Recovering from that huge inevitable loss...

[Lancefighter]

So umm basically, i go out marauding for the good of the Vaegirs, and i come alone a castle... i sit there for a bit and shoot up the defenders, but then i get bored (and my people kept dieing) so i left. Then all the sudden i run straight into a 150 man army heading towards the castle, and i dont evade in time...
So me and my 25 or so people vs over 100... you can guess how that ended.

Anyway, I was dragged around a bit, and ended up with me and like the 5 companions that stayed... no troops, nothing.
How in the world am i supposed to recover from a blow like this? All i can recruit are vaegir recruits, and those arent the greatest... Basically everyone now wants to attack me and my merry band of losers
Is there any way to make the transition from recruits -> useful people faster?

also, are vaegir horsemen any good? my typical strategy is to find some high ground and perch my archers there, and then place my foot men (basically everyone that isnt an archer.. not many calvary) a few paces in front.
Is it worthwhile to train up horsemen instead of footmen? or shall i simply keep my current strategy?

 

[Æon]

Recruit a many people as possible. If you're a high enough level you should be able to affect the outcome of the battle just by fighting as one person (I've been able to take on 40+ troop at level 40). Fight a few simple battles so your troops can gain a few levels. I would suggest you use infantry and ranged units since they're solid in "Hold Position". Some people will tell you otherwise though, just an opinion.

 

[Togakure]

... Is there any way to make the transition from recruits -> useful people faster?

If you and your companions invest heavily in Training skill, your recruits will level up much  faster.  I consider a high Training skill essential for all members of my party, including my character.

also, are vaegir horsemen any good? my typical strategy is to find some high ground and perch my archers there, and then place my foot men (basically everyone that isnt an archer.. not many calvary) a few paces in front.
Is it worthwhile to train up horsemen instead of footmen? or shall i simply keep my current strategy?

Vaegir Horsemen are just ok.  I'd level them up to Knights.

I think it's always wise to level up troops as high as you can afford.  If it gets too costly, reduce their numbers.  Remember that you can mix in troops from other factions--just go to villages of those factions and recruit them.  If you're not at war with that faction, you only need a relationship of zero or better to have a good chance of recruiting some (the higher the relation, the better of course).  If you're at war with that faction, your relation with a village must be greater than zero.  You can't recruit from a village with which you have a negative relationship.

As you seem to favor a mixed army, keep in mind that the best archers are Vaegir Marksmen, the best infantry are Nord Huscarls, and the most popular and effective cav are Swadian Knights.

 

[delra]

If you want to go with odds 4:1 against you, you better have cavalry and it better be knights, Swadians preferably.

You should have invested in Trainer skills on you and your companions, it won't take much time before your recruits become professionals (I usually level up all recruits to level 3 in two days).

Recovering isn't that bad provided they didn't steal your elite Lordly 60000 worth armour or sth of that volume. You can ask Travellers in Taverns about your companions whereabouts if you've lost them (they should have their gear on them).
Recruiting yourself a new army is very fast in fact and quite refreshing too.

 

[Lancefighter]

When i say horsemen/footmen/archers, i mean to speak of the class... not so much the individual type of unit.

I guess my only chance is just to kinda recruit people and train them then >.<
Thanks guys

 

[GraaEminense]

The other possibility is to hunt down armies or bandits that are weak enough to kill, with a lot of prisoners.
Easy access to decent troops. The Sea Raiders in particular tend to give you Caravan Guards from the caravans they take, and Caravan Guards become pretty good pretty fast. At least 2 points of Trainer for everyone (preferably more) is pretty useful in this regard -the sidekicks help each other as well, which is very very good.

In my opinion, a strong cavalry detachment is essential to any army. In fact, I don't train any troops that don't have either a horse or a missile weapon, as these have far better threat range than mere infantry. But that's a question of preferences.

 

[MountainBlade]

also, are vaegir horsemen any good? my typical strategy is to find some high ground and perch my archers there, and then place my foot men (basically everyone that isnt an archer.. not many calvary) a few paces in front.
Is it worthwhile to train up horsemen instead of footmen? or shall i simply keep my current strategy?

I do basically the same but I also use my horsemen (veterans) to spread out the enemy. Basically I use the minimap to put the horses somewhere near the opponents, then when they get too close I tell them to move away. Repeat this and hopefully a part of the army will follow them around. Make sure the opponents don't catch them though, stationary horsemen are vulnerable.
This only work if the enemy has no horses of course.

