Three Questions

[Seismica]

I have a few questions:

1) Does weapon speed affect the speed bonus of your strikes? I have a problem with my masterwork sword of war where i keep hitting -91% speed bonuses, even when i side swipe a horse at full gallop  I never had this problem with my balanced great sword... I wasted around 15k for that extra bit of power for it to hit 0 all the time    My strength is 18, my power strike is 6 and my two handed proficency is around 220.

2) How much renown do you need to become Marshall? What other factors affect it? (i'm assuming relation with other lords so you get votes?)

3) How much renown (minimum) do you need to get a town/city? Is it higher than a castle's requirement?

 

[AWdeV]

1) I'm not sure, but it's best to keep moving when you're fighting anyway, really have at your enemy if you're planning to chop him.

2) Not sure here either, but kissing up to your king seems to be a good way.

3) I really have no clue here. Sorry.

 

[Seismica]

1) I'm not sure, but it's best to keep moving when you're fighting anyway, really have at your enemy if you're planning to chop him.

2) Not sure here either, but kissing up to your king seems to be a good way.

3) I really have no clue here. Sorry.

Thankyou, you've been helpful.

And i do move about when fighting, i'm not a total noob. I'm saying, how do i consistently get -91% speed bonuses when side swiping cavalry? (i.e. when they charge at you, you dodge to the side and hack at them with your weapon). I only use my 2handed sword for that purpose, as my morning star isn't long enough to be effective. But as it turns out, the sword of war sucks too. I don't want to sell it, but i am going to change back to my balanced great sword, i'll probably give that one to one of my companions.

 

[stygN]

1: That sounded strange.. Sure, you loose 2 speed with masterwork instead of balanced.. but.. -91%, that's the stuff I get when I poke with my jousting lance... Just try once to dismount and fight on foot, see if you get the same.. But yeah.. masterwork is not really worth it.. I'd go for balanced.

2: I became marshall over the Vaegirs after around 190 gamedays, with about 1000 renown and about 60 honor (don't know if you need honor, don't think so though). By then I had taken 4 castles on my own and not kept any of them (ergo saying "No thanks, some other Lord can get the honorable task of defending them" and the king sort of likes this in a strange way, it don't seem to change your relationship with him, but I've heard that the King really likes that). I had been doing everything he told me, I was in on giant battles and sieges of cities, defences of cities, you name it. And I always helped out fellow lords (apart when it was obvious suicide, like 400 khergits against 20 remaining Vaegirs, and I only had some 40 men in my party, couldn't help out in that battle..). So, fight a lot. Keep your lands safe. Be polite. All that stuff. I don't know, I didn't understand a thing when I was elected to become marshall. But it sure is sweet : )

3: This depends a lot on several things. First of all, do all the above (suck up to the king like a real good puppet). Then hope for a really successfully campaign. This will lead to several castles and maybe a city being without an owner, and if you only own that first fief you got, its likely that the King will think of you as a Lord who can manage to defend some more land.

As for cities vs castles.. It really about whats easy to take you know. On a lucky day you can take out a castle all by yourself! But a real city with a garrison of over 300 men (usually) is really hard to do on your own. So, just hope for a new big campaign and hope that you take much land, and maybe some of it will be yours.

Now, holding a castle is no fun really.. you cant do anything there apart from keeping prisoners there. You get little tax from it, and it usually don't pay for its own garrison, but if you "feed" your smaller villages a bit they can help a bit. A real city on the other hand gives you rather much more tax, and its a real city, with merchants, taverns and what not.. And I heard something about garrisons being free in cities (its half cost in castles), but I'm not sure.

Anyways, how much money do you have, and how much do you make per average week after you pay your wages? Cause it could cost you a bit. Fighting Sea Raiders gives you fast cash, and demanding toll from caravans are also good (and it don't deteriorate the relationship you have with the kingdom who owns the caravan, whilst if you attack it the relationship will deteriorate). Other then that, just keep on fighting.

