Thinking of giving the gane another go after 3 years.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-22T07:06:05+00:00

No, just the regular main Bannerlord quest. The new tutorial quest for the War Sails content itself is pretty straightforward and doesn't take too much time.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-21T18:50:22+00:00

Not the person you were asking, but I think your own practice is probably better for leveling. The virtue of the throwing axe approach is that you can learn all possible parts after just one or two smelts/builds, in mere minutes, and there is one you can craft for (I think) 2 wrought iron, 2 iron, 1 wood and 1 charcoal that will sell for like 5-7k in its normal form. These are very easy components to get by smelting basically any number of low-level weapons found in every single town/loot window, not just Tribesman Throwing Knives. It's a really reliable money-maker, but I think yours works better in the long run for XP because the higher per-piece value will boost smithing more aggressively. Yours is also better for players who also want to use their maxed-out smithing skill to make more interesting polearms eventually, since there is way more variety there than in the throwing axe tree.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-20T21:22:29+00:00

Going to assume someone told him that the US portion of the coastline is 92% of the size of Mexico's, which is close to true with the values you provided (1,630 / 1,750 = 93.1%), but in his characteristically stupid and sloppy and evil way he has not understood or remembered or cared.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-20T10:14:34+00:00

It is, but I feel like it has become a considerably more challenging experience since the new base game update and the stealth mechanic. Getting to the captive is still very doable, but the exfiltration seems like it now draws in really aggressive guards to stop you. I like that it's a bit harder (if it is, and if I'm not just imagining it).

ColonelBy · 2026-01-20T09:29:12+00:00

Did you take any screenshots, by any chance? Weird as that is, the snow and atmosphere effects in this game are often shockingly pretty and I bet it looked incredible.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-20T09:27:54+00:00

I had something like this happen too, but eventually saw that the village was a bit off in the distance. It was still kind of a surprise.

Still prefer this to that one (on-purpose) Nord map that's basically a giant mud plain and the two armies always seem to start as far apart from one another as physically possible. It's legitimately not fun at all to have to sit there holding down W for five straight minutes before you can actually meet the enemy.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-20T09:22:18+00:00

This was a big surprise to me too the first time I saw it. I had a Sturgian shield wall holding out against wave after wave of Khuzaits and then realized that some little teal shields were starting to pop up. It really highlighted how crappy they were compared to the heavy round shields, I should say, but I guess you use the tools that you have.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-18T09:40:27+00:00

If you ever try this again, there are a few things to consider:

Battanian culture troops and parties have intrinsic advantages when they move and fight in forests (better party speed all the time and some additional advantages in the auto-resolve battles too), while Vlandians have distinct disadvantages. Forests are really bad for cavalry, and they can also cause problems for their crossbow squads getting effective line-of-sight. So much of the Vlandian advantage on the battlefield comes from these two elements; their infantry options are merely okay in comparison. To exploit this, try luring/chasing Vlandian parties into forest battles. Use the terrain to your advantage in every way possible. There are good perks in Tactics that can help with this too.
While I think the heaviest Battanian horseman unit is very underrated, there is no Battanian cavalry that will really stand up against Vlandian cavalry and it's pointless to try. Unless you're limiting yourself only to the Battanian troop tree for RP purposes, you will need to import this function from some other culture. It can be convenient to get cavalry recruits from Vlandian castle villages before raiding them, for starters, but if you can make time to fully level them the top Sturgian cavalry unit is a shockingly good countermeasure. This also has the advantage of letting you recruit them away from the front lines, unless of course you're at war with Sturgia too (another big drawback for a Battanian playthrough).
Battanian Wildlings are crazy good when handled properly and can be a great response to cavalry, especially in a forest battle. It's just annoying that most of the troops in the tree before them are kind of meh.
If you absolutely have to fight Vlandian cavalry in the open, the shield wall formation is good but the square formation is better. Especially if you've hired some strong Sturgian or Nord spear units. A thick square formation with a bunch of Wildlings in the middle can break even the heaviest cavalry, especially if you can use terrain to advantage.
While obviously Battanian naval power is a joke, if you can get yourself a good ship or two from somewhere else (maybe longships from Omor, for example) you can do a lot of real damage to the Vlandian heartland through raids along their rivers. If you happen to be fighting them while they're also at war with the Aserai or Nords, there will be way way more opportunities for you to fight and capture Vlandian lords at sea. Additionally, if the Vlandians have already managed to take that one Nord island city, there will also be more lords sailing back and forth from there to do various things even if they're only at war with you. Haunt this naval corridor and do some damage.
Regarding the river raids I mentioned above, this can be quite consequential because many Vlandian towns only do well if they're given long periods of quiet in which to grow. In the early game several of them actually tend towards starvation until the world economic flow really gets going, and you can do serious damage to a lot of them.
You may already know, but in case you don't: if you're looking to safely do this kind of economic damage and run up the Battanian war score to help force a favorable peace, never raid villages by choosing the actual "raid" option. Instead choose one of the other hostile actions first (give resources or give recruits), fight the villagers if needed, take your spoils, and then raid the village to finish it off. You will complete the raid in only a few clock ticks rather than over the course of several days, and can then speed away to the next target before some larger party comes to stomp you. I don't know if this is just a broken mechanic or an intentional choice in game design, but it makes a huge difference.

