jrawlings
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Game guide forKnights-Lancers
Intro:
This guide is intended for those who want to play a lance-toting hero in Mount&Blade. This is my favorite type of character to play so I thought I’d write up this little guide to share what I’ve found that works best. The guide is based on my own personal play and is of my own opinion. I’m sure you will get 1000 other opinions as to which skills to select and strategies to use etc. I hope that this guide will at least give you some idea on how to plan your character.
Be warned there are spoilers (and game exploits) below.
If you have any additions to this guide please post, as this is the first game guide I’ve ever written!
This guide contains the following sections:
1. Skills
...a. Party vs. Individual
...b. What to do with Marnid and Borcha
2. Character Builds
3. Strategy (what quests to take and avoid)
...a. Early game (level <10-15)
...b. Rest of game
4. Combat tips
...a. Combat tips for the neophyte
...b. Couching your lance
...c. Combat orders
...d. Advanced tips
1. Skills:
The skills you select for your character are very important, not only for immediate benefit but for long-term development as well. Because skills are dependent on the four main attributes, care must be taken when allocating attribute points. A skill cannot be advanced more than 1/3 the value of its governing attribute. So, if you have an agility of 15, your maximum riding skill would be 5.
Skills can be broken down into two types, individual and party skills. Individual skills affect only the hero or character that has it. So your character having a power strike of 10 does Marnid no good. Party skills affect everyone in the party; however, they do NOT stack (with the possible exception of trainer). What this means is, if you have a 2 in spotting and Borcha has a 3, the party’s skill is 3 and your two points are wasted. The party screen (accessible on the main map by pressing “P”) will show you this info.
Edit - As of .750, party skills provided by NPC's have a -1 to the total. This means in the above example, the hero's skill would still be used since Borcha would only provide 2 points of skill. In other words, an NPC needs to have at least two points more in a skill than the player. This is not a bug (so stop posting about it in the bug reports forum
) but a feature designed to increase the importance of player character skill
Before we get to your character skills, let’s discuss what to do with Marnid and Borcha. It is common knowledge that both of these characters are fairly weak on the battlefield. However, they are of great use for party skills. This is a key point because it is impossible for your character to master all of the necessary skills. When Borcha joins your party, you will find that he already has skill in tracking, pathfinding and spotting. Have Borcha advance these skills to the level that suits your play style. Generally, a level of 4 or 5 in each is sufficient. I try to advance pathfinding and spotting first, tracking to follow. This leaves Marnid. I use him as the party healer, focusing on surgery, first aid and wound treatment. Here, I think a level of 4 or 5 in each is a must, where surgery is the most important and wound treatment is the least.
For each of the skills, I have given the in-game description and I have rated each of the skills between 1 and 10, with 10 the highest. I’ve also indicated which skills are party skills. Finally, I’ve given my rationale for the rating and a recommended level of expertise (for a character in the 20-30 level range). Keep in mind, this guide is for lancer-type characters and would not apply to other character models.
Strength skills:
Ironflesh: Each point in this skill increases hitpoints by +2. Rating 3. Not a very useful skill for someone who will remain mounted. However, if you are knocked from your horse, this skill could come in use as you run for your life! I would put points in this when you don’t have other places to put them, maybe 1 or 2 points at most.
Power Strike: Each point in this skill increases melee damage by 6%. Rating 7. This skill is not overly important because you will be dealing massive amounts of damage when you couch your lance. Nonetheless, you will eventually want this high enough to kill a dark knight on a single pass. Also, there are occasions where a lance won’t do (mountain terrain for example), so you’ll need points in this skill to help with your sword or other melee weapon, hence an above average rating. Minimum 4 or 5 points here.
Power throw: Each point in this skill increases throw damage by 7%. Rating 5/1. No matter your character type, you should be able to engage in ranged combat. If you want to go with jarids and spears, this skill is essential. Give it 4 or 5 points. If you go with bows, 0 points.
Power Draw: Each point in this skill increases bow damage by 10% Rating 5/1. Same as power throw. If you go the bow route, you will need enough points here to use the bow you like. War bows require a power draw of 4, so that would be a good minimum. If you use a crossbow, no points are necessary here, as this skill has no effect on damage with crossbows.
Agility skills:
Weapon Master: Increases limits to weapon proficiencies. Limits are as (60/100/140/180/220/260/300/340/380/420) Rating 3. Weapon master DOES NOT limit your ability to gain a certain level of proficiency. In other words, you can get a 200 proficiency in a weapon WITHOUT skill in weapon master. Weapon master allows you to train up your weapon skills (when you level up). Weapon master may also increase the rate in which proficiency increases naturally, someone check me on this! You’ll want at least 2 points in this skill to get your weapon proficiency up fast early on. Much more than this is not necessary. You will find that when you get your polearm skill to 150+, you will be dealing enough damage to take down most anything on a single pass. Advance it past 2 when you have nothing else to spend points on.
Shield: Damage to shield is reduced (by 25% per skill level) Rating 1. The high end shields in the game provide more than enough protection to warrant spending points on this skill. If you chose to start as a squire, you’ll get 1 point in this and you will find that is all you need.
Edit - Shields which are destroyed in combat have a chance of becoming cracked or broken after the battle. This may make the shield skill more useful, especially for higher level expensive shields
Athletics: Improves your running speed. Rating 3. If you stay on your horse, this skill is useless. However, there will be times when you get knocked off your horse and you’ll want this skill so you can high-tail it away from those melee enemies. I’d put 2 or 3 points in this skill, advance it when you have nothing else to spend points on.
Riding: Enables you to ride horses of higher difficulty levels and increases your riding speed and maneuver. Rating 10. This is probably the most important skill you can have. Not only is it required for riding the best horses, it increases your speed (which will increase your damage). Having the fastest horse with the tightest turning radius on the battlefield is a key to victory. Put as many points in this as you can! A minimum of 5 for sure!
Horse archery: Reduces damage and accuracy penalties for archery and throwing from horseback. Rating 6-8. I could not settle on a good number so I’m giving two. It all depends on how much you want to rely on your ranged combat. What horse archery does from a practical standpoint is to make the targeting reticule tighter when you are galloping. With a skill of 5 and your horse at a trot, the reticule will be as if you were standing still! Depending on how much you use the bow/throwing weapon from horseback you should spend points accordingly. A minimum of 3 is required to make horse archery useful beyond the closest of ranges, maximum depends on you.
Intelligence skills:
Trainer: Every day, each hero adds to the experience of every other member in the party. Experience gained goes as{0,4,10,16,23,30,38,46,55,65,80}. Rating 1. Not a very important skill. You will find that killing a group of river pirates a day will do more for you than this skill will. Having one or two points in this will allow you to upgrade peasants and militia a bit faster. You’d have to max this skill out to be of use to the higher troop levels. Too much to invest for too little return in my opinion.
Tracking (party): Tracks become more informative. Rating 4. This is a Borcha skill, so DO NOT advance this on your character. This skill will allow Borcha to see tracks on the ground. The higher the skill the more informative they become. A high enough skill (I think around 4 or 5), Borcha will start to see not only the party size and time, but will also sometimes see the name of the party that made them! If the last point is important, go for 5 points, otherwise 2 or 3 points in this skill is fine, do so when Borcha cannot advance pathfinding or spotting.
