enkidu
Sergeant

I've just been playing since .701 and dont have a lot of experience yet, but catching river pirates and bandits for the slaver is about all I can accomplish before level 14 or so. Thats when I can start raising an army that wont be caught and annihilated by common enemies, and by then Borcha can have an extra point or so in pathfinding so that my army of peasants can catch river pirates and other enemies it can beat.
I can try taking on a party of sea raiders or veteran deserters, but about half the time they knock me out and steal my heavy hunter and a good 150 gp. If I'm couching a lance my chances at survival go up a good bit, but I'm making heroes geared towards specific weapon choices and dont always go on a search for a cracked jousting lance.
Escorting caravans is good experience, but if I'm running away to the north, then the caravan is surely running away to the south, and I wont see them again until I've stopped looking for them and have gone back to selling pirates. And missions for the king seem mostly impossible until I've got a good regular army.
So that basically left me with upgrading my gear until I had reached a level where my army could survive (and catch things it can beat). I have raised several characters along various different skill sets now, and I'm kinda finding that river pirates dont make for good eating anymore.
I have a couple ideas on how to get up to the levels where pathfinding and level requirements allow for a survivable army to be built.
1) Higher level mercenaries available for hire that dont refresh.
2) The king could gift me some fast moving raiders that would move quick along the map and provide decent support versus middle range enemies as a reward for a mission.
3)The king and his counts could offer missions better tailored to my level. Some new Troublesome Bandit type quests would be fun. Delivery type quests would provide a good chance to explore the map some.
4)Tournaments could be held in the arena rather than just single matches, with improving foes and larger cash and experience prizes for higher tier victories. You'd have to pay to enter of course, and betting could be altered to give odds on you winning the next match or the whole tourny. (on a side note, it would be grand if there was a loud audience cheering for and against me that would respond to events in the arena.)
like I said, I'm new, so maybe some of you can suggest courses of action that are allready available for levels 7-14 or so that I might be overlooking.
I can try taking on a party of sea raiders or veteran deserters, but about half the time they knock me out and steal my heavy hunter and a good 150 gp. If I'm couching a lance my chances at survival go up a good bit, but I'm making heroes geared towards specific weapon choices and dont always go on a search for a cracked jousting lance.
Escorting caravans is good experience, but if I'm running away to the north, then the caravan is surely running away to the south, and I wont see them again until I've stopped looking for them and have gone back to selling pirates. And missions for the king seem mostly impossible until I've got a good regular army.
So that basically left me with upgrading my gear until I had reached a level where my army could survive (and catch things it can beat). I have raised several characters along various different skill sets now, and I'm kinda finding that river pirates dont make for good eating anymore.
I have a couple ideas on how to get up to the levels where pathfinding and level requirements allow for a survivable army to be built.
1) Higher level mercenaries available for hire that dont refresh.
2) The king could gift me some fast moving raiders that would move quick along the map and provide decent support versus middle range enemies as a reward for a mission.
3)The king and his counts could offer missions better tailored to my level. Some new Troublesome Bandit type quests would be fun. Delivery type quests would provide a good chance to explore the map some.
4)Tournaments could be held in the arena rather than just single matches, with improving foes and larger cash and experience prizes for higher tier victories. You'd have to pay to enter of course, and betting could be altered to give odds on you winning the next match or the whole tourny. (on a side note, it would be grand if there was a loud audience cheering for and against me that would respond to events in the arena.)
like I said, I'm new, so maybe some of you can suggest courses of action that are allready available for levels 7-14 or so that I might be overlooking.