Mount and Blade, what to do?

[endtherapture]

So I picked up the Mount and Blade franchise on Steam in the sale just now.

Any advice on what game is best to start with?

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Start with (and stick with) Warband. Prepare yourself for a god awful UI and very sketchy, decade-old graphics. If you can work through both, you'll be rewarded with a very engrossing, addictive experience. After you have some time under your belt you can look at available mods and decide if any of them tickle your fancy. Some are quite robust, although I've yet to find one I'd universally endorse.

As for what to do...start slow, take baby steps. Go to the arena for some risk free weapons practice. When outside, avoid strong groups until you have some experience under your belt...stick to Swadia and fight only the most feeble groups of enemies until you've amassed some wealth, gotten some better armor, upped your skills and leveled some followers. Then you can move on to Forest and Mountain Bandits and start raiding their lairs for better loot. You can do some courier quests for various lords, and tax collection, but resist the urge to become a mercenary or (god forbid) a bondsman, you're not ready. Once you have 30-50 reasonably seasoned followers and a few companions with you, and are reasonably well geared and comfortable with the combat, you can graduate to Sea Raiders and the other more advanced bandit types.

When you get to around 100 followers, you're ready to sign on with a Lord, and then the game opens up. You'll get villages you'll need to build up and defend, and tax payments from your serfs. You'll eventually graduate to towns you need to garrison. You can marry, and hold feasts for your fellow lords to curry favor. Eventually if you get really ambitious you can start your own faction, but at 200 hours into the game I never got that far.

 

[Setrus]

Agreed with Guppy, also, if you got it, there's fun multiplayer battles to be had in the Napoleon mod. (make sure the game and all its mods are up to date though)

 

[CommanderL]

I would also recomand the Dipolmancy mod it adds a bunch of features to warband

 

[beastro]

Start with (and stick with) Warband. Prepare yourself for a god awful UI and very sketchy, decade-old graphics.

I love the graphics. They remind me of old, pre-Luclin Everquest.

 

[LittleJP]

Eh. Once you get into 400 v 400 battles, you don't worry about the graphics too much. With all the arrows and what not that fill the screen, you're glad for slightly shittier graphics in favour of absolutely massive battles.

 

[Easton Dark]

Warband is superior in every conceivable way to the original Mount and Blade.

Fire and Sword changes the factions and adds firearms and new stuff, but has been noted by many as being less enjoyable than Warband.

When you're in Warband, remember this:

Always have enough food for your troops.

Read the skill descriptions carefully so you know what to add. You should know everything they'll affect. Like Leadership increases your army size capability, but it also reduces upkeep by 5%

Buy businesses in town! That should be your main way of gaining enough cash for troop upkeep. Tournaments are good as well.

I would strongly recommend against joining a nation. Because your enemies and allies are in a constant flux determined by your nation at that point. And your enemies will mercilessly attack your fiefs and only your fiefs. I still have ulcers from when my fief was attacked for 4 straight months, I killed the attackers each time and they just kept coming back... point is, don't carve your kingdom out until you're ready, but once you are, start your own instead of joining one. It's much better.


Swadian Knights, Nord Huscarls, Rhodok Sharpshooters

 

[Loonyyy]

Don't play Mount and Blade, play Warband, as has been said. Warband is essentially a better version of the same thing. It looks and plays exactly the same, but with some useful new features.

Recruit your own troops and train them. They need a lot of training to be strong enough to stand a chance of survival. Focus on getting a good core of elite troops. Don't fight battles you can't win.

Learn the tactical menu. Tell infantry and archers to stand ground on high ground. It will save their lives. Cavalry make a mess of charging infantry, but when slowed by the hill, and attacked on all sides by the infantry, they don't stand a chance.

Arm and level your lietenants, and make sure to arbitrate their arguments.

Choose your equipment carefully. Two Handed swords are a poor choice, as are Crossbows. Two Handed swords are excellent for individual combat, but when outnumbered, the parry interface is too hard to manage, and you can't block arrows. Crossbows take too long to reload, and good ones are in short supply. Bows will take longer to level to a useful stage, and work out how to use, but they're more useful, the higher fire rate is vital during battles.

Learn to circle on horses, you need to be able to block arrows, and chase down stragglers. Your worst nightmare will be the Khanjit (However it's spelt), riding in circles firing arrows. Fortunately, in Warband the enemy will break and flee, meaning you don't have to kill both.

And have some fun. The game is awesome.

 

[Loonyyy]

Warband is superior in every conceivable way to the original Mount and Blade.

Fire and Sword changes the factions and adds firearms and new stuff, but has been noted by many as being less enjoyable than Warband.

When you're in Warband, remember this:

Always have enough food for your troops.

