kittehs
Sergeant
My char had about same stats as a Swadian knight,he used same equipment too. The idea was he is a knight that became a noble lord. My companions had absolutely no useful skills other than wound treatment and 2 points of trainer. I only recruit from Swadian villages, I never loot villages, I don't take lords prisoner.
With these measely stats and severe roleplay restrictions I made Swadia conquer the map in just 500 days. And did it with zero frustation. Something I could not do with my powergaming character in such low time and with such ease.
How ? I found a weird strategy.
My army of 70 was mediocre. On a good day it had about ten knights with rest being usual fodder found in typical AI army like skirmishers,footmen etc. With no money and almost no trainer it was all I could afford and raise. Instead of building uber army I used this average fighting force to help fellow lords and make lot of friends.
Now here comes the real part. I never bothered defending swadian fiefs or even field battles. Instead picked a lord with lot of soldiers like haringoth with 170 men and went sieging castle after castle. No attempt was made at defending this newly conquered fiefs.
The idea was destabilizing enemy factions. For example if Shariz were taken and retaken back by Sarranid they have to assign 6 fiefs (1 town + 5 villages). That's a huge relation penalty. Take out Shariz,Durquba,Ahmerrad etc and repeat it once or twice and the faction is effectively shut down. They have marshall with huge controversy who cant attack and lords are leaving left and right. In a few hours of play time whole faction is dead.
I started my game last friday and today on sunday it is complete with all factions destroyed and all fiefs under swadian control. Total play time was 15 hours I think.
Some additonal things that made the process easier.
- Whenever possible I had former Nord lords helo me in sieges. Why bother raising Nord army when a Jarl can already bring one ? It is like a renewable source of siege troops you can call upon when dealing with a tough fortifications. In one memorable fight Jarl Aedin an d his Nord Veterans helped me kicked the crap out of over 60 Lancers in a confined siege that would have been a nightmare with Swadian only troops.
- I target fiefs because in Warband unlike field battles only taking of lands make a difference. So if I want to eliminate Brula Noyan I don't beat his field army again and again. Instead I take away his castle and few weeks later he is kicked out of khanate.
- In this manner I target lords with low liege relations first. My first priority is the native lords. I want the Khanate and Sarranids to be devoid of real Emirs and noyans and fielded with traitors from other factions. This totally destroys the factions any chance of mounting a fight as new guys and old original lords don't get along at all.
- When freeing prisoners from castle AI parties can recruit all of them. If they exceed party size eventually atrrition removes them down to normal size. But in short term any lord party can have 500+ troops if he sieged a city with hundreds of prisoners. During my campaigns many of siege parterners got 700+ armies this way ! This was a totally game winning thing. I could use them and auto calc to instantly beat any castle in game. This is how I beat tough castles like Grunwalder without frustating Rhodok siege combat.
- AI lords can build siege tower in about 8 hours. I don't bother with engineering. I just ask them to siege and follow. Tower sieges become so easy.
With these measely stats and severe roleplay restrictions I made Swadia conquer the map in just 500 days. And did it with zero frustation. Something I could not do with my powergaming character in such low time and with such ease.
How ? I found a weird strategy.
My army of 70 was mediocre. On a good day it had about ten knights with rest being usual fodder found in typical AI army like skirmishers,footmen etc. With no money and almost no trainer it was all I could afford and raise. Instead of building uber army I used this average fighting force to help fellow lords and make lot of friends.
Now here comes the real part. I never bothered defending swadian fiefs or even field battles. Instead picked a lord with lot of soldiers like haringoth with 170 men and went sieging castle after castle. No attempt was made at defending this newly conquered fiefs.
The idea was destabilizing enemy factions. For example if Shariz were taken and retaken back by Sarranid they have to assign 6 fiefs (1 town + 5 villages). That's a huge relation penalty. Take out Shariz,Durquba,Ahmerrad etc and repeat it once or twice and the faction is effectively shut down. They have marshall with huge controversy who cant attack and lords are leaving left and right. In a few hours of play time whole faction is dead.
I started my game last friday and today on sunday it is complete with all factions destroyed and all fiefs under swadian control. Total play time was 15 hours I think.
Some additonal things that made the process easier.
- Whenever possible I had former Nord lords helo me in sieges. Why bother raising Nord army when a Jarl can already bring one ? It is like a renewable source of siege troops you can call upon when dealing with a tough fortifications. In one memorable fight Jarl Aedin an d his Nord Veterans helped me kicked the crap out of over 60 Lancers in a confined siege that would have been a nightmare with Swadian only troops.
- I target fiefs because in Warband unlike field battles only taking of lands make a difference. So if I want to eliminate Brula Noyan I don't beat his field army again and again. Instead I take away his castle and few weeks later he is kicked out of khanate.
- In this manner I target lords with low liege relations first. My first priority is the native lords. I want the Khanate and Sarranids to be devoid of real Emirs and noyans and fielded with traitors from other factions. This totally destroys the factions any chance of mounting a fight as new guys and old original lords don't get along at all.
- When freeing prisoners from castle AI parties can recruit all of them. If they exceed party size eventually atrrition removes them down to normal size. But in short term any lord party can have 500+ troops if he sieged a city with hundreds of prisoners. During my campaigns many of siege parterners got 700+ armies this way ! This was a totally game winning thing. I could use them and auto calc to instantly beat any castle in game. This is how I beat tough castles like Grunwalder without frustating Rhodok siege combat.
- AI lords can build siege tower in about 8 hours. I don't bother with engineering. I just ask them to siege and follow. Tower sieges become so easy.
