Questions on gameplay?

[Nerius]

Right now I've been playing for quite a bit, more than I'd like but that is to be expected from MaB!

Anyways, I've mostly played errant, had a stint as HRE Lord, then realized that they gave me some shanky Very Poor town right in the face of Denmark, and as soon as I got there I saw 7 armies rushing into my face with pointy things and yelling angry words.

So I tried the whole 'hold the line!' tactic, with a 55 man army of mostly myself and peasants. And after getting my **** kicked for about 2 days I was like screw this I'm going home. And by home, I mean, Iberia.

So I roll down there and I figure it's one of the 3 catholic kingdoms. For some ungodly reason  I chose Castille/Leon (a lack of Kingdom of Navarra really, which I am so happy it is being fixed in the next version!) and proceeded to kick some moorish heads in and train a bit. The entire scenario seems to me that my best bet is actually Aragon because they border Almohads, Castille, Tolouse, England, I mean.. they're getting a tad ridiculous with their borders - which means constant fun. And they're aggressive (not like Castille!!!)

Then, I realized two things: 1. Portugal with 1 city is kicking 10 times more ass than everyone else, and 2. Castille/Leon is one big *****. They declared a truce! TRUCE! 3v1 and you go for a TRUCE!?? Lame.

Right now, I disbanded my army, kept all the companions (we're 17 in all - obviously turned off companion bickerings because, really, who cares? it's too annoying to have them fighting it out all the time and picking which ones work and which don't..) and I'm roaming around, fighting sea raiders and whatever I can find that will give me some sweet loot to make more money. Money that I need for better armor/weapons/town upgrades.

So, down to the questions:

1. How do I get my king to start fighting again? How do I pick fights on behalf of my kingdom?
2. If I have high renown (~250?), shouldn't the town that my king give me be better than his ****tiest town? It's kind of annoying that all of the fiefs I can get are his crappiest. Do I get better towns off the bat if I get to around 1,000 renown when I pledge loyalty?
3. If I do start a siege, how can I get help from people?
4. Also started my own kingdom to see how it was, and I 'recruited a lord' but I never actually got to see said lord. I thought it was going to be one of my companions, which is why I had so many companions to begin with (all I could find). So, what's up with this?
5. i had another question..but i forgot. when i remember i'll come back!

I haven't played MaB in over a year. I'm a bit lost with the basics, and I don't have a degree in Europe 1200. Help, again, plz? 

ps. sorry for the post being so long.

 

[Nerius]

ok since i got 18 views and no answers, lemme digest all of that!

1. How do I pick fights on behalf of my king as a vassal?.

2. Do I get better towns if I have high renown (around 1,000) when I pledge loyalty to a new king?

3. If I do start a siege, how can I get help from people?

4. I started my own kingdom to see how it was, and I 'recruited a lord' but I never actually got to see said lord. What's up with this?

 

[NikeBG]

1. How do I get my king to start fighting again? How do I pick fights on behalf of my kingdom?

Well, you could try finding one of those "bad lords" and do the caravan-raiding quest for him. It's a bit rare to find those quests, but they otherwise work great in this aspect. You could also potentially attack caravans etc. by yourself, but I think that would lead to the enemies coming after you and you alone and not against the whole faction you're in.

2. If I have high renown (~250?), shouldn't the town that my king give me be better than his ****tiest town? It's kind of annoying that all of the fiefs I can get are his crappiest. Do I get better towns off the bat if I get to around 1,000 renown when I pledge loyalty?

Here's one of MageLord's tweaks, which deals with this matter. It might be somewhat complicated, but it does show which variables take part in the land-giving process (and, AFAIK, the first village you get from swearing a vassalage oath is always the crappiest one the kingdom has), namely: renown, ownership of settlements by player vs. ownership of settlements by other lords of the faction (meaning "if you have too many/good settlements, while there's some lord with no fiefs or much crappier than yours, it's more likely that he gets the new ones"), relationship with the ruler, having conquered the settlement by yourself (and then claimed it), pure chance.

4. Also started my own kingdom to see how it was, and I 'recruited a lord' but I never actually got to see said lord. I thought it was going to be one of my companions, which is why I had so many companions to begin with (all I could find). So, what's up with this?

The player's lords are not recruited from his companions, but from a pool of lords specifically reserved for the player's faction. I think you'd have to wait some time before they appear after being hired, though I also think there were some bugs with it in 2.32 or so.

 

[Nerius]

thanks..

but shat, there is no way of me picking a fight with another faction on behalf of my faction (not my kingdom)?

 

[Khergiter]

Yep, you can't. The raid caravan quest that Nike mentioned above isn't on the faction's behalf. Although that it still lead to the 2 factions declare war on each other, but all of the lords (include the king), except for the lord who give you the quest, will hate you (for spoiling the peace). So you will have to consider that when taking the quest.