Read the skill descriptions carefully so you know what to add. You should know everything they'll affect. Like Leadership increases your army size capability, but it also reduces upkeep by 5%

Buy businesses in town! That should be your main way of gaining enough cash for troop upkeep. Tournaments are good as well.

I would strongly recommend against joining a nation. Because your enemies and allies are in a constant flux determined by your nation at that point. And your enemies will mercilessly attack your fiefs and only your fiefs. I still have ulcers from when my fief was attacked for 4 straight months, I killed the attackers each time and they just kept coming back... point is, don't carve your kingdom out until you're ready, but once you are, start your own instead of joining one. It's much better.


Swadian Knights, Nord Huscarls, Rhodok Sharpshooters

You can buy out businesses in Warband? I didn't realise that one, how do you go about that?

 

[Squilookle]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.378163-Mount-and-Blade-series-on-Steam-sale-Worth-it#14773168

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.270716-Poll-Mount-and-Blade-gamers-which-is-the-best-Medieval-game#10407884

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.313502-which-of-the-mount-and-blade-games-is-better#12707754

Amazing what a bit of research will do. OT, Warband. It's unbeatable.

 

[NoPants2win]

To buy a business you need to have a positive relationship with the town's lord. Go find the guild master and ask him about purchasing a profitable enterprise. The brewery is a nice, mid range investment that almost always makes money.

I like to start out with Khergit. They get horses after their very first promotion. They're speed makes you untouchable out in the open field. Later I usually switch to Nord or Swadia, because Khergit cannot hold cities and getting your city conquered sucks.

 

[Seanchaidh]

god awful UI??? In what way?

Personally, I love the game.

Anyway, Guppy posted a fairly conservative way to play. You can be more reckless than that if you want, especially if you play on an easier setting (and even more especially if you don't mind getting captured and losing an item here or there, or loading a save.) There are a few ways to start your own faction and a few ways to build up strength. I would definitely say that you don't need to just stick to Swadia to start. If you're going to raid a bandit lair of any kind, though, I very much recommend you find the lord that gives the quest to eliminate it. The quest gives a good amount of money and a fabulous amount of experience for the work. For example, Boyar Meriga in Rivacheg tends to be the guy who will give you the quest to kill a Sea Raider landing somewhere near his town. Typically it's the lord of the nearest town that gives the quest to eliminate a bandit lair. Another thing about Rivacheg is that it's an excellent place to talk to the Guild Master and buy a velvet factory (for 10000, its weekly income will be around 1000 for awhile if you stay friendly with Rivacheg's faction-- the income can go down, but velvet at Rivacheg shouldn't ever go negative because it passively produces the raw silk but doesn't make velvet on its own.)

In combat, hold F1 and be treated to the fact that you can order your people to go places other than where you are. I didn't know this for awhile. Once you know that you can do that, holding position with high tier melee that have been told to stand closer together a few times (especially nordic huscarls and rhodok sergeants) becomes a very effective way to deal with just about anything (other than archers, which you'll need to actually move to fight) and for a lighter army wage than Swadian knights or Sarranid mamlukes (which are also very good, but more expensive.) Rhodok sharpshooters are very good as well; they are less hopeless in close combat than the other archers due to carrying a shield, and they're quite accurate with their siege crossbows. They can be very scary to fight against, especially in castle sieges.

Doing quests for villages and declining their reward (when they offer one) is a great way to do something useful early that can pay off later. Declining the reward is useful because it adds to your honor rating and gives a better reputation with the village. (Also, sometimes villages will having nothing to reward you with-- which you would only know after you accept the reward.) Villages are the primary source of your soldiers, and having better relations with them will usually allow you to get many more and sometimes more experienced recruits than if they are indifferent (and you won't be able to recruit at all if they are hostile.) Villages have a nationality that never changes (ownership can change, but the people don't-- Peshmi will always give you Khergits, Veidar will always give you Swadians) so keep in mind what troops you'll eventually want to be recruiting when deciding who to be generous with and who to loot and burn.

The best way to build up strength is to work toward multiple people in your party having good training skill, developing your income, and improving your relations with a close group of villages from which you can recruit worthwhile troops. I've found the villages near Shariz to be a good place to do that, but there are plenty of other places you can use.

There's a bunch of other stuff to do and things to know, but I won't be bothered listing them. According to Steam, I've put 548 hours into Warband and 218 into With Fire and Sword. I haven't yet "won" or "finished" either game, though I have a few characters who rule a kingdom (but none that have taken the entire map.) The game can be fun in multiple ways: role-playing, character design, the rush of combat, planning and executing your ascendancy to a throne. If you want you can make a character devoted to just being a bandit and see how far you can get that way. It's very open-ended and you can have a lot of fun just pursuing your own goals independent of simply ruling all of Calradia.