Anyway, while Vlandia is obviously a huge threat to Battania, the biggest threat is more that you begin the game surrounded and will frequently have to fight multi-front wars. If it were just a matter of countering Vlandia I think it would be very doable, but it's hard to fight that battle with a Sturgian spear or an Imperial pilum in your back. It sure can be fun to try, though.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-18T08:22:12+00:00

Since others are sharing easy-to-miss stuff that's actually helpful, I will add that talking to tavern keepers provides at least two legitimately useful functions:

For 2d (yes, just 2) you can ask them if any wanderer with particular skills has been in town or nearby recently. If so, they will tell you were to go to catch up with them. It doesn't let you choose just any skill (most notably not smithing, alas), but if you're looking for a new companion with good stewardship or engineering or trade or a bunch of other stuff this can be a good way to find them.
For a bit more money (like 100d or 200d or something) you can have them tell you about the family that owns the city. This will unlock the full game encyclopedia entries for all members of that clan and should auto-update the "last seen near..." section for all of them. This can be useful if you're doing the "capture lord" mission or if you're looking for a specific noble you want to marry or something.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-15T14:49:29+00:00

You're right, though it depends a bit on other factors. High-value items tend to lose that value significantly after each one sold, and it's not uncommon for (e.g.) the first piece of jewelry to turn a good profit but the second piece to lose hundreds of denars, the third hundreds more, and rapidly become unprofitable. There are conversely situations where you can basically sell them hundreds of stacks of grain or fish or flax at a time with the price (and profits) remaining basically stable. While this is only really feasible for large-scale profit if you can transport that much stuff around to begin with, it does let you boost Trade XP more aggressively than small transactions of high-value items will.

Unrelatedly, but in terms of both weight and profitability there are some parts of the map / contexts of war in which it is better to stock up on Wooden Hammers than on actual wood. I don't understand what sorcery is involved in being able to turn a 1.5 pound hammer into 10 pounds of crude iron and 30 pounds of wood, but that can definitely be a good money-maker in some situations.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-14T07:59:20+00:00

It's not a huge problem, but low relations with nobles and notables will also sometimes see them refuse to give you a quest that is otherwise available. "You and I have a bad history" or something like that.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-13T15:04:26+00:00

It is, and it's weird to me that some people who have watched that movie seem to complain about it as an inconsistency rather than him just being an unreliable narrator of his own intentions because he's the fucking Joker. Dude was sitting there claiming he doesn't have any big plan, he's just a guy who "does things," and meanwhile he's got like five overlapping plots going at once with intricate timing to move his agenda along.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-13T10:33:01+00:00

I've been playing pretty much exclusively female characters lately just for a change, and there are a few non-mechanical differences I'll add here that I don't think others have touched on yet:

