How to Survive AI Gangbang

[AndersSchm]

I have 3 castles + villages in between the Khejit and Sarranids and after long wars against the Khejits we made peace.  This lasted for some time until then both Kherjits and Sarranids both declared war on me.

I am confident I can beat the Kherjits if it was just their armies, but the Mamelukes pouring into my lands means I have to stay back and defend.  I haven't lost a battle yet but the heavy numbers of Mamelukes means I am losing my own Knights faster than I can replace them.

Has anyone got any tips for surviving in this environment or should I just take my elite troops and get out of there and find somewhere else to setup my kingdom?

 

[original]

Yeah I have the same problem. In both Warband and the first Mount&Blade game, my first castle or town always gets overwhelmed by the entire army of the faction we are at war at.

 

[Apthorpe]

I have 3 castles + villages in between the Khejit and Sarranids and after long wars against the Khejits we made peace.  This lasted for some time until then both Kherjits and Sarranids both declared war on me.

I am confident I can beat the Kherjits if it was just their armies, but the Mamelukes pouring into my lands means I have to stay back and defend.  I haven't lost a battle yet but the heavy numbers of Mamelukes means I am losing my own Knights faster than I can replace them.

Has anyone got any tips for surviving in this environment or should I just take my elite troops and get out of there and find somewhere else to setup my kingdom?

If I were you and my focus was mainly on winning (I say this b/c I often put more priority on playing in a certain style than winning), I'd let my villages burn and avoid field battles for the most part. Pile troops into your castles and be ready to personally defend whichever unlucky one gets sieged. In this way, you maximize your chances of a successful defense.  Even if you're going against an enemy horde, your chances are decent. And if you lose, you'll take loads of enemies with you  . Exempting a lucky javelin to the face...

As long as WB continues M&B's tradition of one-ladder entrypoints that always form crucial chokepoints (something I detest - I feel like I'm cheating when I defend these spots), sieges where the player is present will greatly favor the defenders.

 

[Rad]

I bet at my companions first of all. I created my own kingdom from the scretch and now I think nobody will be able to take it from me again  because various armies tried it already but they didn't succeed. I was able to endure besieging of my castle when I had about 130 soldiers and invaders - Khergit Khanate had about 1500 soldiers. The fights took quite long time and had several rounds but in the end they abandoned besieging and left my area being completely devastated what about their power concerns. I went through several hard another besieging again when I was assaulted by Swadians or Sarranids or Vaegirs too. Now I have three my towns, two castles and several villages.

In my companion I have Firentis, Bunduk, Alayen, Deshavi, Klethi, Jeremus, Katrin and Ymira. I am at 33 level and my companions are usually at 28 or 27 level, only Jeremus is at 25 level now and is the weakest in my company what about fight experiences concerns. All my companions have the best gear I could buy for them and the best of them have strength 23 and Agility 22 now. All my battle company has usually about 80 soldiers altogether and if I have more of them I am replenishing regualarly my garrisons in towns and castles. If I wanted to survive  I had to put away all scruples and became very hard and harsh.  I plunder frequently villages of enemies and enemies are all kingdoms for now, so I am very, very tried at this time. I am regularly selling my looted goods and I am recruiting new soldiers in taverns. When I meet any of my companions who were somehow problematical and abandoned me I hire them again and give them a little fief, usually a village, only to Lezalit I gave a castle. So that I have several lords in my kingdom already, concretely Lord Baheshtur, Rolf, Artimener, Lezalit, Tansugai and Borcha. This way my kingdom is slowly growing.  And I never release captured lords because if I released them they immediately started creating new armies to invade me again. I have tens lords captured in my towns and castles. I hope when some kingdom will be erased from the map they will voluntarily join me in the end as it was in M&B. With my companion 80 soldiers and can always defend any army which has 3 times more soldiers. And if some huge army invade me I will retreat into my castle or town and defend here. This way I didn't fail yet. Here is map of my current kingdom. 

My actual kingdom (the red one).

   

 

[Handel]

Enjoy it

 

[AndersSchm]

I am in a similar place to you, slightly to the south - I have Distar Castle, Asugan Castle and Sharwa Castle.  Halmar and Shariz are both in Sarranid hands also so they are massive.  I would like to take Bariyye and Bardaq castle, maybe dropping Distar back to the Kherjits - Distar is just seeming too far away.

 

[Rad]

When I started to play I pondered where I would start my kingdom and desert area seemed to me quite exotic for me be cause it is new in M&B. Now I wanted to seize Jameyyed Castle but there is some bug and for that reason I can't do it for now. Anyway, these Sarranids towns look nice and for my taste better than other towns when you are walking inside of them, so that I could only recommed to seize some of them. 

Attacking Samarra Castle.