Where are you mostly on the map? Cause if your in Khergit land you don't get much money from raiding Steppe Bandits.. The Sea Raiders are along the northern coast. The mountainbandits can also net some nice loot, but don't take all the crap they give, just take the most valuable and attack a new party, and repeat, repeat. That way you get big money fast. With fighting and getting toll from caravans you should be able to get at least 1000 per day. So in a weak that's 7000..

So, how is your money situation. I for instance pay my army 4000 each week, and I have no problems paying it. Cant wait to get my hands on a real City : )

I hope this was somewhat helpfull : )

 

[Seismica]

1: That sounded strange.. Sure, you loose 2 speed with masterwork instead of balanced.. but.. -91%, that's the stuff I get when I poke with my jousting lance... Just try once to dismount and fight on foot, see if you get the same.. But yeah.. masterwork is not really worth it.. I'd go for balanced.

I do fight on foot

And if i have the problem with Masterwork sword of war and not my balanced great sword (the thinner one in the image - there are two types of great sword), then there must be something wrong with the masterwork sword of war. The balanced great sword is faster, hence why i asked if it has an effect of speed %s.

2: I became marshall over the Vaegirs after around 190 gamedays, with about 1000 renown and about 60 honor (don't know if you need honor, don't think so though). By then I had taken 4 castles on my own and not kept any of them (ergo saying "No thanks, some other Lord can get the honorable task of defending them" and the king sort of likes this in a strange way, it don't seem to change your relationship with him, but I've heard that the King really likes that). I had been doing everything he told me, I was in on giant battles and sieges of cities, defences of cities, you name it. And I always helped out fellow lords (apart when it was obvious suicide, like 400 khergits against 20 remaining Vaegirs, and I only had some 40 men in my party, couldn't help out in that battle..). So, fight a lot. Keep your lands safe. Be polite. All that stuff. I don't know, I didn't understand a thing when I was elected to become marshall. But it sure is sweet : )

Well thats kind of what i'm already doing. I have around 800 renown, i just wanted to know the amount you need to become elected.

3: This depends a lot on several things. First of all, do all the above (suck up to the king like a real good puppet). Then hope for a really successfully campaign. This will lead to several castles and maybe a city being without an owner, and if you only own that first fief you got, its likely that the King will think of you as a Lord who can manage to defend some more land.

As for cities vs castles.. It really about whats easy to take you know. On a lucky day you can take out a castle all by yourself! But a real city with a garrison of over 300 men (usually) is really hard to do on your own. So, just hope for a new big campaign and hope that you take much land, and maybe some of it will be yours.

I play on 24% difficulty, with battle size on 40 (my laptop can't handle much more) so taking castles and cities isn't a problem, i can do it on my own. Its defending them when the enemy arrive with 1000+ men thats the problem. But i don't like my castle at the moment (Dramug castle) and the king won't give me a town until all the other lords are on par with me (then my renown and relation will mean i have a good chance of getting the next) or i lose my castle to the enemy (the king likes to keep the lands balanced between all the lords i notice). But if i let my castle fall, thats my 200 men garrison gone, because my max party size is only around 100 i think. I'd prefer it if i gained a town so i could transfer my garrison over in 2-3 trips.

Now, holding a castle is no fun really.. you cant do anything there apart from keeping prisoners there. You get little tax from it, and it usually don't pay for its own garrison, but if you "feed" your smaller villages a bit they can help a bit. A real city on the other hand gives you rather much more tax, and its a real city, with merchants, taverns and what not.. And I heard something about garrisons being free in cities (its half cost in castles), but I'm not sure.

Well i know holding a castle is no fun, everytime i go off chasing Sea raiders to make money, the enemy besiege it, despite the large garrison (people keep saying 100+ in a garrison stops all attacks, but i have near 250, and the enemy never relent. I have 3 Vaegir lords in my tower, yet the rest see the need to free them at all costs. If i defeat their army, they just come back with more. Its not hard to beat them when i'm in the castle, but i keep thinking my garrison won't hold when the odds are 2:1 in the enemy favour, so i have to always keep coming back. This has been going on for about 2 ingame months, and i'm not getting anywhere 

Anyways, how much money do you have, and how much do you make per average week after you pay your wages? Cause it could cost you a bit. Fighting Sea Raiders gives you fast cash, and demanding toll from caravans are also good (and it don't deteriorate the relationship you have with the kingdom who owns the caravan, whilst if you attack it the relationship will deteriorate). Other then that, just keep on fighting.

