Uncommon Questions with less Obvious Answers...

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romesvonwolf

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A few less obvious questions for anyone who might know...

1. Does it matter if you start your caravans from different cities? Caravans seem to roam around quite a lot... does it make a difference in their profits depending on their starting city? Or do they just roam and trade all about the same?

2. Does capturing and holding enemy lords slow their ability to rally armies (against you) etc ?

3. Feeding cities in food shortage... is that possible? I have tried leaving food in the city stash, and tried selling food to villages / and the city itself... it's hard to tell if it's working at-all (the food supply doesn't seem to change after I give/sell food)

Thanks!
And also... thanks devs for making the first game that has entirely addicted me to it like no other - in the last 10 years (give or take) I was honestly starting to think that I didn't like games as much as I did when I was younger... nahhh... not the case. Just most games these days aren't totally amazing (like this one). <3
 
1. Does it matter if you start your caravans from different cities? Caravans seem to roam around quite a lot... does it make a difference in their profits depending on their starting city? Or do they just roam and trade all about the same?
As far as I know, a starting city matters only at the beginning. If the city is wealthy enough and its markets are packed with different goods, the caravan starts giving you profits faster, since it'll have more goods to sell at the starting point.

2. Does capturing and holding enemy lords slow their ability to rally armies (against you) etc ?
For as long as they are held in prison :grin: As soon as they escape, after a day or two they gain 10% of their previous party as a start and begin raising an army again.

3. Feeding cities in food shortage... is that possible? I have tried leaving food in the city stash, and tried selling food to villages / and the city itself... it's hard to tell if it's working at-all (the food supply doesn't seem to change after I give/sell food)
Didn't try it myself, since food shortage disappears quite qickly (only if these are not Sturgian cities - the local folk seem to eat hardwood and fur instead of grain :grin:). But people say it's working and helps to erase food shortage.
 
2. Does capturing and holding enemy lords slow their ability to rally armies (against you) etc ?
It does somewhat, however they escape very fast (compared to warband) and this is one of things they have been changing around in different patches.
If you're in any need of money you might as well ransom them because the effect of holding them is not very helpful IMO. You can also kill them of course.

3. Feeding cities in food shortage... is that possible? I have tried leaving food in the city stash, and tried selling food to villages / and the city itself... it's hard to tell if it's working at-all (the food supply doesn't seem to change after I give/sell food)
It's supposed to help to sell them food but I'm suspicious that it may be buged in the recent versions. In older games giving them a lot of food would cause blatant increase in their food the next day and so on . It had some diminishing return as more food would also attract caravans and lord to buy it, but it would help a lot still. So far in my 1.4.1 games the food penalty has stayed the same for at least a week and I haven't progressed long enough to see if it's really bugged. I'm interested to know what others think about it.
 
It does somewhat, however they escape very fast (compared to warband) and this is one of things they have been changing around in different patches.
If you're in any need of money you might as well ransom them because the effect of holding them is not very helpful IMO. You can also kill them of course.


It's supposed to help to sell them food but I'm suspicious that it may be buged in the recent versions. In older games giving them a lot of food would cause blatant increase in their food the next day and so on . It had some diminishing return as more food would also attract caravans and lord to buy it, but it would help a lot still. So far in my 1.4.1 games the food penalty has stayed the same for at least a week and I haven't progressed long enough to see if it's really bugged. I'm interested to know what others think about it.
EDIT: Specifically selling it to the town is what helped me before and might be buged now. I haven't tried selling it to villages. I don't think putting it in the stash does anything, just stores it for you. I wish you could directly manage their food through the stash though.
 
What happens when you deposit a lord in an ally's dungeon, versus stashing him in your own? Will the dungeon owner leave him imprisoned until he escapes, or can he/will he just cash him in?

I sometimes wonder, when I have a captured faction leader, what the best thing to do with him is vis-a-vis winning the war, forcing a favorable peace treaty, etc. Should I:

1. Deposit him in the nearest dungeon available.
2. Deposit him in my own dungeon, though it might be far away and he might escape en route.
3. Gift him to my own king?
 
What happens when you deposit a lord in an ally's dungeon, versus stashing him in your own? Will the dungeon owner leave him imprisoned until he escapes, or can he/will he just cash him in?

I sometimes wonder, when I have a captured faction leader, what the best thing to do with him is vis-a-vis winning the war, forcing a favorable peace treaty, etc. Should I:

1. Deposit him in the nearest dungeon available.
2. Deposit him in my own dungeon, though it might be far away and he might escape en route.
3. Gift him to my own king?

Upfront: I don't know the answer, so take my speculation with a grain of salt. But I suspect the answer might be "put him/her in the nearest own-faction castle dungeon". Reason: castles don't have ransom brokers. If you pop the lord into a town dungeon, then that town's AI owner only has to visit and cash the prisoner in. But if in a castle, then the AI owner has to a) visit his/her castle, b) take the prisoner lord into party, and c) transport the prisoner to a town to ransom. I somewhat suspect that chain of linked actions is probably beyond the parameters of the AI? Maybe? Maybe not? (obviously, this rationale wouldn't apply if the nearest dungeon is in your own player-controlled town.)

