, Hides 90, Sell: Fish 90, Velvet 950
24. Uxkhal: Sell: Grain 50, Hides 100, Salt 270
25. Suno: Buy: Oil 320, Wine 150, Sell: Grain 50, Hides 100, Salt 270
26. Praven: Buy: Wool 70, Sell: Oil 450, Salt 270
27. Yalen: Buy: Wine 200, Wool 70, Sell: Salt 270
28. Jelkala: Buy: Fish 30, Velvet
29. Shariz: Buy: Date Fruit 70, Sell: Fish 100, Wine 300
30. Dhirim: Buy: Iron 150, Sell: Velvet 1000
31. Tulga: Buy: Spice 600, Sell: Iron 300, Wool 120
32. Bariyye: Buy: Iron 150, Sell: Velvet 1000
33. Ahmerrad: Buy: Iron 150, Wool Cloth 200, Sell: Spice 800
34. Durquba: Sell: Spice 800
35. Halmar: Buy: Salt 150
36. Dhirim: Buy: Iron 150, Sell: Wool Cloth 270
37. Reyvadin: Sell: Iron 300
38. Khudan: Sell: Iron 300
39. Rivacheg: Sell: Iron 300

This new route is more complicated and longer, but despite that more profitable. It took me 22 days to finish the entire route, and made a profit of 45100 denars from it. That's 2050 denars per day!

From AAR: Me Floris

This is VERY out of character if your one of those people.