Your best quick start strategy?

[Tommy121]

Played about 400 hours, doing all the Betas. So you can imagine i have started LOADS of new characters. Keen to get experienced peoples thoughts on best starter guides. I normally never become a vassal, grind my away as an independent to get to Tier 4, but i am wondering if this is wrong strategy. Hesitant to break away as a vassal and keep fiefs due to negative relations.

I would just play as a mercenary, constantly joining and leaving kingdoms depending on what troops i wanted (converting prisoners). Hit Tier 4 and then target a weak castle, declare peace straight after. Problem then is, i find myself a bit stuck. Normally lodged inbetween two much bigger kingdoms, too scared to declare war on either in case i get stomped.

1. Any ideas on quick starts, best way to max renown, max fiefs early is appreciated.
2. Also any ideas on companions. I have been using them as military parties, but the idiots keep getting captured, wasting the nice troops i give them and I cant use them in my army anyway, as I am only a mercenary. Thanks.

 

[khuzait haircut]

I've always started as horse archer (Khuzait), and I solo all the way up to soloing steppe bandits (great loot!). Then build up about 30 heavy khuzait horse archers and join another kingdom or go mercenary. The biggest cost to me is war horses as I build up the elite horse archers and lancers.

You need lots and lots of funds to start your own kingdom, and you shouldn't do it until your clan is ready. Those funds can be used to pay tribute and buy you time while you focus down one weak faction. This is why I recommend being part of a kingdom and using your fiefs to generate funds for you before going out on your own.

 

[Tommy121]

I've always started as horse archer (Khuzait), and I solo all the way up to soloing steppe bandits (great loot!). Then build up about 30 heavy khuzait horse archers and join another kingdom or go mercenary. The biggest cost to me is war horses as I build up the elite horse archers and lancers.

You need lots and lots of funds to start your own kingdom, and you shouldn't do it until your clan is ready. Those funds can be used to pay tribute and buy you time while you focus down one weak faction. This is why I recommend being part of a kingdom and using your fiefs to generate funds for you before going out on your own.

Interesting, think i will try this. Will go Khuzait intially to get 30 HA and steppe bandit loot but as soon as I can vassal, will probably join NE or SE as a vassal, so that I can try keep Khuzait in check they usually get far too strong.(and convert their prisoners). I think being a vassal with a few fiefs is the answer, even with the loss of relations when you break away. Hitting tier 4 with one castle and my own kingdom, i had nowhere to go.

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

Yeah I'm pretty fast.
Kuzait female. min max for endurance and control 5/5, do tutorial quest for a little skill ups
go to nearest town and sell civ gear and sword, buy better horse and 2 stacks of arrows (tournament arrows)
Beat up any looters or bandit as I go do tournaments, if I see easier minor factions I'll take them on (embers of flame, hidden hand),
it is a bit harder as of 1.5.3 do to HA accuracy but it's still okay
If any lords cut in on my fights I punish them by executing their entire party with friendly fire after the battle, this can give you huge skill boost to riding and bow and athletics somewhat (slower).
Get 7-10K or so and look in encyclopedia for husband with noble bow, perfurable aserai for 1st 1, go get married take gear, sell un wanted gear.
Now I make 20 troops, some time I go fight steppe bandits 1st and grab some raider prisoners, then I get a companion and trigger the rescue brother quest, do it and make him quarter master.
Now I have about 20-30 HA Troops and can go up to 80, I have about 30k which is a good start
Now sometime I repeat the freindy fire punked trick on a khuzait party or 2, with the intention of getting them knocked out and caught by bandits so I can swoop in and grab their free troops. This will put we at 40-50 good troops (HA or Archers). sometimes I instead or in addition go get lotsa forest bandit prisoners too and make fians via give you companion party and take back after they magically transform.
Now I attack khuzait lords outright and sell them for more cash. When I have 70K+ saved up I pick a town and go take it!
2 ways to do it
1 if you party isn't too big, say 50 often a town garrison will sally out, you can wittle them down by shooting approaching troop and retreating.
2 if they don't sally out you can go into battle and press 0 f1 f7 to make everyone retreat, causing the garrison to open the gate and come out to get you...... you kill them and retreat when you run out of arrows. DO it a couple time and when there's no infantry left you can start sniping the archers! Often after the last infantry batch I go in the open gate and sneak around the town sniping ranged units. When they rout you can cut them of and shoot them for arrow refills they drop. You can often find a arrow barrel that isn't to hard to get to too.