Tactics (party): Every two levels of this skill increases starting battle advantage by 1. Rating 5. This skill is important when you go up against very large parties (if you play Mag7, I once went up against a Vaegir War Party with 157 troops -- I had 63). Each round this skill will help balance out the odds. Personally, I put 2 points in this skill, but you may go with 0 or 4 as well… just keep it an even number!
Edit - The main affect of tactical advantage is to determine how many troops of each side are on the field at the same time. With a higher tactical advantage, it is possible to outnumber your opponents during battle, despite them having the larger party
Pathfinding (party): Party map speed is increased by 3% per skill level. Rating 10. This is a Borcha skill, so DO NOT advance this on your character. Anything that can increase map speed is a must, put as many points in this as you can!
Spotting (party): Party seeing range is increased by 10% per skill level. Rating 7. This is a Borcha skill, so DO NOT advance this on your character. This skill is exceptionally important early on in the game when your party is mainly evading the bigger, more powerful parties. If you can see them before they see you, you can avoid a conflict. I generally advance this skill first with Borcha, along with pathfinding. When those are maxed out and I have nothing else to spend with him, I’ll put one in tracking.
Inventory management: Increase inventory capacity by +6 per skill level. Rating 5. This is a skill that at first may not be important, but later in the game, you’ll find that having a couple points here is helpful. Advance this skill as needed, but 2 or 3 will probably do the trick. If you chose to ignore the “deliver X units of Y to town Z” quests, or the “bring me X equipment/armor/horses” quests, you may not need as many points here.
Wound treatment (party): Party healing speed is increased by 30% per level of this skill. Rating 4. This is a Marnid skill, so DO NOT advance this on your character. This will speed up the time it takes unconscious troops to wake up and will also speed up your heal rate on the map. If you are good at evading, Marnid may not need much in this skill. Of the three healing skills, this is the least valuable. Advance this skill when Marnid has nothing else to advance.
Surgery (party): Each point in this skill gives a 5% chance that a mortally struck party member will be wounded rather than killed. Rating 10. This is a Marnid skill, so DO NOT advance this on your character. This is the skill that is going to keep your troops alive when the going gets tough. If you do not want to constantly have to rebuild your army, this skill is essential. This is the most important of Marnid’s healing skills. Put as many points in as you can!
First Aid (party): Heroes regain 7% of hit-points lost during mission. Rating 8. This is a Marnid skill, so DO NOT advance this on your character. This skill is only slightly less important than surgery, but still more important than wound healing. This skill comes into play on multi-round battles, allowing you to regain some lost health. However, it will only regain health up to the point where you were when the battle first started. Here’s an example: Let’s say your character has 40 hit points, but a battle STARTS when your character is at 20/40 hit points. If your character goes an entire round without getting touched, you will only have 20 hit points in the next round. If you had started the battle with 40, but got wounded down to 20, then you’d get some of those points back. This is an essential skill that should be advanced along with surgery. Put as many points in as you can. You’ll thank me when you go up against those war parties and dark knights!
Charisma skills:
Prisoner management (party): Every level of skill adds an extra prisoner stack to player’s party, and increases maximum number of prisoners by 5. Rating 7. Selling river pirates as prisoners is probably one of the fastest ways to generate money early on. Also, keeping a stable of fast prisoners (knights, etc) will help your party map speed which is also good. Finally, there is the “capture the nobleman” quest which will require that you have a slot open. I usually put 3 points here. One stack for nobleman, one stack for fast prisoners, one stack for profit!
Leadership (party): Every point increases the maximum number of troops you can command by 5, reduces troop costs and wages by 10% and adds an extra slot to party. Rating 10. This is perhaps one of the most important skills. More important that increasing the number of troops, it increases the number of troop stacks you have. This is critical as you will constantly have crossbowmen, infantry, and knights advancing all at the same time. I generally forgo the infantry, but still having 2 upgrade trees to service requires a lot of slots! Also, you’ll need a spare slot for the “kidnapped girl” quests. I generally wind up with 6 or 7 points in this skill.
Trade (party): Every level of skill reduces trade penalty by 10%. Rating 1. This is a Marnid skill, so DO NOT advance this on your character. Marnid comes with a 3 in this skill and you will find that this is plenty. Besides you will have many other skills that are more important to spend points on.
Character build
Now that we’ve talked about the skills, when should you add them? Like the skills ratings, there are easily 1000 opinions on how build the character. Here I’m going to give, more or less, general suggestions. Simply put, I build the character based on current need. Selection of character class is also important. I generally go with a squire when I build a lancer/knight type, as the starting skills are the best fit for this type of character.
At the beginning of the game, I focus my efforts on what will help me get through the training sessions. I usually put level up points in agility to speed up melee attacks. I’ll make sure that strength is 9 so I can get power strike to 3. I’ll get riding to 3 as soon as I can. When I can’t put points in riding, I’ll throw some into leadership. I’ll rely on the hunting crossbow until I get riding to 3, power draw to 3 and horse archery to 3. I don’t necessarily spend any weapon proficiency points on crossbow, instead I focus on one-handed (or two-handed) weapons, polearms, and whatever ranged weapon I want my character to end up with. I may put a point or two in weapon master as needed so that I can make full use of the weapon proficiency points at level up. Below is an example character build to make a lancer that uses bows as a ranged weapon.
A typical level 1 character might look like:
Strength: 10
Agility: 9
Intelligence: 4
Charisma: 7
Skills: Powerstrike 3, Weaponmaster 1, Shield 1, Riding 3, Tactics 1, Prisoner Management 1, Leadership 1
Notes:
1. The bulk of points went into agility to help in training and to set the table for developing riding skills
2. If you do want to put points into trainer, put one in as soon as you can, trade off one from powerstrike or riding
At level 5:
Strength: 12
Agility: 9
Intelligence: 4
Charisma: 9
Skills: Powerstrike 3, Power draw 1, Weaponmaster 2, Shield 1, Riding 3, Horse archery 1, Tactics 1, Inventory management 1, Prisoner Management 1, Leadership 1
Notes:
1. Inventory management taken so you can handle the deliver X units of blah blah to Y quests.
2. Power draw and horse archery are not sufficient for you to be an effective horse archer, yet. So, stick with the crossbow for now.
At level 10:
Strength: 12
Agility: 12
Intelligence: 6
Charisma: 9
Skills: Powerstrike 3, Power draw 3, Weaponmaster 2, Shield 1, Riding 3, Horse archery 3, Tactics 1, Inventory management 1, Prisoner Management 1, Leadership 3
Notes:
1. At this point horse archery and power draw should be sufficient to switch from crossbows to bows if you haven’t done so already. If you put spare proficiency points in bows along the way, you’ll find that your skill with the bow is more than adequate to get the job done.
2. Points in leadership are a must here so that you can fit Marnid and Borcha into your party and have room to recruit troops.
3. In this build, I advanced strength to 12 first, then agility, you can easily reverse this if you choose.
At level 15:
Strength: 12
Agility: 12
Intelligence: 8
Charisma: 12
Skills: Powerstrike 3, Power draw 4, Weaponmaster 2, Shield 1, Riding 4, Horse archery 3, Tactics 1, Inventory management 3, Prisoner Management 2, Leadership 4
Notes:
1. The bulk of points went into charisma because at this point you really need to start building a sizable army to eventually handle those war parties.
