New to mount and blade, i felt helpless in fire and swords

[fireflame]

Hello, i purchased mount and blade fire and sword in a recent bundle andi tried to progress.

I made tons of mistakes regarding my character and npcs builds stats(developped  samegroups skills for various characters assuming they would stack) and it took time for me to find out not all soldiers were equal, the hierarchy being that mercenaries are awful but more decent if given weapons and armors, then mercenary from taverns are better, then regular army rules.

In normal mode, i havent been able to conquer a single fortress, and in easy, i did but the king refused to grant them to me(either because i hadnt enough prestige, either because i hadnt progressed enough in story, or both).

I felt a bit frustrated globally and i dont know what i should do if i try to run a completely new campaign. Should i go for easy from start since army is bigger with lower settings? In the strategy thread some people say to get a lot of range  soldiers, but i also read that in mount and blade cavalry is  overpowered, so i do not know if i should go mass range, mass infantry, mass cavalry, or how to balance this.

Being not good at managin army, i plan to compensate that with number going for a character with high charisma.The hero isnt as strong as a dynasty warrior character and cannot crush everything, and a few hits from a random gun can kill him.

I looked for helped on irc but iwas told no one plays fire and sword as it is the "weak" episode of the series. I was able to make lot of money as looting villages is easy, what is hard for me is to fight nobles who have very big armies or conquer strongholds.

 

[Csatádi]

I put 1 point to pathfinding at the start for better speed to avoid bandits.
I used to start with trading and fighting looters and only looters.
Later I hire companions and do the same with them.
When I free prisoners, I keep the mounted ones.
After 40-50 days I used to make quests for the choosen faction. I became mercenary. IIRC I can hire faction soldiers at this stage. I hire only the best armored cavalry. No infantry. I pick a few infantry only when sieges became common.
If you remain independent till the day 100th rulers will offer you to join and you will get a village in this case. It feels a bit like cheating.
Pick a companion and train him as a doctor. Pick another one and train him to be engineer-pathfinder-spotter-tracker. Put them at the end of the list so they won't fight.
Don't siege alone. Use sappers / blow walls, whatever they call it.
Progress in the storyline.
Use books to improve your abilities only later when you are advanced. Books improve above the ability cap so I would only read the leadership book if I got charisma of 15 and leadership 5.
Send your companions to academies after you see who will remain with you.
Maybe read advices in my mod topic. (click on my sig)

This game is based on history so why do you think kings used to give cities to nobodies?

Bonus: read this topic https://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,168051.0.html

 

[Marth The Gryphonhearted]

If you feel frustrated about playing singleplayer, you can export your character and overwrite its stats to get higher points and/or activate cheats in the opening menu and look for cheats online.