Well paying out 2500-3000 a week upkeep for troops. Like i said before, everytime i go out killing sea raiders/enemy caravans, the enemy besiege my castle or raid my villages (if they raid my villages it really reduces my tax income so i have to go help them). So per week, i probably get around 600-1000 taxes, and my looting probably gives me around 2000-4000 a week, so i'm barely making any money. (which is why i'm so pissed about the masterwork sword of war, it took me ages to save up the cash. i could have spent it on better armour, as i only have Cuir Bouilli atm)

Where are you mostly on the map? Cause if your in Khergit land you don't get much money from raiding Steppe Bandits.. The Sea Raiders are along the northern coast. The mountainbandits can also net some nice loot, but don't take all the crap they give, just take the most valuable and attack a new party, and repeat, repeat. That way you get big money fast. With fighting and getting toll from caravans you should be able to get at least 1000 per day. So in a weak that's 7000..

I'm based around Wercheg-Rivacheg-Reyvadin. There are a lot of sea raiders yes, but smallish parties, and my armies are all infantry, so it takes about a day just to catch them. I've tried reducing party size, but whenever i do that, if my villages get raided, i have to go back to my castle and get more troops to go and fight the enemy doing it. What i really need to do is push the border out a bit by taking more land, so my villages are safer.

So, how is your money situation. I for instance pay my army 4000 each week, and I have no problems paying it. Cant wait to get my hands on a real City : )

I hope this was somewhat helpfull : )

I wish i had went with the Swadians now. Cavalry move much faster on the map so i would have much less problems. Hence me starting a new game and joining the Swadians lol. And i detest the Khergits so i won't play as them lol. Oh lets right some steppe bandits, theres 15 of them, the battle will take around 40 minutes, and if you're lucky, you might get 200 worth of items lol

 

[Archonsod]

1) Does weapon speed affect the speed bonus of your strikes? I have a problem with my masterwork sword of war where i keep hitting -91% speed bonuses, even when i side swipe a horse at full gallop  I never had this problem with my balanced great sword... I wasted around 15k for that extra bit of power for it to hit 0 all the time    My strength is 18, my power strike is 6 and my two handed proficency is around 220.

Yes, but not to that extent. Are you sure you're hitting them at the right point of the swing with the correct part of the blade? Do you get the same when attacking infantry?

2) How much renown do you need to become Marshall? What other factors affect it? (i'm assuming relation with other lords so you get votes?)

IIRC it's purely reputation that matters. Get a good relation with the king and most of the faction lords and you should be in with a good chance next time they elect a martial.

3) How much renown (minimum) do you need to get a town/city? Is it higher than a castle's requirement?

Not exactly. Renown only dictates whether you're eligible for another fief, not it's type. As long as your renown + reputation with the king entitles you to a second fief then you'll be granted one. Fiefs are weighted according to type; a castle is worth around two villages and a town three or four. The AI will try to balance out the fiefs across the faction, so if one lord has say a castle while every other lord has three or four villages then the lord with a castle will be granted the next available fief. If it were a town, he wouldn't be granted another fief until everyone else in the faction held at least a town and castle's worth of fiefs; which might be three castles, or six villages and so forth.

 

[Ati]

I have a few questions:

1) Does weapon speed affect the speed bonus of your strikes? I have a problem with my masterwork sword of war where i keep hitting -91% speed bonuses, even when i side swipe a horse at full gallop  I never had this problem with my balanced great sword... I wasted around 15k for that extra bit of power for it to hit 0 all the time    My strength is 18, my power strike is 6 and my two handed proficency is around 220.

Don't know if weapon speed plays a role, but you typically should aim at getting a positive speed bonus.  Negative speed bonuses negate the damage your weapon does.  It's possible to do 0 damage when you could be doing more.  If you're moving back when you strike you will do less damage and potentially get a negative speed bonus.  If your opponent is moving away from you when you swing you could potentially do less damage to him, he might even negate all the damage is he's fast enough.  Typically you want to move in/towards you opponent to increase momentum/damage.  Make sure you hit at your weapon's optimal length to maximize damage and positive speed boosts.  Some ppl twist their mouse to "increase speed bonuses" not sure if that really works...  You should look over the manual, it may tell you some finer points on this. I hope this helped. 