2. Power draw went to 4 for use of the war bow. If you are happier with lesser bows, put a point in power strike instead.
3. Also, you can put a point in tactics to get the battlefield advantage
Beyond:
At this point, you should have a feel for things for sure! Put points in those skills you need to suit your playing style. For me, I continue to advance leadership as a priority because I want to command a big army, thus I pump a lot of points into charisma. Once that is high enough (21+, leadership 7+), I’ll then start putting points in other stats and skills (usually agility to improve riding and horse archery).
Here is one of my lancer characters (I’m currently using it to play Mag7 mod):
Level 31
Strength: 12
Agility: 15
Intelligence: 9
Charisma: 24
Skills: Powerstrike 4, Power draw 4, Weaponmaster 3, Shield 1, Athletics 3, Riding 5, Horse archery 5, Tactics 2, Inventory management 3, Prisoner Management 4, Leadership 8, plus 1 skill point not spent
Strategy:
Here are some strategy tips to help you survive in Calradia early on, and to maximize your potential when you get more powerful. As always, there are multiple strategies one can use, however, I find these to be the best.
Early game
Early in the game, you are VERY weak compared to almost all of the computer controlled parties on the map. The goal in this part of the game is to rapidly gain levels while evading the powerful parties roaming the map. Ideally you should be able to gain one level each game day.
1. Training/arena:
This is a great place to start out. Go through the training on the first day. You will find, no matter your class selection, that the training is tough. It will take some getting used to, but it is doable. There are plenty of threads on the forums that discuss melee combat so I won’t get into too much detail here. The key, I’ve found, is to keep your block up and let the opponent come to you. Ready a thrust type attack (for two handed sword/staff) and as your opponent approaches, let it fly. He’ll most likely back up after getting hit, so you can repeat this easily. Timing is critical. If you have the sword and shield, keep your shield up and back your opponent into a corner. When that is done, you’ll find that taking him out is easy as pie. If you go through training from start to finish without reloading, you will make level 2 perhaps level 3 by the time you are done. If you want to get some experience on horseback, head to the arena where you can practice that, as well as archery. I advise not to bet on yourself because you will likely lose more than you win.
2. Run for the salt mine on day 1
One of the things that makes you weak to start the game is your equipment, or lack thereof. Also, you have a relatively slow horse, unless you started with court lady which I believe starts with a courser? Whatever your starting horse, riding solo will give you blazing fast speed on the world map (10+), so you should be able to evade just about anyone. Also, it takes a while for AI parties to spawn. Exploit this by getting on the road on day 1 (note: time doesn’t pass while you are in town doing training or the arena, so don’t worry). Head to the salt mine and buy as much salt as you can afford (usually it is 2 or 3). Head back to Zendar and you’ll make a good profit. I would make a couple trips so that you can raise the 50 denars to free Borcha.
3. Quests to take/avoid
The best quest to take early in the game is the river pirate quest. River pirates are the easiest opponent to face. With little practice, you will be able to take out entire parties (20+) on your own. Fortunately, you won’t face any that large in the beginning of the game. You’ll likely face no more than 4-6. That number is still VERY easy to take on using this strategy: Ride your horse to where the pirates are. Stay at range from them and ready your hunting crossbow. Once you have a bolt loaded, stop your horse, take aim at one and fire. Get your horse trotting again immediately and reload. You may find that it is easiest to get the pirates lined up behind you. When riding your horse, you need not ride at blazing speed, just a trot that is slightly faster than the pirates will work fine. You’ll get 32xp for each pirate you kill. Once you can get a jousting lance, use it to practice couching on the pirates. The lance will knock them out, so you can capture them and sell them as slaves in Zendar, a great money maker!
Another “quest” to take as early as possible is the free Borcha quest. Go to Rivacheg and talk to the man in the cell. Then talk to the count and he’ll give you the opportunity to take the prisoner Borcha to Sargoth (I think) for him. Accept. Borcha will talk to you as you ride and you will get the option to set him free. Do so and he’ll join your party. This is an essential quest early on for several reasons. First, Borcha adds tracking, spotting, and pathfinding skills to the party. Second, Borcha is a permanent member of your party that cannot be killed and is at least as good, if not better, than the militia that you can recruit at this stage of the game. Getting him early also allows you more time to build him up the way you like.
Don't forget about Marnid. He's another character that you can add to your party like Borcha. He is located in the Zendar Tavern and will join you if you give him some padded cloth armor. Your best bet is to go from town to town until you find a blacksmith that carries one. I make best use of Marnid by having him specialize in first aid, surgery, and wound treatment skills. You should get Marnid as early as you can, although early on you may have to decide which to get first, Marnid or your first lance.
Another good quest is the kidnapped girl. This one requires you to go to another town, pay a ransom (you are provided the ransom money, so don’t worry) and bring back the girl. Make sure you have the party slot for her before you begin. She won’t slow down your party too much, so your evasion abilities will not be compromised. This is a great quest because it gives a good amount of xp. This one will be your bread and butter for getting levels early on.
Escort the caravan. This one is iffy, but you’ll find it is one of the more popular quests they want to give you. In this quest, you have to escort a caravan party from your current city to some other city on the map. If the cities are close together, this is an easy quest. The farther apart, the greater the chance you’ll encounter trouble along the way. The caravan travels at 6.5 speed so you will constantly have to stop and wait for it to catch up. Also, if the caravan sees a party that it is scared of, it will attempt to run away on its own, often away from your destination, even if the caravan is faster than those it is running from. As long as you are patient, though, you shouldn’t have much trouble with this quest. One caveat to the quest is that you must have a party of a particular strength in order to escort the caravan. Simply hire what you need at the tavern, take the quest, and if your party is moving too slow for your liking, disband the excess peasants, you can still complete the quest. One caravan exploit you should know about: If there is an enemy party that takes interest in you or the caravan, you can talk to the caravan, which will make it stop for a bit. Allow the enemy to attack it, then you can join in. Why would you do this? This allows you to take on enemy parties much larger/difficult than you normally would. The caravan guards are fairly capable warriors and so long as one remains, you can still complete the quest. A great way to get equipment (even though you’ll only get 1 or 2 pieces—they are generally better than what you’d get from river pirates) and experience.
Faction quests to take(Swadian/Vaegir):
The only quest that you should attempt early on is “deliver a message to X” quest. Very easy to do, nets you 100xp. Not the most efficient way to level.
Quests to avoid:
Deliver X units of ale/spice/whatever to town Y. The reason for avoiding this quest is that you will be loaded down and your party speed will go from 10+ to around 6. Then you will be easy prey on any party that decides to attack you. The only way to alleviate this situation is to put horses into your inventory slots.
Troublesome bandits. This quest will spawn a party of 40+ bandits just outside of town that will own you. Avoid until you are much stronger.
All faction quests except “deliver a message to X”
Rest of game
1. Best quests to take:
Here take the quests that are fast to complete and yield the most experience. There comes a time when the return merchant quests no longer makes them attractive. This usually happens around level 15 or so. If you still want to do merchant quests, stick with Kidnapped girl as this is still your bread and butter. Delivery quests are not as much a burden, provided you have extra horses, so those are an option. You can take on delivery quests and kidnapped girl quests and do them simultaneously to increase efficiency. Same with the caravan quests. The troublesome bandit quest is doable here, depending on your skill level and party composition.