 

[Oskatat]

infantery armies can be very vulnerable, especialy on flat terrain or when already taken a blow. cavalry armies are faster. As mentioned in some threaths, khergits are the most feared in the game. Not because they are awfuly strong, but they are so fast that 1: they flee, 2: they fight when they thinjk they have a chance, which means you'll generaly lose some units, making some surrounding khergit/bandits see you as a target, al faster, killing some units, etc, etc. its very hard to flee from khergit lands
cavalry survives better there

 

[Vindex]

I once had the same problem with the nords, but then I had a loyal village and the entire nordic kingdom at my protection.

I just ran around to every single nordic village I could find avoiding neutral forces.
When I got a pretty suitable army I went on a duck hunt, chased down small groups of looters, this gave some gold (not much) and some exp making your soldiers better.
Dont matter if you loose 1-5 soldiers per battle if 4-8 gain a level, those 5 is easily replaceable, I kept doing this until I had a fair strong army of 30-40 nordic men.
Then I went on a rampage, looting villages from the enemy (in my case Rhodoks and Swadians) avoiding their large armies, I found out they prefered not to show up.

When they finaly showed up I had a band of 50 high level nordic soldiers, told them to stay tight and hold a ground in the middle of a few houses.

They have around 140, but 60 of those where peasants who is usless, so that left me only 90 "real" soldiers.

Those "soldiers" where no match running into a compact line of high level nordic soldiers, I lost maybe 1-10 soldiers, they lost it all.

If you sometime at later gameplay decide to invade a castle but are to afraid of the big looses, look if the castle has any prisoners, most castles I seen have around 20-100 prisoners, so if you loose maybe 20-80 soldier in a battle you still have all those prisoners to recruit.

Anyway, I snuck, dont listen to me, this worked for me, and it is so obvious I dont think it is called help.
If it against all reason was any help, then glad I could help...
*Sob sob*

 

[Morningstar]

So umm basically, i go out marauding for the good of the Vaegirs, and i come alone a castle... i sit there for a bit and shoot up the defenders, but then i get bored (and my people kept dieing) so i left. Then all the sudden i run straight into a 150 man army heading towards the castle, and i dont evade in time...
So me and my 25 or so people vs over 100... you can guess how that ended.

Having cavalry is always good. Swadian/Vaegir knights are tough both for field battles and sieges. Having them in your army also means your pathfinding doesn't go down, which will help in evading bigger armies which usually travel very slowly. Infantry are also good, if top tier units like seargents, and can be lethal if used in the "hold this position" when facing bigger armies. I would suggest getting a bigger army, 40 troops at least, comprised of 10-15 cavalry and the rest infantry. Archers/crossbows are only useful as garrisons of castles or towns. You can also increase your surgery, wound healing and tactics skills when your character/companions level up. These help significantly in battles. Surgery gives a chance your soldiers are knocked out rather than killed, wound healing means your men heal quicker after battle and if you have a high tactics skill it allows more of your men and less of the enemy's on the battle map. Other than that it comes down to how you use your troops in battle.   

 

[vorudain]

Well, i'd say that. First of all, just invest in trainer skill, an fight on your own. i currently am on 31 level, and on feet i took down around 40 people...but, if you have a horse, buy a lance, something VERY long, and keep on taking on your enemies alone, as long as you can (bye bye to 252 rhodok spearmen, and 215 rhodok crossbowmen). When they eventually reach your allies make them charge while you attack your enemies from behind. Moreover, i killed, on 20 level, 25-30 khergit skirmishers, don't recall the real number. Remember that a mounted lancer is dangerous mostly to infantry, but, with a long lance, even to mounted. Sometimes i aim at khergit horses to quicken their demise  Of course i use a "hit-anything-while-running", concentrating on an enemy would be suicide.

Vaegirs knights are Very effective, not as swadian perhaps, but both are well equipped and powerful. Just, swadians are slightly better armoured and their swords are doom to infantry as well as cavalry, while Vaegirs are more of use against enemy cavalry,they are a bit faster. However, thanks to a bit of enemy castles i took, i can have both, and their combination is just awesome. Remember however non to take ONLY cavalry, as they really suck in sieges, both attack and defense. I use 70% cavalry, and the rest equally between infantry and ranged. The best is the most various.

 

[Lancefighter]

I tried assembling a rather large calvary army (20 or so of them...)