All that said, it's probably still better to lug the prisoner to one of your own dungeons if at all feasible. It's better to know instead of hope that the prisoner won't be ransomed off prematurely.

Obtw, was surprised in my current playthrough (1.4.1) that I held Raganvad in my own (castle) dungeon for almost a month. So yeah, they still need to do more work on how long captured lords stay in chains...but it is slowly getting a little better.
 
As luck would have it, the scenario I described actually came up. I'm a vassal of Vlandia, at war with Battania, and was hanging out in Western Vlandia trying to recruit some decent troops. Someone had an "Escort Merchant Caravan" mission, and I figured why not, we both pretty much have to be going in the same direction, right?

Turned out this frickin' caravan was going to the ultimate destination of that Sturgian town in the far northeast, so it was an escort mission across the whole damn map. (The payout was quite generous, though, I have to admit.)

Anyhow, as I was diligently chasing away bandits and looters who might threaten the caravan, Caladog pops up right in my path, hanging out with just 14 guys near one of the south-central Imperial cities. I snapped him up easily enough, but I wasn't anywhere near a Vlandian castle or town, and had to stick close to the caravan I was escorting. I had to keep him with my army. But I did, for a much longer time than expected! I took the "northern route" home, through Sturgia, and he didn't escape until we were in Western Sturgia. Not sure how many days it was, but essentially it took the length of a half-circumnavigation of the map before he got away.
 
Another question.

I usually don't make trade-oriented characters. But after I did, and made myself a quite successful entrepreneur... just what is it that's causing the town's artisan to gain -1 ~ -2 relations with myself?

Do I offend the artisan in some way?
 
Starting town is important for caravans because they tend to return there, treating it like a home base. You'll see similar behaviour on escort caravan quests, where they might travel to a couple of towns in a single trip, or might just travel to one before returning home. You also gain reputation with merchants in the starting town of your caravan from time to time.

Because they are going to be returning there often, it is preferable to start the caravan in a town where you know there are usually good arbitrage opportunities. That has to be balanced with safety of course if you are a vassal and need to think about where your caravan is most likely to bump into hostile forces.
 
Another question.

I usually don't make trade-oriented characters. But after I did, and made myself a quite successful entrepreneur... just what is it that's causing the town's artisan to gain -1 ~ -2 relations with myself?

Do I offend the artisan in some way?

I think there might be some undocumented (or poorly documented) changes that cause your reputation with people in towns and villages to increase or decrease by small amounts. I think one might be related to war? Like when war started between my Vlandian faction and Western Empire, my rep with all the WE artisans went down, and it stayed that way following the peace?

On the flip side, I've noticed that sometimes my relations with town merchants increases overnight (with a message telling me this, but not the reason why) when I'm sitting in the town doing nothing (except healing) for a few days. Maybe they appreciate my Charming self being there? Or the fact that my soldiers are around spending money in the taverns and brothels and theoretically helping protect the place?
 
I think there might be some undocumented (or poorly documented) changes that cause your reputation with people in towns and villages to increase or decrease by small amounts. I think one might be related to war? Like when war started between my Vlandian faction and Western Empire, my rep with all the WE artisans went down, and it stayed that way following the peace?

On the flip side, I've noticed that sometimes my relations with town merchants increases overnight (with a message telling me this, but not the reason why) when I'm sitting in the town doing nothing (except healing) for a few days. Maybe they appreciate my Charming self being there? Or the fact that my soldiers are around spending money in the taverns and brothels and theoretically helping protect the place?
Your companion's parties earn relation with notables for you, it isn't clear exactly how but I assume it is either actual or simulated quest completion. Usually the gains they bring in this way are smaller than what you'd get if you were completing quests yourself.

I've had my caravans earn significant relations with town notables after surviving being attacked. That might have been a bug, treating it like the owner of the caravan was the merchant I used to create it, and my companion leading the caravan "saved" it from being destroyed or captured.

You get small periodic improvements to relations with notables due to security. At least, that's what the message tells you in the game log. The actual gains given by this (if any) aren't displayed in the top of screen banner like most relationship changes are.
 
1. Does it matter if you start your caravans from different cities? Caravans seem to roam around quite a lot... does it make a difference in their profits depending on their starting city? Or do they just roam and trade all about the same?

2. Does capturing and holding enemy lords slow their ability to rally armies (against you) etc ?

3. Feeding cities in food shortage... is that possible? I have tried leaving food in the city stash, and tried selling food to villages / and the city itself... it's hard to tell if it's working at-all (the food supply doesn't seem to change after I give/sell food)

1. I know there is information on this that is supposed to happen a certain way but in forming caravans a bunch of times I've noticed no difference at all, and frankly I'm disappointed that my companions for the most part are just caravans. Current practice for me is to strip them naked, sell the gear they come with, and form the caravan. When the caravan gets captured I get them whereever they are and just send them right back out. I've never seen it make enough difference to worry about, even though previously I had them in top gear and even suggested that you buy it for them. They will level trade, tho. And your party leaders will level steward. And your caravan people will level athletics or riding if they have sp available and a horse etc.

2. Dead men don't form parties :grin:

3. I don't know, I would think if it's in the market they consume it. I've wondered this too. If you own the town you can see a consumption list by hovering on the icon near the middle of the management screen.
 
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