Faction quests to take:
Any of the faction quests should be doable here, depending on your skill level and party composition. The most difficult quest is the raiding party quest, however, it yields 4500xp. That’s right, 4500 (PLUS experience gained during combat).
Second most difficult is the nobleman quest. It’s not that the nobleman and his party are tough, it’s that you must knock him unconscious and not kill him to complete the quest. Often I find it easiest to tell my party to hold position and I go after the entire party solo until I find and knock out the nobleman with my jousting lance. Once done, I call in my party with a “follow me” or “charge” command.
Other good quests to take on are the “raise X unit” and “capture X unit” quests.
Faction quests to avoid
All of the “give me X horses, armor, weapon” quests. These quests take forever to complete because you have to go town to town to town to find what they want. In some cases, you’ll be asked to deliver black armor or chargers, which are downright expensive too. You are not given any money up front, but are compensated well on completion. Maximize your profit by getting low grade items (cracked, battered, swaybacked, etc) Also, while you are doing these quests, valuable inventory slots are being taken. The experience reward IMHO isn’t worth the effort you must put into it.
Combat tips
Combat tips for the neophyte
These tips are to help the ultra-newbie character (level less than 5). Once you gain better equipment and a horse, you can focus on your main weapon, the lance. Early on, even though I’m supposed to be a lancer, I focus entirely on using my crossbow, using three related techniques. When I level up, I don’t put more points into crossbow, instead I initially put them into polearms (and later on, into archery if I want to use bows for ranged). These techniques are usable against unmounted opponents. River pirates, especially.
1. Shoot and move – While mounted, and your horse stopped, you should be able to hit most targets that are reasonably close. After you fire, get your horse moving, reloading as you ride. Once reloaded, stop and fire. Repeat until everyone is dead.
2. Follow the leader shot – This one works well, and does not require you to stop. Also, this one can be used against shielded opponents. Get your opponents to follow you, once behind you, go at a speed that is slightly slower than them. Ready your shot by holding down the mouse button. When they catch up to you, they will swing at you, that is the time to release the mouse button. Your shot will hit them AND disrupt their attack. Speed your horse up a bit, so that you are faster then them. Reload and repeat. When using this technique, you will need to periodically look around to the front to see where you are going!
3. Circle the wagons – This technique is the most difficult of the three and is a variation of the “shoot and move.” Here, all you need to do is circle your opponents on your horse in a counter-clockwise fashion. Go as fast as you are comfortable. Your opponents will chase after you. Lead your opponents with your shots. The amount you lead will depend on how fast you are going and how far away you are. Although more difficult, this strategy will kill them the fastest.
Couching your lance
A couched lance arguably deals the most amount of damage in the game. It is something that takes time to master, however. To start, you need a lance. The longer the lance the better. The first lance I usually get is a jousting lance. It is long, and it is blunt, meaning that it will knock things out instead of killing them. So early in the game, you will become a river pirate prisoner trader, making a good bit of money. The next thing you need is a good horse. A good horse is one that is fast and maneuverable. Although it is possible to couch a lance on a saddle horse, you’ll find that it takes forever to gain the requisite speed and the lack of maneuverability makes landing a hit difficult. Coursers do fine, hunters even better. Generally, a horse with a speed of 8+ will be fine.
How to couch your lance: First off, DO NOT PRESS THE ATTACK BUTTON. Ok, say that to yourself a couple times. Good. Now, to couch your lance, you simply need to ride fast. When your horse gets up to speed, the lance will come down into the couched position. So long as you maintain that speed, your lance will stay couched. If you slow down, or go down a steep grade, you will raise your lance.
How deal couched lance damage: When learning how to do couched lance damage, it is good to practice on river pirates. They are slow, weak, and their weapons don’t hurt much. Engage the river pirates on level land. When in combat, give yourself plenty of room between you and the pirates. Ride your horse at them as fast as you can. Line up your target by riding your horse slightly to the left of the pirate. You should be looking off to the right slightly (if ahead is 12 o’clock, you should be looking between 1-2 o’clock). You need to get the TIP of your lance to hit your target. Aim for the torso, not the head, as that is a bigger target to hit. Sometimes, the pirate will strafe out of the way, so be prepared to tap the A or D key as you approach. Don’t worry if they try to swing, they will most likely swing too early and miss. If you are going fast enough and you miss, you will likely charge through them, knocking them over. Circle around and try again. If you are having trouble landing a hit, slow your horse down a little, but be warned, if you go slower, you may not be able to charge through them should you miss AND they will have a better chance of hitting you should they attempt a swing.
Combat orders
As a leader, you have several orders at your disposal to command your troops. They can be used effectively to turn the tide of battle in your favor, even in insurmountable odds.
Edit - It is now possible to use the function keys (F1, F2, F3, F4) to command specific members of your group by troop type
1. “Hold Position.” This order makes your troops hold where they are. If you have archers, they will often go forward a bit and then commence fire if they have a clear shot. If you have horse archers, they generally ignore this order. As a general rule, this order should be issued IMMEDIATELY when combat starts. If you have an all infantry force, going against horsemen, having a mass of troops is your best defense.
2. “Follow me.” This order will make your troops follow you wherever you are on the battlefield. This order is VERY useful in several situations. First, if you are ever dismounted, this order will get your troops to you ASAP. Second, this order allows you to have the most control over which units your troops attack.
3. “Charge.” This is the default order on the battlefield. In other words, when combat starts, this is what your troops will do out of the gate. This order is dangerous because there is no control over which units your troops will charge after. The end result is that you’ll have guys going every which direction, which is not a good thing. Use this order for mop up or to find that last enemy that is hiding in the corner somewhere.
4. “Mount horses.” Self explanatory.
5. “Dismount.” Tells your mounted units to get off their horses. This is a critical command if you are fighting on hilly terrain, as footsoldiers have the definite advantage. If I am ever knocked off my horse, I’ll order nearby soldiers to dismount so I can take their horse. Note: you may need to issue this order 10-20 times before they listen to you!
Advanced combat tips
1. Use the “hold position” order to set quasi-waypoints on the battlefield. This will help in maintaining control of your troops if you need to move them as a group over the battlefield. Often what I like to do in a big fight is order a “charge” or a “follow me” from the get go, and go out in front of my troops, as I get halfway across the battlefield, I’ll issue a “hold this position” and my troops will amass there.
2. Divide and Conquer. From the outset, order a “hold position.” As the enemy approaches, ride perpendicular to their advance (at a right angle). Many of the enemy will take your bait and follow you, while others go after your main force. By dividing them like this, you can negate any numerical disadvantage you have. Also, your main force will likely outnumber those that engage it while you keep a handful or two busy chasing you.
3. Going solo. I’m not talking about going solo for the whole combat round. What I do is order a “hold position” and then I ride out toward the enemy. I concentrate on couching and killing one or two of the most dangerous mounted opponents (e.g. knights and horsemen). I may pick off one or two footsoldiers that are lagging behind their main force before I swing around and head back to my troops, enemy chasing me. Once I get close to my troops I’ll order a “charge” which should disrupt the pursuit. I’ll turn my horse around and go after my next target, often ordering a “hold position” to regroup my forces.
Edit - Haven't seen jrawlings around for a while, so I took the liberty of adding in a bit to try and keep this up to date with alterations in M&B since he wrote this guide. Hope he doesn't mind...