Either way once you got the town, you go make peace, sometime they want 50-70k, sometimes a lot less . If there's multiple lord around you, it can be good to ask them all, 1 will usually be a better deal.
Now you can just repeat this to get more towns and castles and make you clan big and strong (on paper)!
I only make kingdom when I have 3k+ power level and 1m+ money and many many fiefs, as I feel power level is the key to making vassal actually want to join you and stay around and of course many need70-150K to join too.

 

[Narg]

For quick money, find a companion with decent smithing-base (5+ endurance) and just go smithing with that one. No easier way to make money in the game as far as i know and you dont gimp your own char if you do it on a companion. A bit exploity but until they implement better economy-balance that is my preferred way for early eco as I don't like to grind the "eco-part".

On fiefs, when I feel I am ready I usually target a castle first and check who's next in line to get something (I make a save before fighting) if it is not me I give them the castle (I don't want it and that way they are out of the contest, though if I get it I still reload 'cause I don't want it, or I leave it ungarrissoned so it gets taken back by enemies fast). When it's my turn I go for a city and that way you can practically choose your first town to own.

After that, I tend to capture stuff that is close to my town as I have found that it tends to put you up as a possible recipient more often and with higher possibility to get it (same strategy as earlier, give the castles away and keep the towns, though I tend to try to keep castles that "beeline" to other cities until I have captured said cities).

This is during vassal-stage. I usually go independent after ~2-3 cities.

 

[Tommy121]

Yeah I'm pretty fast.
Kuzait female. min max for endurance and control 5/5, do tutorial quest for a little skill ups
go to nearest town and sell civ gear and sword, buy better horse and 2 stacks of arrows (tournament arrows)
Beat up any looters or bandit as I go do tournaments, if I see easier minor factions I'll take them on (embers of flame, hidden hand),
it is a bit harder as of 1.5.3 do to HA accuracy but it's still okay
If any lords cut in on my fights I punish them by executing their entire party with friendly fire after the battle, this can give you huge skill boost to riding and bow and athletics somewhat (slower).
Get 7-10K or so and look in encyclopedia for husband with noble bow, perfurable aserai for 1st 1, go get married take gear, sell un wanted gear.
Now I make 20 troops, some time I go fight steppe bandits 1st and grab some raider prisoners, then I get a companion and trigger the rescue brother quest, do it and make him quarter master.
Now I have about 20-30 HA Troops and can go up to 80, I have about 30k which is a good start
Now sometime I repeat the freindy fire punked trick on a khuzait party or 2, with the intention of getting them knocked out and caught by bandits so I can swoop in and grab their free troops. This will put we at 40-50 good troops (HA or Archers). sometimes I instead or in addition go get lotsa forest bandit prisoners too and make fians via give you companion party and take back after they magically transform.
Now I attack khuzait lords outright and sell them for more cash. When I have 70K+ saved up I pick a town and go take it!
2 ways to do it
1 if you party isn't too big, say 50 often a town garrison will sally out, you can wittle them down by shooting approaching troop and retreating.
2 if they don't sally out you can go into battle and press 0 f1 f7 to make everyone retreat, causing the garrison to open the gate and come out to get you...... you kill them and retreat when you run out of arrows. DO it a couple time and when there's no infantry left you can start sniping the archers! Often after the last infantry batch I go in the open gate and sneak around the town sniping ranged units. When they rout you can cut them of and shoot them for arrow refills they drop. You can often find a arrow barrel that isn't to hard to get to too.