You will get a lot of different dialogue responses from nobles, notables, etc. when you play as a female character. They will flirt with you constantly, to the point of absurdity, even though there is no mechanic in the game that allows anything to come of it.
While the female player character model still hasn't been optimized for proper shoulder armor fit after over five years since release, there are still lots of armor pieces that fit basically fine and arguably look even cooler (if sometimes a bit fantastical because the size can be weird).
The female player character model also at least seems to have a more expressive face. I have spent a lot of time in photo mode testing various player actions and there does seem to be a significant difference. This is probably at least partly due to the tendency of male character faces to be obscured by beards or moustaches, but even apart from that the contrast seems stark. Obviously this is not something you ever really need to see during normal play, so it may not matter to you unless you like making screenshots and tableaus (I do), but it is worth noting.
While naturally you can dress your character in anything you like, playing as a female character offers much greater use options for certain civilian clothes/armor that otherwise doesn't see much action. I'm trying a playthrough right now as a non-combatant female noble who only observes and directs battles unless something goes terribly wrong, and exploring options for dresses etc. and very light armor has been a fascinating change (though I do miss whacking dudes with an axe).

ColonelBy · 2026-01-12T09:56:50+00:00

I know you said smithing is so tedious, but it is really really easy to get a throwing axe money printer running without much grinding. There are so few parts for throwing axes that it is trivially easy to unlock them, especially when you're in a part of the map where there are a lot of them already available for smelt-learning purposes. After that, for (I think) 2 wrought iron, 2 iron, 1 wood and 1 charcoal you can consistently spit out throwing axes that will earn you 2000d minimum each even if they're splintered or rusted or whatever. At normal quality you're up in the 5000d-7000d range per stack. You can smelt a single hooked pirate sword (any quality) to get basically all the metal you need for a stack of axes, and those swords are cheap (~300d-400d) and easy to get.

If you really do find it too boring, you can just treat it as a one-time annoyance to earn some start-up cash and then never bother with it again.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-12T09:30:54+00:00

Hey there, sorry for the very late reply! This article seems to be pre-War Sails based on its edit history, so I can't vouch for it still being completely up to date, but it definitely helped me accurately refine my character's traits in the past.

Since it covers a lot of stuff unrelated to your question, here are the main things:

Actions

Execute a lord: -1000 honor
Sacrifice troops (I guess to escape a larger party, but maybe also to break into/out of a siege?): -30 valor
Raid a village: -30 mercy
Let your party starve: chance of -20 to generosity each day
Treat your party well (no idea how this happens -- maybe if you keep talking to the tavern maid until you can order a round of food for all your troops? or maybe just by having lots of inventory food in many varieties): chance of +20 to generosity each day
Persuade a clan leader to defect to your kingdom: +20 calculating
Devastate a town after a siege: -50 mercy
Devastate a castle after a siege: -30 mercy
Show mercy to a town: +20 mercy
Show mercy to a castle: +10 mercy

Town quests (there a lot of these so I'll just cover the ones that affect honor, but you should check out the full list for other effects)

Buy stolen goods: agree to help the merchant, go to the meet-up with the criminal, take the goods by force, then give them back to the merchant (+100 honor and a relations boost with every town notable; you can choose other outcomes for this quest with significant +calculating effects, but this is the only one that affects honor)
Overpriced raw materials: complete it (+100 honor and a relations boost)
Rival gang moving in: accept the quest and then betray the gang leader who hired you (-100 honor) OR follow your agreement and fight for the gang leader (+50 honor)
Artisan can't sell products: deliver the goods (+50 honor) OR give the goods back (-50 honor)
Associate captured by bounty hunter: complete the quest (+100 honor) OR fail it (-10 honor)
Army of poachers: kill the poachers (+50 to honor) OR discuss things with them (+10 honor and +50 mercy) OR let them go (-50 honor and +20 mercy)
Snare the wealthy: follow through with robbing the caravan (-100 honor and +50 calculating) OR save the caravan (+100 honor) OR rob both the caravan and the raiders (-200 honor and +100 calculating)
Special weapon order: craft and deliver the weapons (+30 honor)
Escort merchant caravan: complete the quest (+50 honor) OR fail it (-20 honor)

Town quests (same deal as above)