Intro:
This guide is intended for those who want to play a lance-toting hero in Mount&Blade. This is my favorite type of character to play so I thought I’d write up this little guide to share what I’ve found that works best. The guide is based on my own personal play and is of my own opinion. I’m sure you will get 1000 other opinions as to which skills to select and strategies to use etc. I hope that this guide will at least give you some idea on how to plan your character.
Be warned there are spoilers (and game exploits) below.
If you have any additions to this guide please post, as this is the first game guide I’ve ever written!
This guide contains the following sections:
1. Skills
...a. Party vs. Individual
...b. What to do with Marnid and Borcha
2. Character Builds
3. Strategy (what quests to take and avoid)
...a. Early game (level <10-15)
...b. Rest of game
4. Combat tips
...a. Combat tips for the neophyte
...b. Couching your lance
...c. Combat orders
...d. Advanced tips
1. Skills:
The skills you select for your character are very important, not only for immediate benefit but for long-term development as well. Because skills are dependent on the four main attributes, care must be taken when allocating attribute points. A skill cannot be advanced more than 1/3 the value of its governing attribute. So, if you have an agility of 15, your maximum riding skill would be 5.
Skills can be broken down into two types, individual and party skills. Individual skills affect only the hero or character that has it. So your character having a power strike of 10 does Marnid no good. Party skills affect everyone in the party; however, they do NOT stack (with the possible exception of trainer). What this means is, if you have a 2 in spotting and Borcha has a 3, the party’s skill is 3 and your two points are wasted. The party screen (accessible on the main map by pressing “P”) will show you this info.
Edit - As of .750, party skills provided by NPC's have a -1 to the total. This means in the above example, the hero's skill would still be used since Borcha would only provide 2 points of skill. In other words, an NPC needs to have at least two points more in a skill than the player. This is not a bug (so stop posting about it in the bug reports forum
Before we get to your character skills, let’s discuss what to do with Marnid and Borcha. It is common knowledge that both of these characters are fairly weak on the battlefield. However, they are of great use for party skills. This is a key point because it is impossible for your character to master all of the necessary skills. When Borcha joins your party, you will find that he already has skill in tracking, pathfinding and spotting. Have Borcha advance these skills to the level that suits your play style. Generally, a level of 4 or 5 in each is sufficient. I try to advance pathfinding and spotting first, tracking to follow. This leaves Marnid. I use him as the party healer, focusing on surgery, first aid and wound treatment. Here, I think a level of 4 or 5 in each is a must, where surgery is the most important and wound treatment is the least.
For each of the skills, I have given the in-game description and I have rated each of the skills between 1 and 10, with 10 the highest. I’ve also indicated which skills are party skills. Finally, I’ve given my rationale for the rating and a recommended level of expertise (for a character in the 20-30 level range). Keep in mind, this guide is for lancer-type characters and would not apply to other character models.
Strength skills:
Ironflesh: Each point in this skill increases hitpoints by +2. Rating 3. Not a very useful skill for someone who will remain mounted. However, if you are knocked from your horse, this skill could come in use as you run for your life! I would put points in this when you don’t have other places to put them, maybe 1 or 2 points at most.
Power Strike: Each point in this skill increases melee damage by 6%. Rating 7. This skill is not overly important because you will be dealing massive amounts of damage when you couch your lance. Nonetheless, you will eventually want this high enough to kill a dark knight on a single pass. Also, there are occasions where a lance won’t do (mountain terrain for example), so you’ll need points in this skill to help with your sword or other melee weapon, hence an above average rating. Minimum 4 or 5 points here.
Power throw: Each point in this skill increases throw damage by 7%. Rating 5/1. No matter your character type, you should be able to engage in ranged combat. If you want to go with jarids and spears, this skill is essential. Give it 4 or 5 points. If you go with bows, 0 points.
Power Draw: Each point in this skill increases bow damage by 10% Rating 5/1. Same as power throw. If you go the bow route, you will need enough points here to use the bow you like. War bows require a power draw of 4, so that would be a good minimum. If you use a crossbow, no points are necessary here, as this skill has no effect on damage with crossbows.
Agility skills:
Weapon Master: Increases limits to weapon proficiencies. Limits are as (60/100/140/180/220/260/300/340/380/420) Rating 3. Weapon master DOES NOT limit your ability to gain a certain level of proficiency. In other words, you can get a 200 proficiency in a weapon WITHOUT skill in weapon master. Weapon master allows you to train up your weapon skills (when you level up). Weapon master may also increase the rate in which proficiency increases naturally, someone check me on this! You’ll want at least 2 points in this skill to get your weapon proficiency up fast early on. Much more than this is not necessary. You will find that when you get your polearm skill to 150+, you will be dealing enough damage to take down most anything on a single pass. Advance it past 2 when you have nothing else to spend points on.
Shield: Damage to shield is reduced (by 25% per skill level) Rating 1. The high end shields in the game provide more than enough protection to warrant spending points on this skill. If you chose to start as a squire, you’ll get 1 point in this and you will find that is all you need.
Edit - Shields which are destroyed in combat have a chance of becoming cracked or broken after the battle. This may make the shield skill more useful, especially for higher level expensive shields
Athletics: Improves your running speed. Rating 3. If you stay on your horse, this skill is useless. However, there will be times when you get knocked off your horse and you’ll want this skill so you can high-tail it away from those melee enemies. I’d put 2 or 3 points in this skill, advance it when you have nothing else to spend points on.
Riding: Enables you to ride horses of higher difficulty levels and increases your riding speed and maneuver. Rating 10. This is probably the most important skill you can have. Not only is it required for riding the best horses, it increases your speed (which will increase your damage). Having the fastest horse with the tightest turning radius on the battlefield is a key to victory. Put as many points in this as you can! A minimum of 5 for sure!
Horse archery: Reduces damage and accuracy penalties for archery and throwing from horseback. Rating 6-8. I could not settle on a good number so I’m giving two. It all depends on how much you want to rely on your ranged combat. What horse archery does from a practical standpoint is to make the targeting reticule tighter when you are galloping. With a skill of 5 and your horse at a trot, the reticule will be as if you were standing still! Depending on how much you use the bow/throwing weapon from horseback you should spend points accordingly. A minimum of 3 is required to make horse archery useful beyond the closest of ranges, maximum depends on you.
Intelligence skills:
Trainer: Every day, each hero adds to the experience of every other member in the party. Experience gained goes as{0,4,10,16,23,30,38,46,55,65,80}. Rating 1. Not a very important skill. You will find that killing a group of river pirates a day will do more for you than this skill will. Having one or two points in this will allow you to upgrade peasants and militia a bit faster. You’d have to max this skill out to be of use to the higher troop levels. Too much to invest for too little return in my opinion.
Tracking (party): Tracks become more informative. Rating 4. This is a Borcha skill, so DO NOT advance this on your character. This skill will allow Borcha to see tracks on the ground. The higher the skill the more informative they become. A high enough skill (I think around 4 or 5), Borcha will start to see not only the party size and time, but will also sometimes see the name of the party that made them! If the last point is important, go for 5 points, otherwise 2 or 3 points in this skill is fine, do so when Borcha cannot advance pathfinding or spotting.