 

[Loonyyy]

Remember:

BUILD YOUR BUSINESSES.

Anything more than rag tag will cost you a bundle. Its unsustainable for high level soldiers. For example, In Dhirim build an ironworks.

Look up the other resources for the cities, and plan your businesses accordingly. Once you expand throughout the realm, you will be able to have an army that can best multiple lords at once.

With this tactic, I beat 2 different armies using my privately funded one. DO NOT live off the land by killing bandits and doingg random missions, you will NOT make enough to pay for a full on official soldiers due to their unpredictability. Its time consuming and expensive, I know, but private enterprises are the only stable way.

Warband is superior in every conceivable way to the original Mount and Blade.

Fire and Sword changes the factions and adds firearms and new stuff, but has been noted by many as being less enjoyable than Warband.

When you're in Warband, remember this:

Always have enough food for your troops.

Read the skill descriptions carefully so you know what to add. You should know everything they'll affect. Like Leadership increases your army size capability, but it also reduces upkeep by 5%

Buy businesses in town! That should be your main way of gaining enough cash for troop upkeep. Tournaments are good as well.

I would strongly recommend against joining a nation. Because your enemies and allies are in a constant flux determined by your nation at that point. And your enemies will mercilessly attack your fiefs and only your fiefs. I still have ulcers from when my fief was attacked for 4 straight months, I killed the attackers each time and they just kept coming back... point is, don't carve your kingdom out until you're ready, but once you are, start your own instead of joining one. It's much better.


Swadian Knights, Nord Huscarls, Rhodok Sharpshooters

You can buy out businesses in Warband? I didn't realise that one, how do you go about that?

Guild master in every town. He has to like you though I think. Takes a lot of money, and needs a week to build one.

Wow. I've gone 70 or 80 hours and I'd completely forgotten the guildmaster from the tutorial. His missions annoyed me, so I kept ignoring them. I made my money off taxes, trading and waging constant war as a mercenary, vassal, and then warlord. Always on the edge of bankruptcy.

 

[Lorpo]

Choose your equipment carefully. Two Handed swords are a poor choice, as are Crossbows. Two Handed swords are excellent for individual combat, but when outnumbered, the parry interface is too hard to manage, and you can't block arrows. Crossbows take too long to reload, and good ones are in short supply. Bows will take longer to level to a useful stage, and work out how to use, but they're more useful, the higher fire rate is vital during battles.

I find the crossbows are a much better option if you are going with an infantry melee focused toon. Gives you a good quick ranged punch and the points you put into power draw can be used for power strike and iron skin. I almost exclusively use two handed axes or similar weapons (voulge, bardiche) along with a crossbow and two stacks of bolts. It does leave you vulnerable to archers but then you can use your troops as a shield A lancer is good role to play as well, a couched lance can take down the most heavily armoured enemy and the speed bonuses will help any one handed weapons do decent damage.
One good mod for warband is native expansion, it just adds more to the game without making any significant changes. It 'expands' it But play the plain original first for a while and get a feel, you can actually get into politics a bit in the game too with marrying into families and supporting various people into roles and rewards in which ever faction you join.

 

[Judgement101]

One thing of advice: Don't turn on cheats, it ruins the entire game!

 

[Loonyyy]

I find the crossbows are a much better option if you are going with an infantry melee focused toon. Gives you a good quick ranged punch and the points you put into power draw can be used for power strike and iron skin. I almost exclusively use two handed axes or similar weapons (voulge, bardiche) along with a crossbow and two stacks of bolts. It does leave you vulnerable to archers but then you can use your troops as a shield A lancer is good role to play as well, a couched lance can take down the most heavily armoured enemy and the speed bonuses will help any one handed weapons do decent damage.
One good mod for warband is native expansion, it just adds more to the game without making any significant changes. It 'expands' it But play the plain original first for a while and get a feel, you can actually get into politics a bit in the game too with marrying into families and supporting various people into roles and rewards in which ever faction you join.

It does save you a couple of points, but I tend to rarely get the chance to reload more than once in open battle, and the reload is cumbersome when laying siege. They are valuable if you plan on acting as infantry, or during castle defenses, I'll say, I've had some good runs with them when defending, but I tend not to do that so often. And they do save you some points. But I prefer Throwing weapons for quick hitting ranged stuff, over the crossbow. But my Longbow's my favourite. High fire rate, accurate (Once you learn the drop), and usable from horseback.