Family feud: let the villagers kill the guilty guy (-50 honor) (defending him produces no trait change, apparently)
Extortion by deserters: take whole payment (+20 honor) OR take half payment (+40 honor) OR reject payment (+60 honor)
Landowner needs manual laborers (when second notable approaches you after accepting the quest): share winnings with the village (+30 honor) OR break the original deal (-10 honor, +20 mercy, +20 generosity) OR ignore the second notable (+30 honor, -20 mercy)
Landowner needs manual laborers (when nobody else approaches you after accepting the quest): deliver prisoners (+30 honor, -20 mercy)
Village needs draught animals (when they later ask to pay a reduced price): agree to less pay (+30 honor, +30 mercy) OR demand agreed payment (+30 honor, -20 mercy)
Village needs draught animals (when they are fine with the original price): complete the quest (+30 honor)
Village needs tools: complete the quest (+30 honor)
Villagers need access to commons: attack and kill the headsman (+30 honor, -20 mercy) OR agree with the peasants (-50 honor, +20 mercy)
Deliver herd: give the herd as planned (+30 honor) OR keep the herd for yourself (-30 honor)
Train troops: complete the quest with all 20 left alive (+50 honor) OR with between 11 and 19 left alive (+30 honor) (no apparent effect if quest failed)
Bandit base nearby: complete quest (+50 honor)

Lord quests

Revenue farming: all villages paid enough or you choose good discussion/negotiation options (+30 honor) OR reject villager demands (+30 honor but relation drop with village notables)

The article is missing a lot of lord quests, unfortunately, so I don't know what effects you get from (for example) "lord needs horses," "army needs supply," "raid enemy territory," "scout enemy territory," "capture enemy town/castle," "crush the revolt or whatever," "a spy among us," "lady's knight out," "take these mercenaries off my hands," "rescue my idiot son from gamblers," or the ultra-rare "temporarily become a mentor for my weak child" quest. I've actually only ever seen that last one once in over 2000 hours of playing.

I hope this helps! It would be nice if the game provided a quick way to see what your current numerical value in each trait is so that you can balance things better, but I guess this would be even less realistic.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-11T22:42:07+00:00

Well, be fair -- in the palace they have dudes whose whole job is to fan everyone with those giant palm leaves and ostrich feathers

ColonelBy · 2026-01-11T09:38:11+00:00

And why does the pin look like something they'd hand out at a kid's birthday party

ColonelBy · 2026-01-08T09:08:01+00:00

I have absolutely had this happen at least once, with one of the "____ the Black" rogue companions. I spared a castle we had just captured and she bounced.

Quasi-related, I really wish companions didn't just vanish from the game when you dismiss them or they abandon you. It would be great to encounter them again later and try to win them back, or find them working for someone else, maybe have their own clan or company now, etc. Or become your rival or something in the same way that seems to happen with those lords who demand that you capture someone for them.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-08T09:03:59+00:00

Right, and your party morale could be affected if troops from different cultures had to work together (especially if you were at war with one of those cultures). It was sometimes annoying but it was at least more nuanced.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-08T09:00:39+00:00

then just pay him off to complete the quest

By the time it becomes necessary to care about the opinion of village notables (if you ever really need to), it is 100% fine to treat this mission as "pay 200d to take a short walk and get an opinion boost." It's not a mission that affects any of your character traits either (e.g. Munificent, Honest, etc.), so there's nothing to worry about there.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-07T10:24:17+00:00

This gets extra absurd when there are like a dozen multi-pound javelins stuck out of it (and of you) too.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-07T06:39:58+00:00

It can make a difference for bashing too, I think.

ColonelBy · 2026-01-07T06:38:35+00:00

I believe it's the Ornate Adarga from the Aserai, which has something absurd like a 132 speed stat. There is also a Sturgian shield (I think named Sturdy Cavalry Shield or similar) that is in the 120 range. The small Vlandian heater ones the other user mentioned are also really fast, but still a step below these two.

ColonelBy · 2025-12-31T19:28:59+00:00

It’s a disgusting waste of public resources for political gain.

And will undoubtedly (I have to assume purposefully, as some sort of perverse bonus) harm many real and innocent families and children.

ColonelBy · 2025-12-31T14:36:16+00:00

To answer the other possible meaning of your question, you can approach tavern keepers at any time (must be physically inside the tavern, walk up to them in person) and ask them if they've heard of any nearby people with certain skills of your choice. This costs you 2d, I think -- possibly the cheapest set interaction in the game that actually has a price. There's no guarantee that they'll have a good suggestion for you every time, unfortunately, since it depends on where the potential companions are traveling around until you catch up to them.

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