Stichstrahl
Howdy everyone. First post, hopefully it isn't violating any rules or protocols. Let's get right to it.
It's my first time playing any Mount and Blade game, but it seemed to be going relatively smoothly. I was a low born Swadian. The first thing I did was build an army. 37 hours later, I have a pretty effective force about 100 strong at its full strength. I had planned to be primarily infantry based– at least half– but I found the NPC AI was too dumb and that I kept getting mowed down by cavalry, picked off by archers, or ending up in a clustered melee where numbers are the only thing that mattered. I was aiming for an army of Nord Huskarls and Rhodok Crossbowmen like everyone recommends, but now I'm predominantly Swadian and sellsword cavalry based. Cavalry really do seem to have an unfair advantage in this game; I can go up against 275 Sarranids with 87 men, with myself and maybe 20 knights sweeping through them like the Rohirim, a few archers for support and infantry standing there for decoration. Zero casualties nine out of ten times. I guess "Mount" is the first word of the game title for a reason.
Factionwise, I liked Lady Isolla's story, especially given that Harlaus is a major prick. So the moment she would let me, I declared for her. This has not been going well. By some miracle that I can only assume is randomness, I got Klargus to support our claim, and his forces initially helped supplement ours, giving us Suno, and helping us take three castles. But nobody else will support us. This is because I have bad to terrible relations with most of the Swadian lords– I hadn't realised failing quests would deteriorate my relationship back when I first started. And of course, I keep beating them in battles. My honour is also fairly low, because to support a big army in the early game, you need money. So I would raid Sarranid villages, giving me plenty of valuable silk and spice etc, but now after immediately entering a war on two fronts with the Swadians and Sarranids, the Vaegirs and Rhodoks went ahead and declared war on me as well. The latter was my source of archers, soon I'll only be able to use expensive mercenaries.
Nobody will support me, therefore they oppose me. Every single one of my villages is basically perpetually looted. Before I can rush to aid them, someone else is looting another village or besieging my castle, though I haven't actually lost a castle... for now. Oh, and I abandoned Klargus in battle when Harlaus found us, so he's not fond of me either, and his army is presumably decimated.
I'm at my wits end. I can win basically any battle with my cavalry sweep, but 100 men is only enough to take weaker castles, and that usually costs at least a quarter of my army. Bigger castles or major cities are out of the question, though I haven't actually tried capturing any cities.
Is it possible to win a war simply with sheer force? I put a lot of points into leadership and charisma, so I can build my army bigger, but I could really use those alliances to quickly double my forces, even if my allies quickly agro themselves suicidally. When I ask for peace with anyone, they either don't have the authority or tell me to fall on my sword. Go figure. On the rare occasion I capture an army leader, releasing them doesn't seem to help much. It's getting harder and harder to obtain money, especially if I'm to stop raiding villages.
It's frankly at the point where the game is much less enjoyable since it now consists of battles that hardly give me enough loot to feed and pay my army, or asking people to join me before they inevitably say no. The guides always says "keep your honour high, maintain good relations with people." That's all well and good, but when you have low honour and bad relations with everyone, it's easier said than done.
Should I just cut my losses and start a new playthrough and be a little smarter this time, or is my situation salvageable? I'm open to cheating at this point, but bear in mind that I'm playing on my Macbook. I can't for the life of me figure out how to activate them, or if that's even a thing on the Mac port.
It's my first time playing any Mount and Blade game, but it seemed to be going relatively smoothly. I was a low born Swadian. The first thing I did was build an army. 37 hours later, I have a pretty effective force about 100 strong at its full strength. I had planned to be primarily infantry based– at least half– but I found the NPC AI was too dumb and that I kept getting mowed down by cavalry, picked off by archers, or ending up in a clustered melee where numbers are the only thing that mattered. I was aiming for an army of Nord Huskarls and Rhodok Crossbowmen like everyone recommends, but now I'm predominantly Swadian and sellsword cavalry based. Cavalry really do seem to have an unfair advantage in this game; I can go up against 275 Sarranids with 87 men, with myself and maybe 20 knights sweeping through them like the Rohirim, a few archers for support and infantry standing there for decoration. Zero casualties nine out of ten times. I guess "Mount" is the first word of the game title for a reason.
Factionwise, I liked Lady Isolla's story, especially given that Harlaus is a major prick. So the moment she would let me, I declared for her. This has not been going well. By some miracle that I can only assume is randomness, I got Klargus to support our claim, and his forces initially helped supplement ours, giving us Suno, and helping us take three castles. But nobody else will support us. This is because I have bad to terrible relations with most of the Swadian lords– I hadn't realised failing quests would deteriorate my relationship back when I first started. And of course, I keep beating them in battles. My honour is also fairly low, because to support a big army in the early game, you need money. So I would raid Sarranid villages, giving me plenty of valuable silk and spice etc, but now after immediately entering a war on two fronts with the Swadians and Sarranids, the Vaegirs and Rhodoks went ahead and declared war on me as well. The latter was my source of archers, soon I'll only be able to use expensive mercenaries.
Nobody will support me, therefore they oppose me. Every single one of my villages is basically perpetually looted. Before I can rush to aid them, someone else is looting another village or besieging my castle, though I haven't actually lost a castle... for now. Oh, and I abandoned Klargus in battle when Harlaus found us, so he's not fond of me either, and his army is presumably decimated.
I'm at my wits end. I can win basically any battle with my cavalry sweep, but 100 men is only enough to take weaker castles, and that usually costs at least a quarter of my army. Bigger castles or major cities are out of the question, though I haven't actually tried capturing any cities.
Is it possible to win a war simply with sheer force? I put a lot of points into leadership and charisma, so I can build my army bigger, but I could really use those alliances to quickly double my forces, even if my allies quickly agro themselves suicidally. When I ask for peace with anyone, they either don't have the authority or tell me to fall on my sword. Go figure. On the rare occasion I capture an army leader, releasing them doesn't seem to help much. It's getting harder and harder to obtain money, especially if I'm to stop raiding villages.
It's frankly at the point where the game is much less enjoyable since it now consists of battles that hardly give me enough loot to feed and pay my army, or asking people to join me before they inevitably say no. The guides always says "keep your honour high, maintain good relations with people." That's all well and good, but when you have low honour and bad relations with everyone, it's easier said than done.
Should I just cut my losses and start a new playthrough and be a little smarter this time, or is my situation salvageable? I'm open to cheating at this point, but bear in mind that I'm playing on my Macbook. I can't for the life of me figure out how to activate them, or if that's even a thing on the Mac port.
I also like to have a separate save file where I am not planning on going for a kingdom or becoming a vassal. It's nice to be able to run around and do whatever I feel like doing.