Tactics (party): Every two levels of this skill increases starting battle advantage by 1. Rating 5. This skill is important when you go up against very large parties (if you play Mag7, I once went up against a Vaegir War Party with 157 troops -- I had 63). Each round this skill will help balance out the odds. Personally, I put 2 points in this skill, but you may go with 0 or 4 as well… just keep it an even number!
Edit - The main affect of tactical advantage is to determine how many troops of each side are on the field at the same time. With a higher tactical advantage, it is possible to outnumber your opponents during battle, despite them having the larger party
Pathfinding (party): Party map speed is increased by 3% per skill level. Rating 10. This is a Borcha skill, so DO NOT advance this on your character. Anything that can increase map speed is a must, put as many points in this as you can!
Spotting (party): Party seeing range is increased by 10% per skill level. Rating 7. This is a Borcha skill, so DO NOT advance this on your character. This skill is exceptionally important early on in the game when your party is mainly evading the bigger, more powerful parties. If you can see them before they see you, you can avoid a conflict. I generally advance this skill first with Borcha, along with pathfinding. When those are maxed out and I have nothing else to spend with him, I’ll put one in tracking.
Inventory management: Increase inventory capacity by +6 per skill level. Rating 5. This is a skill that at first may not be important, but later in the game, you’ll find that having a couple points here is helpful. Advance this skill as needed, but 2 or 3 will probably do the trick. If you chose to ignore the “deliver X units of Y to town Z” quests, or the “bring me X equipment/armor/horses” quests, you may not need as many points here.
Wound treatment (party): Party healing speed is increased by 30% per level of this skill. Rating 4. This is a Marnid skill, so DO NOT advance this on your character. This will speed up the time it takes unconscious troops to wake up and will also speed up your heal rate on the map. If you are good at evading, Marnid may not need much in this skill. Of the three healing skills, this is the least valuable. Advance this skill when Marnid has nothing else to advance.
Surgery (party): Each point in this skill gives a 5% chance that a mortally struck party member will be wounded rather than killed. Rating 10. This is a Marnid skill, so DO NOT advance this on your character. This is the skill that is going to keep your troops alive when the going gets tough. If you do not want to constantly have to rebuild your army, this skill is essential. This is the most important of Marnid’s healing skills. Put as many points in as you can!
First Aid (party): Heroes regain 7% of hit-points lost during mission. Rating 8. This is a Marnid skill, so DO NOT advance this on your character. This skill is only slightly less important than surgery, but still more important than wound healing. This skill comes into play on multi-round battles, allowing you to regain some lost health. However, it will only regain health up to the point where you were when the battle first started. Here’s an example: Let’s say your character has 40 hit points, but a battle STARTS when your character is at 20/40 hit points. If your character goes an entire round without getting touched, you will only have 20 hit points in the next round. If you had started the battle with 40, but got wounded down to 20, then you’d get some of those points back. This is an essential skill that should be advanced along with surgery. Put as many points in as you can. You’ll thank me when you go up against those war parties and dark knights!
Charisma skills:
Prisoner management (party): Every level of skill adds an extra prisoner stack to player’s party, and increases maximum number of prisoners by 5. Rating 7. Selling river pirates as prisoners is probably one of the fastest ways to generate money early on. Also, keeping a stable of fast prisoners (knights, etc) will help your party map speed which is also good. Finally, there is the “capture the nobleman” quest which will require that you have a slot open. I usually put 3 points here. One stack for nobleman, one stack for fast prisoners, one stack for profit!
Leadership (party): Every point increases the maximum number of troops you can command by 5, reduces troop costs and wages by 10% and adds an extra slot to party. Rating 10. This is perhaps one of the most important skills. More important that increasing the number of troops, it increases the number of troop stacks you have. This is critical as you will constantly have crossbowmen, infantry, and knights advancing all at the same time. I generally forgo the infantry, but still having 2 upgrade trees to service requires a lot of slots! Also, you’ll need a spare slot for the “kidnapped girl” quests. I generally wind up with 6 or 7 points in this skill.
Trade (party): Every level of skill reduces trade penalty by 10%. Rating 1. This is a Marnid skill, so DO NOT advance this on your character. Marnid comes with a 3 in this skill and you will find that this is plenty. Besides you will have many other skills that are more important to spend points on.
Character build
Now that we’ve talked about the skills, when should you add them? Like the skills ratings, there are easily 1000 opinions on how build the character. Here I’m going to give, more or less, general suggestions. Simply put, I build the character based on current need. Selection of character class is also important. I generally go with a squire when I build a lancer/knight type, as the starting skills are the best fit for this type of character.
At the beginning of the game, I focus my efforts on what will help me get through the training sessions. I usually put level up points in agility to speed up melee attacks. I’ll make sure that strength is 9 so I can get power strike to 3. I’ll get riding to 3 as soon as I can. When I can’t put points in riding, I’ll throw some into leadership. I’ll rely on the hunting crossbow until I get riding to 3, power draw to 3 and horse archery to 3. I don’t necessarily spend any weapon proficiency points on crossbow, instead I focus on one-handed (or two-handed) weapons, polearms, and whatever ranged weapon I want my character to end up with. I may put a point or two in weapon master as needed so that I can make full use of the weapon proficiency points at level up. Below is an example character build to make a lancer that uses bows as a ranged weapon.
A typical level 1 character might look like:
Strength: 10
Agility: 9
Intelligence: 4
Charisma: 7
Skills: Powerstrike 3, Weaponmaster 1, Shield 1, Riding 3, Tactics 1, Prisoner Management 1, Leadership 1
Notes:
1. The bulk of points went into agility to help in training and to set the table for developing riding skills
2. If you do want to put points into trainer, put one in as soon as you can, trade off one from powerstrike or riding
At level 5:
Strength: 12
Agility: 9
Intelligence: 4
Charisma: 9
Skills: Powerstrike 3, Power draw 1, Weaponmaster 2, Shield 1, Riding 3, Horse archery 1, Tactics 1, Inventory management 1, Prisoner Management 1, Leadership 1
Notes:
1. Inventory management taken so you can handle the deliver X units of blah blah to Y quests.
2. Power draw and horse archery are not sufficient for you to be an effective horse archer, yet. So, stick with the crossbow for now.
At level 10:
Strength: 12
Agility: 12
Intelligence: 6
Charisma: 9
Skills: Powerstrike 3, Power draw 3, Weaponmaster 2, Shield 1, Riding 3, Horse archery 3, Tactics 1, Inventory management 1, Prisoner Management 1, Leadership 3
Notes:
1. At this point horse archery and power draw should be sufficient to switch from crossbows to bows if you haven’t done so already. If you put spare proficiency points in bows along the way, you’ll find that your skill with the bow is more than adequate to get the job done.
2. Points in leadership are a must here so that you can fit Marnid and Borcha into your party and have room to recruit troops.
3. In this build, I advanced strength to 12 first, then agility, you can easily reverse this if you choose.
At level 15:
Strength: 12
Agility: 12
Intelligence: 8
Charisma: 12
Skills: Powerstrike 3, Power draw 4, Weaponmaster 2, Shield 1, Riding 4, Horse archery 3, Tactics 1, Inventory management 3, Prisoner Management 2, Leadership 4
Notes:
1. The bulk of points went into charisma because at this point you really need to start building a sizable army to eventually handle those war parties.