Either way once you got the town, you go make peace, sometime they want 50-70k, sometimes a lot less . If there's multiple lord around you, it can be good to ask them all, 1 will usually be a better deal.
Now you can just repeat this to get more towns and castles and make you clan big and strong (on paper)!
I only make kingdom when I have 3k+ power level and 1m+ money and many many fiefs, as I feel power level is the key to making vassal actually want to join you and stay around and of course many need70-150K to join too.

This is excellent, thank you. Going to start a new campaign now to try it

 

[Tommy121]

For quick money, find a companion with decent smithing-base (5+ endurance) and just go smithing with that one. No easier way to make money in the game as far as i know and you dont gimp your own char if you do it on a companion. A bit exploity but until they implement better economy-balance that is my preferred way for early eco as I don't like to grind the "eco-part".

On fiefs, when I feel I am ready I usually target a castle first and check who's next in line to get something (I make a save before fighting) if it is not me I give them the castle (I don't want it and that way they are out of the contest, though if I get it I still reload 'cause I don't want it, or I leave it ungarrissoned so it gets taken back by enemies fast). When it's my turn I go for a city and that way you can practically choose your first town to own.

After that, I tend to capture stuff that is close to my town as I have found that it tends to put you up as a possible recipient more often and with higher possibility to get it (same strategy as earlier, give the castles away and keep the towns, though I tend to try to keep castles that "beeline" to other cities until I have captured said cities).

This is during vassal-stage. I usually go independent after ~2-3 cities.

Didnt think of this. Makes sense. Give the castle away or let it be taken back. Wait until a city is about to be conquered so you are next in line.

 

[Tommy121]

Yeah I'm pretty fast.
Kuzait female. min max for endurance and control 5/5, do tutorial quest for a little skill ups
go to nearest town and sell civ gear and sword, buy better horse and 2 stacks of arrows (tournament arrows)
Beat up any looters or bandit as I go do tournaments, if I see easier minor factions I'll take them on (embers of flame, hidden hand),
it is a bit harder as of 1.5.3 do to HA accuracy but it's still okay
If any lords cut in on my fights I punish them by executing their entire party with friendly fire after the battle, this can give you huge skill boost to riding and bow and athletics somewhat (slower).
Get 7-10K or so and look in encyclopedia for husband with noble bow, perfurable aserai for 1st 1, go get married take gear, sell un wanted gear.
Now I make 20 troops, some time I go fight steppe bandits 1st and grab some raider prisoners, then I get a companion and trigger the rescue brother quest, do it and make him quarter master.
Now I have about 20-30 HA Troops and can go up to 80, I have about 30k which is a good start
Now sometime I repeat the freindy fire punked trick on a khuzait party or 2, with the intention of getting them knocked out and caught by bandits so I can swoop in and grab their free troops. This will put we at 40-50 good troops (HA or Archers). sometimes I instead or in addition go get lotsa forest bandit prisoners too and make fians via give you companion party and take back after they magically transform.
Now I attack khuzait lords outright and sell them for more cash. When I have 70K+ saved up I pick a town and go take it!
2 ways to do it
1 if you party isn't too big, say 50 often a town garrison will sally out, you can wittle them down by shooting approaching troop and retreating.
2 if they don't sally out you can go into battle and press 0 f1 f7 to make everyone retreat, causing the garrison to open the gate and come out to get you...... you kill them and retreat when you run out of arrows. DO it a couple time and when there's no infantry left you can start sniping the archers! Often after the last infantry batch I go in the open gate and sneak around the town sniping ranged units. When they rout you can cut them of and shoot them for arrow refills they drop. You can often find a arrow barrel that isn't to hard to get to too.

Either way once you got the town, you go make peace, sometime they want 50-70k, sometimes a lot less . If there's multiple lord around you, it can be good to ask them all, 1 will usually be a better deal.
Now you can just repeat this to get more towns and castles and make you clan big and strong (on paper)!
I only make kingdom when I have 3k+ power level and 1m+ money and many many fiefs, as I feel power level is the key to making vassal actually want to join you and stay around and of course many need70-150K to join too.