[People] Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

2. Don't know.

3. Don't know

 

[stygN]

To answer nr 1 again, in a different way: No, 2 points less in speed should not make you do -91% hits. There must be something weird about that sword. But I'd sell it, its not worth giving it to a companion. You'd get 5k back for it perhaps..?

Well thats kind of what i'm already doing. I have around 800 renown, i just wanted to know the amount you need to become elected.

Yeah, as Archonsod points out, its more relations. And, if your kingdom already have a marshall, and the King is happy with him, he'd stay as marshall. However, if he is taken prisoner (I believe, since that happened with the last Marshall) he will loose the title, and it will be up for grabs. For that matter, my King changed Marshalls like mad for a few days.. It cant all have been due to Lords being captured..? But anyway, you are probably nearly there, just that sick waiting game.

I play on 24% difficulty, with battle size on 40 (my laptop can't handle much more) so taking castles and cities isn't a problem, i can do it on my own. Its defending them when the enemy arrive with 1000+ men thats the problem. But i don't like my castle at the moment (Dramug castle) and the king won't give me a town until all the other lords are on par with me (then my renown and relation will mean i have a good chance of getting the next) or i lose my castle to the enemy (the king likes to keep the lands balanced between all the lords i notice). But if i let my castle fall, thats my 200 men garrison gone, because my max party size is only around 100 i think. I'd prefer it if i gained a town so i could transfer my garrison over in 2-3 trips.

Plus

Well i know holding a castle is no fun, everytime i go off chasing Sea raiders to make money, the enemy besiege it, despite the large garrison (people keep saying 100+ in a garrison stops all attacks, but i have near 250, and the enemy never relent. I have 3 Vaegir lords in my tower, yet the rest see the need to free them at all costs. If i defeat their army, they just come back with more. Its not hard to beat them when i'm in the castle, but i keep thinking my garrison won't hold when the odds are 2:1 in the enemy favour, so i have to always keep coming back. This has been going on for about 2 ingame months, and i'm not getting anywhere

Get rid of the Lords. Just keep them in your party, hopefully the Vaegirs will slow down the raiding and rather ask for ransom. Ransom can be good money too! I've captured the King of Swadia THREE times! Each time they paid around 10k for him, so that's 30k right in the pocket.
However, I usually don't capture enemy Lords since it cause the enemy to hunt me a lot. I just let them go : )

And yeah, its the biggest problems with a infantry army, its slow. I play on really easy too, 26%, only adding 2% with battlesize on 100, and I have only cavalry in my party. It sucks money from you, but I speed around the map. What Factions are yours at war with? Cause all Vaegir (I guess you are at war with them), Swadia and Khergit can get you cavalry.
Sure, it will take a while to rebuild your army, but going Swadian or Khergit as a Nord Lord is no problem. I mean, your fellow Lords fight just as well next to a Khergit Tribesman as they do next to a Huskarl. So you could change your build. You can do it over time too.
Do you have any village that used to be Vaegir? That you have good relations with? Then recruit from that village, you'll get loads of troops at once and they'll might even be tier 2, or 3, or even higher (I get tier 2 from my highest village, and that's around 45 relationship).
Getting a faster army will also result in being able to swipe more Sea Raiders!

The last three portions of text in your post are sort of already discussed by the above.

But yes, starting a new game is not stupid, but you could make it with the one you have. And if you start a new one its more fun to play Vaegir then Swadian, cause Swadian is autowin at everything (maybe apart from those blasted Khergits...).

 

[Seismica]

Yes, but not to that extent. Are you sure you're hitting them at the right point of the swing with the correct part of the blade? Do you get the same when attacking infantry?