2. Power draw went to 4 for use of the war bow. If you are happier with lesser bows, put a point in power strike instead.
3. Also, you can put a point in tactics to get the battlefield advantage
Beyond:
At this point, you should have a feel for things for sure! Put points in those skills you need to suit your playing style. For me, I continue to advance leadership as a priority because I want to command a big army, thus I pump a lot of points into charisma. Once that is high enough (21+, leadership 7+), I’ll then start putting points in other stats and skills (usually agility to improve riding and horse archery).
Here is one of my lancer characters (I’m currently using it to play Mag7 mod):
Level 31
Strength: 12
Agility: 15
Intelligence: 9
Charisma: 24
Skills: Powerstrike 4, Power draw 4, Weaponmaster 3, Shield 1, Athletics 3, Riding 5, Horse archery 5, Tactics 2, Inventory management 3, Prisoner Management 4, Leadership 8, plus 1 skill point not spent
Strategy:
Here are some strategy tips to help you survive in Calradia early on, and to maximize your potential when you get more powerful. As always, there are multiple strategies one can use, however, I find these to be the best.
Early game
Early in the game, you are VERY weak compared to almost all of the computer controlled parties on the map. The goal in this part of the game is to rapidly gain levels while evading the powerful parties roaming the map. Ideally you should be able to gain one level each game day.
1. Training/arena:
This is a great place to start out. Go through the training on the first day. You will find, no matter your class selection, that the training is tough. It will take some getting used to, but it is doable. There are plenty of threads on the forums that discuss melee combat so I won’t get into too much detail here. The key, I’ve found, is to keep your block up and let the opponent come to you. Ready a thrust type attack (for two handed sword/staff) and as your opponent approaches, let it fly. He’ll most likely back up after getting hit, so you can repeat this easily. Timing is critical. If you have the sword and shield, keep your shield up and back your opponent into a corner. When that is done, you’ll find that taking him out is easy as pie. If you go through training from start to finish without reloading, you will make level 2 perhaps level 3 by the time you are done. If you want to get some experience on horseback, head to the arena where you can practice that, as well as archery. I advise not to bet on yourself because you will likely lose more than you win.
2. Run for the salt mine on day 1
One of the things that makes you weak to start the game is your equipment, or lack thereof. Also, you have a relatively slow horse, unless you started with court lady which I believe starts with a courser? Whatever your starting horse, riding solo will give you blazing fast speed on the world map (10+), so you should be able to evade just about anyone. Also, it takes a while for AI parties to spawn. Exploit this by getting on the road on day 1 (note: time doesn’t pass while you are in town doing training or the arena, so don’t worry). Head to the salt mine and buy as much salt as you can afford (usually it is 2 or 3). Head back to Zendar and you’ll make a good profit. I would make a couple trips so that you can raise the 50 denars to free Borcha.
3. Quests to take/avoid
The best quest to take early in the game is the river pirate quest. River pirates are the easiest opponent to face. With little practice, you will be able to take out entire parties (20+) on your own. Fortunately, you won’t face any that large in the beginning of the game. You’ll likely face no more than 4-6. That number is still VERY easy to take on using this strategy: Ride your horse to where the pirates are. Stay at range from them and ready your hunting crossbow. Once you have a bolt loaded, stop your horse, take aim at one and fire. Get your horse trotting again immediately and reload. You may find that it is easiest to get the pirates lined up behind you. When riding your horse, you need not ride at blazing speed, just a trot that is slightly faster than the pirates will work fine. You’ll get 32xp for each pirate you kill. Once you can get a jousting lance, use it to practice couching on the pirates. The lance will knock them out, so you can capture them and sell them as slaves in Zendar, a great money maker!
Another “quest” to take as early as possible is the free Borcha quest. Go to Rivacheg and talk to the man in the cell. Then talk to the count and he’ll give you the opportunity to take the prisoner Borcha to Sargoth (I think) for him. Accept. Borcha will talk to you as you ride and you will get the option to set him free. Do so and he’ll join your party. This is an essential quest early on for several reasons. First, Borcha adds tracking, spotting, and pathfinding skills to the party. Second, Borcha is a permanent member of your party that cannot be killed and is at least as good, if not better, than the militia that you can recruit at this stage of the game. Getting him early also allows you more time to build him up the way you like.
Don't forget about Marnid. He's another character that you can add to your party like Borcha. He is located in the Zendar Tavern and will join you if you give him some padded cloth armor. Your best bet is to go from town to town until you find a blacksmith that carries one. I make best use of Marnid by having him specialize in first aid, surgery, and wound treatment skills. You should get Marnid as early as you can, although early on you may have to decide which to get first, Marnid or your first lance.
Another good quest is the kidnapped girl. This one requires you to go to another town, pay a ransom (you are provided the ransom money, so don’t worry) and bring back the girl. Make sure you have the party slot for her before you begin. She won’t slow down your party too much, so your evasion abilities will not be compromised. This is a great quest because it gives a good amount of xp. This one will be your bread and butter for getting levels early on.
Escort the caravan. This one is iffy, but you’ll find it is one of the more popular quests they want to give you. In this quest, you have to escort a caravan party from your current city to some other city on the map. If the cities are close together, this is an easy quest. The farther apart, the greater the chance you’ll encounter trouble along the way. The caravan travels at 6.5 speed so you will constantly have to stop and wait for it to catch up. Also, if the caravan sees a party that it is scared of, it will attempt to run away on its own, often away from your destination, even if the caravan is faster than those it is running from. As long as you are patient, though, you shouldn’t have much trouble with this quest. One caveat to the quest is that you must have a party of a particular strength in order to escort the caravan. Simply hire what you need at the tavern, take the quest, and if your party is moving too slow for your liking, disband the excess peasants, you can still complete the quest. One caravan exploit you should know about: If there is an enemy party that takes interest in you or the caravan, you can talk to the caravan, which will make it stop for a bit. Allow the enemy to attack it, then you can join in. Why would you do this? This allows you to take on enemy parties much larger/difficult than you normally would. The caravan guards are fairly capable warriors and so long as one remains, you can still complete the quest. A great way to get equipment (even though you’ll only get 1 or 2 pieces—they are generally better than what you’d get from river pirates) and experience.
Faction quests to take(Swadian/Vaegir):
The only quest that you should attempt early on is “deliver a message to X” quest. Very easy to do, nets you 100xp. Not the most efficient way to level.
Quests to avoid:
Deliver X units of ale/spice/whatever to town Y. The reason for avoiding this quest is that you will be loaded down and your party speed will go from 10+ to around 6. Then you will be easy prey on any party that decides to attack you. The only way to alleviate this situation is to put horses into your inventory slots.
Troublesome bandits. This quest will spawn a party of 40+ bandits just outside of town that will own you. Avoid until you are much stronger.
All faction quests except “deliver a message to X”
Rest of game
1. Best quests to take:
Here take the quests that are fast to complete and yield the most experience. There comes a time when the return merchant quests no longer makes them attractive. This usually happens around level 15 or so. If you still want to do merchant quests, stick with Kidnapped girl as this is still your bread and butter. Delivery quests are not as much a burden, provided you have extra horses, so those are an option. You can take on delivery quests and kidnapped girl quests and do them simultaneously to increase efficiency. Same with the caravan quests. The troublesome bandit quest is doable here, depending on your skill level and party composition.