So i am by myself on horseback. Attached 8 mountain bandits and got skewered in seconds! Is the idea to only attack small groups by yourself. Cant retreat either.

 

[Blood Gryphon]

Played about 400 hours, doing all the Betas. So you can imagine i have started LOADS of new characters. Keen to get experienced peoples thoughts on best starter guides. I normally never become a vassal, grind my away as an independent to get to Tier 4, but i am wondering if this is wrong strategy. Hesitant to break away as a vassal and keep fiefs due to negative relations.

I would just play as a mercenary, constantly joining and leaving kingdoms depending on what troops i wanted (converting prisoners). Hit Tier 4 and then target a weak castle, declare peace straight after. Problem then is, i find myself a bit stuck. Normally lodged inbetween two much bigger kingdoms, too scared to declare war on either in case i get stomped.

1. Any ideas on quick starts, best way to max renown, max fiefs early is appreciated.
2. Also any ideas on companions. I have been using them as military parties, but the idiots keep getting captured, wasting the nice troops i give them and I cant use them in my army anyway, as I am only a mercenary. Thanks.

My strategy to take Sturgia as my own Kingdom was to join Vlandia as a vassal as they were sieging a Sturgian town to ensure I got it using the no settlement bonus. This also helps ensure you get a nearby voting bonus for nearby castles. By fighting sturgians and releasing them I increased my relations with them to make it easy for recruiting later. Once you have as many settlements as the Vlandians will give you while taking over Sturgia, you leave them and declare peace unless there are any settlements you want to take from them.

My best advice is to use the majority of your companions for caravans so that you are always at a daily profit. This will help you retain large high tier parties that can beat greater numbers, which will be needed during your early days as a kingdom.

Next only expand and take a castle/town once you've succesfully recruited another clan. Focus on clans that have no settlements, so for me taking the sturgian settlements meant the lords were cheaper and easier to recruit. Having more clans means more war parties which increases your overall strength number (seen in the kingdom diplomacy tab). A fair warning, if you have a ton of fiefs but your kingdoms strength is low, the AI will declare a bunch of wars on you until your fiefs is balanced with your strength level (I'm not sure the "normal" ratio is for strength:fiefs).

 

[artemis_entreri]

All of the solutions seem like exploits to me. That being said, if you are going to exploit then simply do this:

config.cheat_mode 1
campaign.add_gold_to_hero 50000 (or 50000000)
campaign.give_troops khuzait_horse_archer 10 (same for vlandian_knight, and 5 each sturgian_berkzerker + battanian_hero)
other fun units: battanian_falxman, aserai_mameluke_guard, khuzait_torguud
campaign.add_renown_to_clan <renown number you want>
campaign.give_settlement_to_player Vostrum
campaign.give_workshop_to_player Vostrum 1
campaign.give_workshop_to_player Chaikand 1
campaign.give_workshop_to_player Charas 1
campaign.give_workshop_to_player Quyaz 1

Then open up your inventory with I and add whatever gear you want, Pure Blood, best armor, best available weapons, etc
Grab a few stacks of the best gear and smelt it in smithing
Make high end gear for use and for bartering


Really, go big or go home. If you are going to Cheat then Cheat Big!

Enjoy!

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

So i am by myself on horseback. Attached 8 mountain bandits and got skewered in seconds! Is the idea to only attack small groups by yourself. Cant retreat either.

well it depends on you handling your character. If you're on a sumpter horse still, dodging is harder but if you buy a better horse and ammo ASAP as I described you can stay away and dodge easier.
A hill man is just a looter, watch for rocks, the marauder(?) has lethal throwing weapons but only a few so you can easily circle them until they run out, the mountain raider on horse like wise has only a few ranged a weapons and can't pick them back up on horse. Just go to farther way, stop and practice shooting at them and find the sweet spot where you can aim okay and get away safely. 3 stacks of ammo is a lot but you can still retreat if you run out.
Cant retreat either.
Why? What happened when you press tab and click retreat?