It seemed to do rather well against other people (then again, I was there couching half of them on my lance), but as soon as i came against an overwhelmingly large force (dunno how i managed to get into the battle, but i did  ) they all died rather spectacularly. (20 vs 80 anyone? :\ )

So now im left with a clean slate... need to grab one of my companions, but thats it.
Including companions and such, I can have 37 people in my army at once... Im afraid I spent too many points on personal skills and not enough on leader skills >.<

 

[grimwald]

Im afraid I spent too many points on personal skills and not enough on leader skills >.<

You will probably be ok.  The higher renown you have, the more troops you can recruit and you can dump some points into leadership also the next time you level up.  Generally early game i like to hang out in nord territory building my army by fighting sea raiders, and you can get some decent loot off of them too.  It seems to me that with enough practice you can make almost any army composition work, but you will find somethings work better for you.  Personally i like a mixed army of huscarls and archers, and i recruit mercenary cavalry for mounted support.  Just keep plugging away and have fun.  Remember: Losing is fun!

 

[Lancefighter]

Remember: Losing is fun!

No its not >.<
Losing means I have to retrain all my stupid troops... And naturally none of my stupid villages like me enough (even though i have a few in the 20+) to give me real troops instead of nooblet recruits.
Sometimes jumping in on a lord battle bettween two lords where i know mine is going to win helps me get a few free troops (and a good fight), its not enough to be able to live off that...
And my 37 troop limit kinda means im stuck not being able to engage anything at all above sea raiders >.<

 

[Tachyon]

Correction, if your troop strength is 37, you can easily engage Lords with party sizes of 40-60. Hell, even with 15 troops, you should be able to take on Sea Raiders easily.  The trick is the Surgery skill, you have no idea how many lives it can save. It ensures that your noob recruits don't get slaughtered that easily, so you can end up with an army of Nord Huscarls soon, since your recruits will have a better chance of surviving every battle. So, keep engaging Looters/Bandits and Sea Raiders, until you troops are at least at Tier 3. Then go after Lords.

You hate retraining troops? Then prevent them from dying in the first place, invest in surgery! Problem solved!
Also, don't order all of your troops into a rush to prevent them from getting slaughtered. If you've got archers, order them to hold position above a hill. The trick to getting high level troops quickly is to make sure that most of them survive, so Good battle tactics + Surgery = Win .

Anyway as the others have mentioned in this thread, it's always best to have mixed types of units in your army. Get some Vaegir Recruits (for Marksmen/Knights), Nord Recruits (Huscarl). And try to get Hired Blades from taverns, these guys kick ass! If you don't want to turn some of your Vaegir Recruits into Knights but wish to convert all of them into marksmen, no problem! Mercenary Cavalry units usually show up at Taverns, and they make fairly good cavalry.

And Lancefighter, stop misspelling Cavalry as "CALVARY" 


Important : Don't engage enemies that significantly outnumber you unless your troops are at a medium/maximum Tier. There's no point in engaging a Sea Raider party of 30 with 15 vaegir recruits. I'd say all of your recruits will get slaughtered.

 

[delra]

Hiring Hired Blades and Mercenary Cavalry isn't the most efficient way of building an army.

It's much easier to hunt enemy peasant parties down, take their Farmers hostage, hire them and train them as Hired Blades...

If you hunt near a big city like Veluca (5 villages), you should have 50 in no time. Just watch your morale.

 

[Tachyon]

That could also work. But why go to the trouble of all of that, when you can just as easily recruit Nords and train them to Huscarls? They're better than the blades. I suggested hiring blades/merc cavalry only if you urgently needed some troops.

And also, hunting defenseless villagers doesn't exactly make you popular with some companions, plus villages will hate you I think.

 

[delra]

I don't know. Sometimes I'm just bored. I have 40 Sword Sisters at the moment as my personal army.

My Huscars stack is sitting in one of my castles, so are my Swadians. And I'm riding around with all those ladies having fun.

 

[Pii100]

Don't underestimate high intelligence build.
Big surgery and good trainer = Top tier troops keep constantly coming. Maybe some tactics into it to keep battles more into victory-side.

 

[Sicnarf]

Well sounds like you got yourself into a bit of a situation, if your side is not at war with everyone go hide their and recruit troops and kill some looters and bandits. Find all your companions again by checking every tavern you pass.
If your side is at war with to many and their lands are not safe, ask a traveler where the king and go tell him you don't want to work for him any more. That will take the heat off you and give you time to rebuild before you join another fraction.

Personally I would leave your current fraction as nicely as possible and collect the 8 compatible companions you selected and assuming you have given all your companions full plate and great axes, go take on large groups of looters, bandits and sea raiders while attending and trying to win every tournament you can find untill you have enough renown to manage an army of 80 troops. If you have gone with an intelligence build and have high tactics an army of 60 is more than enough. I think you made the same mistake I made on my first couple of characters you joined a side while you were still to small to take a castle on your own, if you are not big enough to take a castle on your own you are going to have to run from most of the armies you meet and will have to follow around other lords and try and help them out in their battles which involves way to much waiting for them to get the finger out and kill something.