I tend to fight from horseback, so I tend to take more of the brunt of the action, and my focus is always on the survival of my troops, so I tend to be on the frontline, and take lots from arrows. When going over the walls of a castle, I find you always need a shield. The melee that follows when they're all clumped is unwithstandable. I typically take a Bastard Sword, it gives me the best of both worlds.

I saved on points by delegating to my followers though, if you use them for specialised medical, engineering, training skills etc, and only level the leader skills and your chosen combat abilities, you can end up as an incredible badass pretty quick. Although, playing at higher damage and speed lately has made me rethink all of my tactics.

 

[Seanchaidh]

With this tactic, I beat 2 different armies using my privately funded one. DO NOT live off the land by killing bandits and doingg random missions, you will NOT make enough to pay for a full on official soldiers due to their unpredictability. Its time consuming and expensive, I know, but private enterprises are the only stable way.

This isn't precisely true. While it's a great idea in the long run to have profitable enterprises, you don't necessarily need to have them. The most important thing in the early game is developing your character and your named cohorts. Just don't try to have an unnecessarily large army in the early game and you can focus on character development-- including honor and village/lord relations. You can even pursue right to rule if you feel like being a mercenary for awhile. (Joining a nation at war as a company of mercenaries and then continuing until they stop the war gives you +3 right to rule; you don't need to be able to fight off another lord on your own, just follow a strong lord of your faction or the marshal when he calls you, and avoid combat with more numerous foes.)

One possible way to actually make quite a bit of money is to have a healthy amount of prisoner management and to employ manhunters and their upgrades (slavers). They only do blunt damage, so they never kill. This allows you to make a huge amount of money selling people to ransom brokers. Slaver chiefs aren't even a bad combat unit; you can use them for as long as you want. They do cost more to maintain than a Swadian Knight or Sarranid Mamluke, but they can be well worth it if you have a good prisoner management capacity. With 5 prisoner management you can have 25 prisoners: that's 3750 denars if the average prisoner sells for 150. (Knights sell for 240, typical bandits for about 100, looters for 30.)

There is also trade. Iron in Curaw to almost anywhere else is very profitable by early game standards. Spices in Tulga or Ichamur to elsewhere is also good (varies by destination, of course.) Velvet from Jelkala can make good money as well. And it never hurts to check if there is food that is cheaper than what you're eating whenever you stop at a town, and then to replace the more expensive stuff with the less. Some places have very cheap fish. Dhirim tends to have very cheap bread. Some places have very expensive fish, which you can sell and replace with whatever else they have.

And as I mentioned before a dyeworks for velvet in Rivacheg is just the best thing ever. Enterprises aren't completely necessary, but they are to your advantage as long as you're picking the right ones in the right places.

Your largest potential income is from trade tariffs when you have your own towns. I regularly see 7000 in weekly income from just one town. When you're a king (or queen) or are helping a claimaint, give yourself the towns and your lords the villages. It can be tough keeping all the lords happy: whenever you grant one a fief, most of the rest get somewhat pissed off (unless they agree with the selection, which most of them won't if you're a large enough faction.) They'll begin to hate you if you grant them no fiefs as well: the king of any lord without a fief periodically and repeatedly loses 4 relation with that lord. So you give each lord one fief and leave it at that for the most part. And rotate your marshal as often as practical: that gains you favor from the lord selected and any friends he has in your kingdom (if he has enemies they dislike the selection, but not by as much as your gain with the marshal.)

I find taking over a Sarranid town to be a good way to start a kingdom once you have a few good trainers (it requires levels as much as the trainer skill.) Sarranids have a variety of capable units. Their archers are matched only by the Rhodok or Vaegir ones for usefulness, their cavalry is just as good as Swadian cavalry, and their guard is capable infantry. (It's no Rhodok Sergeant or Nordic Huscarl, but it works.) The Rhodoks can also be a good choice, but I find their towns more difficult to take. Curry favor with the local villages before going to war to take the town and you'll have a town with a good capacity for recruitment nearby if all goes well. Stow soldiers in your town's garrison when you can't have any more in your party and then go get more. You'll probably have to defend your town a few times early on. It pays to have good infantry and archers for this purpose.

If you have time, one way to weaken a town's defense a great deal without losing too many of your own troops is to focus on having a high number of the best quality archers and to just shoot at the battlements; tell all your people to hold position instead of charging up the ladder. If you have anyone with a shield, have them stand nearer to the wall than your archers to hopefully harmlessly absorb some shots. This is more useful once you already have a town or castle, as you can more easily mess around with your party's composition when you have a garrison to keep your soldiers.

 

[MrCollins]

Most importantly of all, get a mod called Prophesy of Pendor, it increases the scope of the game to such a large level and is really very well done with the fewest and small bugs I've ever seen in a mod. The game really is breath taking.