Yep, happens with infantry too, unless they're stood still (i.e. an arhcer firing his bow). Then i can hit like normal. But enemies running towards me, when i would usually get say a +78%, i just get -91% for 0 damage 

Its really weird, i use Two handed swords all the time, they're my favourite weapon type. But just that masterwork sword of war, theres something really strange making me get negative multipliers almost every hit. I have switched back to my balanced great sword and its fine, back to normal.

I guess i'll just stay away from that particular weapon.

IIRC it's purely reputation that matters. Get a good relation with the king and most of the faction lords and you should be in with a good chance next time they elect a martial.

So it shouldn't be long then. Although my relations with most lords are below 20... I'll just have to grind those up a little bit.

Not exactly. Renown only dictates whether you're eligible for another fief, not it's type. As long as your renown + reputation with the king entitles you to a second fief then you'll be granted one. Fiefs are weighted according to type; a castle is worth around two villages and a town three or four. The AI will try to balance out the fiefs across the faction, so if one lord has say a castle while every other lord has three or four villages then the lord with a castle will be granted the next available fief. If it were a town, he wouldn't be granted another fief until everyone else in the faction held at least a town and castle's worth of fiefs; which might be three castles, or six villages and so forth.

Ah, well i already have a castle, so i think i'll make try and get Suno as my first town, because i'm taking out the Vaegirs and then going for the Swadians. By then i should have enough renown (like 1200+) and good relations with most lords.

I guess i'll just stick with this castle for now (or if i get impatient, just let it fall then take a town lol). The attacks will subside, hopefully. The last 4-5 lords i have fought have all escaped. I am really tempted to tweak the escape rate 

 

[Archonsod]

. For that matter, my King changed Marshalls like mad for a few days.. It cant all have been due to Lords being captured..?

Martials are elected when the faction leader declares a campaign against a given enemy. If your faction is at war with every other faction, then it's possible the king may declare a campaign against each one in turn, leading to four elections for martial. Not sure what triggers the king to declare a campaign, whether it's purely random or whether relative strength or similar plays into it.

Yep, happens with infantry too, unless they're stood still (i.e. an arhcer firing his bow). Then i can hit like normal. But enemies running towards me, when i would usually get say a +78%, i just get -91% for 0 damage 

Sounds like you're not hitting them at the right part of the swing, and thus hitting a penalty for that.

 

[stygN]

Yes.. That could very well be the thing Archonsod. We were at war with 3 Factions at that time.

But.. on that note, will I suddenly loose my Marshall status? Cause.. it don't say anywhere that I'm a Marshall, but I can command all the other lords around, like tell them to pattroll around a certain castle, I command all their troops in battle, stuff like that. That means I have a Marshall status, right?

And the thing was, I were elected the "real" way with Lords voting on me and some other guy, while that other time the King just elected 3 Marshalls.. So, am I a "Real" marshall that last for a long time, but the other marshalls just pointed out by the King for one campaign?

Confused here.

EDIT: And by the way, as far as I have seen in the campaigns I've been on, the enemy have often had their castles poorly guarded and very few Lords running around, so I think it have something do do with relative strength and a bit about how easy it would be to take 1 castle. Cause, once he called a campaign that he lead himself, traveled just over the border, took a easy castle, and called off the campaign. So maybe he saw a good chance to take some land.. But we have also went on campaign towards an enemy that had 3 more armies then we had. So, I don't know all the factors in when or how they chose to campaign.

 

[Seismica]

Martials are elected when the faction leader declares a campaign against a given enemy. If your faction is at war with every other faction, then it's possible the king may declare a campaign against each one in turn, leading to four elections for martial. Not sure what triggers the king to declare a campaign, whether it's purely random or whether relative strength or similar plays into it.

That annoys me like hell, when the king changes the marshall. Once i was on a quest for the marshall, he told me to scout then follow him etc. and once it said quest completed, i went to talk to him. As soon as i clicked on his army, it triggered another marshall being chosen, hence cancelling the quest i just spent 4 ingame days doing (whereby i got no loot, and no experience for me or my troops, except for my training skill)

Sounds like you're not hitting them at the right part of the swing, and thus hitting a penalty for that.

Maybe the length of the sword has an effect? i'm using both two handed swords in the same way, but one is doing damage and one isn't. I think on has 130 length and the other has 120, but not sure.