Some questions about my first playthrough

[elizabethdunn]

Hey everyone, I just picked up the game on sale and am excited to get into it but I just had a few questions before I start:

1. Campaign vs Sandbox: Any opinions on which I should start with? It's my understanding that in campaign you can essentially ignore the main quest and play it exactly like sandbox but you start off with a brother. Are there any other differences? I saw a post somewhere saying that the campaign AI was more peaceful with each other but I'm not sure if that's actually true. Any opinions on which is better for a first-timer?

2. Any mods for the first playthrough or completely vanilla? I know Bannerlord has a pretty extensive modding scene so I was wondering if there were any must-haves.

3. Speaking of mods, do most people get their mods through the Steam workshop or through nexusmods?

4. I saw some people talking about save corruption issues. Is this something only present on console versions or should I be wary on PC as well?

5. Am I a simp if I join the southern empire?

Thanks in advance for the slope game help!

 

[SpartanBG]

1. Campaign is less sandbox, I mean you got an end goal and a quest that you kind of need to follow.
2. I'd say first play the vanilla feel the vibe, understand the core concepts, then mod the **** out of it.
3. I prefer Nexus myself, since I'm used to their way of doing things, but steam is okey too. They offer the same thing, but the execution is different. I'd say workshop is more user friendly.
4. I have not experienced save corruptions - PC
5. I'd say you are a fool for asking that question, FOR THE EMPEROR!

 

[elizabethdunn]

Many thanks

 

[drivegol]

The only time I experienced a corrupted save is when I traded several hundreds of thousands of items all in one exchange during a trade-only playthrough, which is something you have to really go out of your way to do. So as long as you don't test the limits of the game you'll probably be fine, this was also back in 2022 on the PS4 version which is probably the least stable version since the original PS4 will struggle during very large battles, something you don't see on the PS5.

Campaign is the same as sandbox but with a short (but broad) questline. Some people find the questline to be too difficult to progress once you declare the banner to someone, but as long as you get a feel for how sieging and warfare works I think it's very manageable.

And yes you are a simp if you join Rhagaea.

 

[Tale Words]

Another difference between campaign and sandbox is that in the campaign, there is a training ground where you can practice before you really begin. You can also return there anytime. This is not present in Sandbox.

 

[Taveren]

1. In Campaign you get family members, 2 brothers and a sister. That means you have a clan, may receive or extend marriage offers for them which in turn will extend/grow your clan members (i.e. marry each of of your brothers to good skill females adds 2 x warrior/governor/etc. to your clan. No point marrying your sister to someone as you then lose her to the other clan). So, by marrying someone yourself, both your brothers, and keeping your sister, you can have a clan of 7 before needing any companions. And family members do not limit the number of companions you may recruit.
For a first playthrough = totally worth it
2. The two best mods for improvement is Diplomacy (adds kingdom policy effects, an ability to send messages, and being able to keep any fief you personally conquer), and Improved Garrisons (adds ability to manage your fief garrisons and fief itself even when not physically at the keep). There are many other excellent ones, but for first time, if you want to add mods, those are the ones I would pick.
3. Nexus is mod king area, as not everyone uses Steam Workshop
4. Never experienced a corrupted save except on heavily modded save file when game version changed. Stick to the game version you start with and you should be fine (on PC)
5.Southern Empire = Harry and Meghan lovers. I like to pick a figure from history and play their story (e.g Saladin starting the Ayyubid dynasty, the rise of the Kievan Rus empire, the Norman invasion of Sicily = Southern Empire....)