Faction quests to take:
Any of the faction quests should be doable here, depending on your skill level and party composition. The most difficult quest is the raiding party quest, however, it yields 4500xp. That’s right, 4500 (PLUS experience gained during combat).
Second most difficult is the nobleman quest. It’s not that the nobleman and his party are tough, it’s that you must knock him unconscious and not kill him to complete the quest. Often I find it easiest to tell my party to hold position and I go after the entire party solo until I find and knock out the nobleman with my jousting lance. Once done, I call in my party with a “follow me” or “charge” command.
Other good quests to take on are the “raise X unit” and “capture X unit” quests.
Faction quests to avoid
All of the “give me X horses, armor, weapon” quests. These quests take forever to complete because you have to go town to town to town to find what they want. In some cases, you’ll be asked to deliver black armor or chargers, which are downright expensive too. You are not given any money up front, but are compensated well on completion. Maximize your profit by getting low grade items (cracked, battered, swaybacked, etc) Also, while you are doing these quests, valuable inventory slots are being taken. The experience reward IMHO isn’t worth the effort you must put into it.
Combat tips
Combat tips for the neophyte
These tips are to help the ultra-newbie character (level less than 5). Once you gain better equipment and a horse, you can focus on your main weapon, the lance. Early on, even though I’m supposed to be a lancer, I focus entirely on using my crossbow, using three related techniques. When I level up, I don’t put more points into crossbow, instead I initially put them into polearms (and later on, into archery if I want to use bows for ranged). These techniques are usable against unmounted opponents. River pirates, especially.
1. Shoot and move – While mounted, and your horse stopped, you should be able to hit most targets that are reasonably close. After you fire, get your horse moving, reloading as you ride. Once reloaded, stop and fire. Repeat until everyone is dead.
2. Follow the leader shot – This one works well, and does not require you to stop. Also, this one can be used against shielded opponents. Get your opponents to follow you, once behind you, go at a speed that is slightly slower than them. Ready your shot by holding down the mouse button. When they catch up to you, they will swing at you, that is the time to release the mouse button. Your shot will hit them AND disrupt their attack. Speed your horse up a bit, so that you are faster then them. Reload and repeat. When using this technique, you will need to periodically look around to the front to see where you are going!
3. Circle the wagons – This technique is the most difficult of the three and is a variation of the “shoot and move.” Here, all you need to do is circle your opponents on your horse in a counter-clockwise fashion. Go as fast as you are comfortable. Your opponents will chase after you. Lead your opponents with your shots. The amount you lead will depend on how fast you are going and how far away you are. Although more difficult, this strategy will kill them the fastest.
Couching your lance
A couched lance arguably deals the most amount of damage in the game. It is something that takes time to master, however. To start, you need a lance. The longer the lance the better. The first lance I usually get is a jousting lance. It is long, and it is blunt, meaning that it will knock things out instead of killing them. So early in the game, you will become a river pirate prisoner trader, making a good bit of money. The next thing you need is a good horse. A good horse is one that is fast and maneuverable. Although it is possible to couch a lance on a saddle horse, you’ll find that it takes forever to gain the requisite speed and the lack of maneuverability makes landing a hit difficult. Coursers do fine, hunters even better. Generally, a horse with a speed of 8+ will be fine.
How to couch your lance: First off, DO NOT PRESS THE ATTACK BUTTON. Ok, say that to yourself a couple times. Good. Now, to couch your lance, you simply need to ride fast. When your horse gets up to speed, the lance will come down into the couched position. So long as you maintain that speed, your lance will stay couched. If you slow down, or go down a steep grade, you will raise your lance.
How deal couched lance damage: When learning how to do couched lance damage, it is good to practice on river pirates. They are slow, weak, and their weapons don’t hurt much. Engage the river pirates on level land. When in combat, give yourself plenty of room between you and the pirates. Ride your horse at them as fast as you can. Line up your target by riding your horse slightly to the left of the pirate. You should be looking off to the right slightly (if ahead is 12 o’clock, you should be looking between 1-2 o’clock). You need to get the TIP of your lance to hit your target. Aim for the torso, not the head, as that is a bigger target to hit. Sometimes, the pirate will strafe out of the way, so be prepared to tap the A or D key as you approach. Don’t worry if they try to swing, they will most likely swing too early and miss. If you are going fast enough and you miss, you will likely charge through them, knocking them over. Circle around and try again. If you are having trouble landing a hit, slow your horse down a little, but be warned, if you go slower, you may not be able to charge through them should you miss AND they will have a better chance of hitting you should they attempt a swing.
Combat orders
As a leader, you have several orders at your disposal to command your troops. They can be used effectively to turn the tide of battle in your favor, even in insurmountable odds.
Edit - It is now possible to use the function keys (F1, F2, F3, F4) to command specific members of your group by troop type
1. “Hold Position.” This order makes your troops hold where they are. If you have archers, they will often go forward a bit and then commence fire if they have a clear shot. If you have horse archers, they generally ignore this order. As a general rule, this order should be issued IMMEDIATELY when combat starts. If you have an all infantry force, going against horsemen, having a mass of troops is your best defense.
2. “Follow me.” This order will make your troops follow you wherever you are on the battlefield. This order is VERY useful in several situations. First, if you are ever dismounted, this order will get your troops to you ASAP. Second, this order allows you to have the most control over which units your troops attack.
3. “Charge.” This is the default order on the battlefield. In other words, when combat starts, this is what your troops will do out of the gate. This order is dangerous because there is no control over which units your troops will charge after. The end result is that you’ll have guys going every which direction, which is not a good thing. Use this order for mop up or to find that last enemy that is hiding in the corner somewhere.
4. “Mount horses.” Self explanatory.
5. “Dismount.” Tells your mounted units to get off their horses. This is a critical command if you are fighting on hilly terrain, as footsoldiers have the definite advantage. If I am ever knocked off my horse, I’ll order nearby soldiers to dismount so I can take their horse. Note: you may need to issue this order 10-20 times before they listen to you!
Advanced combat tips
1. Use the “hold position” order to set quasi-waypoints on the battlefield. This will help in maintaining control of your troops if you need to move them as a group over the battlefield. Often what I like to do in a big fight is order a “charge” or a “follow me” from the get go, and go out in front of my troops, as I get halfway across the battlefield, I’ll issue a “hold this position” and my troops will amass there.
2. Divide and Conquer. From the outset, order a “hold position.” As the enemy approaches, ride perpendicular to their advance (at a right angle). Many of the enemy will take your bait and follow you, while others go after your main force. By dividing them like this, you can negate any numerical disadvantage you have. Also, your main force will likely outnumber those that engage it while you keep a handful or two busy chasing you.
3. Going solo. I’m not talking about going solo for the whole combat round. What I do is order a “hold position” and then I ride out toward the enemy. I concentrate on couching and killing one or two of the most dangerous mounted opponents (e.g. knights and horsemen). I may pick off one or two footsoldiers that are lagging behind their main force before I swing around and head back to my troops, enemy chasing me. Once I get close to my troops I’ll order a “charge” which should disrupt the pursuit. I’ll turn my horse around and go after my next target, often ordering a “hold position” to regroup my forces.
Edit - Haven't seen jrawlings around for a while, so I took the liberty of adding in a bit to try and keep this up to date with alterations in M&B since he wrote this guide. Hope he doesn't mind...